Route 66 TV Show In Houston

[devonhart]

Houston zoo, outside Shamrock Hilton, inside Steve's Barbecue

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=QjDw5fNh4gA

[Fringe]

That was great. I think that was the year George Maharis left the show.  I have the first season on DVD. It's fun to watch. I was hoping to see more actual Route 66 footage but they are usually a long way from the real Route 66 highway.  Still fun to see that time period. 

[citykid09]

Cool! I thought it was going to be a traveling road show reality show but it was a real TV show. Why did they come to Houston for 2 episodes? Was it a popular show? Where were they at in the last scene?

[JLWM8609]

Looking at the reflections in the glass and the address numbers, it appears that Steve's BBQ was located near downtown and not near the Shamrock. Am I right?

[Subdude]

Very cool. How did you stumble on that?

It appears that 'Steve's Barbecue' was on the front lawn of the Shamrock!

[JLWM8609]

It appears that 'Steve's Barbecue' was on the front lawn of the Shamrock!

You'll find that to be funny, especially if you grew up during the time that the Shamrock was around. Just take a look at this aerial view from 1964.

http://www.historicaerials.com/?poi=10791

[devonhart]

Very cool. How did you stumble on that?

I've been watching the series on rented dvds and came across it.

[brucesw]

I thought I knew what Steve's was but after watching the clip I'm not sure. There were several bbq sandwich shops downtown that I used to love to go to whenever I was in town in the early to mid-60s and I was thinking the name was Steve's. But the place(s) I went to were nicer than that and had counter service (you went through a line; they were always packed when I was there), not table service. I think the one I went to was on Fannin but there was more than one location. I always got the outside beef sandwich with chips. Best bbq I'd ever had up until that time, I thought.

I wonder if that scene was really shot on location or maybe shot on a set in LA and they just borrowed the name of a real Houston place?

I didn't own a TV at that time, couldn't afford one, but went to the Union at UT to watch the shows. The scene I recall was of Milner and Maharis in their Vette, cruising along what I thought was South Braeswood from Kirby out to Stella Link.

[J W]

I thought I knew what Steve's was but after watching the clip I'm not sure. There were several bbq sandwich shops downtown that I used to love to go to whenever I was in town in the early to mid-60s and I was thinking the name was Steve's. But the place(s) I went to were nicer than that and had counter service (you went through a line; they were always packed when I was there), not table service. I think the one I went to was on Fannin but there was more than one location. I always got the outside beef sandwich with chips. Best bbq I'd ever had up until that time, I thought.

I wonder if that scene was really shot on location or maybe shot on a set in LA and they just borrowed the name of a real Houston place?

I didn't own a TV at that time, couldn't afford one, but went to the Union at UT to watch the shows. The scene I recall was of Milner and Maharis in their Vette, cruising along what I thought was South Braeswood from Kirby out to Stella Link.

Looks like a set . Something about it seems too clean . Plus the covered wagon thing above the door?

[little frau]

I'm still caught up in the part of the video featuring the zoo. Going to the zoo and Hermann Park was our Easter outing back in the late 50's early 60's. It was free then and always a treat. There were 4 of us kids and 2 adults and not much money so we didn't get to ride that train but the odd thing to me is, I don't even remember that train! The large cat cages, the small elephant enclosure, even the seal pool, I remember all that. But that train? Wonder if that was a prop for the TV episode...?

[Subdude]

Looks like a set . Something about it seems too clean . Plus the covered wagon thing above the door?

I assumed it was a set since they showed the Shamrock across the street.

[devonhart]

I wonder if that scene was really shot on location or maybe shot on a set in LA and they just borrowed the name of a real Houston place?

Unlike "The Fugitive" which shot in California and faked it's locations, Route 66 was shot on location, they didn't use sets in L.A. I believe Steve's was real, just not across the street from the Shamrock, and faked the window shot of the Shamrock.

[FilioScotia]

I assumed it was a set since they showed the Shamrock across the street.

Not necessarily. Actual physical location of location shooting sites means nothing in a film narrative. Location sites that are miles apart are often made to look like they're right next door, or across the street. The BBQ restaurant could have been on the other side of town from the Shamrock, but they picked it because it had the look and feel of the type of place they wanted for the scene.

So, they film the actors coming or going from the Shamrock. Actually, they film ALL the Shamrock scenes in one set-up, interiors and exteriors, regardless of where the scenes are in the actual story line. Shooting a film in script order is extremely rare.

Then they move the actors, crew and cameras to the BBQ restaurant for that scene. Edited together it looked like the actors just walked across the street to the restaurant. This kind of "rearranging" of local geography happens all the time in movies and on TV.

Correction: it USED TO HAPPEN all the time, before they invented the green screen, which allows them to show actors in any setting, anywhere in the world. The green screen has eliminated the need for location shooting. They almost never leave the studio anymore. Check out this video showing how many of your favorite shows now use the green screen. It's called the Virtual Backlot. You can't believe anything you see on TV anymore. Really.

Here's another.

[brucesw]

From the Wiki article on the show:

Route 66 is well-remembered for its cinematography and location filming. Writer-producer Stirling Silliphant traveled the country with a location manager (Sam Manners), scouting a wide range of locales and writing scripts to match the settings. The actors and film crew would arrive a few months later. Memorable locations include a logging camp, shrimp boats, an offshore oil rig, and Glen Canyon Dam, the latter while still under construction. It is one of very few series in the history of television to be filmed entirely on the road. This was done at a time when the United States was much less homogeneous than it is now. People, their accents, livelihoods, ethnic backgrounds and attitudes varied widely from one location to the next. Scripted characters reflected a far less mobile society, in which people were more apt to spend their entire lives in one small part of the country. Similarly, the places themselves were very different from one another visually, environmentally, architecturally, in goods and services available, etc. Stars Martin Milner and George Maharis both mentioned this in 1980s interviews. "Now you can go wherever you want," Maharis added by way of contrast, "and it's a Denny's."

I thought the Texas Gulf Finance next door to Steve's sounded like a real place.

The Cage Around Maria, Houston, aired 3/15/63. John Goyen - as in the City Councilman?

Fifty Miles from Home, Houston, aired 3/22/63.

Narcissus on an Old Red Fire Engine Galveston, aired 3/29/63.

From Brooks and Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, (20th anny edition, 1999):

"George Maharis left the show in November, 1962, while production was still in progress for the 1962-1963 season, because of the lingering effects of a case of hepatitis. He was seen intermittently in episodes aired through March, 1963. In the episode aired March 22, 1963, Linc Case. who was to take over as Tod's traveling companion, was introduced. He was a Vietnam war hero from Houston who returned to the United States unsure of what he was looking for in life."

(Edit to repair the link to the Galveston episode).

[Retama]

This kind of "rearranging" of local geography happens all the time in movies and on TV.

Right. Watch the Charley Sheen movie The Chase filmed in the Houston area in 1994. Scenes of a police chase cut back and forth between West University and Nassau Bay. It's really wierd to watch.

Love Route 66. It was a great TV show. Thanks for posting this.

Those kids surrounding Glenn Corbett were from Galena Park High, I'll bet!

[dbigtex56]

There's an informative article on Route 66 at the TVparty! website.

It took a traveling crew of 50 people, two brand-new baby-blue (later brown) Corvettes, two tractor trailers and other assorted vehicles to film this series, one of the largest mobile film operations in TV history.

"Most of the guys don't like it because they're away from home too long," George Maharis noted in 1960, "but I love it because I'm a bachelor."

(...and perhaps a role model for George Michael?)

[gnu]

I finally decided to look up the addresses in my old 1966 directory.

Texas Gulf Finance was at 1409 Main St -

matching the address number in the show.

Steve's BBQ was at 1411 Main St.

The other businesses on that side of the block in 1966.

1401 Susan's of Hollywood Photography

1403 Harriey Printing

1407 Bert Lynn Music (Interesting, I only knew of his Park Place location)

1409 Texas Gulf Finance

1411 Steve's BBQ (5 other downtown locations)

1413-15 (The famous) Simpson's Dining Car (you can see the end of the car in one of the last shots)

1419 Simpson's Parking Lot

Of course you can probably guess what is there today:

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&channel=s&hl=en&q=1409+main,+houston,+tx&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1409+Main+St,+Houston,+Harris,+Texas+77002&gl=us&ei=7uTWS4r_OZTw9ATFreSNBw&ved=0CAgQ8gEwAA&ll=29.753853,-95.367336&spn=0.001933,0.004286&z=18&layer=c&cbll=29.753844,-95.367335&panoid=rwCioSJNAvjBa0WG3dxEEQ&cbp=12,177.79,,0,5

You don't see anything to the left of 1409 except part of a shop window with what looks like it might be "sale".

The first part of the clip, where the woman is walking down the sidewalk and before she gets to 1409, is in a different location as the building facades do not match. You can see it is in front of a cafeteria and there is a reflection of some buildings or parking garages in the shop window.

As Little Frau mentioned, I also don't remember a train that functioned like a tram, running through the heart of the zoo. I wonder if they just removed the normal zoo train from its tracks just for the filming?

Here are the other Steve's locations for brucesw:

1) 1219 Capitol

2) 1022 Texas

3) 1122 Travis

4) 1010 Rusk

5) 804 Milam

6) 1111 Lamar

[devonhart]

Nice work. My foggie old man brain is telling me there was a Steve's BarBQ in the tunnel during the 80s when I worked downtown.

I finally decided to look up the addresses in my old 1966 directory.

Texas Gulf Finance was at 1409 Main St -

matching the address number in the show.

Steve's BBQ was at 1411 Main St.

Here are the other Steve's locations for brucesw:

1) 1219 Capitol

2) 1022 Texas

3) 1122 Travis

4) 1010 Rusk

5) 804 Milam

6) 1111 Lamar

[brucesw]

I finally decided to look up the addresses in my old 1966 directory.

Texas Gulf Finance was at 1409 Main St -

matching the address number in the show.

Steve's BBQ was at 1411 Main St.

The other businesses on that side of the block in 1966.

1401 Susan's of Hollywood Photography

1403 Harriey Printing

1407 Bert Lynn Music (Interesting, I only knew of his Park Place location)

1409 Texas Gulf Finance

1411 Steve's BBQ (5 other downtown locations)

1413-15 (The famous) Simpson's Dining Car (you can see the end of the car in one of the last shots)

1419 Simpson's Parking Lot

Of course you can probably guess what is there today:

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&channel=s&hl=en&q=1409+main,+houston,+tx&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1409+Main+St,+Houston,+Harris,+Texas+77002&gl=us&ei=7uTWS4r_OZTw9ATFreSNBw&ved=0CAgQ8gEwAA&ll=29.753853,-95.367336&spn=0.001933,0.004286&z=18&layer=c&cbll=29.753844,-95.367335&panoid=rwCioSJNAvjBa0WG3dxEEQ&cbp=12,177.79,,0,5

You don't see anything to the left of 1409 except part of a shop window with what looks like it might be "sale".

The first part of the clip, where the woman is walking down the sidewalk and before she gets to 1409, is in a different location as the building facades do not match. You can see it is in front of a cafeteria and there is a reflection of some buildings or parking garages in the shop window.

As Little Frau mentioned, I also don't remember a train that functioned like a tram, running through the heart of the zoo. I wonder if they just removed the normal zoo train from its tracks just for the filming?

Here are the other Steve's locations for brucesw:

1) 1219 Capitol

2) 1022 Texas

3) 1122 Travis

4) 1010 Rusk

5) 804 Milam

6) 1111 Lamar

For some reason I was sure the one I remembered most clearly was on a southbound one way street, hence my guess Fannin; it must've been the one on Milam. I was also thinking there was one on Texas but I couldn't place it, but that would be the other one I went in. I never knew of one on Main but must've seen the others since I knew there were more. Judging from how different the Main street one was from the ones I went in maybe it was the original and maybe that was Steve? I can't pin down when I first learned of Steve's but I was in town looking for a job and probably happened in. I wound up living on Southmore and working on Irvington and took the Elysian Street Viaduct and seldom went downtown or I would have eaten at Steve's more.

I never noticed the covered wagon over the door or the end of Simpson's. I guess the latter would have been a big clue if anybody had noticed it.

Thanks for looking these up.

[ROK]

Hi All,

I'm a fan of the TV series Route 66 and was looking for some information on the Houston filming locations. I found this message board and it answered my questions about the location of Steve's Barbecue. I've been to Houstion enough times to know those businesses were not across the street from the Shamrock. By the way, if you watch the whole episdode there is a scene in the beginning shot at the Houston Bus Station and they also edited that to look like the Bus Station was across the street from the Shamrock.

In the other Houston episode, Cage Around Maria, I was interested to learn on this thread that the train Martin Milner was driving at the Houston Zoo may have been a prop supplied by the R66 Production Company.

I'm trying to find the location of a Houston Police Station that was shown in the Cage Around Maria episode. I have provided a screen shot of it. In a slightly different angle you can see a freeway in front of it and across the freeway there are trees or scrub brush. Everything about this building looks new and my guess is it was a new substation on the outskirts of town. Of course I can't be 100 percent this was an actual police station but I have a feeling that it is/was.

If anyone recognizes the building in the screen shot and can give me an address for it, I would appreciate the help. Also if people are seeing this thread for the first time and have any memories of seeing the R66 production company filming these two episodes I'd be interested in reading them.

thanks in advance

mac

[IHB2]

my guess is it's the HPD Beechnut Substation 4503 Beechnut Hou Tx 77096. The brick cladding on the posts is no longer there, but the arc of the driveway and the background structures (looking west toward Congregation Beth Yeshuren synagogue) look like the current google street view of the Beechnut Station from that position.

I grew up in Bellaire in the 50s and 60s and the substation was built sometime in the late 50s or early 60s I think, but didn't find yr built info with a superficial online search. The Beth Yeshuren synagogue opened in 1962.

[FilioScotia]

This thread is dredging up old memories of that episode of Route 66 for me. I remember watching it because it got so much advance local publicity. I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think that screen shot was at that Holiday Inn on Memorial just outside downtown. I agree that it does resemble the front of the Beechnut Police Substation, but it also has the look of that Holiday Inn.

They filmed several episodes in and around Houston as I recall. The one we're talking about here -- I believe -- was the episode in which long time Houston City Councilman Johnny Goyen played a small role as a local police officer. The producers made a point of hiring locals for small roles wherever they went. It was one of the reasons for the show's popularity.

More interesting trivia: these Houston area episodes were done in the short period after George Maharis left the show. The Internet Movie Database says "A bout with hepatitis and his ongoing clashes with both producers and co-star Milner led to his leaving the hit series after three years. The show didn't survive long without him." IMDb also says there was a sex scandal, but Maharis's gay sex scandal didn't happen till the 1970s.

So there were several episodes in the 1963 season when Tod (Martin Milner) had the Vette all to himself, till Glenn Corbett was hired to replace Maharis. Here is the info from the IMDb.

Season 3, Episode 22: The Cage Around Maria

15 March 1963

Tod, still alone, is in Texas working as a tour guide at the Houston Zoo. He rescues a dazed young woman from the bear "pit". Later she explains to Tod that she made a spectacle of herself in order to find someone to help her. She suspects her penniless stepfather has attempted to kill her wealthy mother-and will try again.

Season 3, Episode 23: Fifty Miles from Home

22 March 1963

Tod, still alone, is in Houston working at SE Texas University as a gym manager. When much decorated Viet Nam vet Lincoln Case is "hoo-rahed" by members of the basketball team, the "ticking time bomb" violently retaliates. Tod seeks revenge and after a brutal fistfight both men come to an understanding. "Linc" vows to "search this country for a meaning to life".

Season 3, Episode 24: Narcissus on an Old Red Fire Engine

29 March 1963

Tod and new friend/traveling companion (Lincoln Case, played by Glenn Corbett) are in Galveston, Texas working as laborers at a cotton processing plant. Linc is "knocked out" by a kooky girl he meets in a seamy Greek fisherman's bar. Something in her past has scared and scarred her. What she wants out of life is unknown - even to herself.

[IHB2]

the link to the google street view of the Beechnut Station

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=4503+Beechnut+Street,+Houston,+TX&hl=en&ll=29.688733,-95.451064&spn=0.008677,0.016512&sll=29.688732,-95.451356&layer=c&cbp=13,267.24,,1,4.44&cbll=29.688735,-95.451059&hnear=4503+Beechnut+St,+Houston,+Harris,+Texas+77096&t=h&z=17&panoid=CrPK2eMfUGmq_i7ib0FCfA

[FilioScotia]

You are right IHB2. That sure looks like the same place, except for the decorative bricks around the support poles. I stand corrected, but I DID say that I wasn't 100 percent sure.

[plumber2]

I think you are correct. If you look at the base of the columns on the Google view you can see that the bricks have been removed. Possibly the whole covering is new.

[ROK]

Thanks guys, you're awsome.

That Beechnut address looks correct. The light fixture in the Google view matches a light fixture in the shot of the Corvette leaving the station.

The original title of the series was "The Searchers". But CBS was afraid it would conflict with the John Wayne movie of the same name. So it was changed to Route 66 at the last minute. The show was never meant to focus on the real R66. The whole idea was that Tod and Buz wanted to travel the back roads, away from the interstates, and see what the freeways had bypassed.

In the episode 50 Miles From Home, this was shown as a hospital. Can anyone here identify this building and does it still exist?

[FilioScotia]

I "believe" this is the auditorium at Texas Southern University. But I'm not betting the house on it.

[Subdude]

the link to the google street view of the Beechnut Station

https://maps.google....fUGmq_i7ib0FCfA

Well done! You have to admire the detective work around here!

[IHB2]

Well done! You have to admire the detective work around here!

it helps to have grown up in the neighborhood, had a cop cousin stationed there, and been there involuntarily a few times as part of Bellaire's most notorious bicycle-riding preteen terrorist gang ;-) haha

[JLWM8609]

I "believe" this is the auditorium at Texas Southern University. But I'm not betting the house on it.

Be glad you didn't bet the house on it because it's not.