Woolworth's Department Store At 613 Main St.

[NenaE]

Nice pics everyone! Love old dept. store photographs and postcards.

[Riomar]

Like the pic devon.

[sinister1]

Oh yeah, I remember. I use to live off of Houston Ave. in First Ward back in the 80's the thing I remember the most was the Pizza...hmmmm.

[acamarillo]

So as a now older native Houstonian I have great memories of Woolworth's too. We lived in the Near North SIde and before my mom learned to drive we would take the bus downtown to shop. A highlight was eating at the lunch counter on the first floor, on the north wall IIRC. Hamburgers, fries, and hand made shakes! We would then go downstairs to the toy section. I remember there was a lunch counter in the basement just off the escalator, and the people in there would always wave at me and invite me in. I always wanted to go but my mom wouldn't and I never could figure out why - at least until later when I figured out that must have been the segregated lunch counter. Anyway, I wound up working downtown in the early 80's and by then both counters were gone. There was a food counter in the middle of the first floor that served sandwiches, hot dogs, pop corn, and such (great CFS sandwiches and burritos, at least for a young guy eating cheap) and a counter in the basement over by where they had connected the store to the tunnel system. BTW, the Woolworth's at NW Mall had a pretty decent restaurant for a while.

[Earlydays]

..... we would take the bus downtown to shop. A highlight was eating at the lunch counter on the first floor.......We would then go downstairs to the toy section......

I remember doing exactly the same thing in the 1950's....

[57Tbird]

Here are a couple of Woolworth pictures from the Bailey collection...

1939

1951

Here's a menu from the lunch counter/soda fountain. I don't have a date, but I would guess about early 50's.

Edited November 9, 2011 by 57Tbird

[JJVilla]

Barely remember going to the place (in Downtown) when I young in the mid 80s.

Edited November 9, 2011 by JJVilla

[little frau]

I remember doing exactly the same thing in the 1950's....

We lived on the near north side about a block off Main and Quitman until 1957 and I remember riding the Shopper's Special to town. I think it was 5 or 10 cents one way.

We actually lived behind Wright's Hospital in a rent house owned by Dr. and Mrs. Wright. It's now the Salvation Army site.

[Riomar]

@ 57Tbird are those here? Just wondering.

[tiger198619]

You can still see the facade of the Woolworths lunch counter at Northwest mall, the old store is now used as storage for the mall, The only thing left that you can see is the part facing the mall, and if you look really close up inside the windows you can see the wallpaper that was used before the store closed. It is located near the Thompson Antique Center store(the old jc penny store entrance D.) please dont be to hard its my first post, i love reading all of the other posts about historic houston.

[57Tbird]

@ 57Tbird are those here? Just wondering.

Yes. SW corner of Main and Texas, I believe it was.

[Tana]

I really enjoy all of the old pictures. Many of my memories of Houston in the 1950s and 1960s are at my website: www.tanasreminisce.com

I would like to invite anyone who is interested to view the site. I think some of you saw it a while back when it was associated with my high school site. Now it has its own home and has grown A LOT!

I try very hard to give credit for all items that I have gathered, but if you see errors, please let me know.

Thanks,

Tana

[devonhart]

A little video clip from the late 80s I think.

http://youtu.be/kBkFMuYVPtk

[Earlydays]

I really enjoy all of the old pictures. Many of my memories of Houston in the 1950s and 1960s are at my website: www.tanasreminisce.com

I would like to invite anyone who is interested to view the site. I think some of you saw it a while back when it was associated with my high school site. Now it has its own home and has grown A LOT!

I try very hard to give credit for all items that I have gathered, but if you see errors, please let me know.

Thanks,

Tana

I like your web site...it brings back a lot of memories.....

[EspersonBuildings]

Great topic! I also enjoyed the thread "Let's Talk About Foley's" Harvest House was the name of the restaurants (lunch counters) at Woolies. Their Golden Fried Chicken was awesome and their burgers & fries were the best! I can remember going there with my mom on the bus in the early 70's then later on my own. I wasn't too crazy about the pizza but loved the sit down counter and booths. I'm talking about the store on Main of course (now a parking garage next to Commerce Towers). I can remember looking under the counter and seeing all the chewed up gum that were there fromm decades and decades! I do remember the downstairs counter (basement) and thought it interesting to read here that it was probably segregated back in the day. I thought it was cool how when the pedistrian tunnel was opened under Main how they incorporated the basement level of the store into the tunnel system. acamarillo, are you sure about the counters being gone in the early 80's? I worked downtown from '82 until '86 when I moved to NY and remember them still being there because I would eat there for lunch sometime. When I moved back to Houston in 2000, the store was gone, how sad!

Good thread,

[acamarillo]

Great topic! I also enjoyed the thread "Let's Talk About Foley's" Harvest House was the name of the restaurants (lunch counters) at Woolies. Their Golden Fried Chicken was awesome and their burgers & fries were the best! I can remember going there with my mom on the bus in the early 70's then later on my own. I wasn't too crazy about the pizza but loved the sit down counter and booths. I'm talking about the store on Main of course (now a parking garage next to Commerce Towers). I can remember looking under the counter and seeing all the chewed up gum that were there fromm decades and decades! I do remember the downstairs counter (basement) and thought it interesting to read here that it was probably segregated back in the day. I thought it was cool how when the pedistrian tunnel was opened under Main how they incorporated the basement level of the store into the tunnel system. acamarillo, are you sure about the counters being gone in the early 80's? I worked downtown from '82 until '86 when I moved to NY and remember them still being there because I would eat there for lunch sometime. When I moved back to Houston in 2000, the store was gone, how sad!

Good thread,

There were still lunch counters in the 80s - I ate there too - but they weren't the same ones from earlier. In the 80s there was a big hot deli type of thing in the middle of the main floor towards Main that served sandwiches. Earlier it had been located along the north wall and had sit down service. The one downstairs used to be to the right of the down escalator - that was moved over by the tunnel. If the sit down lunch counters were still there I didn't see them but i'm pretty sure they were gone.

[plumber2]

I ate a Woolworths too in the mid 80's, probably about 1986, when I was working on the Gulf Building remodel. We only had 30 minutes for lunch so it was an effort to find restaurants close by that could serve you in enough time to get back on the job without the foreman giving you the eye.

Heah Little Frau? I've not seen anyone else on HAIF mention Dr. Wright's hospital before. My father was a patient in that hospital a couple of times when I was young. I remember it being on North Main on the west side of the street. It was a white building of 2 or 3 stories. Can't seem to spot it on Historic Arials though.

[Scheelski]

We used to ride the bus from the Gulfgate area where we lived, to Downtown.  We always went to Woolworths to shop.  My Mom found me in the basement having a coke at the counter.  She said, its not right, but this is for colored people, down here.  I had noticed the black and white bathrooms.  My Mom explained separate but equal to me later.  I still remember those days as a child.  Foley's was the next stop and no segregation issues there that I remember.  We have come a long way.

[Libbie]

On 10/24/2011 at 4:49 PM, NenaE said:

Nice pics everyone! Love old dept. store photographs and postcards.

I remember Woolworth's with great nostalgia. A year or so ago we were in Monterrey visiting my husband's relatives. We went into a store, and suddenly I felt "time warp!" I thought, this used to be a Woolworth's! There was the familiar layout of everything. There were the stairs going down to the basement level. It really was a repurposed Woolworth's. It was still a similar sort of store. My husband remembers going to the Monterrey Woolworth's as a child, mainly to buy candy.

[UtterlyUrban]

What was the address of the woolworths building in downtown Houston?  What is it now?

[Ross]

3 hours ago, UtterlyUrban said:

What was the address of the woolworths building in downtown Houston?  What is it now?

 

930 Main was the later location. Main and Capitol before that.

 

https://www.emporis.com/buildings/1181716/woolworth-department-store-houston-tx-usa

 

Video of demolition of the Main and Capitol location here http://www.texasarchive.org/library/index.php/The_Mike_Vance_Collection,_no._2_-_Demolition_in_Downtown_Houston

 

[cspwal]

So it was on the block that is now 609 main? 

[mollusk]

 

51 minutes ago, cspwal said:

So it was on the block that is now 609 main? 

 

Yep.