Dave W

They would select the produce for you.

The Bobby Doyle Three played there regularly in the early 60s. Kenny Rogers was Doyle's bassist and vocalist. Doyle later settled in Austin and Kenny went on to much bigger things.

Brittain's was in a separate center on the Westbury Square property. There was a Weingarten's in that center, along with Mading Drugs, TG&Y, a barber shop and a couple of others.

AMI Healthcare is still in business.

There was a name change. Joseph Danburg changed the name of the stores to Danburg's, probably about 1950 or slightly afterwards.

Globe Discount City was started as the discount arm of Danburg's. Globe's Wikipedia entry says that United Mercantile Inc. was formed in 1960 to operate Danburg's and the yet to be built Globe stores. No idea if Mr. Danburg still had an ownership interest at that point.

An up-and-coming Elvis played the Paladium.

Sizzler is still around, mostly in the western states. Never ate at that one. They were about the same quality as Bonanza and Ponderosa. Inexpensive and inferior to the good steak houses.

Their blueberry pancakes were excellent. Now I'm hungry.

That was in the same large L-shaped center where the Dome Shadows night club was located. West side of Buffalo Speedway, adjoining the southern end of Braes Terrace subdivision.

No, it was in the long strip center on the south side of Bellaire Blvd. between Braes Blvd. and Stella Link. That center is actually inside the Southside Place city limits.

At some point it became Hodell-Byrd Realtors when Mr. Hodell's daughter took over the company and later merged with Heritage Texas Properties.

10 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

And the most important question …

when/why/how was Main St realigned?

This 1935 map shows Main St Boulevard ending at Holcombe, while this 1942 map shows the current alignment. And if Wikipedia is correct, 1942 is also the year US 90A was designated. So an educated guess would be by 1942 at the latest. Why? I suppose it was to link up to the US highway.

2 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

Well thanks, was not implying that it was unusual, just did not know what the prior Main St alignment was. I assume it wasn’t current Fannin north of Holcombe? 

Holcombe was its northernmost point, at least in my lifetime. It didn't exist north of Holcombe. Sorry I wasn't clear about that. And Fannin didn't exist south of Holcombe.

4 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

I'd love to know more of the history of this name change/realignment--first I've heard!

Nothing unusual about it. Fannin ended at Holcombe. Old Main Street Road ended at Holcombe just east of where Fannin ended. As the area south of Holcombe developed in the 1950s, the two were connected, it was logical to have a single name.

I bowled there a few times, it was just another one of many bowling alleys opened in the early 60s.

Hairy navel contest... did the winner put that on his resume?

My parents shopped at that store in the late 40s, when we lived on Milton, and we shopped there in the early 70s when we lived in the neighborhood. Huffington had sold his interest in the store long before the 70s but IIRC his ranch was still supplying the beef.

We used to go to the one on Holcombe for ice cream. IIRC it wasn't a drive in, it was an ice cream parlor with food.

Dobbs House was a national chain. Martin Luther King was once denied service at an Atlanta Dobbs House.

Never ate there either. I don't specifically remember the one on Bellaire, but I do remember one on South Main, roughly across the road from the Chief Motel, and one on N. Braeswood at Stella Link. They had a lot of locations around town.

Yes, we ate there. It was in a strip center on the north side of Willowbend, east of the railroad tracks. The food was good, at least we thought so at the time.

Westheimer Undertakers was started and owned by Sidney Westheimer, one of M.L.'s nephews.

Westheimer Transfer was started and owned by Sigmund Westheimer, another nephew.

White House was a department store which was bought out by Meyer Bros.

Yes, they merged. Mading's was the much bigger chain. Then Mading-Dugan was bought by a conglomerate, which later sold out to Eckerd.

It was in a strip center. For a couple of years in the 70s, I bought car insurance from the Allstate agent on premises. In addition to the appliances, there was a catalog order desk that seemed to do a good business.

I stand corrected. As you know from the Gateway Pool thread, Les Oldfield was the original owner and the pool certainly wasn't indoor back then.

The Phill Hansel Swimming Academy on Richton was originally owned by Ralph Flanagan, who was an Olympic Silver Medalist in the 1930s. and his wife Ruth. They had to sell it because of health issues.

3 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

This grocery was presumably owned by James M. Huffington, who also originally owned (and lent his initials to) longtime West University Place neighborhood grocery JMH, located only a couple of blocks away from this one at 3636 Rice Blvd.

Yes, this was J.M. Huffington's store, which became JMH after he partnered with Vic Stanek and a couple of other partners to build more stores, including the one on Rice @ Edloe. Then when Huffington wanted to sell out and retire in the 1950s, Vic and partners bought him out, but they had to sell three of the stores to finance the deal, including this one. That left the one on Rice @ Edloe and another on Milton @ College.