Jump to content

EspersonBuildings

Full Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    129

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by EspersonBuildings

  1. EspersonBuildings
    Oh how embarrassingly true! I am a native Houstonian who lived in New York City for 13 years and once made the mistake of blurting out the word "washeteria" I was laughed at and mocked for days and called a hick! Never EVER again did I use the word washeteria. The word for me from that point on was "laundrymat"
  2. EspersonBuildings
    plumber2, I have ALWAYS wondered that myself! For about 30 years I never understood that!
  3. EspersonBuildings
    It looks like it could VERY WELL be Contemporary Learning Center (1906 Cleburne), formerly Miller Junior High formerly Johnston Junior High.
  4. EspersonBuildings
    They need to rebuild Rusk with concrete like McKinney & Lamar. The stretch between Main and Fannin is in horrible condition..........asphalt on top of asphalt on top of asphalt. It will only stand out even more with a shiny new tower facing it.
  5. EspersonBuildings
    With all the talk about Wyatts, Picadilli, DinnerBell, etc, I have to ask does anyone remember LC Cafteria in the basement level of the old San Jacinto Building? Or even better, some photos would be awesome! I remember you could enter through an outdoor escalator on the Main & Walker side. You could also enter through doors which led to an indoor escalator on the Travis & Walker side. I seem to recall a big markee visible while going down the outdoor escalator reading "Entering Houston's Most Beautiful Cafeteria" or something like that. I left downtown Houston in 1985 for New York but came back in 1998. By this time it was an buffet style "all you can eat" with only the Travis side open. Although not quite the same, dining there gave me a sense of nostaglia. I remember when I was little, it seemed huge! Some indoor photos would also be awesome!
  6. EspersonBuildings
    The public mens room (not sure about the ladies room) in either the Niels or Mellie Esperson building has the same feature. It is located inside the stairwell.
  7. EspersonBuildings
    It orginally had four screens. Years later two more screens were added. I don't think any of the other screens were split up because I remember the building actually expanding.
  8. EspersonBuildings
    The structure was built in 1925 as Albert Sydney Johnston Junior High School. Sometime during the 1950's (when the current Johnston on Manhattan was built) it became William E. Miller Junior High. In the 1970's it became The Contemporary Learning Center High School which occupied the 1st and 2nd floors, the 3rd floor was called Staff Development. Contemporary Learning Center Middle School was at 4100 Chartress (the corner of Chartress and Cleburne) in temporary buildings. Around 1980 the middle schoold moved into the third floor of the 1925 structure and CLC had both it's middle and high schools in the same building. I believe today it is also used as CLC night school. I attended the middle school in 1977-78 (8th grade) and the high school in 1978-79 (9th grade).
  9. EspersonBuildings
    I worked downtown from 1983 until 1986. I moved to New York in 1986 and came back to Houston in 2000. I used to walk on Main Street daily from '83 until '86. While I do agree the block of Main on the then abandoned Rice Hotel was pretty disgusting, the rest of Main Street was still not bad at all. Upon my return in 2000, I was dissapointed and shocked at the transformation! The once prestgious Sakowitz store was now gutted and used as a garage?? The small jewlery stores (Main at Lamar for example) were now convenience stores where "undesirables" can buy their beer and then loiter the streets?? While, yes I do agree the light rail has helped some, there is still a long ways to go! I'm sorry, but Main Street is still seedy and disgusting, I'm sad to say. I'm hoping with the completion of the garage on the former site of the old San Jacinto Building (hopefully there will be ground floor retail), the consturction of the Pavilions, and American Aparel coming to the old Sakowitz building, Main Street may once again thrive the way it did 50 years ago.
  10. EspersonBuildings
    Aaaah, "The Loading Dock" I LOVED that place! In 1983, this was the first all male dance place I'd been to! What a blast it was! I'm still hopeful Venture Inn will reopen someday.
  11. EspersonBuildings
    I remember going there for a friends birthday party once. I also remember the jingle from their commercials!
  12. EspersonBuildings
    Cool pictures! What would also be cool is if they are any pictures out there of the old Almeda/Holmes Road underpass. Before the South Freeway was constructed, Almeda Road was Hwy 288. It always amazed me how old this underpass was. Used to be kind of spooky as a kid going under there because Almeda was already 4 lanes but the underpass was a narrow two lanes and already "weathered" (I'm talking the 1970's)
  13. EspersonBuildings
    I attended Montgomery Elementary from kindergarten through the 6th grade (1968-69 through 1974-75). Our school was built in 1960 and named after James Arlie Montgomery, a custodian at Poe who was killed in the explosion after saving some of the children. We even had a school song for the hero, Mr. Montgomery.
  14. EspersonBuildings
    If I'm not mistaken, you can also see the diagonal support beams on the Centerpoint Building at night. Kind of reminds me of the John Hancock Tower in Chicago.
  15. EspersonBuildings
    Great work from ALL of you! I really enjoyed ALL the photos
  16. EspersonBuildings
    Thanks!
  17. EspersonBuildings
    VH1 and MTV (both Viacom) are and ALWAYS were in New York City. Hit Video USA a.k.a. TV 5 Houston Hit Video had their office on the 35th floor of The Allied Bank Plaza in 1985. I remember VJ Greg Johnson very well. It was Channel 5 KO5HU and unless you lived inside the loop 610, the reception was not that great, the closer you were to downtown, the better picture you got. I was working across the street during Alicia at what was then Interfirst Plaza (now 1100 Louisiana/Enterprise Plaza). I can tell you that there were not nearly that many windows blown out as in "UrbaNerd"'s model. But I got to tell you Urba.........cool model! But have you been overhauled like The Lever House Building nmainguy? I used to work across the street from The Lever Bldg in NY at Park Avenue Plaza, now that's a cool atrium building.
  18. EspersonBuildings
    I've heard this too. More specificaly, the bldg was at the northeast corner of the block. Can someone tell me what this building was and why it could NOT be demolished.
  19. EspersonBuildings
    Yea, they kind of looked like funky upside down bowls. Agree, they were tacky but would rock in someones back yard! I hope, FOR YOUR SAKE, your sister does not lurk on this board!
  20. EspersonBuildings
    EXCELLENT PHOTOS!! Thank You (and especially thanks to your dad and granddad!)
  21. EspersonBuildings
    Now that would be cool!
  22. EspersonBuildings
  23. EspersonBuildings
    Yes, he is! That is a good question about why so many meterologist are gay. I lived in New York for many years and can tell you is is NOT a local thing, but indeed a national thing.
  24. EspersonBuildings
    He's at WCBS in New York City now.
  25. EspersonBuildings
    The NBC daytime soap opera "Texas" was set in Houston but taped in Brooklyn, New York. Their opening scenes showed The San Jacinto Monument, the Port of Houston and the downtown skyline. For a soap of that time, that did have some elaborate murals of the downtown skyline. They also did location shooting for the premier episode and often showed One Shell Plaza, known in the soap as the World Oil Building (to rival Ewing Oil from the primetime soap Dallas). One of their sets was the Top Of The World Club set on the 50th floor of One Shell Plaza. You could see a "World Building" plaque slapped on the outside of One Shell at it's entrance. Also there was a 1979 made for TV movie called "The Girls in the Office" staring Barbara Eden. This was set in Houston and I remember them showing downtown scenes, especially Pennzoil Place from the street up. This was pre Chase Tower, Williams Tower or Wells Fargo Plaza. One Shell Plaza was the tallest building at the time but Pennzoil Place was much more striking. PS -- The opening scenes of Reality Bites were filmed on top of Two Shell Plaza.
×
×
  • Create New...