Memories Of Astroworld

[Materene]

Hey! It's October 30th, 6:20pm. Regrettably, I can't go see the model...

Just goes to show nothing in Houston is sacred!. Visited that park one time, I refused to get on that roller coaster with my wife, or by myself..

[djrage]

No, not Thunder River. Some Googling revealed that I was trying to remember River of No Return. King Kong used to scare the heck out of me. Thanks for trying, though!

There used to be this big Aztec looking head with eyes that moved side to side and shot fire from its mouth along that River of No Return ride that used to scare the bejesus out of me.

[IronTiger]

According to the first revision of the Wikipedia article for Astroworld (back when it was scheduled to close, but not yet closed), they said an airport was to take its place. Never heard of that plan...

[jsimpson]

No, not Thunder River. Some Googling revealed that I was trying to remember River of No Return. King Kong used to scare the heck out of me. Thanks for trying, though!

LOL thunder river...my summer job at 16 was sitting on a rock halfway thru the ride and make sure people were sitting down...I jammed my radio and rolled up my sleeves and had a great tan...after work I'd slip over to the newly built Water World....worked concerts too....I remember working during Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick opened by Bow Wow Wow!!

[Fringe]

I never worked for Astroworld but I did work at Astroworld. During high school I worked at Foleys and the shoe department had the contract for Astroworld. At the start of the summer I went  there and fitted all the new summer employees with new white sneakers. Back then they wanted every employee to be dressed exactly alike, down to the shoes. 

[TV2EBoogaloo]

I always called it the Dexter Freebish as well.....anyone remember it before they redid it and put the ground level 360 loop around part in?

and I too remember the Horizon smelling like puke in fact I specifically remember talking about that with others, but it was kind of cool....I remember one film was a bobsled I believe and I can't recall others

I saw BOC there, Cheap Trick, Molly Hatchet twice, Brian Adams got hit in the head with a beer bottle and story was he would never come back to Houston....who ever threw it nailed his ass I saw a couple of other bands there as well.....I also had a knife pulled on me by a girl with a Mohawk....I can't remember the concert, but it was HOT AS HELL and everyone was packed in and this girl and her friend just came shoving through people and she finally got stopped right ahead of me and a friends sister and another friend or two.....people were still yelling at her and tossing things at her and the friend and saying stuff and she turned around and pulled out a cheap ass Mexican switch blade and was all holding it up.....a little area opened up and I told her "stab me b... come on stab me" and she got this real panicked look on her face like she did not know what to do and stood there and I said it again and then she put the knife away and tried to turn back towards the stage and by then people were screaming at the security and they had noticed the cleared area and they came and took the knife and actually let the girls stay and not long after that they got all exhausted and went back through the crowd with people shoving them and throwing stuff at them

I damn sure would not do that today, but I was a lot younger back then, probably drunk or buzzed, showing off, and these two bimbos were total poseurs as 99% of punks and new wave dorks were back then plus the knife would have probably fallen apart.....my friends still laugh at me about that

we liked the model Ts and the other cars to ram into each other and others ahead of you

Alpine Sleigh Ride was great to cool off

two really great times were for my brothers Bday one time the Barrel of Fun had no line and we could go as many times as we wanted finally on the 8th time the guy let it go extra long.....it was the ride where you got in an upright big cylinder and you would stand against the wall and it spun and you would stick to the wall from the centrifugal force and then the floor would lower.....there was always a story that the floor used to drop open in the middle, but a girl had managed to fall from the wall and got her head stuck when it was closing

another time we got to ride the Greased Lightening as many times as we wanted....they would make you get out and go around even with no line though

and yes the Greased Lightening is in Lubbock, but not set up

I loved the Sombrero and I liked the Gun Slinger on the swings with chains and you could push at your friends in front of you

anyone remember the little kids roller coaster we would always ride it just because about every time we went

there was another story that I think was true that a guy and a friend jumped the fence and one got hit by the train that went around the park I think they sued as well

now that it was mentioned I remember the shooting....I can't remember if it was on the bridge going over 610 or if it was in the parking lot, but they tried to play it off like "the shooter was never in the park they were only ever in the parking lot" .......as was said before the place was doomed when they did not grow to attract real tourist and so they needed local business which meant cheap summer passes and it just became a place where some were just there to cause trouble and walk 10 wide and try and smash into kids and ladies and pretend like they wanted to fight others their age or a bit older or younger....I believe theft was also a major problem as well they were having a lot of incidents turning violent when they tried to stop theft from the gift shops and the crowds did not help that

anyone remember when they used to have water ski shows.....I always remembered the boats were nice (I think Glastron) with crappy Chrysler outboards

I remember bumper cars were pretty fun we would always pick someone we did not know in line to all gang up on once the cars started

one thing I liked is for a while they had some really nice RC boats, some cars, and tanks (like army tanks) set up in three different areas and you could put quarters in and run them.....we would always run a couple and try and push the tanks off the track or the boats out of the buoyed off area so the attendant would have to run and get it

the cannons on the river of no return scared the hell out of me they were LOUD

I always liked the drawing guys that would draw the cartoons and I liked the wacky house too it was pretty cool even when you knew what the setup was.....I had a love hate relationship with the BB guns where you tried to shoot out the star, but I liked the western shooting gallery by the sombrero

one thing we always liked to do there was the whole name on the back of the Tshirt thing was popular back then so we would wait and when walking we would shout out someones name of their shirt and then just pretend like it was not us and of course we could get them looking around 3 or 4 times at least

I miss it, but the place was doomed it was just not able to grow to the size needed to really be an attraction and going too cheap to attract locals was failing theme parks all over the USA

[Firebird65]

one thing we always liked to do there was the whole name on the back of the Tshirt thing was popular back then so we would wait and when walking we would shout out someones name of their shirt and then just pretend like it was not us and of course we could get them looking around 3 or 4 times at least

Hee hee... I used to do that too. LOL!

I always liked that Alpine Sleigh ride. You're right... definitely a great way to cool off on a hot day.

[FilioScotia]

Light a candle tomorrow evening, for it was that day that Astroworld closed forever. Five years ago.

This was posted in September of last year, on the 5th anniversary of the day Astroworld closed. I thought you might be interested in hearing a story I did in 2005 about the park's pending demise for KUHF Houston Public Radio. I was very lucky to be able to interview Fred Hofheinz and his sister Dene, both of whom played large roles in creating and building Astroworld in the mid 60s. The story includes audio.

Here's a link to it in KUHF's archives: http://www.kuhf.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=13832

[lockmat]

I was looking at the old Astroworld plot on bing maps and when I zoomed in close enough, Astroworld appeared! The photos provided are of it after it was closed down and some of the rides are gone, but everything else is just about still there. Weird.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&where1=Houston%2C%20TX&q=houston%2C%20tx&form=LMLTSN&cp=29.674121649347356~-95.40752053473396&lvl=18.619432303989498&sty=b&encType=1

[Materene]

I was looking at the old Astroworld plot on bing maps and when I zoomed in close enough, Astroworld appeared! The photos provided are of it after it was closed down and some of the rides are gone, but everything else is just about still there. Weird.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&where1=Houston%2C%20TX&q=houston%2C%20tx&form=LMLTSN&cp=29.674121649347356~-95.40752053473396&lvl=18.619432303989498&sty=b&encType=1

I wonder if Bing is using Google Earth photos? I know Google Earth is at least two years behind and even longer in some locales. I can go to Spring Branch and look at an address from say 1 or 2 thousand feet and it shows recent photos within the past year, drop to street level and it still shows my vehicles sitting in my old yard 5 years ago!

[littlebunny]

If you look at more current bing maps all that's left is a green empty field. I really enjoyed the link lockmat provided. It sure is sad to see all your memories in pieces on the ground.

[Materene]

If you look at more current bing maps all that's left is a green empty field. I really enjoyed the link lockmat provided. It sure is sad to see all your memories in pieces on the ground.

Ain't it the truth!, I love Houston of old, still find myself missing home but for now I guess I'm better off in Louisiana. Everyone in the family is now gone in Houston, still a couple cousins older than myself but for the most part they're all gone. Like you said everything is torn down or fallen down now, even my church I attended in the early 50's. I was only at Astroworld one time and that was around 76, by then I was too old to enjoy the rides. I do remember the Arms Museum going up and what a fine drag strip it was on the street in front, back in 71 there wasn't much traffic out there and it was quiet so all the street racers would hang out at Bill Williams or at the old Mc Donalds right there under the 45 down two blocks from Al Parker Buick. Yes I was quite lost when I finally came back to Houston after 25 years, when I left I knew already it was in a massive change and not for the better. The place where I lived had an overpass come down in the front yard when they put the Hardy Toll Road in. There was an old stock tank in the back yard that had been there since the 40s and they tore down the apartment I lived in and even filled the stock pond, now there is nothing left but the driveway that went into the garage under the apartment. Nothing stops it just keeps turning and picking up speed.

[IronTiger]

Yeah, some Bing images are weird. If I zoom in or out in a weird way, things change. Hey presto, the Macy's on that department store turned back into a Foley's sign! I don't know if they'll delete the older images permanently.

[Materene]

Yeah, some Bing images are weird. If I zoom in or out in a weird way, things change. Hey presto, the Macy's on that department store turned back into a Foley's sign! I don't know if they'll delete the older images permanently.

Way back in 71 my Father in law at that time was an electrical contractor and I was working for him, we drove back and fourth to Bryan for over a year while they were building the first really big apartment complex around Bryan College Station. Every now and then we would not drive back but stay in one of the apartments that we had just finished if it had the power turned on, and we would drive into Bryan looking for a decent place to have a beer and a little time off, there wasn't anything in Bryan in 71, least we never found it, there was one big club on the far side of the city named the Red Lion, a very big club for that town but it was empty and we were the only ones there. So many years after that I gradually watched the town grow and even worked on some machinery another employer had leased out there, it really took off and look at it now. I don't believe there is any country left, well except where I live now and there's still a lot here but this is all farming country no industry. I really had a hard time finding landmarks when I was home a few years ago and I guess it will be worse if and when I ever do visit again. You know I still remember Princes out there on south main along with Playland Park and a lot other popular places in their day. There was a time when you wanted to go south you always drove through downtown and main street, it was a shorter drive and scenic one, as a kid I remember looking at everything on main and south main, just not much to look at now except tall buildings with no character or history.

[Materene]

Yeah, some Bing images are weird. If I zoom in or out in a weird way, things change. Hey presto, the Macy's on that department store turned back into a Foley's sign! I don't know if they'll delete the older images permanently.

Way back in 71 my Father in law at that time was an electrical contractor and I was working for him, we drove back and fourth to Bryan for over a year while they were building the first really big apartment complex around Bryan College Station. Every now and then we would not drive back but stay in one of the apartments that we had just finished if it had the power turned on, and we would drive into Bryan looking for a decent place to have a beer and a little time off, there wasn't anything in Bryan in 71, least we never found it, there was one big club on the far side of the city named the Red Lion, a very big club for that town but it was empty and we were the only ones there. So many years after that I gradually watched the town grow and even worked on some machinery another employer had leased out there, it really took off and look at it now. I don't believe there is any country left, well except where I live now and there's still a lot here but this is all farming country no industry. I really had a hard time finding landmarks when I was home a few years ago and I guess it will be worse if and when I ever do visit again. You know I still remember Princes out there on south main along with Playland Park and a lot other popular places in their day. There was a time when you wanted to go south you always drove through downtown and main street, it was a shorter drive and scenic one, as a kid I remember looking at everything on main and south main, just not much to look at now except tall buildings with no character or history.

[Fringe]

Taking a ride back in time

The original 8-by-10-foot model of AstroWorld will be displayed later this year at the Houston Public Library. The article mentions that architecture students from Rice aided in the model's construction.

Chronicle link

[Trae]

The place went downhill when they started having cheap summer passes. Certain people figured out it was cheaper than day care so they would drop off their juvenile delinquents in the morning and come back and pick them up when the park closed leaving them totally unsupervised.

Parents did this to me many times (as did friends' parents). A bunch of junior high kids dropped off at Six Flags for half the day with much money from the parents to spend.

[Goatman79]

I just learned some interesting things about Astroworld from it's early days that I had never paid attention to before. The walkway that connects Astroworld with the Astrodome parking lot (the only remaining sign of Astroworld having been there), was not always just a walkway. Back in the early 1970's, when Astroworld was in it's infancy, you used to be able to drive cars across that bridge and drop people off right at the front gates.

During the 1980's when I first visited Astroworld, this privelege was no longer given. You had to park at the dome and walk or be shuttled across the bridge to Astroworld's front gates. If you look at the walkways, you'll notice they are wide enough to easily accommodate any vehicle from a passenger car to a bus.

I also noticed the hotel on the corner of the loop and Kirby (which is now the Crowne Plaza) was originally called the Astroworld Hotel. Many people know this, I'm sure, but it was interesting to see on video in the 1970 film "Brewster McCloud" wearing it's original Astroworld Hotel signage. I think the base for the original marquee sign is still on the street corner right beside the curb.

The Astrodome itself was much more of a wonder than just a domed stadium to play baseball in. When it was brand new, the dome served as kind of a public place. There didn't necessarily have to be a ball game in action for the public to use the dome's other facilities, like the lounge, or take a tour of the brand new stadium they payed for with their tax dollars. It's a shame we can't even get inside the place now. It's badly in need of repairs just to gain a certificate of occupancy, but nothing will be done. I am fully convinced the dome will be demolished before any of the public gets to see the inside of it again.

[Materene]

I just learned some interesting things about Astroworld from it's early days that I had never paid attention to before. The walkway that connects Astroworld with the Astrodome parking lot (the only remaining sign of Astroworld having been there), was not always just a walkway. Back in the early 1970's, when Astroworld was in it's infancy, you used to be able to drive cars across that bridge and drop people off right at the front gates.

During the 1980's when I first visited Astroworld, this privelege was no longer given. You had to park at the dome and walk or be shuttled across the bridge to Astroworld's front gates. If you look at the walkways, you'll notice they are wide enough to easily accommodate any vehicle from a passenger car to a bus.

I also noticed the hotel on the corner of the loop and Kirby (which is now the Crowne Plaza) was originally called the Astroworld Hotel. Many people know this, I'm sure, but it was interesting to see on video in the 1970 film "Brewster McCloud" wearing it's original Astroworld Hotel signage. I think the base for the original marquee sign is still on the street corner right beside the curb.

The Astrodome itself was much more of a wonder than just a domed stadium to play baseball in. When it was brand new, the dome served as kind of a public place. There didn't necessarily have to be a ball game in action for the public to use the dome's other facilities, like the lounge, or take a tour of the brand new stadium they payed for with their tax dollars. It's a shame we can't even get inside the place now. It's badly in need of repairs just to gain a certificate of occupancy, but nothing will be done. I am fully convinced the dome will be demolished before any of the public gets to see the inside of it again.

I think my family was thinking the same about Buff Stadium before it was demolished. One bright moment for me recently, the building I was born in on N. Main is still standing after 63 years. That has to be a plus considering all the change in the city, only a matter of time and it will be gone too. Thanks for the update on the Dome, it was a very unique engineering feat, I was always thrilled to sit in it and just stare at the ceiling, the bathrooms, well not so much.

[DistribAire P.E.]

Chronicle link

the model was in the I A Naman + office lobby when I went there a couple weeks ago....

[NenaE]

the model was in the I A Naman + office lobby when I went there a couple weeks ago....

I'm glad the model found a good home.

I had forgot about this bldg, but remember that astroworld (corporate?) office bldg. ? was round, seems like it sat close to or on the water, near the front.

And that front fountain was beautiful, with the world globe.

[Reefmonkey]

Has anyone noticed the old Astroworld model at the Downtown library, ground floor? I hadn't been by in a while and this was the first time I had seen it. Looks to be from before the park was first opened. I took a few pictures, posted one here that is focused on what was my favorite ride when I was a little kid in the early 80s, the River of No Return ride, a blatant copy of Disneyland/world's Jungle Cruise. I think it was probably the best ride Astroworld ever had, when it was a genuine theme park, before SF turned it into just another roller coaster park in the mid 80s. I'm not sure exactly when the RONR was closed, but I know XLR8 was built over where it was.

 

And a bonus, some commercials from Astroworld's heyday in the late 70s-early 80s:

 

 

 

[blue92]

Astroworld should have teamed up with Johnson space center. Have some Space exabitions in the Park may have lasted way longer.

[Gurgis]

I didn't know that was at the library, so thanks for the note.

 

I'm not sure if it was ever done, but someone really should have collected as many Astroworld items as possible, and opened a mini-museum. This model certainly would have made a worthy addition. I suppose it could still be done, if someone started the ball rolling. There are surely many items in various hands across the city, and could be rounded up if they were donated to such a worthy cause.