northbeaumont

unfortunately, the theater is not only long gone, but wasn't left with much inside from its days as a porn-type-place.

http://www.arch-ive.org/santarosa/

Yes, I can remember porn movie ads that said: "Hot, Blistering, Sizzling, Sex-Action!"

Are you saying that Howard Johnson's was the first ice cream shop in Houston? I don't think so. I remember the Rettig's shops from the early 40's. There was one on the SE corner of Main and Elgin, near where I lived at that time. The Rettig's factory was near downtown, not far from the YMCA. They may have existed before that, but that's the earliest I remember.

I think I read that it was in the 1920s that Howard Johnson's was the one who sold so many different flavors of ice cream, I think 25. The Baskin Robbins came out with 30-something. How many possible different flavors could be invented?

Good Evening;

Yes I remember the Don Gordon. I saw "Cleopatra Jones" as a double bill with "Enter the Dragon" back in the early seventies. Before that I saw another double bill at the old Santa Rosa on Telephone. They are in the process of tearing it down. I snapped a few digi-pics of the exterior and, against my better judgement, I gained entry through a non-existent door.

For more picture go here:

http://houstonolddays.blogspot.com/

It appears that all of the seats were taken out of the Santa Rosa long before it was demolished. I would think that was done to install them in another movie theatre. I wonder how many dried-up boogers and pieces of sticky chewing gum was found underneath them?

This building is simply to die for. I presume, in the grand Houston tradition, that it has been torn down. Where was it?

I didn't know that Kroger was big in Houston. Today's Chronicle says that Wal-Mart Supercenter has surpassed Kroger in market-share. I thought that Randall's and H.E.B. Pantry were the two most popular supermarkets in Houston.

The very idea is absurd.

Yes, you'd be doing a "ball buster" anytime you jumped or dove off of the diving board.

Well, I know that not everyone in The Woodlands makes six figures and lives in a MacMansion. There are regular earners there as well (probably their dirty little secret, but there .. .it's out in the open now).

Also if you do a search for properties there, there are many house in the $150,000 or less range (certainly attainable by many). In fact, I just checked HAR and there are 20 pages worth of those kinds of homes.

Don't let TW folks sell you on that luxury lifestyle.

Does San Antonio have a suburb city equivalent to Houston's The Woodlands?

No, there's a Spring Branch ISD.

http://www.springbranchisd.com/

The current high schools are Memorial, Northbrook, Spring Woods and Stratford. Spring Branch and Westchester were converted to magnet schools.

Wow! The suburbs of Houston are bigger than I thought. Spring Branch has that many schools? Someone on this forum said that Cypress had several high schools.

What is a "magnet" school?

Hey!

I know several people that live in TW and they are not all rich! ... although many of them ARE snobs.

My income is below the poverty level. I don't think I could act like a snob even if I tried to. I couldn't live in a place like The Woodlands unless I won a lottery. And they wouldn't want me there because I would be nouveau riche.

The Woodlands will never be a part of Houston. This was already said a while ago on this forum. The Woodlands will become its own city in ten years.

What are those rich snobs waiting for?

I could swear there was a National Shirt Shop there

and I know there was a J R Riggings mens clothing store at the center. The display windows were extended out as in that good photo and were elevated up so that passerby's could get a good view of all the latest Disco style clothes! Ha, ha, ha, ha... Staying alive!

Oh man, now I can picture the Kinney Shoes windows with the 3 inch (Stacy Adam's) men's platform shoes. Torture but if you didn't own some, you were a sap. Try dancing in them. Killer

Yes, when I was in high school back in the 1970s, the high heel was in vogue. But I remember the heel being high, not the sole (I was always a "heel" back in high school; I had many "arch" enemies).

I saw a pair of two-tone Giorgio Brutini shoes on ShoeBuy.com I'd like to buy that looks like those (without the elevation, of course).

Yeah, that's the one. They still love America out in West Texas. I miss the old Brazos Drive-in Theater just outside of Seymour, Texas.

The Brazos Drive-in opened back in 1952. It's hard to believe that it's been operating for over 50 years.

OU = University of Oklahoma

Is Spring Branch HS in HISD or in its own district?

you must be talkin early to mid 60's?

Yes, I think the song title was some kind of a Latin name.

I grew up very near the Decker drive-in in Baytown. Originally, it had one screen that faced away from Decker Drive (now Spur 330). Sometime about 1974-76, they added the second screen. I clearly recall becoming bored with Island of Doctor Moreau and turning around to watch Corvette Summer. I also recall seeing Bonnie And Clyde at the Decker.

Last spring, on our way home from Canyon, Texas we drove through Quitaque (kitta-kaye), Texas and were stunned to see an honest-to-goodness functioning drive-in movie theater out off the highway. God bless West Texas!

I also recall the infamous Red Bluff Drive-in and its XXX fare. Just across the highway was the Capitan which I distinctly recall advertising Deep Throat by spray painting the title on a bed sheet and hanging it over the marquee. Just tacky, as my mom would say.The Decker actually showed X-rated films once or twice as well as European "art" flicks that were sure to flash flesh a time or two.

I tried to upload photos of the Red Bluff, Airline, Epsom, McClendon, Post Oak and Hempsted but I kept getting a message which said that they were too large. So I uploaded them on their individual entries on Drive-Ins.com. When you look at Post Oak, you'll see Dinky the Duck. You also see the charred remains of the Hempsted.

Dont recall if a Sinclair as there were so many refineries around, sadly what does stand out was the KKK headquarters hall nearby. We used to trip out seeing it as you passed by. Big sign proudly displayed on top. New topic for sure.

The KKK are nothing but a bunch of sheetheads.

Wow. You just continue to amaze. Firstly, whether the "south sides" of any city/metro are "undesirable" is simply a matter of coincidence, please don't assert it as some type of consonant.

Your comment wasn't about total growth numbers since 2000. You said x metro was growing faster than San Antonio. I simply clarified it by saying both metros have been going by switching positions in terms of growth (for the last few years). Nothing to "disagree" with when it's clearly simply facts.e

Well, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown lived on the south side of Chicago, didn't he?

What prevents Dallas from annexing like Houston has done? Can't Big D annex like Houston did with Kingwood (and from what I'm hearing) soon to also be Atascocita.

Someone else on this forum said that a city cannot annex an incorporated area. I wonder if The Woodlands will someday be part of Houston?

Kingwood was never a city.

That's probably why it was annexed. A city is incorporated with a charter.

I grew up very near the Decker drive-in in Baytown. Originally, it had one screen that faced away from Decker Drive (now Spur 330). Sometime about 1974-76, they added the second screen. I clearly recall becoming bored with Island of Doctor Moreau and turning around to watch Corvette Summer. I also recall seeing Bonnie And Clyde at the Decker.

Last spring, on our way home from Canyon, Texas we drove through Quitaque (kitta-kaye), Texas and were stunned to see an honest-to-goodness functioning drive-in movie theater out off the highway. God bless West Texas!

I also recall the infamous Red Bluff Drive-in and its XXX fare. Just across the highway was the Capitan which I distinctly recall advertising Deep Throat by spray painting the title on a bed sheet and hanging it over the marquee. Just tacky, as my mom would say.The Decker actually showed X-rated films once or twice as well as European "art" flicks that were sure to flash flesh a time or two.

Was the Red Bluff near a Sinclair oil refinery?

This building is simply to die for. I presume, in the grand Houston tradition, that it has been torn down. Where was it?

I remember the speakers in Weingarten's would always play the same song. I'm thinking it was called "Desafinado." Maybe I'm wrong. Someone out there might know the name of that song.

Someone asked about a store called Grant's about a week or two ago. You can see one on the right hand part of this photo.

I remember businesses close together like these had distinctive smells. Newberry's had a popcorn smell. Thom McAn had a leather smell. Five & Dime stores like Grant's had the smell of cheap items. And if you walked past or into a bowling alley, you could smell hamburgers & beer, and you'd hear the distinctive sound of the balls rolling on the wooden floor, and the clatter of the pins falling down.

Another Santa Rosa Mishap (1971 or 72): My brother took a date to the Santa Rosa in the early 70's to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show or maybe it was a Frank Zappa movie. Anyway, he and his date were sitting in one of those oversized aisle seats when plaster from the ceiling started falling in their laps. Needless to say they left before the feature was over.

Are you sure that it was plaster in their laps?

Were they the Tabor brothers? Phil and Paul?

Spring Branch produced a bunch of good football players most of whom went to UT: Chris Gilbert, Donnie Wiggington, Mike Luck. Former OU coach Gary Gibbs played there.

Yes, I remembered their last name after I posted the question. What's "OU?"

My brother in law was a Bellaire Policeman and did a lot of work for Mr. Melcher. He occasionally acted as a secret shopper to make sure the U-Totem people rang up their sales correctly and he often followed the cash pick up car from store to store. The money went through a slot into the trunk of the car and the trunk lid was welded closed.

I have a great picture of what I believe may be the first U-Totem. It's poster sized , about 14"x24". Written on the back in pencil it says #1. My $59.95 scanner can't handle it. I took a photo of it but can't figure out how to post it. If any one wants to post it, I'll email it to them. Let me know.

In the movie "Scent of a Woman," Al Pacino spoke derisively of convenience stores as places that "sell nachos to hayseeds."

Dallas is surrounded by ever expanding incorporated municipalities. People are rapidly moving to the brand spanking new (soulless) 'burbs.

Yes, you're right. I looked at the road maps of San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas. Dallas is surrounded by suburbs on all sides, so it can't grow geographically. San Antonio and Houston have plenty of unincorporated land around them so that they would be able to expand their respective cities. If like you said, Big D is experiencing "white flight," then its population would also shrink. Who knows? Maybe in due time Austin will become the third largest city in Texas.

Was this a streetcar of some kind?

Now a jingle just popped into my head after over 30 years:

"Certified premium quality, Lone STAR Beer!"

I hope you're more butch now!

Kidding...just kidding...

What is "butch?" I've heard that word applied to mannish women. How do you mean it?

I got that line from a record by Homer & Jethro. In the song, a guy in Egypt had a job building a pyramid. His girlfriend left him for the Pharoah. So he went inside the pyramid, and he "crept into the crypt and cried."

• Size: 22-acres; 1.2 million square feet
  
• Location: North of downtown
  
• Details: Redevelopment of old Pearl Brewery to include a mix of residential, retail, office and work.
  

• Currently the new Pearl is home to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), Aveda Institute, two restaurants and some residential units are now for sale.
  

Much more is planned for the Pearl.

www.PearlBrewery.com

The last time I was in San Antonio was 1972. I remember seeing a Pearl Brewery, but I thought that it was on IH-10. I didn't know that Pearl was still on the market. Is Lone Star beer still made? I thought that its brewery was also in San Antonio.