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Plus, I think the same architect who designed Sea-Arama must have designed my high school, Westchester. Same stupid arches.

Hmmm, obviously not a googie lover.

I was curious, so I looked it up.

Sea-Arama was designed by W.O. Gustafson (Architect). He also is credited with The Tidelands Inn, among other things. I can see a resemblance in the style.

As for Westchester Sr. High School - Koetter, Tharp & Cowell, arch. (AIA Arch Guide).

I never realized until today, while looking at the aerials, that Sea Arama was located so close to Scholes airport.

Looking around Baytown in the 1944 shot you can see the old bridge (Causeway Drive) that ran from the southern Goose Creek field to Hogg Island. The island itself is not covered but at that time there was supposedly a resort there. The 1978 shot has some visible remnants, though. Today only the pilings and a few sections of road deck remain of that causeway.

It's interesting to see the small islands that are no longer there, Kemah had a small piece of land north of Jimmie Walkers (Landry's) and the Brownwood subdivision had a small protective peninsula that is gone now, think it was referred to as Goat Island on an old map.

Now, I'm curious as to what store that was that sat north of the MC Sears.

http://mall-hall-of-...q=memorial+city

this nice link lists some of the original stores, including a Weingarten's.They were very large stores. That would be my guess, as the article mentions that the Montgomery Wards was added in 1972.

I think, strategically, that would have been a good move for the grocery chain, during that time period. Two mainstays of modern suburbia, a huge grocery store and a Sears department store.

The Main St. Sears is a complete eyesore. It's taken on the appearance of the bums who have peed on it's exterior over the past few decades; disheveled, void of style, unwashed and holding up a sign.

I am an eternal optimist, and still hold on to a dream of mine, that someday the South Main street store will be restored to it's original design. I believe that it would only happen after it is sold. Don't think Sears would put that kind of money into it. But in this city, restoration usually doesn't happen, bulldozing does. Land value means everything, unfortunately. I read somewhere that Rice University owns the land, through inheritance from William M. Rice, Sears leases the spot. I've been meaning to visit that store, along with the Macy's downtown, with my camera, of course. All I can say about the condition, is that at least it's still there. In this city, that's something.

It's possible that the Sears predated the actual Memorial City mall...just an idea. I know that's what happened with Foley's in Pasadena. It was there before the mall.

Maybe someone with a directory could look up the addresses for the Sears during that time period.

update: I just looked at historicaerials, looks like you are correct, little frau & gnu, no store at Gessner location in '57, looks like that Sears was built after 1964 at Memorial City.

I looked at that map again, and was wrong... there is a Memorial City Sears in the 1964 aerial map, sits north of Barryknoll St., has an extension to to south of the main bldg, looks like it could be the garden center, there is another extension to the east, huge parking lot. The store is hard to see on the map, it's a light color, have to zoom in...Figured it had to be there after I noticed the subdivisions that were built in that area between the 1957 & 1964 maps. It was not connected to a mall at that time, there was only one more bldg., sat north of the Sears, was a little smaller.

*one HAIF Memorial City thread states that the Sears there was built in 1962.

* the original Pasadena Sears store was built in 1956, Cowell & Neuhaus, architects. (AIA Houston - arch. guide)

The art deco Sears bldg. designs are still my favorites.

Yep, closed on January 21st at $120,000 according to Sawbuck. What a bargain!

Good news...sounds like it went to a mod enthusiast.

According to Wikipedia - Memorial City was built in 1966 and Sears was one of the original tenants.

I believe the Baytown Sears was built in 1950.

It's possible that the Sears predated the actual Memorial City mall...just an idea. I know that's what happened with Foley's in Pasadena. It was there before the mall.

Maybe someone with a directory could look up the addresses for the Sears during that time period.

update: I just looked at historicaerials, looks like you are correct, little frau & gnu, no store at Gessner location in '57, looks like that Sears was built after 1964 at Memorial City.

One of the types of places that stand out to me are the untreed apartments (most belonging to the HHA) like Kelly Village, Irvington Village, Allen Parkway Village, Wilshire Village, Cuney Homes, and River Oaks Gardens..

There's also the old Hydril plant (Tenaris now) off of McCarty just south of Wallisville with a painted rooftop..

The military homes at Sam Houston Gardens are also interesting to see (south side of Meadowbrook subdivision). What struck me about Ellington Field was the sheer number of military aircraft present, impressive. I grew up watching the large old white Ellington barracks deteriorate, then slowly disappear. There were quite a few of them, as seen in the maps.

I was reading an older article on the Cuney & Allen Parkway rehabilitation projects in the Cite archives yesterday. Along with mentions of asbestos and lead paint removal, they talked of how well-built the apartment homes were,originally. One collaborative architectural priority was to leave green space, at the sacrifice of convenient parking.

I continue to enjoy these maps.

After thinking about it, I came to the same conclusion about the Memorial City Sears probably being the one they speak of, when referring to Memorial Dr. (located on Gessner, Memorial Dr. nearby, but not that close). I visited the Memorial City Sears location in recent yrs. I noticed the older silver colored door handles right away, being similar to the ones I grew up with, at the Pasadena Sears location. This tells me the bldgs. would have been built about the same time, probably late 1950's.

The Baytown store doesn't have any streamlined awnings, or details left, too bad. Wouldn't have known it was a Sears location without you pointing that out.

The old Galveston Sears location is a now a Salvation Army. http://www.flickr.co...hes/3778050084/ Still looks good.

http://www.rice.edu/...sears/index.htm

Strangely enough, I ran across this link with Houston Sears store locations while reading the Brownwood story (once again).

It mentions a Sears store on Memorial Dr., I don't remember ever seeing that one. The building design looks very similar to the Pasadena, Tx store. Maybe built at the same time.Can anyone recall the Memorial Dr. Sears? Where was it located, exactly? And is the Baytown store seen in the photo still there?

Thanks for pointing that out. I was able to answer some questions I've long had, the exact position of the entrance arches to Meadowbrook Subdivision, and the exact location of the golf course which sat north of Downtown, east of Heights. The information just keeps getting better.

When I looked at the rendering, I thought it was a redevelopment idea for the Astrodome.

I would have liked to walk through that old Foley's storage warehouse before it was sold to Macy's. Wonder what's going to happen to it, now. And is it the warehouse only, or is the warehouse and the distribution center for sale?

Postcard sites are great for gathering information on architecture and history. Many cards list addresses and bldg. descriptions, along with the visuals that are very helpful. This one, and ebay are very good.

There was also one on Telephone Road, close to and across from the now defunct Santa Rosa Theater, was located before Bellfort.

We went to Don's The Beach Comer. I think we went to THE GREAT MINE COMPANY, a steak house which opened in that location.

There was a German food restaurant around where Don's was previously located, that I've always wanted to try (it's still there). The air always smelled so good around that place. Haha. Gessner & Westheimer.

I've never encountered that before, and I've looked at a lot of old directories. My first inclination is that it's not a ethnic term, not all the names reflect "white", Lopez for example. Could it have something to do with the prefix on the phone numbers? Ours was mi5, for the southeast side of Houston, in the early 1960's. Just an idea. Does "white" appear throughout the listing, or just in one section or page? I too, would think there is a key in the index for the term, as well as the A., D,and C with $.

I recall the Weingartens at Lawndale, Gulfgate, and Southmore (in Pasadena). They were very large supermarkets. Minimax and Lewis & Coker were in the neighborhood I grew up in. I don't recall noticing Krogers until the late '60s, around Telephone & Bellfort. They were probably around earlier, but just not where I lived. A&P's were present, as well, the tiled entry (maybe yellow &/ or green) stores on Telephone and Gulf Freeway (@Monroe) come to mind. I always got the impression they were old stores.

Thanks marmer for the link to the pics. Have to say, not what I expected to see on the interior, overkill on the slate, kitchen not what I would have expected. There is a way to modernize, or add conveniences, while remaining true to the architect's original design, most don't understand that, or care. One Swamplot comment said that the terrazzo was covered by tile, I'm not surprised, so sad. As for the bomb shelter, after watching Mad Men, I now have a better understanding of how scared everyone was at that time ( I was born in 1962). I would guess the pipes have to do with the bomb shelter, as stated somewhere, not a pipeline. The property itself is very valuable.

I've always known the Dot's Coffee Shop as being original, was not a Kip's before hand, as mentioned by others, in above posts. I grew up with both of them. The bldgs look very similar.

There was also a Sambo's located on Broadway, close to the Harold Farb apartments and Hobby Airport.

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/4739-settegast-estate-building/

one of the HAIF links to the history, cool night photo of the bldg. included in this link

http://www.oscarmail.net/dfwfreeways/images/oldRoadMaps/1954_humble_houston_merged_360p_large.jpg

this map also shows the location of the extinct Lindale golf course, close to Link Rd. (located on the map directly above the "t" in Houston).

This old thread on Lindale Park subdivision is very good, the old brochure is great. What a beautiful piece of land that golf course sat on, too bad it was sacrificed for more homes. Looks like from the topo. map - 1946 that the golf course sat in between Fulton (E. Montgomery Rd) and Helmes Rds., north of Graceland St. & Reid Memorial Church. I would speculate that the swimming pool or Lindale Lake would have been located near the golf course, as so many others were during that time period, but I don't know for sure. Have seen no reference to the lake. The map only shows the southern portion of a golf course, no name on it. Again, i'm guessing it was Lindale Golf Course, as the name is referenced so much on GoogleEarth, in that area. Note : I-45 North is west of Fulton.

http://www.lib.utexa...ouston_ne46.jpg

see top - left corner of map

As for that Tudor house,I've hunted, but came up empty. Looks like so many other old large estate homes of the time, with the land sitting behind the house, was grand at one time. Sanborns (referenced- *1951) show that it was a neighborhood with many unpaved, impassable, closed streets. Gale St. was blocked from Robertson St. Only certain roads were open, very secluded. Many HAR references have left me empty with a subdivision name or property owner name. I get the names from Har, then go to the block books. "Brookesmith" is one block book-subdivision name with a nice reference map of the area.

I'm in the middle of season two. This show is great. What complex characters. Nice suits. The set is nice to see, how they've recreated everything. My favs are in the office bldg. : the atrium area, the few open stairs leading to the big boss,the tile work, frosted glass panels. Nice.

I can't recall ever seeing that coca-cola bldg. I liked it better as a cream colored bldg. The coke logo and bottle on the side were a nice touch. Once again, too bad it's gone.