J W

Wonderful collection !  Just spent 15 mins , of time travel. 

What is that the young guy is holding ?  a scooter ?

I remember the Ritzee. Gulf Fwy @ College ave . in South Houston . Hot spot to cruize in the mid sixties ! . It definitly wasn't black .

Store flyers passed out last December said that they were moving to the old Circuit City location and would be back in business by the end of January . Did this fall through ? Anyone know what happened ?

Fair enough... Honestly, I wasn't a big fan either. I will say that I enjoy former city councilman Micheal Berry's show better. He can be a little brash sometimes, but has some common sense viewpoints.

Now Baker has shown up on KSEV. That really where he belongs . Another right-wing DJ prick .

I joined the board just to reply to this post LOL. I was a very regular customer at Western Swing and before that opened Wells Fargo. I spent a whole lot of hours dancing to Randy Corner and Texas Cooking with Freddy Pate. If you do remember Western Swing and that OUTSTANDING Band, you might like to know that Freddy Pate plays regularly in Jennings, La. It is in a very old movie theater, once a month for a primarily geriatric crowd and still unbelievably good. My wife and I, married for 30 years this year, met in Western Swing, our first date was Gilleys. We were the "in crowd" dancers in Western Swing, there everynight except for Monday when they were closed. When we went and met Freddy in Jennings, he still remembered us. Also interesting we went and saw Randy Corner about a year ago in a small bar in Spring, Tx (cant remember name of place, somethingShack) and Randy is almost blind now, but can still play guitar like NOBODYS BUSINESS.. he hasnt lost his touch either, if anything he is better now. ... if you ever heard Randy do you remember songs like "Heart Dont Fail Me Now"? I spent a lot of hours two stepping to Randy Corner and Debbie Sue. I remember when Alabama filled in on a Thursday night when Texas Cookin' was off. The crowd was so disappointed LOL. This was before anyone had heard of Alabama.

Would some nights cruise on down Airline and go to Dance Town, a big BYOB dancehall, burned down too now I guess. Remember seeing Gene Watson there, watching my father in law Waltz with his wife. He is long gone now, and she has alzheimers and the long ago memories of that very Waltz. Its a shame these old places are gone. I was reading online someone trying to explain the beginnings of Western Swing, saying it was just a few months prior to Urban Cowboy's release. Boy is that wrong, we were dancing the night away long before John Travolta ever heard of Mickey Gilley LOL.

Anyway, I thought i would share a memory with you others that can remember that dancehall called Western Swing. Everytime i drive by West Road, I remember a lot of good times including the first time I saw my future wife across that hardwood dancefloor. I remember all the regulars that danced many a night away with 25cent Lonestar longnecks and Thurs nights with free beer. Good times

attached is a current picture of Freddie Pate ... still one ugly man HAHAHA but a heart of gold

I think Dance Town is still there . But its a bingo hall now . I even think the sign is still there . I moved away from Houston six years ago , but when I use to be in that part of town I would sometimes pull into the old parking lot there and crank up the volume on my Johnny Bush tape just for old times sake .

I went back and looked again at the same page full of ads (1969), where I found Van's and found this. I didn't remember there being so many clubs in Houston back then. There are dozens in there.

Bud and Bud , the Hooper Twins ! They were identical twins and a real popular local act back then . They played C+W

clubs all over town .

Thanks a lot ! Just what I needed . Another site where I can spend hours and hours of time .

I thought I knew what Steve's was but after watching the clip I'm not sure. There were several bbq sandwich shops downtown that I used to love to go to whenever I was in town in the early to mid-60s and I was thinking the name was Steve's. But the place(s) I went to were nicer than that and had counter service (you went through a line; they were always packed when I was there), not table service. I think the one I went to was on Fannin but there was more than one location. I always got the outside beef sandwich with chips. Best bbq I'd ever had up until that time, I thought.

I wonder if that scene was really shot on location or maybe shot on a set in LA and they just borrowed the name of a real Houston place?

I didn't own a TV at that time, couldn't afford one, but went to the Union at UT to watch the shows. The scene I recall was of Milner and Maharis in their Vette, cruising along what I thought was South Braeswood from Kirby out to Stella Link.

Looks like a set . Something about it seems too clean . Plus the covered wagon thing above the door?

I've heard him in the afternoons a number of times when I'm station surfing due to the music stations I listen to not playing something I want to hear.

Yeah he's filling in for Dan Patrick whose been doing Edd Hendee's AM show . ( Hendee lost his son in a skiing accident ) I guess this will be Malone's "big break " .

....and YOU in a pair of Z.Cavaricci's...........ACK !!!

Now, Galveston was ALWAYS fun back in the 80's, East Beach in particular.

I remember West Beach in the 80's when you could build a fire , camp and spend the night . Not a beach house in sight .

Worst part to me is having to water my damn yard. I HATE watering my yard in a city whose annual rainfall averages about an inch of rain a week (50" per year).

I've watered the yard twice this week. The alternative is what happened to me last summer when I didn't water, and ended up with dead St. Augustine. I suppose a better alternative would be to replant with buffalo grass. I wonder how bahia grass would look?

You're not serious about bahai grass I hope . Yes its' drought hardy , but it's stems are tough as vinyl . Hard to mow . An ugly invasive grass that has no purpose in the city . Its a pasture grass used for cattle grazing .

I had a charter membership going back to the summer of 87 when it opened up . I remember how really nice and clean it was the first couple of years . A few times during a weekday I remember having the whole place to myself . That didn't last for long .

See - there it is! You fell for the trap built by the Liberal media. Rush did not say he wanted the US to stay in a recession till the republicans came in to fix it. He said he hopes Obama's socialist agenda fails. There was never a I hope the economy fails, etc. When you watch the news, or listen to the idiots on the main stream channels, they play the snippet that sounds bad, and then leave the explanation off. Its completely disingenuous; though I have come to expect it from the liberals now.

Rush said that he hopes the SOCIALIST agenda fails. That America rejects it...but you parrot the mainstream media, and you sound unintelligent, regardless of whether you are or not.

I am with Rush on that statement...I PRAY the socialist agenda fails. I do not want my taxes going from 35% to 40%, I dont want to pay your mortgage, your healthcare...I want to expand on my life, and work for myself, and do the things I enjoy b/c I have worked for it...if that means you eat bread and water, and mow a yard on your hands and knees with your mouth, so be it. I dont care. If your so stupid you cant get a good job and your not willing to work, Im not willing to help you. PERIOD. Socialist agendas are BEST LEFT TO CHARITY. Churches/mosques/charities/whatever else exist should do our SOCIAL agenda NOT the government. The government should ONLY provide Military security, Infrastructure, and a VERY limited Few other tasks.

I dont care about people who are leeches....It sounds harsh, but its true. I dont care.

Dog eat dog ! Survival of the fittess ! Greed is good ! Real mainstream stuff there buddy.

interesting. I don't like drive time DJs either. In the car I listen to CDs/ipod or occasionally NPR.

David Foster Wallace, the novelist who recently killed himself, had a very good essay piece called "The Host." It was about the world of talk radio, following the career of a DJ who ended up out in LA. Most of these guys in the second and third tier markets he talked with are just hollering into the mic to bring in ratings, regardless of their own political beliefs. Many of them failed rock and top 40 DJs or sports guys who reinvented themselves in talk radio in order to maintain a small fan base. A thoroughly depressing business, was the impression I got.

Sad but so true . Remember John Matthews, aka "the King" ?

I don't agree w/Dan Patrick on just about everything but I have to agree with you that he is about the most civil talk show host out there. Now if he could only teach some of that civility to Pat Grey.

Patrick has been on Houston radio for a long time . He's toned it down since he's become an elected official . Before that he was at times as nasty and sarcastic as the rest of them .

Back to KPRC 950 . Just what Houston radio needs another conservative blowhard . You would think that at some point saturation would be reached .

I Can not argue that Bush was not a major setback - but I will argue that Bush was NOT a conservative. Bush was a very moderate, if not liberal republican. Though still technically a republican he broke ranks over several MAJOR issues which made him NOT a conservative. Not the least of which were immigration and fiscal responsibility, welfare, healthcare, etc.

About all he got right were conservative appointees to the Supreme Court and Taxes.

Oh , so if he didn't obey his marching orders from Rush, Hannity and Laura, he's not a REAL conservative .

Editor - I cant help but guess which side of the political spectrum your views lie. I venture to guess that you voted for the messiah. - That aside - the left leaning side of the country is overwhelming - Starting in junior high, continuing with high school, college, law school, graduate school, you name it - nearly all the staff are heavily liberal. Then you get to the Newspapers & Magazines - all the "News" (in quotes b/c their bias is a joke) are also very left leaning. Then you move to the Television - ONLY fox news reports the other perspective, and it infuriates a huge portion of the nation. Is Fox biased to the Right? Yes - is it as far Right, as CNN/MSNBC or the others are LEFT - Not a chance. Then you get to the RADIO. The only medium in which Conservatives have a voice - and you want to implement restrictions?! Are you kidding me? If you dont like it - change the channel - its what 50% of the nation has to do in every other form of media. You didnt specifically call out talk radio - but it is the only conservative leaning media, so it can be extrapolated.

The Government should not regulate speech in any way shape of form. Regulation by government ensures ONE Thing - more Government, more control thereby securing that one parties continuous rein of power. Let us not forget - we are a capitalist society, even if you dont like it - the Government does not make ANY money - they spend ours. I for one, work to hard to give the government anything more than I have to. The more regulation the more money I lose to the government. I saw a report that for the first time in this great nations history the government now employs more people than the entire manufacturing industry. That means in plain dumb english more people are now being completely supported by fewer people. Sure the service industry (doctors, lawyers, resteraunt staff) still exist, but they too are living off of one thing - manufacturing - the ability to sell a product. So the entire country is now living off of a minority. Great.

bottom line - Regulation in any form that affects SPEECH is bad.

Sorry , radio and television broadcasting are different. The frequency spectrum is limited . Just because I am fortunate enough to aquire and purchase a radio station doesn't give me a right to libel you ( ie. call you a racist or a communist,or simply make fun of you ) and you not have the right to respond . The Fairness Doctrine was not so much government regulation as government being a referee in the name of fair play .

Gus Mancuso ? Could that be the late city councilman Frank Mancuso's dad ?

Not really 60's , but remember the huge billboard at the Park Place intersection advertising Gilley's in the mid-70's ? You could stare at Mickey Gilley's face while you sat in one of those awful Gulf Freeway traffic jams from that Seventies boom period !

Any Pasadena folks remember these burger joints from the 1960's:

'Three Gables' on Shaver?

'Burger Mart' on Edgebrook?

'Mad' Drive-in on Shaver, across from South Houston High School?

Burger Mart on Edgebrook . I was raised in Freeway Manor and remember when Edgebrook was extended to the Gulf Freeway .Must have been around 1960 or 61. Burger Mart was the very first business to go up . We kids were so excited . We all wondered what Icees were .

Anyone recall the old hamburger restaurant located on the outskirts of the Texas Medical Center called Blue Heaven Big Burger? I believe the address was 3134 Old Spanish Trail. 

Both are interesting books. The Man With the Candy ridicules Houston and its residents too much for my tastes.

Maybe so , but the Man with the Candy has a great chapter describing the old pre-1980s Heights . Many forget that before the Heights was gentrified and yuppied up in the 80s it was a low-income white redneck neighborhood .

To this day, the murders of Fred and Edwina Rogers remains Houston's bloodiest and most sensational unsolved mystery. Countless stories have been written about it, and it's even spilled over into the netherworld of Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy Lunacy. Some of those moonbats believe the suspected killer, Charles Rogers, was one of Kennedy's assassins.

Check this out. http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/spe...eory/knoll.html

Here's another site with everything you ever wanted to know about this story.

http://iceboxmurders.com/

The Rogers family lived at 1815 Driscoll St., which is in the Hyde Park section of the Montrose area, east of South Shepherd and south of West Gray behind the River Oaks Shopping Center. Check page 492-R of your handy Key Map. I wonder if the house is still there, and if it is, if the current resident knows what happened there 41 years ago.

I recently found and reread my old copy of The Man on the Grassy Knoll. The book is out of print but copies are still available on Amazon . The first half of the book provides a chilling and detailed account of the Rogers murders. Its only in the second half that the authors go off into the ozone trying to connect Charles Rogers to the Kennedy asassination. Even then it works as a suspense novel . There is lots of references to places , addresses and businesses from the old "lost " Houston of the 50's and 60's . Any regular visitor to this Historic Houston forum might want to check it out .