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Vertigo58

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  1. Vertigo58
    I only know that about 2 years ago they were supposed to build a huge beautiful modern skyscraper either there or next door on Main/Texas. Last I heard plans were scrapped red tape, etc. What a shame, it looked really fantastic. There was even a trailor there with the representatives to answer questions about rentals. I bet the Houston Downtown Alliance knows whats up. www.downtownhouston.org
  2. Vertigo58
    San Jacinto must have closed in very early 80's. Our homeroom teacher took our whole graduating class "79" to have dinner there as a last farewell. I am glad I took my "Pronto" instamatic camera and have great clear photos of us horsing around on the long balcony and in front with the place in the background. Unfortunately shortly after our visit it burned to the ground. Then later came the Monument Inn if memory serves well. The seafood was out of this world! Yummy!
  3. Vertigo58
    Over on Chenevert st? on the same corner where Irma's Mexican restaraunt now stands used to be a totally cool Punk Club called "Cabaret Voltaire". Cabaret was around from about 1980 to about 1984 I think then finally was forced to be shut down (wonder why). The fuzz gave everyone such a hard time. Houston just couldn't cope with this British hardcore type of thrashing what else. They used to feature some really wild and popular punk bands, they pretty much rivaled "Consolidated Arts Warehouse" which was another cool place to hang out in the early 80's. CAW was next to where Chelsea Place is over on Montrose. One night the news was on and they were televising a huge fire and my little sister said ...Hey isn't that where you hang out? What! CAW burned to cinders! Cabaret Voltaire still hung around for a good while until the new wave/punk scene sort of fizzled out. Mowhaks and spiked colored hair slowly went away. I'll never forget one night Suicidal Tendencies was playing when some girl flew in the air & landed smack on my head! Ouch! still hurts when I think about it! Slam dancing was the Rage now its just called "jumping into the mosh pit". I would probably end up in IC unit. We used to meet so many funny and crazy people with similar interests in music. If anyone has a photo please add? So much for HouSton's PunK RocK scene... Good ol days...
  4. Vertigo58
    The very idea of Dean Martin taking the helm in a car race is bizarre! Wonder how many curbs he hit!? DUI on a broadscale for sure! Too funny!
  5. Vertigo58
    The building is still there only it has been Number's Nightclub for over 25 years. I always thought that Million dollar dump was for a crowd comfortable with the Montrose area? Wonder why in the world Cheech & Chong would be there? Unless they were totally amiss to the surroundings? Oh well could have been the bong... Maybe this thread should be moved to Neighborhoods in Houston-Monstrose? just a suggestion?
  6. Vertigo58
    What a small world it is. The Pan American was a showcase for the local near Northside area. I have older relatives that either played in orchestras and or bands there during the late 1940's and 50 and some in the 60' thru 70's. The PA as it was called rivaled the Stardust Ballroom over on Fulton my much older cousins ran that place for a long time until they finally called it quits. My mom says that the P.A. as it was known was once a very prominent and high class place back when. People really dressed up to go there. I have some photos of my big sister on the outside circa 1962. I also have many photos of The Stardust Ballroom on inside. That was a much bigger place and became a more focal point as the PA was going downhill by the 1970's. They finally had to demolish both of them because of deglect and disrepair. The only reminder left is the Poppa Burger joint across the street and it will soon disappear as the rail enters. My aunt ran that place for over 20 years. Most is just a memory now. Glad you brought this up!
  7. Vertigo58
    We have plenty of the 72 snow too from East End that is. Our snowman was pretty beat up had grit on the sides looked like Pig-Pen from Peanuts. We had a motorized mini-bike to skid around in. At school (Rufus Cage) we all threw snowballs at each other at the teacher too! There's a good photo of me catching snow flakes with my tongue. Glad we had a camera handy!
  8. Vertigo58
    Job well done, pretty much summed it all up I must say! I still think it's ashamed the city progressed west and left this a barren waste land. At least not a very profitable and inhabitable one. (Speaking for east side of OST towards MacGregor area) Unless Donald Trump comes to the rescue and builds a mega-casino?
  9. Vertigo58
    Not sure who may remember, but I know for a fact that at Foley's downtown they used to give you a FREE poster to the concert you had just bought tickets for. I saved a few. I know I have Boston & Black Sabbath for sure 76. The ones that would be of real interest are when several bands would tour at once in a group. For example: Rock N Roll Marathon 77' featured Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath & Humble Pie. I still can't believe Peter Frampton did his free concert at Miller Outdoor that summer & free beer?! Outrageous! There were too many freaks to count! We can't forget U of H Main campus had great shows ie: Iron Butterfly, The Tubes. Then the Jeppeson Stadium next door had some wild concerts as well ie: The Eagles - Hotel California Tour, Pink Floyds - The Wall tour, man that one took the cake! The heavy rain made it even more surreal. We were lucky, all we had to do was gather all the long - haired, hippies we knew in the neighborhood & stroll across the frwy to the campus. Barefoot and all. We thought we were in Woodstock - Houston!
  10. Vertigo58
    Yeah, I only remember it as The Shamrock 6 Theaters. I can't stop thinking of all the movies we saw there. Stepford Wives, Gumball Rally, Deathrace 2000, etc. Nostalgia trip.
  11. Vertigo58
    Take a look at the thread I did on East End mansions and East End Structures now gone. That will leave you reeling. My fav in that book is the 3 story home/tower that has elaborate roof detail, and a porte corche which was as the book describes becoming quite fashionable/de riguer in Victorian society. Was torn down for a tire shop. Gotta love it. On a happier note I am glad to say that I am recreating/restoring my home to resemble one of these beauties. Gingerbread, bargeboards even with a High Gothic/Victorian Gazebo strait out of historical renderings circa 1880's.
  12. Vertigo58
    Not really, but since we are on the subject of OST, and again I dont know if anyone has a post on this, but OST must have had a surge in popularity at one time. If someone from the area or a good historian can divulge OST's beginnings. There are only vague reminders of swank nightclubs, movie theaters, cool designed motels (like the Tee Pee & The Alamo styled ones) and lots of old restaurants. The boulevard was wide and spacious so it could have been fantastic for development. It is a real shame that the city apparently went West? and this area was left high and dry. The numerous old hotels must have gone up before the Astrodome was opened so OST was the place to be for some reason? There are several websites out there but none speak specifically of the Houston section of OST and the nightlife. I saw a couple of photos somewhere that showed celebrities like Bob Hope attending grand openings of some popular dance club that featured heavy set women. My mom said that was the rage because the women were heavy but pretty (1940's). Drive down OST towards the U of H/MacGregor area and then turn back west and see what a beautiful scene it must have been especially when the sun is setting. More than likely people that stayed at the old Shamrock Hotel would venture east too? not just north and south Main? There is still an old BIG movie theater standing now a gospel revival place but I do remember when it was showing mostly movies like Shaft & Blacula. Sevfiv can you provide a photo??? Tks Wait! ...Lets try this! http://cinematreasures.org/theater/12116/
  13. Vertigo58
    The highlight of that event was seeing the performances of those girl drum and bugle corps drill teams like the Reagan Redcoats, Bellaire Belles, and especially Austin Brigade with their kilts and bagpipes. Those drill teams are long gone. I think you mean the Stephen F. Austin/Mustangs Scottish Brigade right? 1979 was about the last time they wrapped it up. Was kind of cool seeing them walk past my house over the years all dressed up plaid skirts/berets and bagpipes. One girl I remember was a dead ringer for Marsha Brady. We were just blocks away from the school and we could always hear the bagpipes practicing from our backyard. We would always hear the band playing songs like "Apollo 100", Hot Butter Popcorn" & "I'm Your friendly Stranger in a Black Sedan". Your right another distant memory.
  14. Vertigo58
  15. Vertigo58
    There is no decent place to hear concerts anymore. All we have is Cynthia Woods and the Toyota Center. Correct you are! Cynthia Woods is a pretty bad embarrasment to our city. If you think its bad now, summer time is the pits. By the time you walk from your car to the venue your covered in sweat. Not a pleasant feeling in company. Entrance is like going through customs. Even grandmas are being frisked. That place was plain bad planning incarnate. Worse, they added a tall concrete Berlin-like wall all around to block from coming or going. Chills. Music Hall was the coolest of the cool!
  16. Vertigo58
    That link was perfect! (and everyone elses additional notes) My big sister was lucky enough to see the Fab 4 there early 60's. I got to see everything from mid 70's rock stars to early 80's groups like Devo, B-52s at Music Hall. Glory days for sure.
  17. Vertigo58
    I tried to search past topics and thought for sure these were covered so unless I am mistaken so can someone please fill in the blanks? 1. Were the Coliseum & Music Hall built as one or rather in unison to compliment each other? 2. Built what year/years? and demolished? 3. Is there any documentation that could indicate which performers played there? I know for sure I went to Ringling Bros/Barnum circus at the Coliseum around 1966 as a child. It seemed like Disneyland, only inside. First Rock Concert 1976 saw Boston w/Styx and too many after that to name. Glad I saved my ticket stubs. My mom told me she saw Frank Sinatra twice when the Music Hall was quite new. Frank's bobby-soxer era so it must have been way back.
  18. Vertigo58
    Just found this old message. We used to always to to Italian Beef House I miss those delicious sandwiches so much! I used to load the parmeson cheese big time! There was that peculiar little bar on the top level. I was too young to hang out there but yep miss that place bad, which is just as well because they would have turned it into another Mexican eaterie. last thing that area needs. On a happier note I am glad I filmed the Coca-Cola sign above it on 8mm! and at night so it really sparkled. For those unfamiliar, that Coke sign was humongous! and dazzled the nightskies for years. When it was turned off the area was headed downhill. That was the 1st sign pardon the pun!
  19. Vertigo58
    It is interesting to see how others around the world strive for the same goals to save history. Charles Pugin, architectural draughtsman and topographical watercolourist, is arguably the greatest British architect, designer and writer of the nineteenth century. See this memo from The Pugin Society in England. (below) The Chapel, Inglewood House, Kintbury, Berkshire See here a few photographs of this most unusual structure (by member Peter Blacklock). The tiles (1) High Altar (2) and stained glass (3) are all essentially Puginesque, and so also, to some extent, is the fine Walmesley Memorial screen (4). The exterior (5), however, is a puzzle, with classical embellishments of a distinctly non-Pugin kind. Although it is recorded emphaticially that the chapel was moved "stone by stone, by canal barge", from the former home of the Walmesley family at Westwood House, near Wigan, is it possible that only some of the fabric was transferred, and that some alteration to the exterior may have taken place at Inglewood? THIS CHAPEL IS CURRENTLY IN GRAVE DANGER OF DEMOLITION. NEWSFLASH The Society greatly regrets to have to inform all readers of this page that just before Christmas 2006 nearly all the interior fittings from this important building were removed, so that when Inspectors from English Heritage visited the chapel, with a view to a speedy spot-listing following the Society's application, the building, although itself still standing (then), no longer fulfilled the criteria for listing. Inglewood is now a lost cause. We understand that the fittings have been given to reasonably good and appreciative homes, but the whole episode is still deeply disturbing.
  20. Vertigo58
    Chase Tower is now on that spot I am almost certain, but I now wonder if anyone knows what those old buildings (being torn down) used to house? I cant remember.
  21. Vertigo58
    I still think 288 alone is one of the best freeways in and out of Downtown. What they need to do now is remove those ridiculous pine trees they planted in the center over a year ago. Sooner or later they are going to have to use that center area for lane expansion. Cars will crash into them anyway as they have been doing on 45 south except they are palm trees getting mowed down. 288 is so wide and has lots of potential for more widening/metro/rail. This city is growing so fast that 16 lane freeways won't be far away. Like the 405 San Diego and Santa Monica FRWY in Los Angeles. Sooner or later we will see a rail going out to Pearland. Just like the BART system in SFO. There still is a clean slate/time to start planning. I foresee all that retail there now like Target, Penney's and Home Depot being moved maybe not tomorrow but in next 10-15 yrs. Developers/Strategists have their work cut out for them.
  22. Vertigo58
    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!
  23. Vertigo58
    There is a house I used to pass by many times as a teenager and it's still there! Corner of Caroline and Oakdale. This house always stood out to me because it looks like one you would see in Amsterdam or Denmark. I call it the Anne Frank house as it looks so much like the one from the 1959 film. Check it out before its gone! It is 5 yes 5 stories high and is used as a apartment house. In fact there is presently a vacancy. The windows are the long to the floor type so you can't help but see inside and it looks even more dated which what makes it cool. Has light brown plaster siding and is a bit on a high grading. One day I want to ask to see the apt just for curiosity's sake. The builders must have been European as it must have been built in the 1920-30's. You can see the 5th floor loft at night quite clearly, must have a great view. Sure wish I could interview one of the older tenants as to its history.
  24. Vertigo58
    This scary incident shocked 1973 Houston... NEW BOSTON, Texas - Although it's been more than 30 years, many people still remember the serial murders of 26 boys in the Houston area. Elmer Wayne Henley was convicted of six of the murders. Now he is known as one of the state's most notorious killers. It was an older man, Dean Corll, who convinced a young Elmer Wayne Henley to seek out victims for murder. Before it was over, 26 young boys were murdered in the Houston area in the 1970's. The crimes are now even hideous to one of the convicted killers. Dean Corll's home (courtesy Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library)
  25. Vertigo58
    Our phone # (in the 60's) was OR 36370 and I still never forget it. Which is weird because I was only about 6-7 years old when we moved and it changed but to this day I remember it. Of course the phone was a black very heavy rotary. I still remember how my finger would hurt from dialing. There was a very popular song in that day too that was called " and my number is Beechwood 45789 and you can call me up for a date any old time".
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