Little Pearl Harbor

[Retama]

I'm sure that some of you out there are familiar with that little slice of Bloody Fifth (Ward) known as "Little Pearl Harbor?" It was/is the intersection of Lyons and Jensen and received its name from the idea that enough people had been killed in that vicinity that it resembled Pearl Harbor of Dec. 7, 1941 fame.

I learned about it as a kid. My best friend's dad had spent almost half a century as a Houston cop and he could never pass certain places in the city without noting their past relationship to some crime he had worked. As we would drive by a nondescript little building on, say Elgin, he would say, "Guy named Jones ran a bookmakin' business outta the back of that little place," or he would note the various ditches where murder victims had been found. Believe me, it cast the Bayou City in a whole new light.

In the years after he gave us a lesson on "Little Pearl," I began to pick up bits and pieces about the place. Blues singer Weldon "Juke Boy" Bonner used to sing about the spot. Once, in the early 1980s, Melanie Lawson reported a murder in that vicinity and noted its old history, using the "Little Pearl Harbor" label.

There's not much at all there now. I was surprised at how many old houses have simply been scraped off for blocks around. I am wondering what some of you know about this place. I have been told that there were several night spots in that area where trouble was part of the experience, thus lending itself to such a volume of violence.

Edited May 11, 2007 by Retama

[FilioScotia]

I'm sure that some of you out there are familiar with that little slice of Bloody Fifth (Ward) known as "Little Pearl Harbor?" There's not much at all there now.

It's really sad but the area around Jensen Drive and Lyons Avenue was, at one time, a thriving and busy little business district, about a mile north of downtown Houston. There were stores, shops, even a movie house. It looked like the downtown area of a small town.

When I was a kid living in east Texas, Jensen Drive was the only way into Houston from the northeast. The East-Tex Fwy was still on the drawing boards. Highway 59 became Jensen somewhere way out there, and my dad always stopped at one of the car-hop drive-ins on Jensen to buy burgers for everybody. We'd stop at Lyons Avenue so mom could go shopping in one or more of the small shops.

It's all gone now. Gone without a trace.

[Vertigo58]

It's really sad but the area around Jensen Drive and Lyons Avenue was, at one time, a thriving and busy little business district, about a mile north of downtown Houston. There were stores, shops, even a movie house. It looked like the downtown area of a small town.

When I was a kid living in east Texas, Jensen Drive was the only way into Houston from the northeast. The East-Tex Fwy was still on the drawing boards. Highway 59 became Jensen somewhere way out there, and my dad always stopped at one of the car-hop drive-ins on Jensen to buy burgers for everybody. We'd stop at Lyons Avenue so mom could go shopping in one or more of the small shops.

It's all gone now. Gone without a trace.

We had discussed that area in I think Crater Houston? I can't think of the guy/haif member that gave a good background on it? When we used to drive over it on 59 I would always look down and wonder why is that little city all alone and abandoned? A tiny ghost town it seems all boarded up. It is ashamed that Jensen drive garnered such a bad reputation over the decades. Any time someone joked about "ladies of the evening" Congress and Jensen were always associated. The terrible stench of the bayou still permiates the air.

I am more familiar with Lyons and Lockwood a bit farther east. That clinic on the corner is still there! I remember us going there to get measle shots as kids. Still looks like 1966. In fact anytime I rarely go to this part of town I feel like it is still 1968 era. Until recently the city officials are helping the long forgotten area. I can relate trust me on that one.

[TheNiche]

Any time someone joked about "ladies of the evening" Congress and Jensen were always associated. The terrible stench of the bayou still permiates the air.

Stench of the bayou? When was the last time you walked along it?

[MidtownCoog]

My Dad is 60, and he said there were gangs in this area when he was a kid.

Jensen is my escape route of 59 into downtown when there is traffic.

I have been meaning to take some pictures. The old abandoned buildings with hand-painted business signs are something you don't see much anymore. There is one in particular that says "do not know on my door after dark".

I have noticed some artists moving in, though. Maybe it's the next artist's enclave.

[Vertigo58]

Under Other Neighborhoods/Any traces of Frenchtown left? Could this be the same area?

Vicman had topic a while back. Maybe merge topics if correct?

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...?showtopic=9864

[Retama]

My Dad is 60, and he said there were gangs in this area when he was a kid.

From what my friend's dad said the notorious Red X Gang used to operate up in that area in the 1930s and 40s. Gangs have been in Houston for a long time, but not to the extent that they were in places like NY, Chicago and LA.

Yeah, Frenchtown is a little subsection of Fifth Ward with an interesting history.

I remember driving down Lyons Ave. about 25 years ago to look at it. It was pretty beat up then.

[Vertigo58]

From what my friend's dad said the notorious Red X Gang used to operate up in that area in the 1930s and 40s. Gangs have been in Houston for a long time, but not to the extent that they were in places like NY, Chicago and LA.

Yeah, Frenchtown is a little subsection of Fifth Ward with an interesting history.

I remember driving down Lyons Ave. about 25 years ago to look at it. It was pretty beat up then.

What is strange to me anyway is I am a born and raised Houstonian and I never recall hearing these

nick names for that area? Little Pearl Harbor or Frenchtown? Most unusual. I was stunned to see that new hospital farther down on Lyons Ave.

That section of Houston was like a little downtown of its own. Sadly, by mid 60's it was getting real bad. We were in Weingarten's (presently Fiesta) when armed robbers held the manager hostage as we all were stuck in the store. Closest I've ever been to complete physical danger at age 6? Mom said we gotta get outta this place, like the song and we did!

[isuredid]

Under Other Neighborhoods/Any traces of Frenchtown left? Could this be the same area?

Vicman had topic a while back. Maybe merge topics if correct?

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...?showtopic=9864

Frenchtown was still a real place when I was a teen, but I'm not sure how many of the original inhabitants still live in the area. That was 35 years ago. The neighborhood is/was over off 59 and Liberty Road. If memory serves, it was north of Liberty Road, just east of 59. The north border may have been Collingsworth, but I'm no expert on Frenchtown.

I remember when I was about 20 I lived in a new apartment complex by the Astrodome. There was a young woman I occasionally talked to by the pool that told me she was from Frenchtown. A real beauty she was.

Edited May 12, 2007 by isuredid

[Retama]

The neighborhood is/was over off 59 and Liberty Road. If memory serves, it was north of Liberty Road, just east of 59. The north border may have been Collingsworth, but I'm no expert on Frenchtown.

I think that's about right. I sort of remember Frenchtown as being about a 10 block area bounded by Collingsworth, Russell and Liberty Road.

What is strange to me anyway is I am a born and raised Houstonian and I never recall hearing these

nick names for that area? Little Pearl Harbor or Frenchtown?

Little Pearl Harbor is an old name. I haven't heard it much at all in conversation. "Bloody Fifth" is a term I 've heard used for Fifth Ward and I think that is mainly a police term. I once used that phrase with a Houston cop back in the 1990s and he smiled and said, "we're not allowed to call it that anymore."

[isuredid]

I think that's about right. I sort of remember Frenchtown as being about a 10 block area bounded by Collingsworth, Russell and Liberty Road.

Little Pearl Harbor is an old name. I haven't heard it much at all in conversation. "Bloody Fifth" is a term I 've heard used for Fifth Ward and I think that is mainly a police term. I once used that phrase with a Houston cop back in the 1990s and he smiled and said, "we're not allowed to call it that anymore."

Believe it or not, "The Bloody Fifth" was already in use in the 1870s.

[Retama]

Believe it or not, "The Bloody Fifth" was already in use in the 1870s.

That's interesting. Just a violent place? I seem to recall that Fifth Ward was home to Germans and Irish before blacks moved in. Carrie Nation once chopped up a bar on Lyons Ave.

[FilioScotia]

Whatever happened to " Podunk"?

For as long as I can remember -- and I'm near retirement age -- the area along North Wayside from the Ship Channel across Lyons Ave to Liberty Road was called Podunk. I haven't seen that name mentioned in this discussion.

[gnu]

For as long as I can remember -- and I'm near retirement age -- the area along North Wayside from the Ship Channel across Lyons Ave to Liberty Road was called Podunk. I haven't seen that name mentioned in this discussion.

Legislature makes Podunk "official"

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...ro/4790993.html

[isuredid]

I have lived in Houston my entire life and am now 52. I've known of Frechtown since the 70s. I grew up calling Denver Harbor "Podunk". I think "The Bloody Fifth" has been around almost as long as the Ward, but I have never heard the term "Little Pearl Harbor".

[Retama]

isuredid, if you can find a copy of the Texas Monthly Press book Richard West's Texas (1982), there is an article about Fifth Ward that refers to Jensen at Lyons as Little Pearl Harbor. But, as I stated, I first heard it called that from an old Houston cop.

[isuredid]

isuredid, if you can find a copy of the Texas Monthly Press book Richard West's Texas (1982), there is an article about Fifth Ward that refers to Jensen at Lyons as Little Pearl Harbor. But, as I stated, I first heard it called that from an old Houston cop.

I wasn't doubting that that moniker was used, only that the nickname "Little Pearl Harbor" must be a bit more obscure than some of the others in the discussion.

Edited May 14, 2007 by isuredid

[FilioScotia]

I wasn't doubting that that moniker was used, only that the nickname "Little Pearl Harbor" must be a bit more obscure than some of the others in the discussion.

Very obscure. I lived on the north side in my childhood, and I still have relatives in different areas around Jensen Drive from downtown to points north. Over my many decades in this town, I've spent a lot of time visiting my relatives, ran with friends in Denver Harbor and Podunk when I was in high school, and absorbed a lot of the local history, but until this thread began I had never encountered the name "Little Pearl Harbor". Never seen it before now.

Methinks, along with isuredid, that the name is probably used more in police circles than in the general community.

Edited May 14, 2007 by FilioScotia

[Poppahop]

I wasn't doubting that that moniker was used, only that the nickname "Little Pearl Harbor" must be a bit more obscure than some of the others in the discussion.

The chapter about that area in Sig Byrd's Houston is called Pearl Harbor, no "little."

[westhu]

I have heard that area described as Pearl Harbor since the mid 60's. The old joke was that Pearl Harbor (after the WW2 attack) was named after Houston's Pearl Harbor, not the other way around. I'm pretty sure there was an article in the Hou Chron's old Texas Magazine Sunday supplement about the 5th Ward and it called the Lyons/ Jensen intersection Pearl Harbor.

[isuredid]

The chapter about that area in Sig Byrd's Houston is called Pearl Harbor, no "little."

I have that book and had forgotten about the Pearl Harbor article. He talked about the Lyons Avenue undertaker, I.S. Lewis, who had died about 12 years before the article was written. I found him in the 1930 census and he was 68 and living at 2637 Odin, which is what that part of Lyons was called at the time. His profession was, indeed, listed as undertaker. He was born in Louisiana.

Sig Byrd identifies Pearl Harbor as Lyons and Hill street, but it doesn't look like there is much left at that location.

[hbcu]

where my mom is from in Louisiana...all of the folks from her town settled into Frenchtown

some of the street names resemble it also (spelling may be off)...Chartres, New Orleans, Des Chaues....those are right off 59N and Collingsworth

[isuredid]

where my mom is from in Louisiana...all of the folks from her town settled into Frenchtown

some of the street names resemble it also (spelling may be off)...Chartres, New Orleans, Des Chaues....those are right off 59N and Collingsworth

What town in Louisiana was your mom from? I head that most of those folks moved here because of Mississippi flooding.

There were a few New Orleans street names in the old Fifth Ward around Lyons and Hill street, but that was because the Texas and New Orleans Railroad had their rail line, train yard and shops in the area. There is a Conti Street, New Orleans, Elysian, and Opelousas. Chartres is on the east end of Downtown, more in the Second Ward.

I think there is only one French named street in Frenchtown, Des Chaumes.

Edited May 17, 2007 by isuredid

[hbcu]

she's from Opelousas....there was no flood I was told...they left because of opportunity...some settled in 5th ward, alot in 3rd ward and the rest in south park

[Subdude]

where my mom is from in Louisiana...all of the folks from her town settled into Frenchtown

some of the street names resemble it also (spelling may be off)...Chartres, New Orleans, Des Chaues....those are right off 59N and Collingsworth

Some more info on Frenchtown

Frenchtown thread

[isuredid]

I have that book and had forgotten about the Pearl Harbor article. He talked about the Lyons Avenue undertaker, I.S. Lewis, who had died about 12 years before the article was written. I found him in the 1930 census and he was 68 and living at 2637 Odin, which is what that part of Lyons was called at the time. His profession was, indeed, listed as undertaker. He was born in Louisiana.

Sig Byrd identifies Pearl Harbor as Lyons and Hill street, but it doesn't look like there is much left at that location.

I looked at the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for the Pearl Harbor area. It was easy to see why it was Lyons and Hill Street. I drove by there today after lunch. I had actually passed by there many times in the past, but had no knowledge of it's history. It's amazing how, what was apparently a very vibrant neigbohood, is just totally gone. Every street in the area is a dumping ground and most of the area is just empty fields. Why doesn't heavy garbage pick up those piles of trash?

From the Sanborn maps it didn't look the center of the area was Jensen and Lyons.

I also looked up more on I.S. Lewis from the Sig Byrd story. He was Isacc S. Lewis and also owned a cafe.

Hill and Lyons today (looking North). Nothing is left of this once vibrant community center

Edited May 18, 2007 by isuredid

[5thWardCalifornia]

I am more familiar with Lyons and Lockwood a bit farther east. That clinic on the corner is still there! I remember us going there to get measle shots as kids. Still looks like 1966. In fact anytime I rarely go to this part of town I feel like it is still 1968 era. Until recently the city officials are helping the long forgotten area. I can relate trust me on that one.

I grew up within a block of that clinic...on Sam Wilson St. we used to play ball in the parking lot and even sneak up on the roof and look out over Lyons. Ave. My mother told me about the Lyons. Ave. of old. She said the area was black middle class and Lyons Ave. was their shopping district, especially since they weren't always welcomed in stores like Woolworths downtown. So, Lyons Ave. it was. I remember being a kid out there in the 80's and seeing the old abandoned theatre and other businesses. It was a sad sight even back then. I left in 1987...during the crack era and right before my neighborhood became a warzone...but still not as bad as other parts of 5th Ward.

Edited November 9, 2007 by 5thWardCalifornia

[musicman]

btw welcome to HAIF

[5thWardCalifornia]

btw welcome to HAIF

thanks. I don't know if bumping old threads is frowned upon on this forum as it is on some others, but I have nothing to contribute about present day Houston .

I found this board because I plan on moving back to Houston in the near future and I wanted to see what was happening and find out about the housing market and desirable/undesirable area's. The house I grew up in near Lyons/Lockwood has been torn down, but my family still owns the land. I don't plan on building there.

I guess being a child out there, I had a different view of everything. Yeah, we had street fights, and we passed lots of abandoned homes on our way to school. most of the people I knew were poor. Some were REALLY poor, and others were doing well...but it didn't seem that bad. the Hester House was a great place to go, the schools I went to (Atherton Elem. and Fleming Middle) were actually some of the best schools I ever attended...with teachers who knew everyones parents and actually seemed to care...it was a short trip to downtown...and all of the people on the street knew my mom as a child. There was the late Mickey Leland's grandmother who was a dear person to me, A lady who's son was a Harlem Globe Trotter...another who's nephew was a world famous R&B singer...but all of those people are dead now, And I've heard that the neighborhood bears no resemblance to the one I knew.

I heard that on several occassions a few years ago...men stood on the Roof of the Health Clinic and shot at HPD cars traveling down Lyons Ave.

woah...

[Vertigo58]

thanks. I don't know if bumping old threads is frowned upon on this forum as it is on some others, but I have nothing to contribute about present day Houston .

I found this board because I plan on moving back to Houston in the near future and I wanted to see what was happening and find out about the housing market and desirable/undesirable area's. The house I grew up in near Lyons/Lockwood has been torn down, but my family still owns the land. I don't plan on building there.

I guess being a child out there, I had a different view of everything. Yeah, we had street fights, and we passed lots of abandoned homes on our way to school. most of the people I knew were poor. Some were REALLY poor, and others were doing well...but it didn't seem that bad. the Hester House was a great place to go, the schools I went to (Atherton Elem. and Fleming Middle) were actually some of the best schools I ever attended...with teachers who knew everyones parents and actually seemed to care...it was a short trip to downtown...and all of the people on the street knew my mom as a child. There was the late Mickey Leland's grandmother who was a dear person to me, A lady who's son was a Harlem Globe Trotter...another who's nephew was a world famous R&B singer...but all of those people are dead now, And I've heard that the neighborhood bears no resemblance to the one I knew.

I heard that on several occassions a few years ago...men stood on the Roof of the Health Clinic and shot at HPD cars traveling down Lyons Ave.

woah...

It's fantastic that someone from that area of Lyon's Avenue (Denver Harbor) responded here!

I found several of my booster/measles shots health cards from around 1965-68 from that clinic you mentioned. The clinic is still there! Has that 1960's futuristic modern design without much remodeling. I think its called Lyon's Avenue Clinic? I still remember the kids screaming & crying after a shot, but they always gave you that little lump of sugar in the paper dixie cup afterwards (never made sense to me).

Might not be surprised to find that after nearly 45 years Lyon's Avenue is just now getting some much overlooked reconstruction. As you know it was always very narrow and seems they do not plan to widen. Our family doctor was way on the east end of Lyons ave his name was Dr Kaminski. That building (1940's style modern) is still there too! Lyons had numerous shopping strips and stores. There was a Kinney Shoes once that had a Buster Brown neon sign on top. I always wondered how strange the character was. It was the 60's but Buster Brown was clearly in the 1920's or there abouts. There was that old theater but I cannot recall the name. It is still there top but is next to a tire shop and is now a church or something. The Fiesta was a Weingarten's for a long time and the TSO across the street, Oh God! It's still there! got my first glasses there. This area was like a small downtown you know.

Sadly, it has been long forgotten when most families left as the area declined. By late 1960's it was headed for the dumps. Here we are in 2007 and it still is somewhere you really do not want to be in (I dont care what color/shape/size you are). The stigma may never go away. We only make the very occasional visit to the very authentic Mex restaurants on Lyons, other than that its sayonara my friends.