J W

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 .

....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 .

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 .

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 .

I know this post is dormant, but I felt compelled to mention that I graduated from St. Christpher's (8th grade, that is) in 1983.

J W, if you happen to read this, you might like to know that "St. Chris" is still there. You might be mis-remembering the address; the church isn't right at the intersection of the freeway and Park Place, it's actually a couple of blocks NE on Park Place. Their website is here: http://www.stchristopherhouston.org/index.htm

Yes I know the school by the church ( went there from 58-61) , but talk to some real old-timers at the parish and they will tell you that the church once owned property at the southwest corner of Park Place and Gulf Freeway . In fact , that was the original site of the church . Up until about 1958 part of the parish school was also on that corner . I know , I went to Ist and 2nd grade there in 56-57.

Read the Church's history on their website. It explains that the construction of the Gulf Freeway forced the parish to move to the present site.

Fulton was East Montgomery Road

Airline was State Highway 75

Jensen was State Highway 35

Allen Parkway was Buffalo Dr.

The I-10/I-45 merge was formerly White Oak Dr.

The Woodlands of 1940 !

He may have been referring to the apartments along Airline/Dyna/Goodson.

I taught school at Nimitz in the early eighties. Until around 86 it was pretty much a white suburban school. I remember the buses each morning pulling in with the kids from Acres Homes . The explosion of apartments in Greenspoint had altered the demographics by 1987 and the busing was stopped.

Yep, the island was on South Main, around where all of the flower places are now I think.

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The original name was Paradise Island . Patrons simple called it the Island . It was supposedly a struggling Latino bar when around 1977 a local group of punk rock promoters convinced the owner he could draw new customers by booking live bands . It think it lasted until around 83 or 84 .

Bert Lynn's Music Shop was on Park Place near Telephone in a shopping center not too far from the Santa Rosa Theater. In 1964 my dad bought me my first electric guitar and amp from Lynn's . Still got that amp.

Broadway and Park Place , Their big Wagonmaster burger on a poppy-seed bun was truly food for the gods !

My dad ,whose 80, is an old Bob Wills fan . He says from the of the war to around 1955 Wills played at End of Main alot . If your thinkin later , it could be Regal Ranch in Stafford. Wills played there ever so often until the late sixties .

We need to start another post on old Houston CW dancehalls and honky-tonks .

Not sure if any one has asked about Gaido's Seafood on South Main. I can swear we used to drive past it everytime we would go to the McClendon Triple Theater.

Gaido's had that giant shrimp packing 2 pistols and a cowboy hat right? There must be a photo of it somewhere, if someone has can you please post? and what were the cross streets?

It was so cool I always wanted to take it home. Only in Texas!

That wasnt Gaidos . It was Christie's . it closed in the late 90's . I think the big shrimp was auctioned off .

Anyone remember or better yet was an allumni of St Christopher's Catholic school , located on the Gulf Freeway at Park Place . I went there from 56 to 58 . It was already an old building back then . It was demolished around 1960 or so . And yes the nuns were tough !

I remember an orphanage on the Gulf Freeway also. It was called "Dyer Home" and was on the east side of the freeway near the Old Choate Rd. overpass, now Scarsdale (I think). It went away in the mid 60's. It was

pretty stark looking architecturally, nothing like Bayland on Chimney Rock or the Harris County Boys Home

on NASA Rd. 1.

Thanks plumber 2 . I had accepted Filio's earlier theory that what I had remembered was actually the HC Home for Boys in Clear Lake . But , even though I was just a kid , my memory was of one on the Gulf Freeway . We lived in the Edgebrook / Freeway Manor area . So the Scarsdale location would be about right .

In the late 50s , I remember a large orphanage on the way to Galveston . I was eight or nine and my Cub Scout group would go there sometime to bring gifts to the kids etc. . Of course I remember it as a big , gloomy place . Where exactly was this building? Old Galveston rd. or Gulf Freeway ? When did it stop being an orphanage ?