I spent most of my childhood living at 1629 Oxford street. This of course was only a block away from Eugene Fields Elementary. My first day in school my Grandmother walked me to the front door of the school and told me to pay attention to my surroundings because I would be walking home alone!. Well that was fine except she failed to notice both the front and back doors looked exactly alike, I walked around for an hour in the direction of N. Main and some kind lady saw me looking pretty distraught and asked me what was wrong so I told her I was lost. It wasn't too long before she found where I lived and walked me to the front door. In those days life was so uncomplicated and easy, everyone looked after another. My Grandmother always did her shopping on Saturdays and we must have visited every store within 5 miles, there were stores everywhere in the Heights, Lewis and Coker, Studewood Market (later became Wiengartens), small mom and pop grocers, so many! I know there were kiddie corrals at just about every store, always had an area with a table and loaded with Comic books, we kids sat there and read comics while the grownups did the shopping. Every store usually had some kind of giveaway for the kids, usually a Indian feather band or something along that line. There was free products sent to every household in the mail, soap, Bread, Canned goods, just about anything the mailman could carry the stores and merchandisers sent out. One thing I particularly remember is an old Black man that came through the neighborhood once a week, he rode an old wooden wagon with two mules and sold fresh fruit from the wagon. Recently I read where Houston had banned any Horse Back riding and was really sad to see my home town turn into such a political ball park. Then there was an old man that always gave out candy to the kids, we actually called him the candy man!.. Try that now and someone would probably have you locked up, that old man was a great old man and a long time resident of the Heights, that's just how it was. Christmas of 58 my Sister and I got new Schwin bicycles, I know we rode around that block so many times we couldn't stand. On our corner there was a family owned furniture reupholstering business, that building is still there. The opposite corner towards 20th was bare and vacant, there was a small wood frame church on the same lot just opposite the empty lot. For the longest time the church had the pews outside sitting on the vacant lot, I never knew why but I do remember laying on those long pews and napping in the sunlight. One of my classmates was Chinese and her name was Jenny G, they lived on the corner across from the vacant lot other side of the street. Her parents never let her out doors to play with any of us and our block was full of kids, there was Chuck, his Brother Bobby, Dennis, Paul, Casey. Kids everywhere! I started attending Baptist Temple in 56 and recently I was home for a short time and drove past the Church, it is all run down now and the window frames have rusted down the walls, the windows at the rear end of the block that came up into the Chaplin s office were broken and stuffed with trash! It pains me deeply to see this because the Church in my younger days was a show place in the Heights and it was so beautiful. The Church owned all the property across the street and it was strictly parking, because in the 50's every Church in Houston was full on Sundays.. I know of course they had to sale the property to just financially survive. I think perhaps we're living in those last of days, some of us just don't realize it. Well I could ramble on for hours with memories of the Heights, next time I'll tell how great it was going down town and into those one of kind Movie Houses like the Metropolitan, the Majestic and so many movie houses. gnight Houston
