Conoco Building Weather Eye At 1300 Main St.

[arrow]

Anyone have photos to post or point to about the weather eye; i think it was on the conoco buidling downtown.

I remember the jingle from the radio ads - not sure if getting the colors right here

red light warmer weather

blue light cooler weather

green light no change in view

blinking liight, rain is due.

I dont know if that bldg still exists.

[Subdude]

There are some pictures and discussion about it here, and some other pictures showing the building here.

The building is still standing. At different times it has been known as Conoco, Texas National Bank, and Travis Tower.

Welcome to HAIF!

[Ashikaga]

There are some pictures and discussion about it here, and some other pictures showing the building here.

The building is still standing. At different times it has been known as Conoco, Texas National Bank, and Travis Tower.

Welcome to HAIF!

I thoroughly enjoy HAIF. I think I've been on for about a year.

[sevfiv]

I thoroughly enjoy HAIF. I think I've been on for about a year.

your one-year anniversary is in two days!

[Ashikaga]

your one-year anniversary is in two days!

I don't have a TV. I have my XM Satellite Radio. On of the stations had 24/7 weather and traffic for Houston. It's very informative.

[FilioScotia]

Anyone have photos to post or point to about the weather eye; i think it was on the conoco buidling downtown.

I remember the jingle from the radio ads - not sure if getting the colors right here

red light warmer weather

blue light cooler weather

green light no change in view

blinking liight, rain is due.

I dont know if that bldg still exists.

You got the jingle right. It was also on TV, even though TV was still B&W in those days and we couldn't see the colors. I thought I was the only guy in town who remembered those words. Now, for a million dollars on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, can you sing it?

The building is still there, but it's been remodeled and it doesn't look anything like it did when it was that pale peagreen Conoco Building next door to First Methodist Church. Old memory time. When I was a kid, I had occasion to be at that church one day in early 1954, when the building was going up next door. I remember standing at a window several floors up and watching workers down below pouring the concrete for the foundation. The images that stay with you.

The Weather Eye was taken down in 1964 and stored away in a warehouse because pilots flying in and out of Hobby Airport -- it was Houston International Airport then -- complained it was a hazard to aviation. Whatever. Around 1970, when former County Judge Roy Hofheinz was building Astroworld, Dene Hofheinz Anton -- Hofheinz's daughter and Astroworld's PR-Marketing Director -- wanted to put a big glass globe with a map of the world at the entrance to the park. She remembered the Weather Eye, tracked it down and bought it. For 35 years that globe stood at the front gate at Astroworld. It was taken down several years ago in one of the park's periodic remodelings. I have no idea where it is now. Maybe someone else does? Here's a link to a story about the Astroworld closing on KUHF. http://www.kuhf.org/site/News2?id=13832&news_iv_ctrl=0

Speaking of old Houston International Airport, have any of you guys been to the restored original terminal building? With the Houston Aviation Museum? It's worth a drive to see it. It has a ton of old Houston photographs and aviation memorabilia. Here's a link to a story about this on KUHF. Note the link to the air terminal -- it has info about an event coming up this Saturday. http://www.kuhf.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=14240

Edited July 14, 2006 by FilioScotia

[houstonray]

I just love this forum. I was searching threads and found this one about the "weather eye". I was not around to remember it (have only been here about 25 years) but I think that is such a great idea. It would be neat to bring that back. It would certainly be unique to Houston. So my question is, if someone ever brought that back, what building would it be good on?? :-)

[gonzo1976]

So my question is, if someone ever brought that back, what building would it be good on?? :-)

One that's tall enough to be viewed from all directions.

It would be pretty pointless to put it on a downtown building that's been dwarfed by other skyscrapers.

[ricco67]

I dunno about downtown, while being on the tallest may not be the best, it needs to be on teh one that is the most visible.

Why not just have it on the tallest buildings in the regions?

Downtown, Greenway, medical center, and uptown?

[editor]

Amazingly, these weather contraptions still exist in small markets.

A friend of mine is an anchor in Wausau, Wisconsin and when I was visiting him he pointed out to me that all three stations have them on their STL towers.

[Subdude]

I would put it somewhere downtown visible from a freeway. Perhaps on top of the Metro building adjacent to the Pierce Elevated. That would give people something to amuse themselves while sitting in traffic.

[jwphillips2]

I haven't seen a post yet for the Weather Ball on top of the Bank of the Southwest Bldg downtown(1957?). Now that may not seem like a big deal, but you could see that thing from Willowbend and Post Oak, or further out. It was monsterbig (50 or 60' diameter) and had a brazillion lights in it. It would stay green if there was no change, it would flash when it was going to rain, white meant colder, and red meant hotter. Flashing white meant snow. Lotsa red. It never turned flashing white.

Not sure if the giant revolving Gulf sign was first or not. Anyone know?

Edited August 21, 2007 by jwphillips2

[musicman]

there's a post on this somewhere cause i think i posted a pic

[Croberts]

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...?showtopic=6828

The topic is called Weather Eye, and it is currently on about page 9 of historic houston. I tried to copy

the link above.

there's a post on this somewhere cause i think i posted a pic

[Disastro]

I would put it somewhere downtown visible from a freeway. Perhaps on top of the Metro building adjacent to the Pierce Elevated. That would give people something to amuse themselves while sitting in traffic.

Williams Tower, over by the Galleria...that's where it should be.

[Heights2Bastrop]

Red light, warmer weather.

White light, cooler weather.

Green light, no change in view.

Blinking light, rain is due.

[jwphillips2]

Red light, warmer weather.

White light, cooler weather.

Green light, no change in view.

Blinking light, rain is due.

Thanks everyone!

I remember, now that I've seen it again, this slogan was printed on the book covers we had to have applied to all our HISD textbooks in the 50's, all generously supplied by Bank of the Southwest(Conoco?). There were other sponsors for other covers such as Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey coming to the Coliseum, Houston FAT STOCK Show and Rodeo - Coliseum, etc.

Edited August 23, 2007 by jwphillips2

[jwphillips2]

Houston is too big now to have just one. In the 50s Dallas was bigger than Houston (we had less than 600000) and The Shamrock Hotel was out in the boondocks. We have about 6 times that many now. 6 would be good.

[Jax]

That thing sounds awesome! Does it use a barometer or something to predict the weather?

[57Tbird]

Thanks everyone!

I remember, now that I've seen it again, this slogan was printed on the book covers we had to have applied to all our HISD textbooks in the 50's, all generously supplied by Bank of the Southwest(Conoco?). There were other sponsors for other covers such as Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey coming to the Coliseum, Houston FAT STOCK Show and Rodeo - Coliseum, etc.

The sign under the weather ball had Texas National Bank on one side and Conoco on the other.

[4PROP]

You got the jingle right. It was also on TV, even though TV was still B&W in those days and we couldn't see the colors. I thought I was the only guy in town who remembered those words. Now, for a million dollars on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, can you sing it?

I can't sing, but on a slightly related TV subject: I think about the "Weather Gal" from way back in the weather ball days. I don't recall her name or the station she was on. She stood behind a transparent glass weather map and used a black marker to draw (backwards to her) fronts, temps, etc. By doing so, she never obstructed the view of the map. How often do I think about her? Every time I watch the local news channel and the weather "personality" steps in front of my neighborhood's area of the radar screen. *&%$#@!

[jwphillips2]

The sign under the weather ball had Texas National Bank on one side and Conoco on the other.

Wow, I do remember that! I wish I had the stats that were on the bookcovers. Something that would make Conservationists everywhere scream in agony. Total watage, total number of bulbs....

I found the story on re-assembling it as the entrance to Astroworld pretty facinating. I must have gone through that entrance a hundred times and never knew it was the old Weather Eye.

57Tbird - the year you were born, no doubt.

Yeah, me either.

Edited August 23, 2007 by jwphillips2

[Subdude]

Combined dupe topics.

[cdenker]

It is mentioned several times that the weatherball was taken down in 1964.  But I posted a picture (on a new thread about the weatherball) showing the weatherball in the same picture as many other buildings that didn't exist until 1967.  Can anyone confirm when exactly the weatherball was taken down?  Many sources say 1964, but that just can't be given that, in addition to the aforementioned buildings, it is also in a picture also showing the Gulf Lollipop sign, which didn't come about until 1966.

[DWah]

Well, I arrived in Houston in '67 and it was definitely still up then.

[SpaceGhost]

Confirmed via Chronicle Archives that the Weather Ball was removed in September of 1970. It was removed to "tidy up the citie's skyline". Some other earlier published articles announcing the removal mention that Conoco was changing their logo, and felt that large signage atop buildings was no longer in style.

 

Found this at the bottom of an ad

[IronTiger]

I'm pretty sure that the Weather Ball's final fate was scrap when TimeWarner officially acquired Six Flags (and by extension, AstroWorld), and if it wasn't gone by the mid-1990s, it might have been destroyed when AstroWorld was torn down around a decade later.