Prince's Drive-In Restaurants

[Vertigo58]

I remember the Prince's on Cullen and Main very well. The one on Cullen closed around '90. Like Vertigo58, I still have one of the menus hanging up in my kitchen.

The one on Main held on a little longer but it seems like it was history by '95 or so. Now it's a stopping point for the Rail.

I took a photo of the great sign on the Cullen location (a giant hamburger). I need to dig that out.

and the real irony is the other day me & mom were at a local grocery & ran into the order taker lady from the Cullen location. She went to work at nearby Mandola's sandwiche shop after Prince's closed it down back when. I remember she still had that late 1950's hairdo, makeup, style & speak back then. A rare breed. Miracle she is still kickin around. Too cool.

[devonhart]

Flickr is Yahoo's photo storage site with search feature. Found this nice 1945 photo.

[editor]

That's neat. Did you know there's a HAIF pool on Flickr? Just click the blue/purple "kr" logo near the top of any HAIF page.

[sevfiv]

Neat - might have to try and find out where that was.

Here's the link to the Flickr page:

[Subdude]

Was this not from a spread in the old "Life" magazine?

[LTAWACS]

I wonder what location this is. I remember the one off of 45 and cullen.

[msteele6]

I'm glad I stumbled on this old topic. For years I've been telling people that I remember when the Prince's on the Gulf Freeway was on the outbound side and another drive-In was on the inbound side of the freeway. At some point then, in the fifties, the two drive-ins switched sides of the freeway so that the Prince's was on the inbound side and the other drive-in was on the outbound side. Mostly, people, including my own mother, greeted this revelation with blank stares indicative of disbelief and I was beginning to doubt my own memories.

Now, looking at posts #21 and #22 above I've finally found some evidence to confirm what I have known for all these years and have regained some degree of confidence in my own sanity (although most who know me will say the evidence is still insufficient).

The posts, by roym, list the addresses of the 1957 Prince's as 2112 Cullen and the 1964 Prince's as 1951 Cullen and that dovetails exactly with my memories, the addresses are exactly opposite each other on the Gulf Freeway and the Prince's wound up on the inbound side.

The explanation I had heard for this unusual move was as follows, the drive-in on the inbound side had been for a clintele that was predominantly black whereas the Prince's location was predominantly white (remember, this was 1950's Houston), as the area on the outbound side became more and more a black enclave, the switch was engineered.

I read somehere further down in the thread about a drive-in called Ritzee's, I believe that this might have been the name of the predominantly black drive-in.

[J W]

I remember the Ritzee. Gulf Fwy @ College ave . in South Houston . Hot spot to cruize in the mid sixties ! . It definitly wasn't black .

[devonhart]

Found in a 1955 UofH yearbook

[Earlydays]

My favorite hamburgers....

[NenaE]

I like that the ad lists the addresses. I like to look things up in GoogleEarth, to see if the structure, shell or remnant remains.

[sinister1]

There is remnants of an old Princes Burgers on N. Shepard Does anyone have old pics or records of this location?

[sinister1]

3303 Laura Koppe St. I remember seeing an old sign that read Princess Burgers, the sign was up until a few years ago when the new owners bought the property and took it down. Can any one confirm if this was ever an actual location?

[rsb320]

Probably already mentioned, since this thread is so old. The two I remember are the one by the Midtown Sears/Wheeler station and where the Valero is at Westheimer and Montrose.

[Retama]

This is a Prince's ad from the 1957 UH yearbook. Notice the location addresses at the bottom:

[Retama]

Wow. I just posted the same ad in a different thread. Except mine was from 1957 and they had 10 convenient locations by then.

[blue92]

When I go out to try out a new hamburger joint I always compare the taste I remember from my very 1st Prince's hamburger I ate that had all the fixings on it except onions. It was the summer of 1961 when I was 12 years old. Before that burger I ate my burgers with just meat and mustard.

Prince's burgers were made with mustard instead of mayonnaise, which I now call, well have called for years a Texas burger. Burgers with mayonnaise are Yankee burgers in my mind.

Whataburger throughout the 80s and 90s were the closest burgers that I ate that tasted like that original Prince's burger taste that I still remember and loved.

[ArchFan]

Fun thread. Prince's was a prominent feature of my childhood. I think we would stop there on the way back from visiting the beach in Galveston. However, the location I most remember was on Wirt Road, just south of Long Point (in Spring Branch). I haven't seen that one mentioned here, but I think they were open for decades.

They posted the price for a hamburger on their sign; my earliest recallection is of 12 cents (probably in the late 50's), which later went to 15 or 18 cents, then higher. Despite loving their hamburgers as a kid, I'm not sure how they'd stack up now. In any case, I can't remember having hamburgers there or anywhere that didn't have sesame-seed buns in those years. :-)

It's surprising to hear that they started in Dallas. The first non-local chain I was aware of was Jack-in-the-box, when they opened in the Heights (in the early 60's? not sure). The national McDonalds chain didn't arrive here until the early 70's, since they were kept out for the reason someone mentioned earlier.

[Earlydays]

Where did Chuck Wagon Hamburgers originate?

I know there were some in Ft. Worth.

They certainly pre-date Jack in the Box in Houston.

[morpheus]

Does anyone remember the rather small drive-inn located on Westheimer, just after Highland Village and the RR tracks, but before Mid Lane?

[westhu]

The Drive-in on Westheimer just west of the RR tracks was the Deputy. There were some big money drag race bets done there.

[digitalcowboymagic]

I know of four former locations:

• South Main
  
• Gulf Freeway @ Calhoun
  
• S. Wayside near Clinton
  
• Montrose & Westhiemer (where the Valero is)
  

[Porchman]

I vaguely remember the one where the Stop and rob is now at Montrose and Westheimer. There is an old sign and building left on Shepherd, maybe around 15th? somewhere along in there.

[Michelle C]

I was raised on Sul Ross in the Montrose area in the fifties and I remember well going to the South Main Prince's drive in. I remember going there once with a friend when I was in High school, the boy was a little short on cash and we ordered a hamburger with what he wanted on one side and what I wanted on the other side. I remember the car hop just smiling and rolling her eyes as she walked away.

 

My brother likes to tell the story of a girl he went out with one night when they ended up at the Prince's on Shepherd. There was a sign on the front of the building that read flash lights for service. The girl questioned him about the sign asking him if they loaned you a flash light if you had a car problem and had to look around under the hood. The girl ended up being a good friend of mine and she and her husband live not far from me now. She also ended up being very successful in real estate despite her blonde moment that night many years ago.

[djrage]

There is a current post on Bayou City History's Facebook page that has a photo of the car hops in front of the Jensen drive location. Where exactly was it on Jensen?

 

 

[Michelle C]

Prince's #8 was located at 9409 Jensen Drive. There is now a McDonalds at that same location.

[tomv]

However, the location I most remember was on Wirt Road, just south of Long Point (in Spring Branch). I haven't seen that one mentioned here, but I think they were open for decades.

They posted the price for a hamburger on their sign; my earliest recallection is of 12 cents (probably in the late 50's), which later went to 15 or 18 cents, then higher. Despite loving their hamburgers as a kid, I'm not sure how they'd stack up now. In any case, I can't remember having hamburgers there or anywhere that didn't have sesame-seed buns in those years. :-)

 

 

That was PRICE'S, another hamburger chain, not PRINCE'S

 

In the mid 60's they had 7 locations:

 

3908 Bellaire Blvd

8505 Jensen

909 Shepherd

1732 Wirt Rd

702 W Southmore

8020 S Park

3425 Ella Blvd

 

[mkultra25]

Another landmark bites the dust - per Swamplot, the old Prince's sign on N. Shepherd has been removed and is bound for a neon sign museum in North Dakota:

 

http://swamplot.com/old-princes-hamburger-sign-is-leaving-north-shepherd-for-points-even-further-north/2014-02-24/

[west20th]

http://swamplot.com/old-princes-hamburger-sign-is-leaving-north-shepherd-for-points-even-further-north/2014-02-24/

 

Storage West going into the old Prince's spot on Shepherd. Better than an empty lot but it is hard to get enthused about storage units. 

[Michelle C]

Here are a few pictures I found in my old photos taken at the Prince's drive in at 4509 South Main about the mid 80s.

 

In the first picture you are looking south east toward Fannin street. The grey two story brick building behind Prince's is Redman's uniforms. The second is at the same location with Main street in the back ground and looking north.