northbeaumont

That might be Winnie. If you go 60 miles east on IH-10 from Houston, you'll come to the Winnie exit which is both Texas Highways 124 and 73. 124 goes north to Beaumont; 73 goes east to Port Arthur. I assume that photo was taken before IH-10 was built. If it was then 73 might have been the highway that went from Winnie to Houston back then, and 124 from Winnie to Beaumont. IH-10 replaced U.S. Highway 90. But the route of that highway going through Dayton and Liberty is the same today as it was way back then. So without a map from back then to look at, it would be safe to conjecture that if someone in Houston back then wanted to go to Beaumont, they would have taken U.S. 90 and 73 might have been the highway someone wanting to go to Port Arthur would have taken. Today 73 starts at Winnie, then goes through Port Arthur, then it merges with Texas Highway 87, then it goes up through Bridge City, then it merges with Texas Highway 62 and it ends at IH-10 in Orange. It makes a "loop," starting at IH-10 in Winnie and coming back out at IH-10 in Orange. 124 is fairly short, simply ending at U.S. Highway 69 in Beaumont.

My uncle told me that all of those homeless camps were always overflowing with empty beer cans. Did the residents of those "camps" panhandle on street corners during the day for beer money?

Is Prince's a chain in Houston?

Wow! Pasadena is a lot bigger than I thought. On 5atexasfootball.com, it lists Pasadena HS, Pasadena South Houston HS, Pasadena Rayburn HS, Pasadena Memorial HS, and Pasadena Dobie HS. That's five high schools in a suburb. But then again maybe there's something I don't know. I mean, for example, Garland is a big suburb of Dallas. It might have just as many high schools as Pasadena does.

Did this movie theatre experience the same fate as the Santa Rosa?

You come up with stuff just as fast (if not faster) than Subdude does. My dad always said that Tom Jones was a loudmouth.

Many years ago there was a TV talk show in Houston called Morris Frank. Does anyone remember it?

It's not unusual, Tom Jones.

There was a lounge in the 1950s called Playgirl Lounge located at 1302 Old Spanish Trail. Does anyone recall this place? I'm looking for pictures. Thanks

Oh, yes, I remember well the coat hangers and the aluminum foil, trying to get the "snow" off of the screen. I also remember the adjustment knob we had to use the most was "verticle," because many times the screen would go haywire. We seldom used "contrast" and "brightness." Yes, my 67-year-old mother complains about kids saying inside playing video games and staying on the Internet. She always says that she and her siblings were always outside playing with the other kids in the neighborhood. I told her to be honest. It's because not only were there no video games back then, but she was 12 when her family got their first TV. She lived in Port Arthur, and the only TV stations were 90 miles west in Houston. She said that they had to watch a lot of "snow." She reluctantly admitted that if TV and Atari had existed back then that she and the others would have been inside, eating junk food and becoming obese.

What is meant by digitizing photos? Does that mean that anyone can log on to libraryofcongress.gov, enter a subject, and post any photo that we find? That place would surely have a lot of Houston photos for you to post.

Wasn't Mr. Peabody the one who had the "wayback" machine?

It's hard to tell if there are the automated machines that pickup the bowling pins. It looks like there's something in the middle that might return the bowling balls. I count eight lanes.

40, 50 years ago was a much simpler time. Most people had black & white TVs. They would simply turn them on then sit down and watch. No programming, color adjusting, etc. Yes, someone had to get up to change the channel, which caused arguing. But the remote control causes just as much bickering today.

That looks like a ghost town compared to today.

I'd like to go down there. I thought you were talking about car tunnels. Have any of you walked down there?

That's me in the second row in the bottom left hand corner, sixth from the left.

Yes, about the most "dangerous" toy you could get was a cowboy six-shooter that you loaded a roll of popping caps into it. How could you harm yourself with Silly Putty?

I don't have cable or a dish. I just turn the TV on and adjust the antenna. So, you're saying that I'll have to buy some kind of a box and connect it to my TV? When that goes into effect, what will happens if I turn my TV on? Will it have no picture or no sound or none of either? But are you saying that if, at that time, I buy cable or a dish, I won't have to get one of those boxes?

Outsouring really irritates me. Everytime I call Tracfone to ask about my cell phone service, it's someone overseas. Same thing when I call TransUnion to ask about my credit record.

I still don't fully understand exactly what I read is going to happen in February 2009 about TVs becoming high definition. Does it mean that the TVs that I now have won't work at all unless I buy one of those boxes that I heard that everyone will have to have?

I remember back in the 1970s Gibson Department Store on Saturday's would "rope off" some items not to be sold on that day but on Sunday. Go figure.

Why doesn't HPD simply outsource that job to somewhere in India? Almost everyplace in the U.S. is doing that.

Looking at the TV section of the Chronicle, I counted 16 station that I assume are regular network (free) reception. Tell me if I'm right or wrong. Up to channel 13, you would watch VHS, and those other channels (14 through 67) you would watch on UHF? I'm thinking that's the way that it works because doesn't the UHF dial go up to channel 80-something?

Did he just rob it?