Specwriter

Actually, I believe it was named for the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/heritage/katy.shtml Topeka is in Kansas and why would someone name a railroad after two states and a city? Yes, the M-K-T rail line was there before the freeway so it must have made sense to someone to name the automobile route after the nickname of the railroad. Interstate 45 existed before The Woodlands (excuse me I almost forgot to capitalize the "T") but in keeping with the tradition of naming freeways in Houston one has to wonder why it wasn't called the Conroe Freeway. As a Houston native I can understand why it wasn't called the Dallas Freeway. I have also heard State 225 referred to as "The Laporte Freeway." It also seems to me that I've heard the freeways in Los Angeles referred to by destination names like the Harbor Freeway, the San Bernardino Freeway and the Santa Ana Freeway. I guess Interstate 10 going west from Houston must cease being the Katy Freeway when it becomes the Santa Monica Freeway at the west edge of downtown Los Angeles. Remember also, even though terms like "Gulf Fwy" appear on the street signs of the feeder (access) roads those are not the official names of the limited access roads which they "feed." I guess one could say a freeway ceases to be known by its trivial or nick name when the access road identifying signs no longer read "Gulf" or "Southwest." I love the way some people say "guff" for "gulf." Finally, many roads in Houston were named for the places to which they lead or connected. Off the top of my head I recall Richmond, Washington Avenue, San Felipe, Old Humble, Almeda-Genoa, and Addicks-Satsuma. Some of those roads could have become "freeways" and retained their old names. As FM 1960 is sure to become a "freeway" someday I think we should call it Jackrabbit Freeway. No doubt many people will drive like jackrabbits on it.

Well, it has taken me over two months to scan the postcard I mentioned and post it here. In fact, the building on the post card is not the Franzheim building but the 1908 building that was on the corner of Fannin and McKinney. I do not know who the architect(s) was (were) but the building reminds me a great deal of Union Station on the corner of Crawford and Texas (Warren & Wetmore, 1909). Note the reverse of the post card has writing and a postmark date of June 18, 1909 - almost exactly 100 years ago. It is a shame that both of theses buildings will have been lost.

DrFood forgot to mention that there was a Globe store on North Shepherd at the corner of Donovan directly across the street from St. Pius High School. This is the location today of the 911 Emergency Center. One would think from the fence around the place now that gold was kept there like Fort Knox. I made many trips to the Globe grocery department with our housekeeper/baby sitter in the early 60's. I thought the conveyer that the groceries were placed on and sent to the front of the store where one could then pull up in his car to have an employee load them directly into the trunk (or back of the station wagon) was cool. There was also a Shoppers Fair on N. Shepherd at the corner of Westcross which is a short street that connects Crosstimbers with N. Shepherd where Crosstimbers veers south before intesecting N. Shepherd and becomes 43rd west of Shepherd. The lot is vacant now. Directly across Westcross is St. Matthew's Methodist Church. I attended vacation bible school at St. Matthew's during the 60's but I don't remember ever entering Shoppers Fair. My mother practically wore out the doors at the Sears and J. C. Penny's in Garden Oaks though. I have many memories of visiting Santa Clause in the toy department at Sears and being dragged through rack upon rack of clothes at Penny's. We didn't buy shoes there though. For them we went to the Poll Parrot on 43rd at Ella. It's not a surprise that my mother was in the Sears on N. Shepherd when she learned that President Kennedy had been killed. She and my aunt had just stopped in after lunch to do a little shopping. My father worked at the Gemco on Airline at I45. I believe that store was opened about 1972 or '73. He worked for about a year at the Gemco on I10 East (it seemed like it was all the way to Baytown) before the north side store opened. That was a boon to him since the store on Airline was only five miles from our house but the one on the East Freeway was almost 30 miles away. There were other Gemco stores in Houston but, at this time, I can not remember where they were. The building that housed the store on Airline is now a Fiesta market and has been for years. Gemco department stores (which had a grocery department a la Globe) and Eagle grocery stores were part of the Lucky Stores chain out of California. The Houston stores closed in the mid-80's when Lucky was fending off a hostile takeover from investor Asher Edelman (remember him?). My father was transferred to Phoenix, Arizona when the Houston stores closed but was laid off about two years later (just short of full retirement vesting) as Lucky further fought the unsuccessful takeover. That hurt his ego somewhat but his stock in the corporation went way up in value after that which made things less painful. I should add that Gemco paid its employees very well and had good benefits also. Apparently they were used to paying union wages in California and Illinois and paid cashiers, for example, a good 20-25% more than the going rate in Houston at the time.

'Reefmonkey' date='Friday, March 13th, 2009 @ 12:03pm' Cafe Artiste off Mandell and West Main I remember Cafe Artiste. I had lunch there once in the early 90's with one of the interior designers at the firm where I worked. I really don't remember much about the food but it was a cozy place. Something is there now too that looks like a bistro of sorts. I'll drive by this afternoon and see if I can figure out what exactly it is now.

If you are familiar with the synagogue for Congregation Emanu El on Sunset Blvd. you can see how a very modestly informed reporter or broker could confuse the work of Mackie and Kamrath with Frank Lloyd Wright. Speaking of looking "Wrightian," there is a Unitarian church on Bering Drive that must have been designed by a avid admirer of FLW.

Lockmat, you ask the $1,000,000 question. Evidence suggests that location is practically everything. What is the real estate agent's mantra: "Location, location, location." Surely it would have been less expensive for the developer who is finishing the project at Kirby and Westheimer to build that same building "down the street," i.e. on the old Astroworld site. The logistics alone would have saved a considerable amount. But he didn't. He chose to build where he thougth he would have a better chance of selling/leasing his project. I think it has more to do with synergy than the absolute "niceness" of the neighborhood. I cite as examples areas of the Heights where high-end exists right next to hovel. Also, in my neighborhood near the Menil, you will find $750,000 townhouses across the street from apartments that rent for less than $500/month. Yet both of these areas have the things that are attractive to both economic segments of the population. The Fiesta grocery store at the corner of Alabama and Dunlavy is a case in point. It has low prices on staples (bread, milk, etc.) but also has a decent selection of wines, cheeses and other higher-end foods. A new townhouse development at the corner of the 610 Loop and 288, Rolgom Place, is suggestive also. The buildings look nice allthough a little more could have been put into landscaping. One can certainly argue that the location is convenient to the Medical Center, Downtown, and Greenway and the prices listed seem reasonable but it doesn't look like there have been many takers. True we are in a substantial economic downturn but this place looks virtually empty months after completion. Why? I believe it has to do with the lack of "synergy" in the neighborhood. Where is the closest grocery store? Where are the restaurants, jogging tracks, parks? Wouldn't it be great if something could happen with the Astrodome and the Astroworld property to begin to establish that synergy? There is plenty of shopping opportunity around the Kirby/OST intersection. It is not difficult to get to the Rice Village from there either where there are plenty of restaurants, specialty shops, a sports bar, and even a theather. I see a lot of potential. Let's hope that "actuality" happens.

I just received a post card I bought off eBay. It is an image of the YMCA building from about the time it was first built. The image is not a photograph. It looks more like a print of a watercolor. It is very neat and I'm glad I have something to remember the 'Y' by. I used to work out there when my office was nearby. I even used to get my hair cut at the barber shop on the first floor. Lately I've been going to the Trotter Y on Augusta.

It is a shame to hear about the fate of Kahn's Deli. My father worked as a pharmacist for the old Jones' Apothecary back in the 60's. There were periodic meetings of all the store managers (once every two months or so if I remember correctly) that took place in the evenings after the drug stores closed. Dinner was served at the meetings and it consisted (almost always) of sandwiches from Alfred's. They were set out on large trays and the Jones employees were invited to take the leftovers home. That is how I was introduced to what a proper deli sandwich should be. Perhaps it is possible to buy a restaurant and copy its recipies but it would appear that there is an intangible element in play also. It is a further shame that the reputation of Kahn's may be diminished if the new owners can not maintain that which made it so memorable in the first place - the goodness of the food.

Before Don Massey then Stewart Cadillac occupied the site at Main and McGowan, Mossy Oldsmobile was there. There was an Oldmobile dealership under another name prior to that. It was one of those that moved out along the freeways in the late 60s and early 70s. I believe it was either Sam White or Sam Montgomery Oldsmobile. Old photographs and city directories indicate that automobile dealerships moved south primarily along Main, Fannin, and San Jacinto as the city grew. Beginning in the 60s these dealerships began a migration to the "suburbs," i.e. along the freeways. Of course there were some earlier "outlying" dealers such as Knapp Chevrolet on the corner of Washington and Houston Avenues and Tommy Vaughn Ford at Shepherd and 11th. Who remembers Jimmy Green Chevorlet which was on the corner of Shepherd and Westheimer where the Randall's is today? More to the topic of what would be an appropriate use for property in this location, when I first went to Berlin I noticed a Rolls-Royce/Bentley agency directly on Unter den Linden (the Champs-