Heights2Bastrop

Anne, yes. My mistake,

Anyone have this book yet? My mom got one for Christmas. It’s pretty interesting, and full if photos, some of which I have never seen before. One in particular is of a young woman who was a dancer, who is in costume and barefoot, lying prone, and looking very seductive. She gave up dancing and went into the family business – banking. You’d never guess who it was. The book was written by Mary Sloan and the Houston Heights Association, and can be purchased from them. I highly recommend the book, especially if you’re an ol’ Heights boy like I am.

I’m not sure if Vallian’s had different sized pizzas or not, but I do remember you could order half a pizza. I always wondered how long they kept the other half around before someone else ordered half a pizza with the same ingredients. I went there once with a date and she got a half pizza. It was memorable because she found a hair in the cheese. I didn’t see what the big deal was, but she freaked out over it. Women! What a bunch of sissies.

If you want to treat her to a truly unique experience, take her down to the ER at Ben Taub on a Saturday night and watch ‘em bring ‘em in! If it’s a real busy night, you won’t have to worry about dinner. BTW, back in my day we’d go to Jeff Davis on Allen Parkway.

Vallian’s was a great “date place” in the mid 60’s, but it wasn’t my favorite place for pizza. That honor went to DePaul’s in the 1600 block of North Shepherd. It was pretty much a family joint, and I always saw people I knew there. Vince DePaul was onboard the (I think) Battleship Tennessee when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He was a brutish looking Italian, but who was very soft-spoken, as nice a fella as you could ever meet. His wife (can’t remember her name) was dynamite in a small package; a real spark plug. The son was a year or two behind me at Reagan. They sold the business and their recipe to the new owners, but it was never as good as when the DePaul’s had it. Their sauce was so good you could drink it. The crust was thin, and the cheese was thick. I have never had as good a pizza since. They also had great lasagna, which they also sold in freezable packages. From my earliest remembrances, Christie’s on South Main had a sign on the Main Street side of the building claiming, “We Serve Pizza Pie”. I don’t know if Vallian’s preceded them or not.

Finally - someone who remembers Kern Tips!

There always has been, and there always will be Organized Crime in America and the rest of the world. However, it wasn't until Prohibition was passed that it became Big Business here. When prohibition was repealed, illegal drugs replaced liquor as the main source of revenue for the Mafia. If it's illegal, there's illegal (non-taxable) money to be made on it. Drugs will never be legalized because it would put too many lawyers out of business, and Government is run by lawyers.

In high school, we used to go to the Jeppesen Fieldhouse pretty often. We would go and watch the Cougar freshman team play to a packed house, and then usually left with most of the crowd when the varsity came out. Houston didn't have a great team that year, but there was a pretty good freshman then who went by the name “Big E”. I went to countless Oilers games at Jeppesen. Got to watch Billy Cannon use his stiffarm. Thing is, he used it on a kid. We used to line up at one end of the field before the end of the game to get autographs of players as they left the field. Cannon never would sign autographs that I can remember, and one time he brushed a kid aside who stood in his path as he ran past and the kid fell down. He didn't really stiffarm the kid, but that's the way I like to tell the story because I never could stand that conceited bastard after that day. The first football game I saw at Jeppesen was in 1958 when the Lions and Steelers played an exhibition game there. It was a test to see if pro football could draw a crowd in Houston. What's odd is that I appreciated the game much more in later years than I did at the time (I was 10) because I got to see Bobby Laine play quarterback.

I'll go with Earl, but I have to put in a vote for Ken Houston, too.

I had a problem with a similar weed when I lived in Timbergrove. It was a broad leaf plant with runners that radiated out from a central point. These runners were like twisted hemp rope. They ran along the top of the soil, and had tendrils than went straight down into the soil for 4-5”. Once the plants took over, these runners crisscrossed each other until they were like a woven rope carpet, and impossible to dig up. I didn't mind them so much, except for when they sprouted along the sidewalk. A Weedeater and a regular edger would not cut through a heavily infested area. After I noticed the problem in my yard, I saw that the grassy areas between the sidewalk and 11th near Durham were solid with this weed, so I assumed there was no easy way to control the spreading. Even the esplanades on 11th had been taken over. I never learned what it was, but I looked it up just now, and what I had was not buttonweed.

Rest in Peace, Buddy. You did the Heights, and Houston proud.

I don't spend all that much time out on the highways around Bastrop, but I rarely fail to see at least one or two 18-wheelers loaded to the gills with round bales of hay, heading down 304 from 71 toward Gonzales and parts beyond. The strange part is most of it is coming from around the Waco area. It's weird how they have gotten drenched while those of us just a little south of there are so dry. Bastrop is finally getting rain, and there are high chances for the rest of the week. I pray for the sake of the farmers and ranchers this gawdawful drought is over.

”Sorry to all posters for going off of topic so terribly. To tie this in, looks like the progress at the Kroger site is moving right along.” I mentioned the produce wagon. Naturally, milk trucks were prolific at that time (the 50s). Weingarten’s was there at 20th and Yale, and Lewis and Coker was on Arlington and 14th next to Reagan. Those two are where Grandma shopped. We lived at 14th near Beale, and we shopped at the Hy Sun Grocery on Shepherd at 14th, or else Mom stopped somewhere on the way home from work. This all ties in to the need for a new grocery in my area, and H&P in Merchant’s Park was the answer to that need. So it’s all relevant in the evolution of grocery shopping in that area, and to that store in particular. So we just took went a bit roundybout with the topic is all.

My grandma’s house was on the SW corner of Waverley and 14th. My mom worked, so I would walk from Love Elem to her house after school. So I am very familiar with the train that ran along Nicholson. One of my best friends lived on Herkimer just off 14th, so he was often my partner in crime, although our crimes were not as malicious as yours seemed to have been. Yes, I do have a few years on you, as I am 61 now. Those few years made a big difference in some ways. Remember as a kid hearing the ice cream truck from far away, and trying to determine what street he was on, and when he would be passing your house? I would sit on Grandma’s front porch and hear the “clip-clop” of a horse’s hooves as the produce wagon made it way through the neighborhood. I loved to watch that old man in the wagon pass the house. The colors of the produce were so beautiful, but even as a small child I knew I was seeing something that would soon be a thing of the past. But, man, do I cherish those memories. For some reason I don’t remember seeing Merchant’s Park under construction. But I do remember walking Granddaddy down there when it opened. He lived on Bay Oaks and 11th, the house I owned before moving to Bastrop. Granddaddy was blind, so I would lead with him holding onto my shirtsleeve. We would often eat at Brittan’s Broilerburger. Birdie’s was on Shepherd at 12th on the NW corner. It was an L-shaped icehouse. The owner (Birdie, of course) had numerous cages of mynah birds at the entrances and inside. This was a different time, of course, and no one thought anything about kids stopping by, or even stepping inside the bar to talk to the birds. Birdie was always so nice to the kids, and got a kick out of our fascination with her birds.

“It sat there as a boarded up monstrocity for at least 20 years.” I was at Hamilton from ‘61-’64, and I remember people visiting Hamilton, or picking up kids after school, some teachers, and even a couple of students using the Danburg’s parking lot. So I assume the store closed somewhere around that time, and before ’64. Grandma was out of a job, so she worked for a short time at Shopper’s Fair on Shepherd, and then to work at Weiner’s on 11th. You remember that one, right? It was right next to Firestone! LOL Weiner’s was the same story, different verse – cheapass owners paying little with no bennies.

“H2B, where was that Firestone you got the tires from? For the life of me I can't place it.” Firestone was where the Blockbuster is/was, and Weiner’s was next to that. I am almost positive it was a Firestone, but it may have been a Goodyear. But it was definitely one or the other. What is your connection to this area? If you tell me you remember Birdie’s, then that will tell me a lot about you.

Is that Marcella’s place? I haven’t followed the goin’s on there, but didn’t they have a big problem with mold in that building? Don’t know if that’s what halted demolition or not. It’s been discussed in other threads before. BTW, my grandmother was a Danburg’s Slave for many years. I hated those bastards for how they treated their employees. The building was an eyesore for sure, but I hated to look at it because of the anger it evoked in me.

“The old Kroger was the Henke and Pilot. You may have too much Bastrop hay between your ears now but, if I remember right, it was the last Henkes built before the Kroger take over. All that Kroger had to do to this store was pull down the six lighted H E N K E S letters and replace them with K R O G E R letters.” Plumber, I would be insulted, but I’ve been accused of having worse substances packed between my ears. Yes, the H&P and Kroger #11 was the same building, but not the same aesthetically. I never remembered having a sudden bout of depression whenever I walked into H&P. I had a friend at the bar who worked for Kroger. We used to talk about “Number eleven” all the time. She said the store was so bad that most of her coworkers refused to acknowledge it as a Kroger, referring to it instead as something like a backward cousin. It was by far the worst store in the Kroger chain in the area. “The store remained basically unchanged until it was torn down 5 or 6 years ago. Hence the dark and grimmy look you refer to.” I believe the new Kroger was built quite a bit before that. Although I still had my house on Bay Oaks, I stayed elsewhere from ’02 to when I moved to Bastrop in ’05. I can’t associate other events to its opening, but my guess is somewhere between the early to mid 90s. Could even be earlier.

OK, I see now. The last I remember, that was still a Texaco, I didn’t know it had changed to Mobil. That was Everett Texaco. Across Shepherd was Hooker’s Humble, then Exxon. Across 11th from that was Hendrix’s Gulf. And back across Shepherd was, I believe, a Phillips 66, but don’t know who owned it. I used to buy $5 used tires at the Firestone behind U-Tote-Em, then Mr. Hendrix would let me use his equipment to mount my “new” tires. His son graduated with my sister. Mama used to date Bob Hooker. The Heights truly was a town of it’s own, even in the 60s. Lotsa great memories from Merchant’s Park.

"I can't help but think what those that hate the 11th St. Kroger now, would have thought about the OLD Kroger store at W.11th? It was a teeny, tiny, dark hole covered with grime from floor to ceiling." Amen! I think the even older Henke and Pilot was better than the “old Kroger”. I think they had about 6 checkout lines, and rarely did they use them all, even when it was busy. Someone mentioned a “convenience store” being demolished to make way for the Kroger Gas station. The only store I remember was across 11th, the U-Tote-Em. Is that where it is?

I never listened to KCOH, but I always loved to hear Skipper Lee speak. Hate to see Houston lose a true institution, but I know it was inevitable. Even though I no longer listened to it, I was sad to see KILT AM change formats. I grew up on KILT. I heard about Buddy Holley’s death listening to KILT. But the memories will always be there.

Is White still planning to run for governor? BTW, if a Muslim can become President, then I guess a Lebanese can become a mayor, huh?

I am no great fan of the Kennedy Klan, from Rum Runner Joe down to the latest crop. I never bought into the Camelot mystique, nor did I have any admiration for Jackie. They made and played by their own rules, and their initial political successes were shady, unethical and downright illegal. I have never liked Teddy, even though I know he has served his constituents well. That said, I believe he got a very raw deal from the Chappaquiddick fiasco. He handled the situation horribly, but he has basically kept his mouth shut even though I believe the evidence exonerates him. I think he made advances on Mary Joe, or something that led to an argument, and then she drove off by herself in a state of hysteria and confusion down the road toward the bridge. I am totally convinced she was alone, and was driving the car when it went off the bridge. I didn’t care for the man, but he didn’t, and doesn’t deserve the accusations many still make against him.

Moni, I have been talking with people from all around the country, and Hatch peppers seem to be readily available just about everywhere. So, I figured that the Greater Hatch Growing Area must have a 200-mile radius. I buy into the Hatch phenomenon and extol their wonder even knowing, or believing that. But, the thing is, and at the least, Hatch (or whatever passes for Hatch) peppers are just as good if not better than Anaheim peppers. And for the cost of “Hatch” peppers, it’s still a great deal no matter what. Actually, at $1.29/pound, Hatch peppers are a bit higher than they were last year due, I’m sure, to their popularity. That’s still a good deal. And you can find then occasionally for 99¢ at some places.

OK, so now I understand that part. Now that leads me to another question – why the heck should the employee get involved in Monkey Business? And it seems like there would be a liability issue at stake. Does an employer have the right to test an employee without his knowledge, and just because of his wife’s suggestion? For that matter, other than law enforcement or other government agencies, who has the right to test another without consent? Or at least without notice?