Historic Houston Nostalgia

[tomv]

Great topic. Next time though you might want to be a little more descriptive in the title, for example "What Do You Really Miss About Houston?" It takes a lot to get people to click these days!

[NenaE]

...

I miss being a little kid in the backseat (usually perched in the shelf of the Oldmobile looking out the back window without a though of seatbelts, watching all the signs on the Gulf Freeway going home from wherever we'd been in the city. My memories start around the 610 loop: the turquoise and pink umbrella Gulfgate sign & Dot's . . . The Rocket Neon Sign for a McDavid car place . . The Fingers Warehouse . . .  the lighthouse/Cape Cod looking place at Park Place . . . Harmony Wedding Chapel at Bellfort . . . the old rock Car Wash with its individual letters up high around Howard . . .  the neon suitcase man at the Twin W Motel . . .the Breezeway Lounge meant we were almost at our South Belt exit, not far from the old KIKK billboard.

...

 

oh yeah... here's another link you may enjoy...http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/18829-gulf-freeway-landmarks/?hl=+gulf%20+freeway

 

 

I miss : - Old wooden screen doors, open windows, attic fans and the smell of freshly cut grass. - A not-so-junky looking I-45. - Spotting that old wooden, unpainted 2-story structure on the curve of Pierce Elevated. - Alll those vintage neon signs. -The cool feel of the spotless terrazzo and the sound and look of the fountains, while strolling through Gulfgate in the '60's-70's.  

[plumber2]

I miss it all except for the nasty cigarette smokers and their cavalier attitude about smoking and dopping their cigarette butts anywhere they chose to, especially on those smoothly polished terrazzo lobby floors. Just a little reality check!

[tomv]

The San Jacinto Inn!

[plumber2]

The San Jacinto Inn!

loved their bisquits

[tomv]

loved their bisquits

 

I did too. Surprisingly, the recipe apparently came from the back of a Gold Medal flour bag. Maybe it was the setting that made them seem so special, or maybe the preserves that came with them!

 

[Materene]

I miss Playland Park, I miss the North Houston Race Track, now on airport property, I miss Myers Speedway, now a cow pasture as it was before it became a Speedway, that's one for the books !!  There once was an old Church on the corner of Oxford in the Heights and as an 8 year old kid I would walk over to that empty lot next to that little church and lay down on the pews and take a nap, they had all been taken outside and placed in a nice orderyly row.  I have no idea what for, maybe the church was being renovated or maybe it was being closed, but I do know it was one nice place to lay out in the sun and nap.  There's no place left in the Heights to nap now....

[Marcus Allen]

Great topic. Next time though you might want to be a little more descriptive in the title, for example "What Do You Really Miss About Houston?" It takes a lot to get people to click these days!

To be honest, I begin posts with a vagueness in mind, sort of rhetorically, and let you all take it wherever you will. This actually has received more replies than most of mine, which I felt were too specific; being answered succinctly and closing further discussion. I think I will keep my methodology.

[Marcus Allen]

Keep them coming! You guys are fantastic and take me back over the past 35 years! Thank you.

[NenaE]

...and pony rides at those simple little establishments, Peppermint Park (Gulfgate location), and Sears (Pasadena) or Harrisburg Blvd. Walking over the bridge to the Gulfgate Cinema, or down the steps to the bowling alley, or riding the miniature train at the zoo. passing by the Galveston Balinese Room, and thinking how exotic it was. Strolling through the "over the water" souvenir shops at Galveston, to the end porch.  

 

[IronTiger]

Where was the San Jacinto Inn? Did it have rooms at all?

[Materene]

http://houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/V4-N2-Oliveira-San-Jac-Inn.pdf

 

[IronTiger]

The Monument Inn was also good, but I had a cold at the time and couldn't fully appreciate it.

(and that's nostalgia for me... )

Looks like the actual building was razed between 2004 and 2005.

[torimask]

...and pony rides at those simple little establishments

 

 

 

ponies and boats!

[Fringe]

The Houston Post

Concerts at the Summit

Downtown Foley's 

Westbury Square

Hamburger's by Gourmet

Burgerville in the Village

 

[Materene]

I worked after school selling newspaper subscriptions, but that was for the Press.  While the route man was turning in the nightly booty we kids would walk across the street and spend all our money in that Chinese market, they had every piece of junk known to mankind, much like they do today.

[Marcus Allen]

ponies and boats!

Older woman reminds me of my mom. I guess all middle class women wore that style then.

[Marcus Allen]

If were are going to go style, I remember the only times my dad didn't wear a tie, but a large collared shirt with blazer was circa 1976 through 1979. And, of course, like most of American men, was back in suit and tie by 1981.. Thank you Reagan.

[ArchFan]

Arch, you've got me beat by a little better than a decade, but I don't remember the barometric pressure color changing Conoco sign downtown. I certainly remember the Gulf sign, SP, Rice, Shell, and Central clock, but not this one. What's the timeframe on this one? Was it up there in the 70s, or before?

 

See if you can follow this link:  http://www.sixflagshouston.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3393&sid=6ea17978b64e04bc5898487d97a5c14c

 

If you scroll down, there is a photo and this comment about "The Weather Eye":   "This ball was dismantled in 1964 and eventually placed at the entry fountain at Astroworld where it remained until 1995 when it was located in Astroworld storage."  It also mentions something I didn't remember, that "Conoco" was only on one side, the other said "Texas National Bank".

[Purpledevil]

Thank you for the link with the picture of the weather ball in the skyline. It's removal was 2 years prior to my birth. Certainly remember the ball in the fountain of Astroworld, just didn't realize it had a prior life to that. Very cool.

Did I read that correctly? Six Flags is going to build an Astroworld museum?

If so, save your money and build us another Astroworld, period! I don't need to reminisce, I need to go 0-60 in under 3 seconds again, lol.

[Purpledevil]

Oh...Torimask, I very well remember the sweet smell of pipe tobacco coming out of the Pipe Pub in Northwest Mall. Got to go into the humidor a time or two with my dad, too, which didn't make my mother happy.

I don't know if Almeda had the same one, but in Northwest's Foley's there was an old clock that had a black background and silver hands. It was mounted on a pinkish colored frame which hung from the ceiling directly in front of the escalator downstairs. I've often wondered if that clock is still hanging inside the empty building. I'm sure if Almeda had one, it likely became a victim of the redo after Ike.

Here's another bit of nostalgia for you. Clocks with hands. Seems like they are getting fewer and fewer of them every year.

How about Howdy Doody on television? Or Captain Kangaroo?

How about when TV stations used to sign off over night? When was the last time one did that? Or having to stand up and walk to the TV to change channels, or turn it on/off?

Here's one that we are currently losing, that future generations will never experience, rounded glass incandescent light bulbs, also available in multiple colors. I still have my black and rainbow colored bulbs somewhere around the house packed away.

Remember when Cokes were sold in a quart? Or milk? And in a glass bottle?

When the freeway signs told you how far the next exit was in tenths of a mile, same as your odometer on the car?

When the freeway signs were lit up by lights, instead of reflectors?

When we still had lights that would flash all up and down Hempstead Highway, throwing traffic into chaos...all over a switch engine and two box cars heading up to Jersey Village on the parallel railroad...or *gasp* way up in Hempstead?

When the VW bug was the absolutely smallest vehicle on a Houston roadway?

When "The Belt" meant something entirely different, and your butt almost instantaneously puckered when you heard those words uttered?

When you knew what a "choke and puke" was, and where the nearest one was?

When Stuckey's was still on the road heading to San Antonio?

When filling your gas tank required you to fold down your license plate?

When you could buy regular leaded gasoline? Or Kerosene? Or Lamp Oil?

When there was a full service pump? With a guy that came out to the car and filled it, check the tires, and asked you to "pop the hood, mac" so he could give it a look see under the hood?

The sweet smell of bread always baking at the corner of Washington and Studemont?

Btw, what was the name of your boyfriend's band? I've seen more shows inside of Fitz, than I could ever list out nowadays. I'm 47, be 48 this month, so I've probably seen his band there as well.

[Materene]

KAYO

CROW FLITE

CONOCO

SHAMROCK

ARCO

HUMBLE

 

15 cent's a gallon for gas, and that was seen in 1970 if there happen to be a gas war going on !

 

Buff Stadium, sure glad I got to see a few games there before the wrecking ball pulled the tarp over the field.

 

Sand Bar Ranch on the San Jacinto River I-59, the best bar b que to be found with an all Black Rodeo , I can still smell that bar b que on an open air pit

 

The weekend trip to Hempstead in the old 49 Ford so we could fill the truck with 50 cent water mellons, big as small wash tubes... really folks there once was a water mellon bigger than a grape fruit !!

 

[torimask]

Btw, what was the name of your boyfriend's band? I've seen more shows inside of Fitz, than I could ever list out nowadays. I'm 47, be 48 this month, so I've probably seen his band there as well.

 

Here's how bad the  memory is getting. The Thanksgiving show was at Fitz, but New Year's was at Rockefellers (which is actually a more fun stage to countdown the New Year, as I recall.) 

 

Both of those times he was playing with Tommie Lee Bradley, although he was also with The Cry during that year at Fitzgeralds, too. 

[mollusk]

When the VW bug was the absolutely smallest vehicle on a Houston roadway?

 

Oh, the original Beetle was downright huge compared to the Mouse of the Rising Sun - the original Honda cars.

[Materene]

Oh, the original Beetle was downright huge compared to the Mouse of the Rising Sun - the original Honda cars.

 

Almost bought a yellow one, but intelligence prevailed, I bought a ..cough..Pinto instead.  heh  just as well  since they outlawed the sales of that tuna can.  One caveat was I soon discovered the Pinto would float !  The Beltway was under construction in that era and the roadways that had been carved turned into rivers when the seasonal rains came, you either floated across or turned around and drove miles and miles to get where you were headed.  ;0)

 

[mollusk]

VWs were definitely floaters, too.  A handy trait in Houston, to be sure.

[Purpledevil]

Oh wow, yes. Thanks for that, mollusk. I had totally forgotten the Honda. Definitely made the Beetle look spacious and comfy in comparison.

You got me to thinking, when you mentioned the bug floating. I've seen that first hand. It really helps to have the tail pipe sticking up almost vertical. Great little car, and I sure wouldn't mind having one of the old ones in my garage.

What was the name of that car that was actually built to take in the water? It was like half car, half boat and It seems like it was a VW too. I want to say it was called The Thing, but that's probably way off. Getting my old horror movies and old car models mixed up, lol.

[FilioScotia]

What was the name of that car that was actually built to take in the water?

 

That was the AmphiCar. (pronounced 'Ahmphy-car')

 

On the Amphicar Club website we learn: "The Amphicar was built in Germany from 1961 to 1968. Total production was 3,878 vehicles. The Amphicar is the only civilian amphibious passenger automobile ever to be mass produced. 3,046 Amphicars were imported into the United States between 1961 and 1967."

 

A surprising number of Amphicars have survived and are still floating around "out there" somewhere. Their owners have their own club online. You can learn everything you ever wanted to know about the Amphicar on the club's website: http://www.amphicar.com/history.htm

[Materene]

Ha, floating is for kids.... can you imagine all todays drivers having something like this !

http://mentalfloss.com/article/31341/flying-pinto-killed-its-inventor

[dgsailor]

I managed the bars at the Bull n Anchor and Ruby Begonia's in Westbury Square in the late 70's and also tended bar at Todd's and Elan's ~ fun times!