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On 5/2/2015 at 7:32 PM, ArchFan said:

Interesting thread.  I attended Spring Branch Junior High, back in the day.  What was the gas station next door, a Conoco?  I think that later become a "food place" and even later a "plant house".

 

The first JITB i remember was in the Heights in the 60s, I think it lasted a long time.  I bought a lot of jeans at Bilao's on US90/I10.  Thanks for sparking some good memories!  It's amazing how things change.

Po-Mac's Burgers & Tall Plants.

On 5/24/2015 at 3:40 PM, ArchFan said:

US 90 / I-10 was certainly a focus for shopping places of the 50s-60s-70s era.  Bilao's Department Store was certainly prominent, I remember getting paper book jackets with their advertising on them.  I can also remember the Western Skies Motel, but that is really way back.  On Bunker Hill just south of the highway, there was a small center with (I think) a Lewis & Coker grocery store,  a so-called dime store, and a mexican restaurant.  Also a drugstore owned by a Mr Yee, as well as a U-Tote-Em convenience store.  For a while, there was also a place called Cumming's Cupboard, which offered very good chocolate milk shakes for the astounding price of 35 cents.

Old high school yearbooks are a wealth of historical information - 1964:

My sister worked at the Sakowitz, a center piece of the open shopping acreage lay-out, in 1968-70. That store had a fabulous central entrance, with a large mosaic fountain as a focal point. https://blog.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/2009/12/ever-shopped-at-sakowitz/ We bought our first puppy, in 1970, at a pet store which was located in the open air shops, just northeast of the former Joske's site. My school friend's parents owned the Mini-Max grocery on West Belt. I have a lot of fond memories from that shopping center, especially when it was in its first incarnation, though I shopped there when they added the 3 story enclosed mall in the 1980's, as well. You knew it was sadly going down hill, in the later 1980's when all they could offer, on the open space that once held the little shops, was a wet t-shirt contest. I was glad it revitalized into another multi-use shopping center as time went on.

3 hours ago, matty1979 said:

I think this is where Ninfas was. Apparently this was taken in 1974.

Good find! Actually, this is the section to the north of the Ninfa's. This is the NW end of the shopping center.  Ninfa's was purpose built in its own stand-alone location at the SW corner of the shopping center. Baskin Robbins was to the right of this store (where Mattress Firm is in the photo I am attaching). You can still see the arched windows in the vacant 2014 street view that match those in this Kids' Kounty image:  

10 hours ago, IronTiger said:

I must have missed your original quote...I found the McDonald's independently another time, it must have closed when they built the gas station/McDonald's across the street. But no, the original store was a Safeway, not an AppleTree. AppleTree was only founded in 1989 after Safeway divested their Houston division and the store predates it. However, this was the only AppleTree to renovate and expand after the sale (no other stores were ever built or received a real remodel far as I can tell). In my collection, I have a picture of the décor this AppleTree had. Possibly it was the upscale and unique features of this AppleTree that caused Kroger to rebrand it as "Kroger of the Villages" when they purchased it in 1994.

 

So the building to the east of Target was a Handy Dan...it looks the building remained intact well into the early 2000s. Wonder what it was in its later years.

 

Also, Sav-on Drugs was in Houston? Like, the chain later owned by Albertsons? Huh. When did they pull out?

I am not quite sure when they actually left Houston. This article may help:    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osco_Drug_and_Sav-on_Drugs

On 2/22/2014 at 3:03 PM, matty1979 said:

This is the movie theater as of this morning. Was the Stein Mart next door part of the theater?

The Steinmart space was a large S&H Green Stamps redemption store in the 1960's. I went there with mom. I also went to that theatre to see some second run movies, but it was not the Jerry Lewis, anymore, by then. I remember seeing "Doctor Doolittle" there in the late 1960's.

I am old enough to know what was originally at the SE corner of San Felipe at Voss! Arriving in the area in 1968, we occasionally shopped at the grocery store that was the main building, on the east side of the property, there. It was a ------ PIGGLY WIGGLY! This is where that gym was in the 1980's, something I also went to. Originally, there was a corner gas station, and a small, L-shaped, strip center, across the parking lot and to the west of the Piggly Wiggly. Where the actual Kroger is now, was originally an undeveloped field. These can all be seen in the 1966 historicaerials.com photo. The Kroger finally shows up in the 1995 historicaerial  By the way, the large building, now just to the east of the old Piggly Wiggly (now a 24 hour Fitness), was a Rice Epicurean Supermarket in the 1980's. It shows up in the 1973 historicaerial, but I am not sure if it was a simple Rice Foods, or something else, back then.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_Epicurean_Markets

On 1/15/2016 at 7:56 AM, TwainMark said:

Glad I found this thread.  I too was there for the tornado, in the dressing room.  Don't recall if we were getting ready or had just finished, but I do recall a young lady who was standing by the front door got showered in glass when it blew out and they rushed her to the dressing room, stripped her down and put her in the shower to try to wash off what they could.  Conflicting emotions for a hormone-ravaged teenager, to be sure.

 

I too played hockey there from the day it opened till I went off to college in 1976.  Worked there off and on also.  I'm betting some of us here know each other.  Met some of my heroes from childhood up north... Gordie, Bobby Hull and others.  Had some interesting experiences when they practiced there, such as the time I was sweeping behind the bench and goalie Don McCleod skated over in a panic and says "hey kid, I need Bobby, go find him, quick".  Bobby was Bobby Brown the trainer.  I track him down and say Don's in trouble, so he runs over to the bench and McCleod tells Bobby to get him a cigarette RIGHT NOW!  I thought that was hilarious; different times for sure.  

 

One thing I know is that it was torn down for the post office.  I remember being around when they built that as it struck me as a really cool building for a PO.  It was situated slightly east of IH and probably overlapped it's footprint a little bit. 

 

What I was searching for when I landed here was someplace I can purchase a copy of that photo from the Post/Chron archives or elsewhere.  Reason being that I am in that photo and still have an old copy plucked from the paper.  Found it recently when searching for something else, and it's getting pretty brown now almost 42 years later.  If anybody had any leads on that, I would be most appreciative.

I have an original, promotional Houston Aeros hockey puck from the 1970's

On 8/28/2013 at 0:33 AM, ranger13 said:

I used to work at the Ice Haus in Town and Country Village back in the seventies. I also played junior hockey and later in a men's league. I have many memories of the Ice Haus and a lot of wonderful people who worked and visited there. Not only do I remember the tornado that came through the area, but I was in the rink getting ready for a game when it hit. I could see the roof trusses rise up and settle back down as the tornado passed overhead. It eventually went across the parking lot to the hotel across the way and sucked all the windows out of the back of the building. I still have the newspaper clipping from the Houston Chronicle discussing the incident which included a picture of the entry to the Ice Haus. All the information about the farmers market next door is correct. They used to open the doors between the market and the rink to allow shoppers to come in and watch the skaters. The building was not torn down, but converted into a Post Office. If you're interested I can post the picture I mentioned.

 

To great memories.

Very nice info! I did double check historicaerials.com and the post office was, indeed, a new build (I believe in time for the 1976 Bicentennial - I also believe that building has its same red and blue paint job from 1976, much deteriorated), just to the east of the ice rink/antique mall building. The area where the old ice rink building was became redeveloped into the glitzy Town & Country Mall of the 1980's. I looks like a parking garage took over most of the space. You can see it all on historicaerials.com

On 8/10/2016 at 9:07 AM, anthonytexas said:

Hi. I'm trying to get a feel for the Village Way Apartments back in the early 80's.  We moved in 1981 and stayed there for 5 years. These years were the earliest part of my youth. Friends and I would play around the large lots in front of the apt sections.  I remember my dad car was broken into.  I would drive back through Village Way once in a while, but the Concorde Apartments are there now. Wondering if anyone else grew up there and had stories to share.

historicaerials.com first shows the apartments, on Wirt, south of Hempstead Hwy., in their 1973 aerial.

It was an AppleTree, originally.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppleTree_Markets  The SW corner had the stand alone Ninfa's restaurant. The NW corner had a lot of individual store spaces, including the Baskin Robbins, that I mentioned, at the top NW corner. McDonald's is a stand alone little building in the NE corner, under the word "copyrighted" The realtor office is small and in the middle, north side.

Great find! "Route 66" was an excellent chronicle of architectural history in America. The episode filmed in Galveston was this one:

http://www.tvrage.com/Route_66_1960/episodes/145971

I found this wonderful reminiscent writing from a former student and friend of Miss Hallie's:

http://www.myspace.com/redheadsherri/blog#!

I think there was a Globe across from Town & Country Mall, if you are heading South on the beltway feeder from I10 It was immediately on the right. am I right about this???

I was waiting for this thread to mention the west side stores. That was Sage. The Globe in the Memorial area was in the SW corner of Gessner and I-10, just west of Memorial City Mall (where the new hospital/hotel has just been built). It can be seen in historicaerials.com, starting from 1973 on up to 2004. It must have been used as a different store after it quit being Globe in the 1970's, but I can't remember what store took over.

Sage was in the SW corner of Beltway 8 and I-10. I remember that Sage on West Belt was the only store that could sell clothes on Sunday when I was trying to buy some new clothing for school that was starting on Monday! Sage was nicer than Globe. Globe was like a K-Mart. Sage can be seen in historicaerials.com from 1973 until 2002. The land was then taken over by the highway department for use in the construction of Beltway 8 - I-10 interchange. The site is now a water retention pit.

The north side of the freeway...  Oh, yes! Ciro's Italian. That strip center was another one that was relatively recently built in the 1980's. We used to go eat at the Great Charcoal Chicken restaurant that was next to Ciro's, to the east. Best King Ranch Chicken around! There was also a fitness center in this shopping center.

Spring Branch Honda used to sit just in a triangle shaped property to the east of Bunker Hill. I believe there is a bank there, now, just behind Best Buy. The area that was developed into the HEB and other shops was a vast industrial property, that I think made oil field equipment. Which reminds me, Cameron Iron Works used to sit on the large Edwards IMAX property, closer to 610.

I also remember a lovely old (Circa 1900) 2 story white, wood-sided house that sat on large grounds, facing eastwards towards Witte on the north side of the freeway. Its property was surrounded by large, old Live Oaks. The house was torn down and developed into single story commercial buildings in the very late 1970's.  At that time, they left the great old Live Oak trees and some of the pecan trees in what was once a big orchard. I was sorry to see the trees razed when the plot of land recently was redeveloped, once again, as The Room Store. Totally concreted, now.

It is interesting to note that many of these buildings were newly built in the 1980's onwards, only to be promptly demolished for Houston's freeway expansion addiction. That ridiculous freeway even ate up the old K-T rail line which would have better been developed as a commuter rail corridor out to Katy and San Antonio.

Before the REI, that plot of land was a car dealership during the 1970's. Crown Plumbing is the building on the right side, you have circled blue. There was also a Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge just to the west of your photo edge. It had one of those HoJo restaurant buildings out front, with the 2 story motel behind.  A photo of the 59 Diner and the freeway, just to the west of your image: http://media.beta.photobucket.com/user/marmer01/media/10w_59_diner_19_2004-08-08_800.jpg.html?filters[term]=59%20diner%20katy%20freeway&filters[primary]=images 

Unknown restaurant = Dexter's. My friend's family owned Continental Finer Foods in the 1970's, which I think was located in the area you thought was some kinda office building. It was a strip mall. They also had a Continental Foods in Town & Country Shopping Village, facing west on West Belt, between Memorial Drive and Kimberley, just to the west of the long-gone Sakowitz store.

.

You may refer to HIstoircaerials.com to get better ideas of what has been there since the early 1950's. A fabulous resource.

I remember that there was also an antique/flea market mall, with vendors having stalls within, on the south side of this building. We would stroll around, looking at all the stuff for sale. The site where the building stood is now where townhomes have been built, to the west of the post office.

I grew up here and went to high school right behind this strip center, which was developed, conveniently, just before the years I was attending high school (late 1970's). Where the Chase Bank is, up front by the freeway, was a brand new McDonalds (with no drive through) which was a great hit with the high schoolers, since we were allowed to eat off campus as Seniors. I believe the McDonalds was torn down completely and replaced by the bank building.

Where Pet Depot is, was originally another hit restaurant, the fabulously decorated, Ninfa's. Baskin Robbins originally had the space where Mattress Firm is now. It had the "desk type" chairs to eat at. Walgreens was Sav-On Drugs back in the 70's. Along that stretch, there was a series of small tenants, including Menchaca's hair salon (between AppleTree & Sav-On) with the groovy male/female logo. Very avant garde to have a hair place that did both men and women! I got my hair cut there. Where Baskin Robbins is now, there used to be a funky card and gift shop in the 1980's. My wedding dress was bought at a Bridal Shop which faced Echo Lane, probably the spot where Dapper Dan Cleaners is, now. "Jeans Etc." was a boutique listed in my high school newspaper, May 21, 1980. They carried all the designer jeans of the 70's. But, I don't remember what spot they were at, possibly next to Menchaca's. The building which houses Calico Corner and the 2 restaurants was built originally as a smaller structure for a realtor, perhaps Martha Turner Realty, and they occupied the whole smaller building.

The super market did start out as AppleTree, but was remodeled in the 1980's, with extensions out front.

The 1973 historicaerials.com for this area shows a pine tree filled rectangular field where the shopping center was soon to be built. Just to the west, you can see the buildings of Handy Dan Hardware (on the east side, closest to the future Echo Lane Shopping Center) and Target, both purposefully built for each retailer. This was the first Target I had ever seen and shopped at during my junior high years in the mid-70's. Previously, we had shopped at Globe Discount Store, which was on the SW corner of Gessner and I-10, where the new hospital building is, now. Historicaerials.com is a fine resource for Houston, as it has aerials starting in 1953, up to 2004.

Indeed there was once a dance studio attached to the back of the old home. It can be seen in www.historicaerials.com in the 1957 and 1964 photos.

http://www.historica....com/?poi=13137

The link doesn't work now, so I have a screen shot from 1957.... Historicaerials.com ~ of the home with its studio building at back.

I ALSO TOOK DANCE AND BALLET FROM HALLIE PRITCHARD. I LOVE TO DANCE. I HAD A CHANCE TO BE ON THE DON MAHONEY SHOW,NEVER DID.I THINK BACK THE EVERYONE HAD TAKEN DANCE FEROM HER. LOL. NOT SURE OF THE YEAR I WAS THERE,MAYBE IN THE 50'S. WHAT EVER HAPPEN TO HALLIE?

This lady says that she passed away in 1996 at age 92. Read down the blog: http://www.myspace.com/redheadsherri/blog

I could have sworn that, a couple of years ago or so, I had posted my photos and details of the home that used to face Baldwin, next to Webster Street. We had quite a discussion about the area on HAIF, as I recall, but I guess the forum has been purged and revamped. This was a Prairie Style home with fantastic details that was built by architects, Sanguinet & Staats (I got it wrong in the photo album!) http://www.tshaonlin.../articles/cms01 as a precursor home to live in while the owners of Oak Place built their estate (also in the Prairie Style) on the circular portion of acreage just to the South. Well, here are my old shots of the home before it was torn down. I recall that there was a tennis court behind this house, as well. The book, Houston's Forgotten Heritage, has nice photos and info about Oak Place.

Now, the same view from Baldwin looks like this. These are the same oak trees that were in front of the old "Cottage":

Thanks for sharing the pictures of the old house, I was always intrigued by similar ones that I saw traveling many times through downtown, viewed from the Pierce Elevated, when I was young.

So many of those houses were so large, hard to upkeep, as they aged. I can recall a few in the East End, of course, all gone now.

The history of Oak Place is something new to me.

I could have sworn that, a couple of years ago or so, I had posted my photos and details of the home that used to face Baldwin, next to Webster Street. We had quite a discussion about the area on HAIF, as I recall, but I guess the forum has been purged and revamped. This was a Prairie Style home with fantastic details that was built by architects, Sanguinet & Staats (I got it wrong in the photo album!) http://www.tshaonlin.../articles/cms01 as a precursor home to live in while the owners of Oak Place built their estate (also in the Prairie Style) on the circular portion of acreage just to the South. Well, here are my old shots of the home before it was torn down. I recall that there was a tennis court behind this house, as well. The book, Houston's Forgotten Heritage, has nice photos and info about Oak Place.

Houstonians have often chosen to move on out to newer, more trendier and modern neighborhoods. The case with what is now Midtown, where the rich of Houston used to live around the turn of 1900, was that many sold and moved to River Oaks in the 1920's and 30's, as the automobile allowed a quick and scenic drive along Allen Parkway and Buffalo Speedway (names were suitable to the promotion of the new neighborhood!) to these "modern" homes situated away from the encroaching development of expanding downtown Houston. Many of the former palatial homes that graced the old Main Street area were torn down, after only 25-30 years of existence, to become sites for some of the first modern car dealerships and "strip" shopping centers that catered to drive up parking, on the diagonal, for their customers. Julia Ideson Building of the Houston Library does indeed have fascinating archival articles and photos of this transformation. The large book, Houston's Forgotten Heritage,is an invaluable resource to follow some of the city's early development in residences.

I finally found my old photos, taken the Summer of 1996, of the house at the SE corner of McGowan and Helena! I attach a screen shot of the corner as it is now, and 2 composites of the old house that used to be there. The house faced McGowan and the side shots are down Helena Street. I found a similar house to the one that was there in a Sears stock plan book from the early 1900's. Stairway would have been situated on the side of the house where there was a window halfway up the wall. The home had a sleeping porch upstairs at the back, that would allow occupants to put beds there and be cooled by SE Summer breezes. In the same way, the home owners also chose to enclose the upper front porch/gallery with windows that no doubt gave a nice extra bit of living area.

thank you for these pictures.

I studied tap, jazz, and ballet with Hallie from 1957 until about 1972.

In the back part of the building (which is not pictured: it must have been removed) was a large "dance room". It was as wide across as the back of the main structure, and had windows across it's east face. There was a door on the north side as well as the entrance from the main structure on the west side.

Jones

Indeed there was once a dance studio attached to the back of the old home. It can be seen in www.historicaerials.com in the 1957 and 1964 photos.

http://www.historica....com/?poi=13137

Silver Star Reality (not a plug) rolled out a proprietary real estate search engine recently. Worth a look as you can simply enter "Houston" and the year build span -- say, 1955 to 1962 -- and voil