H8S 4 LIFE

Having lived in the Heights (Sunset Heights to be accurate) my entire life, Washington Avenue has always been laid out as such to me: Westcott to Yale = West End. Yale to Houston Ave = 6th Ward. Past Houston Ave. is well....Downtown. Cottage Grove does not begin until you are north of Washington, west of Shepherd and east of Westcott/Hempstead/I-10 interchange. The Heights begins north of I-10, thus the "Welcome to the Historic Heights" sign in the median. 3rd street is now current day I-10, 2nd street is still there, although only a block from Heights to Harvard exists, and there was never, to the best of my knowledge, a 1st st.

I can't help but think what those that hate the 11th St. Kroger now, would have thought about the OLD Kroger store at W.11th? It was a teeny, tiny, dark hole covered with grime from floor to ceiling. That is...if you could get in the automatic front door which sounded like it was going to break every time it opened. Walgreen's has been there a long time at the corner of 20th and Yale. If they must move, I would think a fresh coat of paint on the old Eckerd's at 20th and Main would make a fine location for Walgreen's to relocate. It's a real shame that building is just sitting there going to waste. It's even worse when you realize that the Eckerd's being built in the first place is what killed longtime Heights businesses Akin's Pharmacy and K&K Grocers both of which were on the opposing corners of the intersection. Now the replacement is gone, and besides Rudy's barbershop next to the old pharmacy....there's nothing really left.

If you haven't noticed, directly across Yale from this lot once stood the "Sons of Hermann, Edelweiss 4 & Magnolia 7" membership lodge, along with several houses associated with the art car museum. The houses were the first to go a couple of years ago, and now they have finally torn down the lodge about a month ago, after a year or so of abandonment. The entire lot from the tracks up to the apartment complex directly across from West End Clinic is now open, apparently making way for either a)more townhomes or b)more storage. The Sons of Hermann was there for MANY years. I believe it dated back to the 30's or 40's.

I didn't see this mentioned anywhere else, but Houston is about to lose another one of its longtime heritage radio stations. KCOH-AM, the first radio station in Houston to target the African-American community will transfer ownership from KCOH, Inc. to Paraclete Church Ministries, a Catholic ministry, for $8.75 million dollars. It will presumably be formatted as a Catholic based religious station. I am sad to see longtime personalities such as Wash Allen, Ralph Cooper, and Skipper Lee Frazier out of work, and another one of the original heritage radio stations lost. What are your cherished memories of KCOH?

Thank you, tmariar, and all. I was not aware that our family name had been returned to the hotel after the renovations. This is a pleasant surprise, and would have made my father proud. He was always so ashamed of what the property had become after it was sold.

Well, there are a couple of projection screens hanging down from the back office, then you have Mr. Heard's office, which has a couple of computers still sitting there untouched. The service drive is destroyed, but the actual garage still has tools in it, car parts, a large tool box, several gas heaters hanging from the rafters, many flourescent lights (the large teardrop lights), and amazingly a couple of hydraulic lifts in the garage. I would assume each of these full size lifts must be worth several thousand dollars a piece. The commercial trucks building was sold to an independent car dealer that is supposed to open a new used car lot directly across the freeway from Landmark. (Next to Northstar, as you mentioned.) Not sure what happened, if the funds ran dry or what, but it looks as though that project has been delayed or abandoned all together.

If I'm not mistaken Northwest Mall opened with an Orange Julius in it, next door to present day "Chick-Fil-A". I know for certain it was there in the 70's, and am pretty sure it was an original tenant.

Which is ultimately what shut them down. I do have some "memorabilia" from the dealership, including the 25x30" canvas that once graced the service drive, proclaiming "Welcome to Landmark Chevrolet, World's #1 Selling Chevy Dealer!" It's kind of interesting to see what is left inside the Landmark buildings. For a company that went through a bankruptcy liquidation, I would have thought that the place would have been stripped of everything worth at least a few dollars in cash, but that is simply not the case.

I was wondering if anyone had some old pictures of the King George Hotel, before Minute Maid Park was built. It sat right across the street from the Union Station. This hotel was originally my family's, my grandfather opened it in the 20's after landing at Ellis Island and setting up shop here in Houston. My father had many pictures of the "DeGeorge Hotel" as well as pics of the old homestead off of N. Main that were lost in a fire several years ago. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello everyone. This is my first post on the board, after stumbling across the HAIF by chance. You guys are a wealth of information, and I look forward to contributing in the various discussions. As you all know, Landmark Chevrolet @ 9111 North Freeway closed last October after over 50 years of service to the Houston area. (First as McMahon Chevrolet, then as Landmark.) Looking around the boards, I was hoping someone had some information on what plans, if any, have come up for this massive chunk of freeway side property? I know the land has been liquidated, as was Bill Heard in Sugar Land, but no progress had occurred here. (Unless you count the vandals demolishing what's left) Can anyone shed light on this?