Jermaine

Britt's in Northline Mall was a great store...there was a big Britt's neon sign ontop of the building outside.
I still remember when the 'Born Again' record came out for Black Sabbath, they set up a display for it in the records section: they painted a child mannequin jet black, painted the eyes red and added some sparkly red devil horns. It was weird....like something an early 20's stoner dude would've done.
Britt's also had an amazing Halloween aisle during October. The creepiest masks...

Wish I could go back, just one afternoon...

Northwest Mall had an arcade that was in the corridor of the Foley's wing, down the short hallway that turned right at the Pipe Pub, directly across from Battlestein's/Beall's entrance. Does anyone remember the name of this game room? This article has struck up a debate between me and an old running buddy. He says it was Tilt, I swear it was The Goldmine. Tilt was in Northline, not NW. Which one of us is crazy? I swear it's him.

Actually, at least during some time in the early-mid 80's, the gameroom was called ALADDIN'S CASTLE...

Well, WOW.

Im glad I asked about this place.

Im from Houston, born and raised, and am back visiting from Colorado and took yesterday to just drive around the city and soak it in.

Ill likely be away when one of you manages to get inside that store...please think of me when you do.

The passing of time, people, and circumstance pains me greatly. These buildings should be remembered, humble as they are, with reverence.

Lives happened there...

Ive passed this store a few times recently and never find it open. So I stopped there this afternoon and looked in the windows...it's something else. An old-style original counter and soda fountain, old-time shelves...I know it's all legit in age: the neon sign out front has got to date from the 40's.

Whats weird and SO cool is that it looks like someone just left the store as is, many years ago. There are old products...greeting cards, mags, make-up, etc. still on the shelves. Looks like its been closed for many years. I went round back and checked the electricity meter, and the power is on. Looked inside and spotted a clock on the wall which was working.

Again, its called Huston's Drugs and it's on Washington, just outside of downtown, across the street from Salvation Army. The neon sign outside appears to be broken but it's blue in color.

ANY info on this place or who owns it would be appreciated.

Yes, I remember the GEMCO near Northline Mall on Airline. It was really a forerunner to what would become the 'superstore' model...we'd grocery shop there, there was an auto department and everything in between. My mother did a lot of sewing, and there was a huge fabric department there. And the toy section...'sigh'. You know, I got chills when I think of the massive amount of Mego superheroes and Shogun Warriors that were at that Gemco. Later, Star Wars...tons of Star Wars toys. I got my Kiss dolls from there.And another overpowering memory...popcorn and cherry ICEE's. There was a Sambo's in the parking lot...which later became a Sizzler. And to seal the deal on pop-culture merchandise perfection, there was a Toys R Us across the freeway. Northline Mall, A General Cinema, a Shakey's Pizza...all to the south. The Super GoKart track and arcade was directly behind the GEMCO.

And then, there was Astroworld....

and the Houston Oilers.

just went back to houston to help out some family after the hurricane.

everytime i go back...me and some family have a tradition...as tacky as anything we've ever done.

it's called PANCHO'S SATURDAY.

we go...and eat. and raise the flag...and eat.

sadly, i cant do it anymore...the way i once could. ive come to terms with the fact that buying ALL YOU CAN EAT buffets...its just a waste of money for me. i barely get through one Panchito platter before im full. it's sad...so much Pancho's food to be had...

OH...but there WAS a time....my flag was in constant movement...and the sopapillas, enchiladas and flautas lived very short lives...

ok...

so the woolworths downtown holds SO many memories for me. i remember when i first start working in my teenage years in the art department (repographics) at TENNECO...in the late 80's...going to Woolworths on cold winter evenings after work...just before they closed and running downstairs in the basement where in a bin that never moved, they had the greatest selection of 1970's kung fu vhs tapes that you could find ANYWHERE. They were 4.99 each or 3 for 12.00. Id spend 25 bucks of every paycheck to buy 5 or 6 of these. then id grab a slice of pizza and catch the 89 Yale metro back home to the northside.

and yes...i remember the preacher.

its funny...the things that actually end up meaning so much...what ends up being 'weighty' in the landscape of your memories. Id like to go back for just a moment to look at who I was.

OAK TREE

'nuff said.

hi...

my name is Jermaine Rogers...Im a poster artist. I lived in the Montrose from the early 90's until about a year ago (I moved to Colorado 9 months ago). If you've been around the Montrose anytime in the last 15 years, you probably saw my work. I created all of those weird, screenprinted rock and roll concert posters and several other posters for dozens of Montrose shops, papers, Houston Press, Public News, etc. I miss the Montrose. Badly. Im in Manitou Springs, Co. which is lovely...a Rivendell kinda place...but something about the Montrose on a Saturday afternoon....it just cant be replaced.

i was one of the last artists in our 'circle' who actually remained int he Montrose: I was blessed enough to actually, like...make money doing art. Most of them were forced out...the great big mansions-cum-duplexes that they lived in were torn down. In their place, big condo boxes. ugly. so were a lot of the new 'neighbors'.

i knew bad things were on the horizon when a bunch of the suburban yuppie transplants were involved in getting the Street Festival moved (i.e.) shut down. its very cyclical in society: the eccentrics come and 'develop' the cultural aesthetics of a neighborhood...and then the 'degreed' suburbanite, desperate for a good dose of real-life artistic 'zeitgeist', move in and quickly begin building their better beast. montrose aint what it once was. i remember the distinctly dangerous air about the place in the mid-late 80's/early 90's. I for one LOVED it. artists, musicians, pushers and junkies...it's always quite a mix for new ideas. i can distinctly remember running back and forth between Emo's, Goat's Head Soup, Hoi Polloi in the Heights and The Vatican on Washington. They were headytimes...but you felt alive...and the neighborhood was YOURS.

ive got to get back and visit the place. i miss it. all of you there, dont take it for granted. Its a wonderful slice of Houston...unlike anything else there. I miss the ghetto Kroger on Montrose...hadn't been there in years, as me and the wife opted for the nicer one on Gray. Yea, I guess we sold out in a way too. I lived in a house on Hazard with a 10 foot fence all the way around.

To keep the stinking teenagers out.

jr

I live in Manitou Springs, Co. now, but yes, the Panchos on 1-45 and Tidwell is still open.

I grew up around Parker Rd. and 1-45, so I went there many times in my life. The sopspillas are amazing.

True story: I moved up here about a year ago. On the way out of Houston, I pulled the moving truck into the parking lot there on 45 and Tidwell and ordered 4 flautas with chili and queso and a root beer to go.

I sat in the parking lot...and enjoyed one last time.

Kuppenheimer, later Eagle comes to mind. Forgot the name of the guy that was always in the commericals tho...

Kuppenheimer spokesman: Gene Peterson...the voice of the Houston Rockets on the radio.

Here's one for you guys:

BRITT'S in Northline Mall.

Anyone rememebr a pie place that was just outside of the heights? I think it was across 45N from the Heights...on the east side...it was right on the freeway. The sign could be seen from the freeway...it was an image of a man dressed in a little babie's clothing (it mightve been 3 men) and they were holding a big pie. The actual big sign is still up...at least it was 6 months ago when i was in houston...but it's painted over with something else.

????

MOUNTAIN PARK was a place for kids...built on an artificial hill. It was right on the corner of 1-10 and 610...just about a mile south of Northwest Mall. In the ealy 80's, the place would be FULL on weekends...it had that whole hippie-'Big Blue Marble type feel. I remember they had the first 'ball room' (a pit full of colored plastic balls for kids to drown in) that I'd ever seen. We went there on a field trip once: I went to Oak Forest Elementary. The field trip was in 81 or 82, I think.

Anyone else remember?

I was very familiar waith the blimp having grown up from age 2 on several miles away in Spring. When I was 4 my dad received an invitation for a ride, and it being early on a Saturday, I passed it up to sleep in and watch cartoons. I know, stupid choice.

The blimp left in early 1992. The Genesis rehearsals were later that spring, a buddy of mine went several times and parked in the lot of the Loews movie theater across Louetta to hear Phil Collins wailing away on drums. The tour was after the release of We Can't Dance, the first stop was in Dallas and the second stop was here in the Astrodome in May of '92.

Thats right.

The cobwebs are thick: Im all mixed up. I coulda sworn it was for Invisible Touch (I was into Genesis back then).

I miss the blimp.

I remember that weird buzz...and my mom shouting to us across the house, 'The blimp is outside'. It always seemed to fly around my house about twilight.

Does ANYONE have info on this movie house? Its on jensen drive...just south of Tidwell. It looks like it mightve been a big deal...back when the neighborhood in that area maybe wasnt so ghetto. Its locked up. Been boarded up for years: anyone ever remember going there? How old is it? It looks like an old style movie palace...relatively speaking...at least from the outside.

In the early 1980's you could the call Pac-Man phone number 322 and Frogger at 611.

Geez...I thought I was the only one who remembered the PACMAN and FROGGER numbers.

Did you ever call the 'E.T.' number?

It was 444-0099.

You got weird cosmic sounds...trippy stuff.

There was a great MINIMAX on the corner of Pinemont and Ella Blvd.

I still remember the sign: the mascot was a chubby king.

I remember the big siren downtown...we used to hear it everyday (1970s) at noon. The big one was ontop of a building downtown...you could see it...it was a cylindrical mass of speaker-looking sirens. Seems like it sat ontop of the building that used to be the AT&T building.

And GENESIS DID use the hanger for the second leg of Invisible Touch rehearsals...as the first date (or an early date) was in Houston. It was the 2nd leg of the Invisible Touch tour...I think it was called The TONITE TONITE TONITE Tour...it was sponsored by Michelob beer. 1987/88

Wonder what became of that cutie on the right?

There was a great Kips on the corner of MLK and Griggs...right across from Palm Center on one corner and Montgomery Wards on the other.

There was a SAMBO'S near 1-45 N and Airline...next to what used to be GEMCO (now a FIESTA). The building that was SAMBOS is now an EZ PAWN SHOP.

I used to love going to the carnivals...the travelling ones that would set up all over town...usually for a week or so in one location. Some of them showed up at certain locations (usually shopping center parking lots) rather sporadically, while others would always be at the same lot during the same time of the year. I remember Northline Mall would have a great big carnival that spanned the entire front parking lot during October EVERY YEAR. Halloween night, it would be PACKED. I remember going there one night in 1976 or so on Halloween night, and hundreds and hundreds of people seemed to be there...half of them in costume. I remember seeing these 4 guys in their early 20's all dressed up like KISS. They looked PERFECT. I was a kid and thought they were SO cool.

There was also a carnival that set up in the Spring in the Northwest Mall lot...it was the same folks that showed up at Northline, I think. One of the most forgotten lots for carnivals was on Parker road and 45 north...right across the strret from the WOOLCO shopping center. There was an empty lot there, next to the Long John Silvers...and they brought an AMAZING carnival there every 6 months for a few years in the late 70s/early 80s with rides I'd never see anywhere else.

That WOOLCO shopping center was PERFECT, by the way....It was anchored by Woolco, with a RICE grocery store beside it, an Eckerd Drugs, and a country-western niteclub (which later became all types of clubs from Chocolate City to the Rhinestone Wrangler). There was also a Dairy Queen in the parking lot (which is now a small liquor store). In the area of the parking lot right beside I-45 was a BONANZA steakhouse.

I'd give anything to go back to 1977. There's GOT to be a way...

I grew up in the 70's directly across the street from Palm Center. We lived for a few years in a trailer park...right next to the Midas. I remember going over to the Penny's and buying clothes with my mom out of the SESAME STREET section. There was also a big Montgomery Wards about a block north of Palm Center. I think it's a flea market now. But that Ward's sold the best Mego Superhero figures in town. I found CONAN there...and yyou couldnt find CONAN anywhere.

I remember a car dealership being across the street from Palm Center...with this cool lighted sign with palm trees on it. There was also a Big Boy's restaurant on the opposite corner from the Montgomery Wards.

That area was really nice during the mid-70's. I have wonderful memories of it...I drove over there 6 months ago...about 2 months before I moved out of Houston...man, its all ghettoed out now.

jr

Anyone remember this? It was a big hill with a waterslide...right at the northern end of North Shepherd, as it dead-ends at 45 north. It was right behind the K-Mart, which faced Little York Rd.

The FOUR SEASONS flea market in north Houston on North Shepherd and Crosstimbers was a favorite of my family's for years. In the same parking lot was B&D Trophy...where you could incidentally get the best comic book selection in town (that no one knew about).

BTW, I was born and raised in Houston...and also live in Colorado. I'm in Manitou Springs...

The coolest GLOBE was on North Shepherd...about a mile south of Tidwell. It stood on the current site of the City Of Houston 911 Emergency Center...across the street from St. Pius High School. As a kid, I got lost in that store one day...I was terrified.