northbeaumont

Recorded by Alan Sherman, circa 1962.

$46 was good money back in the 1950s. The women looked good. It's a shame that they're now grandmas. I'm pretty sure that the ratio of today's dollars would be around 10 to 1 to the dollars of back then. I could be wrong. My mom found a saving account passbook of her grandmother's dated 1944. At one point, she had a balance of $1400 that she earned ironing uniforms for the gas company (this was before permanent press). But she used it to pay for her funeral in advance over 20 years before she died. I saw a commercial on TV that said that a funeral today is about $6000. So I don't know what the actual money ratio between then and now is. That's why I've left my body to science. I don't want a funeral home or a cemetery to make any money off of my death.

I've never heard of Wise. Those look like the equivalent of Funyuns.

Less affluent areas? Those kind of signs are everywhere. People everywhere will get drunk, some will also drive and will then need a lawyer, then they'll have unprotected sex and they'll need a lawyer to fight a patrimony lawsuit. Then they'll wish they had gotten a vasectomy. Are billboards advertising those products and services really needed? People will always do those things with or without any signs to "prod" or "coax" them.

I used to know a guy who told me that swimming pools in Houston have a chemical added to the water that turns a dark purple color whenever someone urinates. The reason is that they want the people to get out of the pool and go to the restroom. Have any of you ever had that happen to you when you were swimming.

I guess that people have anything and everything to sell. I couldn't believe it when I saw my high school senior annual for sale on EBay. Well, I attended college at both Arkansas State University and at Southeastern Louisiana University. I have annuals from both of those places. Any buyers out there?

Yes, if people ate at IHOP on a regular basis, they be obese and have tooth decay. I see the commercials on TV. All of that calorie-loaded syrup, berries, and whipped cream certainly can't be healthy. I remember passing by but never stopping at Uncle John's Pancakes. I think Subdude said that it was on Old Spanish Trail. It must have been privately-owned, not a chain like IHOP, Waffle House, and Cracker Barrel.

That's why I never was a Boy Scout. Nobody could ever (and still can't) trust me to be loyal, helpful, friendly and obedient. I've always been a coward. I've always thrown money away. And I'm a filthy heathen (well, I'm reverent to Satan).

Someone wrote a letter in today's Houston Chronicle complaining about the billboards on IH-45. That person said that the interstates in Phoenix, Arizona have no billboards in the city limits.

Oh, I'll try anything at least once. I think I've seen Kettle brand somewhere. I've never heard of Cape Cod. Yes, the canned potato chips, Pringles and Lay's are different, the former being better to me. Those Lay's are harder and thicker. To me, there's too many different flavors of all kinds of potato and corn chips. I prefer regular Lay's and Frito's, not the barbecue, sour cream and onion, etc., that they also have. I'm not saying that Lance/Tom's/Morton's are bad. I'm just saying that you notice a "cheaper" taste in those compare to a name brand.

But I have noticed that snacks made by Morton's/Lance/Tom's do taste somewhat inferior to namebrands such as Lay's/Nabisco, etc. They've always been a good vending machine and convenience store snack. But I've learned that in most cases, you get what you pay for.

Well, tell me if I'm right or wrong: If cell phones become the norm, and landline phones aren't used anymore, will that mean that all telephone poles will be taken down? In Scotland, they have contests where men pickup telephone poles from the bottom, then lift and throw them upward. Many years ago an uncle of mine fell asleep at the wheel one night while he was driving and he ran into a telephone pole. He had to pay for it. Yes, people take and collect photos of many things. I take photos of headstones and post them on "findagrave.com." Telephone poles are OK. You can start a website called "telephonepoles.com" where people can post their photos of the "matchsticks" along the highways.

Did those same kind of indians live in southern California? Is that the reason why they also have a city named Pasadena? Yes, Conservatives call California "The Land of Fruit and Nuts." Maybe they also think that it smells like an armpit.

Excellent! He was much more popular that I thought. Yes, from over 40 years ago I remember the pre-cable/dish only network stations in Houston were KTRK (ABC, Channel 13), KHOU (CBS, Channel 11), and KPRC (Channel 2), and I think, but I'm not certain, that PBS was on Channel 8, but I don't remember the call letters. I'm just taking a guess, but would the "Baptists" that Morris Frank was referring to be Baylor? I could clearly see SMU and TCU. Oh, yes. The Southwest Conference. You had the name of every college in your head. You knew that they would alternate playing sites each year. And, yes, that b&w picture of the kids sitting in front of the b&w TV brings back memories.

Thanks for filling me in. As far back as I can personally remember, SH 73 ran for only 30 miles from Winnie to Port Arthur. But recently, it has been combined with SH 87 from Port Arthur and then through Bridge City. Then at where SH 62 begins, SH 73 is combined with it until the intersection with IH-10, then SH 62 continues north and SH 73 officially ends. I think that the reason why DOT did that was because both SH 73 and SH 87 have always gone to and through Port Arthur, and they wanted to show on IH-10 an exit that displayed a highway going to that city. SH 62 has always been at that interchange, but since SH 62 has always ended into SH 87 in Bridge City, DOT decided to merge/combine SH 73 with SH 62 for the four-mile stretch from IH-10 to SH 87, then merge/combine SH 73 with SH 87 to continue onto Port Arthur.

So you're saying that Pasadena ISD transcends the Houston and the South Houston city limits?

It might be one of those businesses that obtains a phone number from a city that they're advertising in but they're actually somewhere far away. I said that wrong. He's already been "clipped." If he sees that sign, does it make him want to exit and get himself "reconnected?"

Yesterday the Beaumont police chief announced that about 20 red light cameras will be installed here. Nederland, just south of Beaumont, announced that it will also be setting some up in their city.

Back in the 1970s there was a radio station in Houston that played a comedy show called Dr. Demento. A part of the show was a guy reciting: "Her name was Bertha. Bertha Butt. Head of the Butt Sisters." Does anyone remember that radio station and/or that record?

Vertigo58, did you that Antique Gallery to see those Prince's signs that this person is talking about?

Yes, I know what you mean. Since I developed diabetes nine years ago, I can't have the chocolate malt that my taste buds are craving right now. Ah, but I can still have the greasy hamburger and the greasy crinkle-cut french fries smothered with salt and pepper and doused with ketchup/catsup.

The Rust Belt must have really turned to rust.

I'm just going by what 5atexasfootball.com said. It listed Pasadena South Houston and Pasadena Dobie. Well, maybe Pasadena isn't as big as I thought.

What did the carhops do in those contests? Did they race to see who could bring and set up the food tray the fastest without spilling it? I've never heard of Prince's. But I've known Pig Stands. There were at least three in Beaumont. I read that it was a Texas chain, but that now most, if not all of the restaurants, have been experiencing serious financial difficulties. I read a case about a creditor closing one down, then going inside to get whatever money was in the cash register. I guess the only thing that we have today that will come close to the carhop drive-ins is Sonic Drive-In.

I took another look at the photo. That might be U.S. Highway 90 facing west into Houston and at that time it intersected with Texas 73 which went to Winnie. If that was the case, I wonder if there are "remnants" and "stretches" of what used to be Highway 73 between Houston and Winnie? The planners of IH-10s location for some reason didn't have it run alongside U.S. 90. Instead they ran it farther south, having it turn northeastery at Winnie on to Beaumont.