Libbie

I think the U-tote-Em I remember most was the one on Montrose and Hyde Park. That brings back memories of comic books and candy cigarettes for me. My grandmother would take me here every day, as she lived just two blocks down Hyde Park at Converse.

This building is still there and is now Hollywood food store as it has been for years.

Wasn't that a U-tote-Em in the old Clash video for "Rock the Casbah". There were two sheik's pumping gas into their Caddilac, giving the thumbs up sign. That's way back when MTV played music video's!

I remember that U-Tote-Em. It was the only one I knew that sold a kind of ice cream bar that was made of chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream with more chocolate in the middle. At the age of ten or so (circa 1960) I remembered my father's buying me one somewhere around Fairview or Hyde park, and a few weeks later I had my mom drive me around the area until I found that store and its ice cream bars, which I wanted to serve at my birthday party. And I did. Oh, and I remember the comic books, too. Ten cents a piece back then, and 25 cents for the "giant" ones.

But since San FILLipee is the accepted common local pronunciation that's what I call it. There's certainly no law that says we must adhere to pronunciations in source languages. After all, would you call Paris Texas "Paree" because that is how it is pronounced in French? That would just be silly.

Oh, I call it San FILLipee too. After all, I am a native Houstonian. I even tell friends from out of town them that the correct Houston pronunciation is San FILLipee. It doesn't bother me that people don't pronounce it like the original Spanish (I have no intention of calling it anything other than San FILLipee, either); it simply intrigues me that San Felipe could have evolved such a quirky pronunciation that obeys neither the English nor the Spanish pronunciation conventions.

I guess FiloScotia's theory makes sense: that the first generation of Texans pronounced it pretty close to the Spanish and that it gradually became San Phillip-ee. It's logical, in a way: pronouncing it like its English equivilant "Phillip," but pronouncing the final e of Felipe as a sort of a remnant of the original pronunciation. O.K. I can live with that theory.

I have a theory that San Felipe was the original road from harrisburg and later houston to San Felipe, capital of austins colony. Washington, north of Buffalo bayou went to Washington on the Brazos. If so these would have been the first roads coming into houston from the west. The only competitor would be old richmond road, which might have been of the same era.

You're probably right. That makes a great deal of sense. And thinking about the street name San Felipe, it just popped into my head to wonder why native Houstonians (I'm one) routinely pronounce it "San FILLipee"? If you're a Spanish speaker, it should sound like "San Feh-LEE-peh;" if you're an English speaker, it should be "San FehLEEpy" or San FehLEEP," but how in the world did it get started as "San FILLipee, which doesn't fit the phonic of either English or Spanish? It's enough to drive you nuts, wondering.

I have no idea when or why it was changed, but at one time the street we now call West Dallas was named San Felipe. It ran from the west side all the way into downtown.

I know it was San Felipe as recently as World Wars One and even WWII, because newspaper accounts of the Camp Logan race riot in 1918 said the rioting soldiers advanced toward downtown Houston on San Felipe Road.

Also, the City of Houston built that big public housing project just west of downtown early in WWII, and named it San Felipe Courts, for the street that ran along the south side of the project.

Does anyone have an old map that shows the original route San Felipe took going west out of downtown?

Oh, so that's why I used to hear old-timers refer to Allen Parkway Village housing project as "San Felipe Courts" when I was a child. Interesting!

I wonder who or what would know the story of that nabe ie; name, when built up?

Yes, the older ones are cool but so, so very close together. Its like in a world of its own. You could reach out and shake hands with someone sleeping in their bed? Dusty. This means it must have always been for very impoverished people? and the real irony is as you go south down Forest Hill towards the cemetary (Forest Park) it must have seemd for the very afluent and rich to them!

I can imagine buying one of those turn of the century homes and relocating from there. Chances are it would crumble? Just a thought. One day I got lost drove around and ended up on dead end streets, sure remined me of the older areas of LA like Boyle Heights or Montebello, very old historic.

The name of the neighborhood around Briscoe Elementary (North of the bayou: Forest Hill, South 73rd St., Rusk, Walker, etc.) is Bungalo Colony. My kids went to Briscoe. It was an O.K. school.

Rettig's was very recognizable because of the window style. That is why I immediately recognized this building as being a Rettig's at one time. This one is (was) on either Studewood between 11th and 14th, or on North Main near 20th.

There was a Howard Johnson's restaurant on Bellaire, it was on the spot where Moellers Bakery is located now. (In front of the old Palace Bowling Lanes)

Yesss! That's the Howard Johnson's I'd been wracking my brain to remember from my toddlerhood! My parents used to take me there in the early fifties. They would buy me an ice cream cone and my dad would set me on the hood of the car to eat it and drip it all over the fender. I remember that the scoops of ice cream weren't round; they were pointy-shaped.

Hi! I was just wondering how old my elementary school (Hartsfield) was and I found this site.

http://www.houstonisd.org/HISDConnectDS/v/...00052147fa6RCRD

I was there from 1977 (pre K) until 1984 (5th grade). I grew up in the Palm Center area. My parents still live there. I'm 34 now and I can recall a little bit about how the area used to look. I found a thread devoted to the area and I really enjoyed it.

I'm new, so I did a search prior to posting this and found this awesome thread. It ties in very well.

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...&hl=schools

I checked out the site, but it left out my old elementary, Montrose. It was torn down in the '70's and HSPVA (the art/drama magnet school) was built there, on the land bounded by Stanford, Sull Ross, Greely, and West Main. If you drive down Stanford from Richmond to Alabama and sort of squint, you can see the way it used to look. The school building couldn't be more different, but the trees and the surrounding houses are almost the same as 50 years ago. So, did anybody go to Montrose? I was there from l956 to 1963.

Take care! <3

Anjie.

Houston Jewelry is the same as it was downtown in the 50's & 60's....jewelry & gifts....before they built the big store out at the end of town at westheimer and gessner when it was just ranch land in the early 70's

Bain & Co....Romney's company was involved in the purchase of United Jewelers from Gordon's Jewelers in the mid 1980's after it was spun off by Bain it failed a few years later and Service took a few of their locations

not a weird name when your last name is Weiner.....they were/are super super nice people...

Joske's did not have a Meyerland location. The large stores there were Meyer Bros, Walter Pyes [which is now Pinto Ranch....] Palais Royal and JC Penny's. Woolworths and a grocery store....

The last time I went to Dillard's I dated myself and mystified my 19-year-old daughter by phoning her to meet me at Joske's.

The U-Tote-Um in my neighborhoos was on the corner of Mandell and Richmond. There was also a 7-11 in a tiny strip center on the corner of Graustark and Castle Court. Before we had our own washer, I would go with my mom to the washateria on the other end and get an Icee. I didn't like the texture of Slurpees when they made the switch as much, but the flavor names were better. My favorite was "Fulla Bulla".

I lived just a couple of blocks from the one on Mandell at Richmond--where Cafe Artiste is now. For years I called any and all convenience store U-Tote-um's. When I moved to the San Antonio area I was amazed to learn that San Antonians called U-Tote-um's ice houses.

My mother lived in the garage apartment when Hugo was in residence. She remembers him.

How odd that anyone else knows about him. I thought she was the sole keeper of this odd reality.

I remember reading about him in the paper in the early sixties, when I was a child--I guess at that time, he was a child too. His owners' last name was Greer. I, too, lived near Mandell and Richmond (but enough blocks north of Richmond that I never saw the gorilla or knew exactly which house he lived in). I did, however, fantasize a lot about him, even to the point of looking in the phone book until I found the only Greer family on Mandell and thinking that one of these days I really would venture over there to sell Girl Scout cookies and hope for a glimpse of the gorilla. But I never did it.

You didn't finsih the Minimax jingle:

Mini and Max.......... (Mini was a female cartoon type character, Max was her male equivalent)

Shoot you the facts

You get more for your money

at MINIMAX.

"Minimum prices and Maximum something - quality or service or ??? Our local Minimax was Florian's Minimax in about the 1200 block of W.43rd, owned by Charlie Florian who lived just up the street in about the 900 block of w.43rd. He was a really nice guy AND gave S&H Green Stamps!

I remember a sort of different advertisement for grocery stores. It was a joint advertisement for 7-11 stores and Wiengartens. The gist of it was that when the manager of 7-11 did his regular shopping he went to Wiengartens and when the manager of Wiengartens just need to run in a get a couple of quick items, he went to 7-11.

The coolest thing about our neighborhood Wiengartens (1300 W.43rd) was the donut making machine in the snack bar. This culinary / mechanical marvel sat on the counter in full view and was about 3' square and 3' high. Raw dough or batter was poured in to a hopper in the center of the machine.

It some how formed perfect donuts complete with a hole in the center and plopped them into a round container of hot oil that surrounded the hopper. The donuts then floated around in the oil (think of the little boat merry go round at an amusement park) and when they were half way around, they were automatically flipped so the top side would get cooked. They'd take the hot donuts and sugar them up or ice them. Grease, dough, and sugar, the perfect meal.

I also uncovered a vast Wiengartens conspiracy. They had a store brand bread, white of course. It came in a wax paper wrapper and had a sticker on the end that said Baked Fresh and had a day of the week on it. I was in the store with my father right before they closed on Friday night. THEY WERE PUTTING SATURDAY BREAD OUT........ON A FRIDAY. I actually called some of my 8 y/o friends the next day and told them about it. If I had known what the media was I would have alerted them.

Another local chain was Lucky 7. It was a regular full service store but seemed smaller in size to me.

Does anybody besides me remember the genealogy of the Fiesta store on Dunlavy off Alabama? In my early childhood in the 50's it was Weingarten's. Then, around 1960, for a short time it changed its name to Texas Serve-All. Then, inexplicably, a a year or so later it was Weingarten's again. By the time I noticed it again, after college, probably in the 70's, it was Safeway. In the early 90's it became Apple Tree. And now, for the past 10 or 15 years, it's been Fiesta. But the building is still the one from when it was Weingarten's.

I realize this is a 2 year old post, but I have to wax nostalgic about these two places.

These were the best empanadas I've ever had. The menu was huge. I think there were over 100 different kinds of empanadas. The original joint was tiny, with bull fighting posters on the walls and tables and chairs made from old barrels. I remember a few other locations later on, including one in Good Time Charlies at Sharpstown Mall. There was a location on Hillcroft that changed its name to Marines in the 90s when Marini opened up a new place on Westheimer. None of them are as good as the original, when grandma was making them in the back.

This place was incredible. They had a huge White Mountain ice cream freezer in the store, just like the one we had when I was a kid, except much larger. The ice cream they made tasted exactly like home made ice cream, because it was. There was a location on Guadalupe in Austin during the mid 80s.

It makes me sad to think of how great these places were.

Another place I miss was Phil's (where 59 Diner on Shepherd is now). I remember going there in the late 70s or early 80s and it wasn't a retro 50s restaurant, it was like someone had preserved a 50s restaurant, including the waitresses. Best chicken fried steak I ever had.

There was also a Phil's on Mandell just north of Richmond until the late fifties or very early sixties. I don't know if it co-existed with the Phil's that became the 59 Diner or if it relocated there, but my mother discovered the 59 Diner in the late 80's and began eating there often. One day when she was 80 she had her caregiver drive her there for lunch and discovered she had forgotten her money. Phil (the original Phil, from when 59 Diner was Phil's) was there, working as a host. He lent her the money to pay for her lunch. Of course, she remembered him from when he owned the Phile's on Mandell.

Also in the 50's, there was a little restaurant on Richmond at Mandell, just behind where Lucky Burger is, owned by an elderly couple named Golberg or some similar name. Mr. Goldberg was regularly mightily offended when my father would ask for Worcestershire sauce to put on his roast beef; he (the owner/chef) would say indignantly, as he dutifully brought the sauce, "How can you cover up the flavor of my delicious roast beef with that hot sauce?! And besides, it's bad for you! Worcester sauce draws the water out of your system!"

In the same little shopping center in the 1600 block of Richmond, there were also a variety store and a little drug store with a soda fountain where I remember getting 3 scoops of ice cream for 15 cents.

Does anybody remember the Whataburger or der Wienerschnitzel on Westheimer at the curve, west of Yoakum? It was one of the old A-Frame structures and it was orange.

I remember it. In the late sixties a red-haired high school classmate of mine named Ronnie worked there.

There was a Minimax across the street from Reagan that was our "I'll see you after school" location. At Love Elementary, it was "I'll see you behind Wright's (pharmacy) after school!". At Hamilton, it was "behind the drug store" (Yale Street Pharmacy).

I guess all schools had a place for guys to fight after class let out. But, back in my day, they were, for the most part, fair fights.

In the '50's and '60's there was a Minimax grocery store in the middle of the strip center at Westheimer and Montrose (west of Montrose, south side of Westheimer, just east of what's now Half Price Books, and across a side street from the Tower Theater--now Hollywood Video). Then, until a few years ago, there was an Eckard's Drugstore there. Now it's something else, a fancy liquor store maybe? Anyway, I remember Minimax's advertizing jingle on T.V.: "Mini and Max--shoot you the facts. Oh, and I think there was a Wallgreens with a soda fountain that served really good hot fudge sundaes where that Half Price Books is now.

That's a great idea. I passed by the old one (Stephen's) at Ave U and Wayside out of morbid curiousity. I knew it had been converted to an old used car place. The only thing even remotely recogniziable was the main building. The "Stephen's Drive-In" sign above is there just been painted over quite ugly. You can still see a little of the neon zig-zag squiggle that used to adorn the sides. They used to have tables inside to eat your burgers and listen to the juke box. I was getting hungry just remembering the scene. The carhops were so cool too. They had been there for many years and still wore those cool carhop uniforms to the end. Where's my Shrimp basket?

Stephen's Drive-in was serving hamburgers as recently as l997. I went there a few times in the mid to late 90's and was served by a competent senior citizen car hop who may have been there since the Prince's days. The food wasn't as good as I remember Prince's to have been (we always went to the one by Sears, across from the Delman Theater), but it was a great nostalgia experience.

I remember Cadette Don, too, and I was on Kitrik in about l958. You lined up, and Kitrik asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up, and then Nod the Clown handed you a present. Right about when it was my turn, a little boy wandered up and whined "I want a present! I want a doll-thing!" Kitrik murmered "Nod, give him somethng! (this was on TV, live). Nod handed him a present, and after an interminable minute, a parent rushed up and got him. And does anyone remember Uncle Bert Lynn, a rapid-fire-fast-talking kid-host? I think he was connected with the auction show where kids could bid Lucky-Bucks for toys on the air (You cut Lucky-Bucks out of emptied milk cartons, Carnation, probably, and used them like money.) Several childless neighbor ladies saved their Lucky-Bucks for me, and I bid 5,300 of them for a plastic whale that spurted water in the bathtub. What an extravagant waste! I could've had a Patty Playpal doll for that many Lucky-Bucks.

I dunno, I was REAL young when Kitirik was on, but I remember having a crush on her. LOL!! I also remember Cadet Don and the Casper cartoons Ch 13 used to show early mornings -- did not have a crush on him. LOL!!!! Anybody remember Captain Harold?

I think someone had brought up Captain Harold in another thread?

I cannot think of his real name but if I recall he would introduce late night B-movies? or was it Rock n Roll Bands? he was dressed like a fighter pilot with goggle sand scarf. Had a big mustache. I think he was sort of a local TV personality on Channel 26? I do remember seeing him dressed in business suits while on TV so he did more than just the Captain bit. He always had gorgeous women around him so either he was supplying them good stuff or ? Wonder what became of him, hope hes not in the Betty Ford Clinic like most of them.

This was also when they used to show The Three Stooges after Popeye & Mighty Mouse cartoons. Cant forget the After School Specials. See we did pretty good without any blasted cable TV.

I dunno, I was REAL young when Kitirik was on, but I remember having a crush on her. LOL!! I also remember Cadet Don and the Casper cartoons Ch 13 used to show early mornings -- did not have a crush on him. LOL!!!! Anybody remember Captain Harold?

I think someone had brought up Captain Harold in another thread?

I cannot think of his real name but if I recall he would introduce late night B-movies? or was it Rock n Roll Bands? he was dressed like a fighter pilot with goggle sand scarf. Had a big mustache. I think he was sort of a local TV personality on Channel 26? I do remember seeing him dressed in business suits while on TV so he did more than just the Captain bit. He always had gorgeous women around him so either he was supplying them good stuff or ? Wonder what became of him, hope hes not in the Betty Ford Clinic like most of them.

This was also when they used to show The Three Stooges after Popeye & Mighty Mouse cartoons. Cant forget the After School Specials. See we did pretty good without any blasted cable TV.

I dunno, I was REAL young when Kitirik was on, but I remember having a crush on her. LOL!! I also remember Cadet Don and the Casper cartoons Ch 13 used to show early mornings -- did not have a crush on him. LOL!!!! Anybody remember Captain Harold?

I think someone had brought up Captain Harold in another thread?

I cannot think of his real name but if I recall he would introduce late night B-movies? or was it Rock n Roll Bands? he was dressed like a fighter pilot with goggle sand scarf. Had a big mustache. I think he was sort of a local TV personality on Channel 26? I do remember seeing him dressed in business suits while on TV so he did more than just the Captain bit. He always had gorgeous women around him so either he was supplying them good stuff or ? Wonder what became of him, hope hes not in the Betty Ford Clinic like most of them.

This was also when they used to show The Three Stooges after Popeye & Mighty Mouse cartoons. Cant forget the After School Specials. See we did pretty good without any blasted cable TV.

Great picture. Speaking of farm houses, does anyone remember farmhouse--a little farm, it seemed to be--on West Alabama near Buffalo, surrounded by modern buildings? I used to see it when I went to Lamar High School in the '60's. I even remember seeing an old woman in a sunbonnet, hoeing what memory tells me was a cornfield, or some other kind of field. It seemed like Brigadoon relocated in turn-of-the-century Texas. Always wished I had an excuse to go onto the property and talk to the lady. Anyway, by some time in the l970's it was gone, but I've always wanted to find somebody else that remembered it, or better yet, knew the story behind it. Does anybody?

I took this picture of a farmhouse at Almeda-Genoa and Old 288 because I figured it would soon share the same fate. It's always a good policy with any structure you enjoy in Houston to take a photograph of it because, chances are, at some point in your lifetime, the photo will be all you have to remind you of what was once there.

I took this picture of a farmhouse at Almeda-Genoa and Old 288 because I figured it would soon share the same fate. It's always a good policy with any structure you enjoy in Houston to take a photograph of it because, chances are, at some point in your lifetime, the photo will be all you have to remind you of what was once there.