jwphillips2

Neat! Keep us posted.

I had posted this earlier somewhere, but Franco Pignataro's family is the owner of Franca's (formerly Franco's) Italian Restaurant on Nasa Road 1. Mr. Pignataro is a concrete sculptor and did most of the decorations on the restaurant, as well as several on the castle grounds.

Franco's daughter, Franca, now operates/manages the re-named restaurant. If you saw the interior or exterior, you would know immediately the connection to the castle.

Great food!

BTW: When is "Talk Like a Pirate Day"?

You guys..... In the 60s, we got out of the car, jumped into the foot-deep water and emptied a bottle of Joy. That was the only way you could earn your Mecom Main badge.

I recently noticed they filled in the fountain at Gessner and Memorial.

Bummer, the trailer was working earlier today. It really looks good (as a Houstonian and architectural junkie)

We'll gladly wait for the trailer and the documentary.

You can't be missing this great non-Boston weather?

~Kinkaid 64

I used to go to The Jester to hear my brother Gordon and other "folk singers" like C.P.(Caddo Parish) Studdard (The Baby Died Last Night) and Scott Stripling. I remember that it was to the left and slightly behind Byron's BBQ on Westheimer, not two blocks away at Mid Lane (Sin Alley). The only thing at Mid Lane and Westheimer was the entrance to the apartments, two brick columns and some shrubs. I know because I would cut through there to get to The Deputy Drive-Inn right before the railroad tracks on Westheimer. Got a ticket one night for "peeling out". The Jester opened after the bars closed, typically after 12:00 or 1:00 on weekends, and the little hidden shack which held less than 75 patrons, was the only building on that street. The Jester closed when the sun came up in the morning and they did not sell alcohol.

The Bird was up the street (closer to Alabama) from River Oaks' Battlesteins and faced W. Gray from the other side of the street on the east. I saw Lightnin Hopkins there twice. La Bodega and Sand Mountain were two other clubs that hosted local performers. Some called The Bird, The Bird Cage. And, don't forget Grif's Family Inn was THE sports bar at a time when you could get Eggs Benedict and a Mimosa at the Shamrock.

Anyone remember Lafayette? Can't recall for sure if it was on BAB or Nasa1, but they had the most amazing collection of all kinds of electronic parts and gadgets. I even bought an electric guitar there once. I miss that store.

I was the manager of both the stores that had the Lafayette store franchise on NASA Road 1 and El Camino Real. My Mom and Dad owned it. We outgrew the smaller store next to Baskin & Robbins and moved across the street next to Kroger and Sakowitz. We serviced the marinas, police stations, NASA, and half of Houston with electronics. I must've installed about a cajillion CB radios, fish finders and radar, and lots of car stereo. I really miss that place.

I remember that the Harveys owned the property in the 50s and sold all of it to the developers. This was a huge amount of acreage north of that little road called Memorial Drive, and bordered by Gessner, Memorial Drive Way, Highway 90(Katy Fwy),and Barryknoll. They sold it for thousands of dollars, way over $200,000 (what's it worth today?). They hunted rabbits on it and they'd let the horses cool down at the artesian spring. They bought property around Blanco and settled there.

Memorial

Blue Roof program can't help with Spanish tile roofs like that... Only roofs that aren't rigid are eligible, since the tarps will be nailed/stapled to the existing roof.

Right you are. They also exclude metal roofs for the same reason. Did the pic come out? Have a new browser that is squirrely.

This is of more immediate concern. Post-Ike damage looks like missing roof tiles and a broken window.

There is a Blue Roof program going on down here, but I don't have the creds to have them save the roof.

Any suggestions?

This is of more immediate concern. Post-Ike damage looks like missing roof tiles and a broken window.

There is a Blue Roof program going on down here, but I don't have the creds to have them save the roof.

Any suggestions?

It's amazing what happens to a post when you leave it for a while. Absolutely great comments! Good lesson for everyone. Revisit old posts and see what happened while you were gone. I love this place. Great collective memory.

Thanks for the memory jog...

There was, for a while, a doubler-decker bus parked at Sonny Look's Sir Loin House on Westheimer until Sonny decided to have a guy dressed in armor and carrying a lance ride around in the parking lot on a horse.

In the 50's and 60's it was called The Houston Fat Stock Show and Rodeo. I remember Roy, Dale, and Trigger put on a great sharpshooting show inside the Coliseum. Bullet, Pat Brady, and Nellie Belle were no-shows.

Our phone number was MOhawk4-0798 when we lived at 4738 Stillbrooke. Switched to PArkview a few years later. CApitol was downtown. Who picked those names? A fellow NASA engineer here remembers the same thing. We were on the Redd Elementary football team together.

Went to Shearn Elementary on Stella Link before Redd was built. Tonawanda? Then, went to Johnston JHS the first year it was built.

Used to walk to the Chuck Wagon (S.Post Oak and Willowbend) to buy a Spoke Burger (hot dog) for 50 cents.

Westmoreland Farms milk, butter, eggs and ice cream home delivery!

There aren't enough superlatives for The San Jacinto Inn.

If you jumped really high you could bottom out the trampolines and splash the water in the pits that were dug for the ground level trampolines. After that, it was a go-cart track.

I remember watching TV on a Saturday night until they read the English poem "High Flight" and then went off the air around 10:00. Fred Nehouse?

Pin Oak Charity Hose Show.

Camp Hudson.

2Ks Ice Cream Shoppe on Westheimer near Sakowitz.

I went to Goodwill and bought a double breasted ('29) sport coat to go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It cost me all of 50 cents but it looked brand new. On a whim, I found a Battlestein's box and stuffed the coat into it and took it to the store in River Oaks to have it altered to fit me. They inspected it closely and then saw the 30 year old Battlestein's label inside. They did it for free and the store manager explained that was their policy.

We've got over 5 million people now, but in the 50s Dallas was bigger than Houston and Glen McCarthy's Shamrock Hotel was out in the boonies from downtown as was Memorial Drive and Lakeside Country Club.

I thought this was just that other older Jim West topic so I ignored for a moment

but in any case, I just noticed it was a petition and just signed it!

Buona fortuna...Best of luck!

Me too. This is way too important.

The "cry room" at all indoor theaters.

Mothers could take the baby inside, sit, cradle and still be able to see the movie and not bother other patrons.

Seniors got much better food discounts at most restuarants. Now they hardly get any real discount at all. Sad.

I completely forgot about the crying rooms @ the movies! Maybe they could have a "constant talker" room for today's patrons. Heck with that, lets just bring back Drive-Ins!

The Windsor opened in 1962, but HTWWW wasn't the first Cinerama film. That honor goes to THIS IS CINERAMA, which predated HTWWW by a full decade.

History of Cinerama

The first Cinerama I saw there was Grand Prix (66) with James Garner. Did all his own driving. They had to slow him down because he was running away from the film cars and most of the GP drivers. He did own a 1275 S Mini. Check out the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmffIeOOuPs

I saw many a movie there. It would be a shame to lose it!

I think that was an actual injury prevention topic this morning. Don't forget the Valentine!

There was one out here in Clear Lake. I think the arrival of Arby's killed them off.

A day of celebrating a Catholic Bishop's life which started in 5th century Rome, St. Valentine was beheaded. Very interesting story!

Do you remember signing all those Valentines to take to school and then passing them out when you got there in the morning? What do you remember? Any special stories?

At your service. It's King of the Courtroom: Percy Foreman for the Defense, and you can still get it on Amazon dot com. It's a good read.

Say what you will about him, even with all his well known warts, Foreman was one of the most interesting characters who ever came along.

http://www.amazon.com/King-courtroom-Percy...0747&sr=1-1

Bless thee, thrice!

At one time he was the largest individual landowner in Harris County, holding title to more than forty homes, dozens of commercial buildings and, according to legend, at least several square blocks of downtown Houston. Among his many properties were all the land and buildings in the triangle formed by South Main, OST and Kirby, in which the old Stuart's Drive-In was the most prominent lessee.

Amazing!!! I could find no book about him. Has anyone heard of a book?

About 13 years later, we were dining at the upscale and lovely restaurant in the restored Magnolia Building, The Bismark, and in trounced Percy and 2 Bimbos, giggling and squealing to the table next to ours. He was loud, obnoxious, crude and bombastic. We could hardly finish our dinner and get out.

It is true, had I been a heinous murdering fiend, he would have been my hero, but the only person I wanted to throttle was him.

You forgot to add the adjective "rich" to Percy's description. Once, when asked about his fees, a reporter asked how much he would charge him for a murder case and he replied "Everything you own". I guess you wouldn't need it if convicted....

BTW, no one mentions Candy's kids Gary or Lynsey who were both there that night. And no one mentions Percy's brother who was a famous business attorney in his own right.

Mel Powers built the twin towers near NASA, one was for Ford Aerospace.

I had Miss Alsobrook for history and remember how patient she was with us hoodlums. I marveled at her description of Texas City blowing up in 1947 as she was in Houston when she heard it(!).

Interesting to read the Chron's take on this story. Most people have forgotten the Chron once was a conservative newpaper; when the Post went under, it became the new liberal read in town.

However, in the 80s, the Post would run ads for guns and the Chronicle forbid it.

I tried defecting to Russia recently and they just called me a "tourist". Kind of a buzz-kill.

I'm very interested. Are you looking for a place to link the pictures as well as storage?