bred

Looks like it is still there.

In my line of work, I find myself in a lot of new housing developments all over the city, and occasionally I find streets in new subdivisions that have recently been renamed (mostly in Brazoria County).  Usually this is because it is discovered that there is a duplicate or similar street name within the same city.

There was a Safeway on I-45 in League City at the intersection with FM 518 from at least 1981 (if not earlier) until the late 80s/early 90s.  It became an Academy after that and is currently vacant.

There was a Jack in the Box?!

Man. Does anyone know the median income before white flight?

Here's a good article on the history of South Park:

http://www.houstonpress.com/2011-01-13/news/still-standing/

On the corner of MLK and Griggs, there's a big 2 story (maybe 3) building that is called King's Best Market. At the Palms Center (Palm Center now), there's a Tax Office, a Constable office (Precint 7), and a community college/courses. Recently a YMCA has been built opposite of the King's Best Market.

Is King's Best Market the old Montgomery Wards that everyone is referring to, or something else? I remember going there in the late 90's for stereo equipment, and I can see how that was probably a department store at one time.

Somebody uploaded a home video to youtube from 1989 of Fame City. Brings back a lot of memories...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fVFiZk9wFc

And here's footage from 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4f2F6ACEdw&feature=related

Compare footage at 0:31 from the first video to 0:23 from the second video. Same spot.

Strake Jesuit is in Sharpstown, Sharpstown gave them the land, and its doing fine. I was a Sharpstown mall rat in high school, and am saddened to see it go under. But can understand, today, First Colony Mall is what probably what Sharpstown was back in the 80's. I don't see how light rail will do anything for Sharpstown. In my opinion, it would be better to bulldoze the mall and start over, maybe make it an outdoor town center type place.

Just came across this info on the new plans for the Sharpstown Mall property:

Monday, December 21, 2009, 12:37pm CST<H2 class=column_name></H2>

Sharpstown Center to be PlazAmericas

Houston Business Journal Sharpstown Center will get a new face and name as part of a $10 million revitalization and rebranding plan.

The property’s owner, Sharpstown Mall Texas LLC, and its manager, Grupo Zocalo, a subsidiary of Houston-based Boxer Property Management Corp., plan to rename the center PlazAmericas to reflect the area’s community.

Sharpstown Mall opened in 1961 as Houston’s first enclosed mall, and has since gone through periods of ownership changes, bankruptcy and neighborhood issues.

Revitilization plans include huge children’s play area and an 83,000-square-foot mercado (marketplace) that will have multiple stages for live entertainment, a large family lounge and play area.

i see people still talk about the murder mansion, my name is william swan and i lived in the mansion back in 1994 with some friends for six months as care takers to show the property to people interested in buying the place.the place was pretty trashed but we fixed up the front of the house to live in you could not live in the back of the house.we fixed the pool so we could swim,and yes it did have a lockeroom bathroom next to the pool also a bar room next to that with a bar and a stone floor in it. the house was trash after the murder by the police thinking bill had hidden money in the walls and jewels that were never found.the boys that killed bill,which were four of them.smiley got life,one got 15 years, one got probation and the youngest they let go cause he was the reason they killed list. it was really cool living in the mansion cause i never would have thought that i would let all these kids in to see the place.we had a few parties there and 2 hundred people would show up .as the house being haunted i really could not say yes there where times you felt creepy and you thought there might be someone watching you ,and on a sunny day by the stairs coming up from the garage you could see the outline of a body on the concrete floor where billed died cause he layed there for two days before anyone found him . i thought maybe some of this info might help

Thanks for all the info, durtisouth1968! I've become really interested in this building again since this thread started. While moving this weekend, I found my VHS copy of "The House on Todville Road". Now I just have to find a VCR to watch it on.

If you are interested in seeing the inside of this building, and a cheesy low budget movie, I would suggest picking this one up:

http://www.amazon.com/House-Todville-Road-...d/dp/6303948944

The plot has nothing to do with what actually happened there, but you can see what everybody has been talking about if you never had the chance to visit this building. Again, this is just on VHS.

Just learned something a little odd. Bill List was the biological father of Ron Carlton. Ron was the brother of Debbie Thornton, one of the victims in the Karla Faye pick axe murder. Bill left when Ron was three and he was raised by his step father. The police thought Bill List might have hired someone to kill Debbie because she was to testify against him for tax evasion. Not sure if he was also Debbies father.

I found out the same thing.

Also, somebody on another board came up with "Smiley's" prison information and believes he is now paroled and living in League City, since a people search they did turned up an Elbert E. Homan, age 42, listed at a League City residence. The TDCJ link is broken, so does anybody know how to verify this? I can't find anything. Homan's info is below:

SID Number: 03258285

TDCJ Number: 00401830

Name: HOMAN,ELBERT ERVIN

Race: W

Sex: M

Age: 42

Maximum Sentence Date: LIFE SENTENCE

Current Facility: POLUNSKY

Projected Release Date: LIFE SENTENCE

Parole Eligibility Date: 2004-09-02

Wow, how strange, looks like a prison with fancy ironwork...when was this built?

It was built sometime in the mid to late 70's. It looked even scarier from the street, with the huge driveway and the way it just rose up out of the ground, backing up to the bay. You can see one pretty fuzzy image of it on Historic Aerials from 1981. If you use the "compare years" feature, you can see that later a small street with homes was built on the site. Nice homes, too.

http://www.historicaerials.com?poi=4176

There is a terribly cheesy movie that was filmed there just before it was torn down called "The House on Todville Road". I bought it on VHS for about 50 cents from a video store that was going out of business in Clear Lake a few years ago. There is no reason to watch this movie, other than to see exactly how the mansion looked:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110065/

I went inside the place once before it was torn down. Ironically, I entered through the garage and up the staircase, and was unaware that the murder occurred in exactly that spot until I read the Chronicle story above. The place scared the heck out of me, and I only made it into a few of the apartments before I decided to get out of there. I'm trying to find some pics online but have been unsuccessful so far, and I have no idea what I did with the video tape.

I remember as a kid playing in a sunken area towards the middle of the mall (not where the food court is). I think it had brown carpet and I just remember myself and a bunch of kids running around with an endless amount of energy. It was where the help desk is now I think?

Can't remember much more about the mall back then. This was in the early 80s. If anybody has pics of this area or any other area of the mall please post them!

Timothy Kerley was mentioned in the book about the murders, "The Man with the Candy", written in 1974 by Jack Olsen shortly after the murders. He was there with Rhonda Nelson, Wayne Henley and Corll when Corll was killed. He was himself strapped to the torture board at the time.

Also, I found a really interesting video on youtube about Henley and Corll that I don't think anybody has posted yet. It is from the "Killing of America" documentary and is done in typical 70's era "educational film" fashion. Very creepy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-eJS6MIIa4

There was a show on the Biography channel, I think, last Friday about the murders as well. I think the show was called "Crime Stories". A lot about thises murders has shown up in popular culture recently, it seems....

I had never heard that there was someone else (another boy) in the Pasadena house that night. Not to say there wasn't. I wonder if Ch. 13 checked police records to verify if this guy was actually there 35 years ago.

Timothy Kerley was mentioned in the book about the murders, "The Man with the Candy", written in 1974 by Jack Olsen shortly after the murders. He was there with Rhonda Nelson, Wayne Henley and Corll when Corll was killed. He was himself strapped to the torture board at the time.

I would like to see that 1929 map of the Clear Lake area, or any other early maps of the area, if you have them handy to post.

Does anybody know how/where we can get our hands on a DVD of this film?