Memories Of Downtown

[devonhart]

You can see "Foley's Bros." sign in the background.

 

http://youtu.be/wDK5zPx1gFU

[august948]

At the very end you can see him take a last tug on his cigarette and then toss it over his shoulder. My how times change.

[kylejack]

At the very end you can see him take a last tug on his cigarette and then toss it over his shoulder. My how times change.

 

Is there any statute of limitations on internal affairs complaints?

[august948]

Is there any statute of limitations on internal affairs complaints?

There's a natural statute of limitations on the internal affairs of someone who was alive in the 1920's. Especially if he was a chain smoker.

[devonhart]

At first I thought he was smoking too, but if you look at it full screen he's blowing a whistle, then he takes the whistle out of his mouth and gives a thumb gesture for cars to keep moving.

 

[dbigtex56]

Thanks, devonhart. Imagine how he would have liked to see what we see now!

[IronTiger]

There appears to be a lot of surface parking lots in downtown Houston (not that's theres anything wrong with that) but I just can't help wondering if there were any notable buildings that met an untimely demise and weren't replaced with newer buildings. 

 

Are there any particularly missed?

[Subdude]

The Southwest Tower springs immediately to mind.  This was a tall building that I believe served as the operations center for Bank of the Southwest.  It sat on the southeast corner of the Walker-Louisiana-McKinney-Milam block, adjacent to the Bank of the Southwest main building.  I believe it was built around 1964 (someone correct if I'm wrong on that) and demolished around 1984 to make way for the new Bank of the Southwest supertall that as we all know was cancelled at the last minute.  Not sure if it is still the case, but for a long time one could tell the site because the adjoining sidewalks were brick.  There was also a tunnel connection to the main BoSW building which has been blocked off. 

 

 

[Subdude]

Also the Medical Arts building at Caroline and Rusk which is now a parking lot but will eventually be the HSPVA location. 

 

 

The Lamar Hotel and C&I buildings were demolished for a Hines skyscraper which was also cancelled at the last minute.  The block was a parking lot for about 15 years until the Reliant building was constructed. 

[Howard Huge]

There appears to be a lot of surface parking lots in downtown Houston (not that's theres anything wrong with that) but I just can't help wondering if there were any notable buildings that met an untimely demise and weren't replaced with newer buildings.

Are there any particularly missed?

Very very interesting topic, I hope this thread takes off.

Ive always wondered this myself, everytime I look at current downtown from overhead on google or apple maps, the oceans of parking lots baffle me as I KNOW there used to be something on each one, there has to be so much interesting stuff that was there and torn down. So cliche but it always makes me think of the line "we paved paradise and put up a parking lot."

[Subdude]

Another is the Austin-Capitol-Caroline-Rusk block.  This block was the site of the Houston High School for many years, and if I'm not mistaken then HISD headquarters.  The block has been surface parking for several decades now. 

[devonhart]

http://youtu.be/1xbLhZFMtX8

[devonhart]

The uneditied original film can be found here, but it's much darker, I had to lighten it up all the way.

 

http://texasarchive.org/library/index.php?title=The_Orris_D._Brown_Collection,_no._4_-_The_Great_Houston_Flood_of_1935

[FilioScotia]

What a tragedy. Do you know the date of that flood? Was it during hurricane season?  It's sobering to think that, as bad as that was, it was nothing compared to what Tropical Storm Allison did in 2001.

[mollusk]

^ The opening frame puts it starting on December 6, 1935, which is well after hurricane season.  That flood resulted in the construction of Addicks and Barker Dams up in the headwaters of the Buffalo Bayou watershed.

[NenaE]

Nice find, Devonhart. Thanks for sharing. Two major rainfalls flooded Downtown, during that period, 1929, then 1935. Yeah, guess they thought they better do something. Its nice to see a moving pic, for a change, I've only seen stills, before. That crumbed building has always intrigued me. I think that's the recently constructed Sears building at about a minute into the film. Can anyone confirm? 

[FilioScotia]

This thread prompted me to search the Internet for more information about the 1935 flood, and I was stunned to learn that a lot of other Texas places also had disastrous floods the very same year.  Here''s the story,.with lots of photos:

 

http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasRivers/Texas-Flood-of-1935.htm

 

Judging from the photos on this site, 1935 was a very bad year for a lot of people. Coming at the height of the Great Depression, these massive floods only added to their misery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Specwriter]

Judging from the photos on this site, 1935 was a very bad year for a lot of people. Coming at the height of the Great Depression, these massive floods only added to their misery.

 

 

There was also the "dust bowl" in the plains states about the same time. Wow! Those were  rough times but they taught us some things about soil conservation, flood control (both of which we continue to learn), and financing and investing (which we can't seem to remember).

 

[Subdude]

Nice find, Devonhart. Thanks for sharing. Two major rainfalls flooded Downtown, during that period, 1929, then 1935. Yeah, guess they thought they better do something. Its nice to see a moving pic, for a change, I've only seen stills, before. That crumbed building has always intrigued me. I think that's the recently constructed Sears building at about a minute into the film. Can anyone confirm? 

 

I think that is the Sears building,  I believe the flood damage prompted their move to Midtown shortly thereafter. 

[NenaE]

Yeah... that's it. It's a shame, was recently built. Loved the look of those Italian Cypress trees against that white bldg. 

[Subdude]

Yeah... that's it. It's a shame, was recently built. Loved the look of those Italian Cypress trees against that white bldg. 

 

I noticed that shot.  It looks like the house floated over to Sears.

[native_Houstonian]

My dad was 6 years old during this time.  He recounts the story of his mother and aunt going to Sears after the flood and purchasing many goods at the "flood sale".    He said he remembers how exited they were at the deals they had! 

[devonhart]

Nice find, Devonhart. Thanks for sharing.  Its nice to see a moving pic, for a change, I've only seen stills, before.

 

Thanks, I keep looking for buried treasure on film archive sites, and try to polish them up with a little editing, image adjustment and a little background music.

 

[NenaE]

I recently started using Pixelmator, an Apple app., much like Photoshop, but probably much easier to use. Hope you don't mind, I captured a few still shots from that video, just for reference. That crumbed brick building looks like it was across Milam, south side of the street. I thought it was the one right by Magnolia Brewery. You know, the one with the glass facing the bayou. But it's backside got ripped apart by the force of the flood. So it's orientation isn't right. 

 

[devonhart]

I recently started using Pixelmator, an Apple app., much like Photoshop, but probably much easier to use. Hope you don't mind, I captured a few still shots from that video, just for reference. That crumbed brick building looks like it was across Milam, south side of the street. I thought it was the one right by Magnolia Brewery. You know, the one with the glass facing the bayou. But it's backside got ripped apart by the force of the flood. So it's orientation isn't right. 

 

Feel free to make stills, the original source is public domain as far as I can determine, no copyright or use notices that I could find on the website.

 

[blue92]

This thread prompted me to search the Internet for more information about the 1935 flood, and I was stunned to learn that a lot of other Texas places also had disastrous floods the very same year.  Here''s the story,.with lots of photos:

 

http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasRivers/Texas-Flood-of-1935.htm

 

Judging from the photos on this site, 1935 was a very bad year for a lot of people. Coming at the height of the Great Depression, these massive floods only added to their misery.

 

 

Must of been from global warming/climate change.

[NenaE]

http://digital.lib.uh.edu/search/query:flooded/fields:all/mode:all/op:and/alias:p15195coll32/page:1

 

from U.H. Digital Collections - Houston Fire Dept.

 

Downtown Houston - flood photos 

[devonhart]

Short clip.

 

[UtterlyUrban]

That is cool. I wish it was longer!

[mollusk]

Wow - what is now Total Plaza looks giant (rather than somewhat overwhelmed infill as it is now).