Carrousel Motor Hotel At 3330 Reveille Rd.

[chrispy]

and this is real scary to admit but I once worked at the Burger King farther down Telephone Road across from the new Harley Motorcycle place around 76. We were directly across the street from Houstons porn version of Sunet Strip. I did an earlier comment I think in Telephone Road clubs? That whole strip should be dyno-mited!

The names of all those places are hilarious! My favorite is The Blue Cat Club. Sounds like kind of an underground flop house in Greenwich Village during the Beatnik movement. Who can forget Mr. Peepers adult book store? Had a big neon sign advertising Adult toys! As a kid I could never understand why a grown up would want to play with Tinker Toys? Then I grew up and... What! Real scary!!!!

I think that is the place that's now called Las Palmas maybe? Haha, everyone seems to know the Blue Top Motel though! My dad has always had an obscene sense of humor and, growing up, he would tell us tales of it that just got nastier and nastier as we got older and older. It's amazing what has gone on in that place and suprising that it is still open. When I worked at the Lowe's at Gulfgate I would walk to work every afternoon and walk home at night right past the Blue Top.

[MidtownCoog]

and this is real scary to admit but I once worked at the Burger King farther down Telephone Road across from the new Harley Motorcycle place around 76. We were directly across the street from Houstons porn version of Sunet Strip. I did an earlier comment I think in Telephone Road clubs? That whole strip should be dyno-mited!

I have a lil-bit of Telephone Road in me. When I was born we lived off Joplin and g-ma lived behind the theatre.

When I was 3 or 4 (1972-ish) wasn't there a Chineese Restauant in what became one of the slezzy clubs across from BK?

I remember us eating there, or maybe it was on South Main. We bought a Honda 50 at Stubbs.

By the 80s/90s Telephone Road was my back route to UH. There was always somethign to see.

[Vertigo58]

The only motorcycle place I recall over there was Stubbs Cycles. And my brother says he remembers a place called the Blue Top Motel very well. Of course after he says this he produces a big evil smile. I drove down That street a few months ago and was surprised to see the old Blue Top with its big neon sign still there. Is the Blue Cat still there? My brother will be driving around the east end sometime in April and will take pictures. I'll be sure to post some.

More than likely he will see them filming "Cops" or "America's Most wanted" on location. As crazy as it sounds its probably already been done. I wouldn't mind meeting John Walsh I guess. I could give him a walk through tour of Telephone Road dives. The walk would take about a week all the way to Hobby Airport, so that means wear comfortable shoes, bullet proof vest, hazmat suit & an Uzi. Gotta love old Tel Road, Texas.

[musicman]

we were biking and stopped at the happy go lucky (telephone @ broad). you always see fairly nice cars there. the way the asian madame came up to us. i'm sure some of their clientele are happier and luckier than went they went in!

[brerrabbit]

I have a lil-bit of Telephone Road in me.

I have always felt I had a lot of Telephone Road in me. For the first 22 years of my life I never lived more than 3 blocks from it. The Las Palmas somebody mentioned earlier is on the other side of 610 from the Blue Top Motel. It used to be called the Four Palms, aka The Pressure Cooker. The story goes that frustrated housewives went there in the afternoon looking for love in all the wrong places and were then forced to use pressure cookers to get the food on the table by the time their husbands got home. Stubbs Cycles started out life on the other side of Telephone from its current location in the big orange metal building that I think is still standing there. Leons Drive In still sits at the end of the strip of clubs that operate there. Way back in the mid seventies all those clubs were there sans any Asian ownership. One was two sided and had topless on one side and totally nude on the other. You could get alcohol on the topless side and not on the nude side. They had an internal door between them and you could wander back and forth as your thirst drove you. I think it was this club that lead to a change in City ordineces that disallowed this type of activity. The Blue Top was the hang out of the local woorking girls and I still see them there occasionally when I drive by. The current Stubbs location used to be woods and where Lowes is was a trailer Park. Just past the trailer park was Old Hickory Stick Bar-b-que. The area has changed a bit but it still brings back my childhood every time I drive down Telephone.

[Vertigo58]

Telephone Rd should be on Guinness Book of World records for Longest Street with broken curbs and cracked telephone poles from the DUI's over the decades. Be sure to notice next time you cruise it.

I would start a Topic/thread of the fact that Houston was Numero Uno for the most adult themed establishments in a city but ... someone else can if they want. It was always mentioned on the local and national news since the early 70's and maybe before that. No secret. Mother Superior is calling me gotta go now.

[chrispy]

Telephone Rd should be on Guinness Book of World records for Longest Street with broken curbs and cracked telephone poles from the DUI's over the decades. Be sure to notice next time you cruise it.

I would start a Topic/thread of the fact that Houston was Numero Uno for the most adult themed establishments in a city but ... someone else can if they want. It was always mentioned on the local and national news since the early 70's and maybe before that. No secret. Mother Superior is calling me gotta

You are right on that one Vertigo! Not to mention the occassional potholes. Although Tel Wink has to be the BEST place in town for a good, cheap breakfast.

[Vertigo58]

You are right on that one Vertigo! Not to mention the occassional potholes. Although Tel Wink has to be the BEST place in town for a good, cheap breakfast.

I know I'm straying from the subject a bit but most people forgot that Tel Wink was remodeled inside for the filming of the made-for-TV movie of Mohammad Ali about 7-8 years ago. Time flies by. In the scene Mohammad & his manager get out of their car while travelling and go to this truck stop restaurant where they have a bite but after the employees give him a hard time. (scene was supposed to be deep south 1962ish) We noticed that the movie people left it as is when things wrapped up.

Maybe we should start a topic on films done in East End. I know for a fact that "Bad News Bears II" was partially filmed at Eastwood Park on Harrisburg, we watched after school with many neighborhood people. was cool but long forgotten.

[NenaE]

Boy, I remember that motel. When I was a kid I too wanted to climb up there and hitch a ride on one of the horses. That was the coolest sign. Wasn't it located kinda close to Peppermint Park?

At Christmas-time, there was a fake santa that rode on one of the horses. The round carousel part of the sign spun around, like a real one would. We would always stretch our necks to see it we could catch a glance of him, as we passed by in the car. He may have been waving, as well. I would like to know what happened to that sign.

[tomv]

That was a cool sign. I guess that's it just below and to the right of the small sign that says "motor hotel".

Notice the incorrect (on purpose?) spelling of carousel: "carrousel"

[NenaE]

That was a cool sign. I guess that's it just below and to the right of the small sign that says "motor hotel".

Notice the incorrect (on purpose?) spelling of carousel: "carrousel"

Cool, I was thinking of that postcard when posting, thnx. What a cool pool, has a bridge. Too bad, hardly any of these hotels are left, or their signs, in their original condition. That hotel had a sad ending.

[detached]

I am glad to see this discussion about what is now just concrete foundation slabs. I was wondering what used to be there, as I whizz by on 610! Thanks for all the info.

[texianjoe]

The last time I saw that sign it was sitting in a yard at a sign shop on Maudlin off of Long and Wayside. This was about late 80s when I visited my parents back in the old hood.

joe

[tomv]

The last time I saw that sign it was sitting in a yard at a sign shop on Maudlin off of Long and Wayside. This was about late 80s when I visited my parents back in the old hood.

joe

That sounds like Smith Municipal Sign and Supply at 5567 Maudlin. I don't guess the sign would still be there but you never know. Anybody live in the area?

[NenaE]

Wow, nice to know the sign may still be around there, somewhere. Would love to see it, again. Wonder how big it is, when you're standing next to it?

[detached]

Speaking of circular, crenulated roofed buildings.... what about a similar looking structure that is/was on the east side of I-45, inside the Loop, just south of Cullen Blvd., beside the modern Catholic Charismatic Center? That building and the Carrousel Motel look remarkably similar! I always thought it was an old car dealership, but I am not sure. In historicaerials.com, it is built by the 1964 survey. What was it?

[Subdude]

Speaking of circular, crenulated roofed buildings.... what about a similar looking structure that is/was on the east side of I-45, inside the Loop, just south of Cullen Blvd., beside the modern Catholic Charismatic Center? That building and the Carrousel Motel look remarkably similar! I always thought it was an old car dealership, but I am not sure. In historicaerials.com, it is built by the 1964 survey. What was it?

Check out this topic.

[NenaE]

The last time I saw that sign it was sitting in a yard at a sign shop on Maudlin off of Long and Wayside. This was about late 80s when I visited my parents back in the old hood.

joe

Joe, it just dawned on me, there were two carrousel signs in the picture postcard, which one do you remember? The really large name sign, or the carousel one? Someone said in an earlier HAIF post they thought the horses were taken off, and were sitting in an antique store.

Was looking for info. on the motor hotel yesterday, and found references to the Houston one, as well as the one on the NE coast, around Washington DC. The two motor hotels did not look the same, would like to know who built the Houston one, and the similar Helena one. All I know is that they seemed to have links to some very shady characters. That's too bad.

here's a link to the NE coast motor hotels, there's some neat googie style things here: http://retroviews.com/gallery/photo-viewin...galleryid=64952

[texianjoe]

I only remember the one carousel facing the 610 loop. It was maybe 10 to 15 feet tall from the bottom to the top of the canopy.

Another sign I would like to see again, but I think it was modified and finally dismantled, is the Orbit Drive-Inn that was on the corner of Hwy 3 and Richy or Spencer. It was a flying saucer with a glass dome and little green alien sitting in it.

joe

[NenaE]

Here's sevfiv's post w/ picture from earlier...the huge sign is in front of the carousel one. I, too, only remembered the one w/ horses.

And yeah, I wonder about the martian, too, from Vicky's Drive-In.

There were some neat ones on Telephone Rd., as well. That space themed hotel sign was neat.

http://ephemera.arch-ive.org/paper/#carrousel

from this great link you can see the chain logo on the back info., I have this postcard, it says "Master Hosts". The Helena Motor Hotel postcard I have does not have the same logo, has AAA symbol, instead.

[detached]

Check out this topic.

Ah, yes, it was a car dealership.... Thank you!

[uncleTex]

I only remember the one carousel facing the 610 loop. It was maybe 10 to 15 feet tall from the bottom to the top of the canopy.

Another sign I would like to see again, but I think it was modified and finally dismantled, is the Orbit Drive-Inn that was on the corner of Hwy 3 and Richy or Spencer. It was a flying saucer with a glass dome and little green alien sitting in it.

joe

I joined up just to try to find a picture of that flying saucer sign or complete drive inn, I remember my parents driving us kids by it all the time.In later years it was a car dealership and right across the street was a daycare with a boat in the yard , Now its serving duty as a taqueria and it's on 238 winkler rd, It was on the sw corner of galveston rd/hwy3 and Winkler drive .Here is what it looks like now on google maps. If anyone ever finds a old picture please let me know.

ex flying saucer drive in

here it is on historic aerials flying saucer drive in

[Vertigo58]

I joined up just to try to find a picture of that flying saucer sign or complete drive inn, I remember my parents driving us kids by it all the time.In later years it was a car dealership and right across the street was a daycare with a boat in the yard , Now its serving duty as a taqueria and it's on 238 winkler rd, It was on the sw corner of galveston rd/hwy3 and Winkler drive .Here is what it looks like now on google maps. If anyone ever finds a old picture please let me know.

ex flying saucer drive in

here it is on historic aerials flying saucer drive in

The little alien driver was hilarious! We kids always wanted to climb up on top and try to pull him out and replace him with us. I am not sure when it was removed though. The links were not able to open at least for me?

[sevfiv]

I recently had some time to kill and checked out the remnants. The existing Evergreen Apartments, to the south of the circular foundation, were actually the "130 deluxe apartments" mentioned on the back of the postcard. As soon as I find my post card I'll get a better resolution scan..

More here:

http://www.arch-ive.org/carrousel.php

[NenaE]

I've never thought about that much, apartments associated with the Carrousel, interesting. But I remember some being located very close by. There used to be green tiles somewhere around the foundation remnants, I recall from previous posts. Too bad the Carrousel & the Helena round rooms are gone, I never saw inside either one. Now I wonder who designed them.

P.S. I'm having problems accessing the arch-ive info. Site comes up, but not the info. in categories. Is anyone else?

[sevfiv]

Hmm...I just checked the link and I'm getting to the right page. Let me know if it still isn't working on your end..

[NenaE]

Hmm...I just checked the link and I'm getting to the right page. Let me know if it still isn't working on your end..

The home page appears every time, but the info. and pics within each category, such as hotels, when I click on it, doesn't appear. Says "done with errors on page".

[NenaE]

http://cgi.ebay.com/CARROUSEL-MOTOR-HOTEL-near-Houston-Airport-1961-Ad-/360290077059?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e2f64983

This ebay ad gives the name of the architect for the Carrousel. From what I can tell, it's William Tamminga. Listed in AIA list, one date references 1956-1963.

At one time he was part of the firm - Ford, Colley, & Tamminga.

[sevfiv]

The auction has...ended. I promise to post a high res image, though!

[sevfiv]

There isn't a comprehensive project list, but:

http://williamtammingaarchitects.com/