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Thanks for your reply, Heights2Bastrop. I was beginning to think that I was imagining it :-). I was also 5 in 1953, but I don't know how old I was when I went there. I just remember that my mom said that Kiddieland was better than Playland Park for little kids.

I remember the American Bandstand show where Larry Kane subbed for Dick Clark. He brought the kids from his show and they completely outdanced the AB kids. I don't think they were ever invited back. The thing is that I don't think the AB kids actually took dance lessons. They just went on the show. I remember thinking that the Larry Kane kids looked a little too "show-biz" doing all their fancy dances.

I loved Dugan's Drugs in Bellaire. I used to make my mom take me there even after we moved out to Meyerland. I also loved Lew's Record shop. Up until a few years ago, I still had a few tokens from Lew's. I don't know what happened to them. I used to spend most of my time in Woolworth's. They had huge ice cream sandwiches. We would buy them and walk around in the outside center court of Meyerland Plaza.

I remember going to Kiddieland park some time in the early 50s. I was very small and don't remember much about it. It might have been on the Katy freeway - which was highway 90 then. I have tried searching Google, but can't find any mention of it anywhere.

There was a Sage store at the corner of the Katy Freeway and West Belt (now Beltway 8). Later it became some kind of weird flea market - very seedy. It was closed for years and I think it has finally been torn down. There was a Globe on Gessner across from Memorial City. It was torn down and Oshmans was built in the spot. I'm not sure what's there now - it may be part of Memorial City Hospital - sorry, Memorial Hermann.