Memorial City Mall History

[Trae]

You posted the same thing twice. Spam?

[MetroMogul]

I went there in the late 90's and was shocked that blacks would dare show their face in Memorial. I'm glad they and their Katrina cousins took the Metro down to Silber.

Just say what you mean. The common use of the word swarthy is to describe someone who is of dark complexion.

[IronTiger]

Just say what you mean. The common use of the word swarthy is to describe someone who is of dark complexion.

It's bad forum etiquette to twist someone's quote, even if it possibly was veiled racism. The actual quote was "I think it's an understatement to say that it went into decline until the late 90's. I went in there in the late '90s and was consistently startled by the swarthiness of the clientele. It is so much nicer now. I think the hoodlums migrated to the Edwards Cinema plex at Silber and I 10.".

[MetroMogul]

Explain exactly what I twisted. The thought is the same, the wording is different.

[sevfiv]

While we can't tell the exact thoughts of a poster through various words, it doesn't seem like there needs to be much further explanation (especially with the following two replies) unless the original poster would like to (while keeping on topic and respectful).

[RhinoVP]

Just say what you mean. The common use of the word swarthy is to describe someone who is of dark complexion.

Since when did "swarthy" become a commonly used word?

Gimmie a break....

[MetroMogul]

Since when did "swarthy" become a commonly used word?

Gimmie a break....

I didn't say it was a commonly used word. I stated that the common use of the word is to describe or reference dark skin colors or complexions. Yes, it is subtle, but usually subtleties are something a working human brain can pick up upon with little problem.

But I still find it odd that I am the one being questioned and lectured on internet etiqutte when we have someone who believes that there were too may darkies at Memorial City Mall.

[Disastro]

Ack! Give Metro a break...

I swear people are so damned sensitive these days.

Can't we all just get along?

[boomerd35]

I worked in the mall 1989-1990. Around that time, Memorial City was just like any other mall rat hang out- nothing fancy or special about it, but not too run down either. Retail was struggling at that time. I was on summer break from college in June of 1989 walking thru the mall when I got a job with Fame City, which was mentioned earlier had a location on Beechnut near Hwy6. That main location was an arcade/water park. They were opening up a new arcade location in Memorial City Mall. I was cash control manager, so I would stay late emptying coins from machines, etc. It was great having the mall to myself after hours, and sometimes staying until midnight playing video games all by myself. There was an arcade area in the food court, with an escalator that lead to an upstairs play area for kids that had some kiddie rides and was a good place to have kids bday partys, etc. Then on the other end of the mall was a skating rink along with another arcade area. Fame City eventually sold out to Jungle Jim's, who I think had a main location next to Sharpstown Mall. But they didn't own it long before selling to the Memorial City Mall Management (Metro National Coro or MNC or something like that- the same company that owns a LOT of property in the Memorial City/Gessner area). They were running it when I left. (They offered me a job in the corporate accounting department since I was studying accounting, but I was going back to college at Sam Houston so I turned them down- I wonder where I'd be now in my career if I'd have taken that job). A couple of stores I remember from my time in Memorial City Mall- I think there was a Pipe Pub on the corner of the food court area. And I was there when the movie theater opened up down near Sears. There was a cafeteria (Picadilly I guess) but it was on the end of the mall with Monty Wards and there was really nothing else on that side of the mall- so if you weren't going to Wards or the cafeteria, you'd never wander over there.

[IronTiger]

I worked in the mall 1989-1990. Around that time, Memorial City was just like any other mall rat hang out- nothing fancy or special about it, but not too run down either. Retail was struggling at that time. I was on summer break from college in June of 1989 walking thru the mall when I got a job with Fame City, which was mentioned earlier had a location on Beechnut near Hwy6. That main location was an arcade/water park. They were opening up a new arcade location in Memorial City Mall. I was cash control manager, so I would stay late emptying coins from machines, etc. It was great having the mall to myself after hours, and sometimes staying until midnight playing video games all by myself. There was an arcade area in the food court, with an escalator that lead to an upstairs play area for kids that had some kiddie rides and was a good place to have kids bday partys, etc. Then on the other end of the mall was a skating rink along with another arcade area. Fame City eventually sold out to Jungle Jim's, who I think had a main location next to Sharpstown Mall. But they didn't own it long before selling to the Memorial City Mall Management (Metro National Coro or MNC or something like that- the same company that owns a LOT of property in the Memorial City/Gessner area). They were running it when I left. (They offered me a job in the corporate accounting department since I was studying accounting, but I was going back to college at Sam Houston so I turned them down- I wonder where I'd be now in my career if I'd have taken that job). A couple of stores I remember from my time in Memorial City Mall- I think there was a Pipe Pub on the corner of the food court area. And I was there when the movie theater opened up down near Sears. There was a cafeteria (Picadilly I guess) but it was on the end of the mall with Monty Wards and there was really nothing else on that side of the mall- so if you weren't going to Wards or the cafeteria, you'd never wander over there.

Wait, 1989-1990? The ice rink I thought didn't open until 2002 or so and I thought the second-level theater was all new construction. You're confusing me!

[soifan]

Wait, 1989-1990? The ice rink I thought didn't open until 2002 or so and I thought the second-level theater was all new construction. You're confusing me!

His post confused me some too, but he is right about there being a movie theatre back then down by Sears (across the way from the new theatre). It was 8-10 screens and was the old style (pre stadium seating). The current theatre is the 3rd one in this mall as far as I know. When I was a very little girl, I remember one that had a "grand" staircase carpeted in a plush red near the middle of the mall. My parents confirmed this theatre and said it was there most of the 70's (if not before) and maybe some of the early 80's -not sure. I also remember something about a fire there.

I don't remember a rink there in the late 80's- those were my high school years and we went there often. There were seasonal rinks set up from time to time, but I don't remember a permanent rink at that time. There may have been a rink many years before, but not at that time.

[IronTiger]

Was the food court around before the big renovation? What was it back then?

Any pictures of ANYTHING pre-remodel?

[RhinoVP]

Was the food court around before the big renovation? What was it back then?

Any pictures of ANYTHING pre-remodel?

In the mid 70's there was no food court at Memorial city. The area where the food court is now, would have been York's steak house. York's was kinda like a Bonanza or Golden Coral (minus the buffet) type of place.

Wish I had pictures though.

Rhino

[Otis Fantastic]

Just wanted to add a few things...I spent many weekends running around Memorial City Mall, but probably spent more time at T&C.

Every Sunday after church we would eat at Picaddilly, which had a surprisingly good rectangle of fried fish, and a bowl of strawberry's covered in some red goo. i loved it.

It also had a great arcade called Quiptars (sp?) that gave 10 tokens for 1 dollar and a robot that would exchange your dollar into tokens.(never saw it working though)...this would have been around 1984ish, another arcade called Video Celebrity that eventually started charging per hour, and you could play any game you wanted for that hour. I want to say it was 5 bucks? Both of them were at the end of the mall away from Sears...near the Whataburger and army, navy, air force recruiters.

The Sears end of the mall had an arcade called Greens..which seemed a little bit shady.

I seem to recall the original movie theater to have a balcony, that actually fell down after the theater closed. Don't think anybody was hurt, but it happened while the mall was open. Maybe 1985?

[crunchtastic]

It also had a great arcade called Quiptars (sp?) that gave 10 tokens for 1 dollar and a robot that would exchange your dollar into tokens.(never saw it working though)...this would have been around 1984ish, another arcade called Video Celebrity that eventually started charging per hour, and you could play any game you wanted for that hour. I want to say it was 5 bucks? Both of them were at the end of the mall away from Sears...near the Whataburger and army, navy, air force recruiters.

The Sears end of the mall had an arcade called Greens..which seemed a little bit shady.

I rememer those arcades. I was a senior in high school and had this crush on one of the navy recruiters from the mall. We would go hang out in the arcades, or at the lanes on Bunker Hill on the other side of the mall, drinking beer and bowling. Greens wasn't so bad. It was mainly stoner nerds buying weed.

[IronTiger]

The Greenspoint Lord & Taylor once had an in-store restaurant. Did the MCM L&T have the same?

[videoguy]

Several weeks ago I went to the Memorial City Mall and wow, it's awesome. However, I heard that it wasn't always as vibrant, busy, unique, and upscale as it used to be.

Any anecdotes/photos?

What a fascinating thread. I used to hang out at Memorial City a lot when I lived in Houston in the mid to late 1970's and early 1980's. I'm surprised there aren't any pictures of the interior around, so I've posted a couple I have in an old album. They were taken by my Dad in 1975 not long after my family moved to Houston, and are views from the bridge over the fountain at the first crossover.

This one is looking north towards Montgomery Ward's. The craft store mentioned in the earlier post is to the right. I recall someone telling me it used to be a grocery store somewhere back in the dim distant past, but I don't know if that's true or not. Up that end of the mall at the time was also the Houston Trunk company, a store that sold "party supplies" (mainly paper plates and plastic glasses) and a place that sold electronic keyboards and organs.

This one is looking west towards where Lord and Taylor's first store would be built a couple of years later. At the time this was the main entrance to the mall, and had a portico over the door. Next to the entrance was an insurance office. Further down there was a barber shop, candle store, and a place called "Orange Julius" which sold a soft drink of the same name.

Just hidden behind the tree to the left of the picture was Walgreen's. They had their own entrance from the parking lot. At the mall end they had a coffee shop with an old-fashioned soda fountain where you could get ice-cream sundaes in tall glasses and triple-decker sandwiches held together with toothpicks. I was surprised to read that the mall was only built in the 1960's as the coffee shop looked much older (like it was from the 1940's or 50's) so it may have been transplanted from another, older Walgreen's.

I remember EJ's well. It had a model racing car in a glass case out front of the store -- a Bugatti or Mercedes (or something similar) from the 1930's. It was incredibly detailed, right down to the miniature car keys. Next door to EJ's was Record Town.

Another store I remember from that part of the mall was called Columbus, or Cornelius (or something like that). It had an eclectic mix of merchandise including wicker baskets and metal goblets. They had a suit of armor by the door that nobody ever bought.

The theater was nice -- until they divided it in half so they could show two movies at a time. I saw "Return of the Pink Panther" starring Peter Sellars there. Apart from the restaurants it was the only place open on Sundays at the time, which was kind of weird.

Next to the theater was a place that sold pizza by the slice. It was served up by really cute girls in VERY tight hotpants (well, this was the 1970's). All the fast food places seemed to shut down when the food court was opened -- this would have been about 1980-81. I don't know of this was a coincidence, or if the people running the mall wanted all the food in one area. Even Walgreen's ripped out the coffee shop and replaced it with a one hour photo processing lab.

I last visited MC around 1984, not long before I moved away from Houston. It looked pretty much the same as the photos -- except Lord and Taylor's had been built and the shack looking stores to the left of the lower photo had been taken down -- but the decor was starting to look tired and dated. I gather it looks a bit different now !

[Trae]

Thanks for the great history. Memorial City Mall looks a lot different now. Just check out the website for some pictures: http://www.memorialcitymall.com/

[Randyt7801]

Wasn't there a Whataburger in the mall at one time?

[Alpha]

Wasn't there a Whataburger in the mall at one time?

Yes, Whataburger was in the hallway to the left of Wards (now Target.) If you were approaching Wards from inside the mall, you would turn left before you went into the store. It was somewhere near the Army recruiting office.

Oh, and someone else mentioned a grocery store. There was a Weingartens located near where the skating rink is now.

It was closed some time in the 70s and United Jewelers took its place. I think this was before Lord & Taylor was built.

[Whitesman]

Yes, Whataburger was in the hallway to the left of Wards (now Target.) If you were approaching Wards from inside the mall, you would turn left before you went into the store. It was somewhere near the Army recruiting office.

Oh, and someone else mentioned a grocery store. There was a Weingartens located near where the skating rink is now.

It was closed some time in the 70s and United Jewelers took its place. I think this was before Lord & Taylor was built.

I remember that the Mall was from Sears to where Wards used to be( before Wards was built) That was all the mall. Wards was built and then they added the automotive center next to Wards.

Then they made the mall into a "T" shape in the early 70's, and there was a Coin Shop on the right side almost to the end of the "T".

They lengthened the "T" and had a food court at the end on another "T" and there was a Game place there also.This was in the mid to late 80's.

Then they started a real remodel and adding stores to the west side of the mall. And on the east side of the mall some new stores came in and took up lots of the old parking lot areas.

[videoguy]

Yeah, it does kinda different now. Who decided to paint it that awful yellow color?

[IronTiger]

Whoa, is that the old Mervyn's? What happened there?

[MadMax]

I worked in the mall 1989-1990. Around that time, Memorial City was just like any other mall rat hang out- nothing fancy or special about it, but not too run down either. Retail was struggling at that time. I was on summer break from college in June of 1989 walking thru the mall when I got a job with Fame City, which was mentioned earlier had a location on Beechnut near Hwy6. That main location was an arcade/water park. They were opening up a new arcade location in Memorial City Mall. I was cash control manager, so I would stay late emptying coins from machines, etc. It was great having the mall to myself after hours, and sometimes staying until midnight playing video games all by myself. There was an arcade area in the food court, with an escalator that lead to an upstairs play area for kids that had some kiddie rides and was a good place to have kids bday partys, etc. Then on the other end of the mall was a skating rink along with another arcade area. Fame City eventually sold out to Jungle Jim's, who I think had a main location next to Sharpstown Mall. But they didn't own it long before selling to the Memorial City Mall Management (Metro National Coro or MNC or something like that- the same company that owns a LOT of property in the Memorial City/Gessner area). They were running it when I left. (They offered me a job in the corporate accounting department since I was studying accounting, but I was going back to college at Sam Houston so I turned them down- I wonder where I'd be now in my career if I'd have taken that job). A couple of stores I remember from my time in Memorial City Mall- I think there was a Pipe Pub on the corner of the food court area. And I was there when the movie theater opened up down near Sears. There was a cafeteria (Picadilly I guess) but it was on the end of the mall with Monty Wards and there was really nothing else on that side of the mall- so if you weren't going to Wards or the cafeteria, you'd never wander over there.

Holy crap, I worked that very same job in the summer of 1993!! Cash control for Kids' Kingdom and Outer Limits!! It was great being there late...but also a bit creepy. That's incredible! It was such a unique job, particularly for a college kid. And until it was time to do a "token run" or count back the tills, there wasn't much to do. I'd listen to the Astros and read a book back in that little locked room with the safe and with cameras on all doors.

There was a Piccadilly by Sears....on the other end of the mall, near Montgomery Ward's (which is now Target) was a Luby's.

What a fascinating thread. I used to hang out at Memorial City a lot when I lived in Houston in the mid to late 1970's and early 1980's. I'm surprised there aren't any pictures of the interior around, so I've posted a couple I have in an old album. They were taken by my Dad in 1975 not long after my family moved to Houston, and are views from the bridge over the fountain at the first crossover.

This one is looking north towards Montgomery Ward's. The craft store mentioned in the earlier post is to the right. I recall someone telling me it used to be a grocery store somewhere back in the dim distant past, but I don't know if that's true or not. Up that end of the mall at the time was also the Houston Trunk company, a store that sold "party supplies" (mainly paper plates and plastic glasses) and a place that sold electronic keyboards and organs.

This one is looking west towards where Lord and Taylor's first store would be built a couple of years later. At the time this was the main entrance to the mall, and had a portico over the door. Next to the entrance was an insurance office. Further down there was a barber shop, candle store, and a place called "Orange Julius" which sold a soft drink of the same name.

Just hidden behind the tree to the left of the picture was Walgreen's. They had their own entrance from the parking lot. At the mall end they had a coffee shop with an old-fashioned soda fountain where you could get ice-cream sundaes in tall glasses and triple-decker sandwiches held together with toothpicks. I was surprised to read that the mall was only built in the 1960's as the coffee shop looked much older (like it was from the 1940's or 50's) so it may have been transplanted from another, older Walgreen's.

I remember EJ's well. It had a model racing car in a glass case out front of the store -- a Bugatti or Mercedes (or something similar) from the 1930's. It was incredibly detailed, right down to the miniature car keys. Next door to EJ's was Record Town.

Another store I remember from that part of the mall was called Columbus, or Cornelius (or something like that). It had an eclectic mix of merchandise including wicker baskets and metal goblets. They had a suit of armor by the door that nobody ever bought.

The theater was nice -- until they divided it in half so they could show two movies at a time. I saw "Return of the Pink Panther" starring Peter Sellars there. Apart from the restaurants it was the only place open on Sundays at the time, which was kind of weird.

Next to the theater was a place that sold pizza by the slice. It was served up by really cute girls in VERY tight hotpants (well, this was the 1970's). All the fast food places seemed to shut down when the food court was opened -- this would have been about 1980-81. I don't know of this was a coincidence, or if the people running the mall wanted all the food in one area. Even Walgreen's ripped out the coffee shop and replaced it with a one hour photo processing lab.

I last visited MC around 1984, not long before I moved away from Houston. It looked pretty much the same as the photos -- except Lord and Taylor's had been built and the shack looking stores to the left of the lower photo had been taken down -- but the decor was starting to look tired and dated. I gather it looks a bit different now !

Thanks so much for posting those pictures.

I was born in 1974, so a lot of this is very early childhood memory for me....but I guess I must have spent a lot of my life in that mall I remember eating at the Walgreen's diner with my grandparents...getting a chocolate shake there as a little boy.

[jwphillips2]

I remember that the Harveys owned the property in the 50s and sold all of it to the developers. This was a huge amount of acreage north of that little road called Memorial Drive, and bordered by Gessner, Memorial Drive Way, Highway 90(Katy Fwy),and Barryknoll. They sold it for thousands of dollars, way over $200,000 (what's it worth today?). They hunted rabbits on it and they'd let the horses cool down at the artesian spring. They bought property around Blanco and settled there.

Memorial

[MadMax]

and I just recall a small theater at Town & Country where we saw Disney's "Tron"

very strange film. Courtesy of 101 KLOL circa 1982.

There were two, actually. There was a Lowes Town & Country 3...and Lowes Town & Country 6. Both stuck around until about 1987, I'd guess...when AMC opened up it's T&C location (10 screens) just on the other side of the freeway, next to a Chili's and Bennigan's. The Chili's is still there. Bennigan's has gone the way of the do do. The theater is now used by HCC for performing arts and multimedia classes.

[Randyt7801]

so what happened to all the post from the past year?

[detached]

There was a Piccadilly by Sears....on the other end of the mall, near Montgomery Ward's (which is now Target) was a Luby's.

Thanks so much for posting those pictures.

I was born in 1974, so a lot of this is very early childhood memory for me....but I guess I must have spent a lot of my life in that mall I remember eating at the Walgreen's diner with my grandparents...getting a chocolate shake there as a little boy.

Excellent photos! I started going to this mall in 1969/70, and I remember that, at that time, there was no anchor store at the north end... the mall just ended with some glass exit doors. Close to that end of the mall, at that time, was a beauty parlor (on the west side). I can't remember a grocery store, but I do remember that Sharpstown Mall had one attached to it in the late 1960's. It would have made sense that a grocery store would round out the shopping services provided by the mall to the housewife of the 1960's. I believe Gulfgate, originally had one as well.

In the 1970's, if you were a senior at Memorial High School, you were able to go off campus for lunch, and York Steakhouse was a hot spot for a quick steak meal for the football players! It was cafeteria style service and was located about where the present merry-go-round is in the current food court. I have some pictures in my high school year books, but am not sure about copyright. There is one shot that looks to the east, straight down the 1970's added cross-axis. It shows the edge of 'Albert's Hosiery' and a red brick-faced 'Casual Corner' on the south side. Foley's, with its old style, lower-cased lettered sign (with a flower for its apostrophe) is visible in the distance. The floor of the mall, typical of that era, is of durable terrazzo.

I loved Orange Julius on the little west side axis of the oldest part of the mall. It seemed to be gone by 1980. Mervyn's was later (mid-1980's) attached to the west end there, where the skating rink is now. I remember that, when Foley's was built to cap off the east end of the new east wing, it was floored with wooden parquet tiles, which were very popular at the time. Shoes would 'click' on the wood, and the tiles were not so durable and ended up popping off some years later. Foley's was 1 story and there was a small cafe, within the store, located at its extreme east side. (This was something you also found in other finer department stores of the time, such as Joske's).

Lee Wards was the fabric/craft store located on the west side of the main mall axis, about where 'Hot Topic' is, now. Further north from that location, on the same side, was a Spencer's Gifts which had the venerable 'black light room' to show off the psychedelic posters! Oh, I also remember that when the mall got a face lift in the later 70's, a 'Limited' was located at the NE corner of the main axis in the older mallway.

Across from the old movie theatre, which was built as a single screen with balcony originally, I remember that, in the 70's there were some curious and unique shops, such as a 'smoke shop'. I can't remember its name. The movie theatre was split up into 2 screens by the late 70's. I didn't go there often, as the theatre complexes at Town & Country (Town & Country 6; Loews 3) were the hotspots for movies back then. The multi-cinema had just been introduced in the 1970's, and the 6 theatres seemed like a lot back then!

Briefly, in the 1980's, when the old original theatre was closed, the mall built a multi theatre complex just to the north of Sears, on the west side of the mall. I remember seeing a couple of movies there. The seats were uncomfortable. Before that, in the same location, there used to be located a large clothing store. We used to shop there a lot, but the name escapes me right now.

Another tidbit of info, is that in the early 1970's, further north from the above mentioned clothing store and also on the west side of the older mallway, was a ladies' work-out spa named 'Slenderbolic'! My mom used to go there. That space later turned into an stereo store by 1980. I believe Slenderbolic was bought out by and eventually became 'President and First Lady' (now Bally's) which built a large, stand-alone edifice in the NE corner of the mall area, north of Foley's around 1980.

I have an old copy of 'Villages Magazine' (Nov. 1992, p. 14) which also explains that the lands to the east of Memorial City Mall, bordered by Bunker Hill and Barryknoll, were once owned by the Beinhorn family and they set up a horse riding area upon that land. There is a photo of a barrel rider, from the mid-1960's, which shows the new Sears in the far distance.

If you look at the old, separate building which stands at the NE corner of Gessner and Barryknoll, you can see it is still faced in the rock which was original for the building, originally the Sears garage and auto supply store. Sears used to have a southern entrance which was their 'garden supply and hardware' entrance. I remember it being a sort of enclosed porch area.

The Piccadilly Cafeteria, located in the mall, just outside of Sears (to the east) had nifty little tray garages in its wall through which you could place your used tray on a conveyor belt which was enclosed by the wall. The Almeda Mall Piccadilly still had this feature and similar dated decor when I went to it about 5 years ago.

Oh, I also remember that, if you continued walking down the mall from Sears, also on the east side were Margo's la Mode, an import shop (old Pier 1??) and Baker's Shoes. Memorial City always had art shows which were held in the mallway during the late 1970's and early 1980's. Those were always fascinating to me.

Pipe Organ Pizza was built onto the east side of the original mall axis, before you got to the Montgomery Wards. I believe it opened in May of 1977, or possibly 1978. Mickey & Minnie Mouse would appear at 6 pm every evening and Donald Duck would be there on Saturdays!

[2faraway]

Nobody really answered the original question. I do remember a mini mall, but can't recall if it was Memorial City or Town and Country. I ran around MC back when it was Sears and Montgomery Ward with a theater on the east end before it was expanded. There was a good record store and a hobby shop with a huge model plane hanging from the ceiling. Could the mini mall have been at T&C by the ice skating rink?

[TJones]

and I just recall a small theater at Town & Country where we saw Disney's "Tron"

very strange film. Courtesy of 101 KLOL circa 1982.

The theater only housed 3 screens and is now where you can buy your Tollway Tags. I recall seeing Disney's "The Black Hole" there, also saw another movie there and a fire broke out and we all had to exit.