Metropolitan Theater At 1018 Main St.

[editor]

Downtown in 1943. Can anyone identify the stores?

[RedScare]

That's SH Kress, later named K-Mart, in the St. Germain Bldg. in the bottom pic.

[FilioScotia]

That's SH Kress, later named K-Mart, in the St. Germain Bldg. in the bottom pic.

Actually, it was the S.S. Kresge Five and Dime stores that became K-Mart in the early sixties. SH Kress Stores were never anything but Five and Dimes. An easy mistake to make.

[WestUNative]

Forget the stores, what of the movie theaters? There were two right together, then a couple of blocks down the street the third, less reputable. I was thinking it was the Lowes State and Majectic together, then the Metropolitan the offset one. This picture makes me wonder, there is a sign next to the Metropolitan that appears to say Lowes? Help. But, this pic is 1944 and I am talking 1950 onward. The Lowes State was a beautiful, very Hollywood place, I remember feeling almost regal walking up that massive staircase with all the gilt-laden frou-frou on the walls.

The deal was, we were allowed to attend either of the two, Lowes and the one next to it. Absolutely forbidden to go near the other one. A boundary that somehow began the lesser part of town and the fact that the loner showed films we weren't supposed to see. Of course, there were no R or X-rated shows, but once some friends and I decided to be naughty. We took the bus dutifully to "see such and such at the Lowes" and zipped down the street to the bad one. We saw some awful thing about the Mafia, "The Black Hand". Very film noir. Didn't get caught out on it either!

I'm getting the magnifier out and look at the picture some more, just sure I'm right about the names and locations, but set me straight, anyone.

Nevermind. That is the Lowes next door, so the Majestic was the "bad" one.

Edited August 18, 2006 by WestUNative

[57Tbird]

Forget the stores, what of the movie theaters? There were two right together, then a couple of blocks down the street the third, less reputable. I was thinking it was the Lowes State and Majectic together, then the Metropolitan the offset one. This picture makes me wonder, there is a sign next to the Metropolitan that appears to say Lowes? Help. But, this pic is 1944 and I am talking 1950 onward. The Lowes State was a beautiful, very Hollywood place, I remember feeling almost regal walking up that massive staircase with all the gilt-laden frou-frou on the walls.

The deal was, we were allowed to attend either of the two, Lowes and the one next to it. Absolutely forbidden to go near the other one. A boundary that somehow began the lesser part of town and the fact that the loner showed films we weren't supposed to see. Of course, there were no R or X-rated shows, but once some friends and I decided to be naughty. We took the bus dutifully to "see such and such at the Lowes" and zipped down the street to the bad one. We saw some awful thing about the Mafia, "The Black Hand". Very film noir. Didn't get caught out on it either!

I'm getting the magnifier out and look at the picture some more, just sure I'm right about the names and locations, but set me straight, anyone.

Nevermind. That is the Lowes next door, so the Majestic was the "bad" one.

Actually, the Majestic was as "nice" as the Metropolitan or Loew's (correct spelling). The Majestic was several blocks further north and around the corner on Rusk, between Main and

Travis. Perhaps you were thinking of the Kirby which was across Main on the east side and about a block further north, You can barely make out the KI on its sign up the street on the right side in the picture with the Metropolitan and Loew's State. The Kirby was fairly nice when I went in the 40's - 50's, but didn't show the first run quality movies that the other three aforementioned did. It may have begun degrading somewhat later on.

Edited August 19, 2006 by 57Tbird

[WestUNative]

By Jove, I think you're right, Tbird! Fam had some rules we didn't quite understand, but that one theater was off-limits and I believe it was because they showed more "B" type films, such as the one I saw about seemy, violent things like the Mafia.

Another rule many members of this board will find offensive. We were not allowed to go on the North Side! Go out of town on a date, fine, do Galveston, Sylvan Beach, Hitchcock, Clear Lake, etc., but never ever mess with anything north of Buffalo Bayou. They were not snotty or elitest, just really believed that was the dangerous side of town, you know Reagan-ites!

[57Tbird]

Another rule many members of this board will find offensive. We were not allowed to go on the North Side! Go out of town on a date, fine, do Galveston, Sylvan Beach, Hitchcock, Clear Lake, etc., but never ever mess with anything north of Buffalo Bayou. They were not snotty or elitest, just really believed that was the dangerous side of town, you know Reagan-ites!

"Reagan-ites"

Uh-oh! I think I see H2B with steam coming out out his ears and about to jump on board.

[WestUNative]

I figured! For H2B and all other North siders, forgive me. It was the adults with the rules. In my adulthood I have traversed the Heights, Oak Forest, Spring Branch and once I even ventured down Fulton, oh, my. No remaining prejudice, I promise. After all, just comparing notes on the way we grew up and I am truthful to a terrible fault.

Hey, Tbird, did you get my Personal Message Reply? Not sure I'm working all the bells and whistles around here correctly yet. I thought I'd saved it in Sent box and it isn't showing up. If you didn't let me know and I'll rewrite.

[FilioScotia]

"Reagan-ites"

Uh-oh! I think I see H2B with steam coming out out his ears and about to jump on board.

There were several theaters on the north edge of downtown, and all of them were the kinds of places you didn't want to go to. There was one on Prairie, just off Main, and it was connected to an arcade that showed "naughty" films in those old Nickelodeon film viewers. There was the Joy Theater, somewhere around Main and Franklin. It was just filthy. The big three prestige downtown theaters were the Metropolitan, Loews State right next door, and the Majestic around the corner several blocks away on Rusk. The Majestic was my favorite because it was built in that grand 1920s movie palace style with lots of ornate decor. It looked like an ancient palace on the inside. I loved going there, and it was where I saw The Ten Commandments in 1957.

"Reaganites" were the kids who went to Reagan High School in the Heights, and WestUNative has hit on one of the major aspects of Houston social life in the 40s and 50s that would amaze people today. I think she will agree that there was a clear social boundary line in Houston in those days and it was Main Street. There was a lot more "class consciousness" back then -- more of an awareness of your "social class", and who did and didn't fit into it.

East of Main were the blue collar working class neighborhoods, and that was largely because all the heavy industry and oil refineries were -- and still are -- east of Main. Most of the city's minorities lived on the east and southeast side, and everybody on the east side regarded people on the west side as "upper class". Really.

West of Main were the college educated white collar types who worked in offices, and who would go miles out of their way to avoid going through an east end neighborhood. I've had people tell me they grew up on the west side in the 50s, and the only parts of the east end they ever saw were what they could see from the Gulf Freeway on their way to and from Galveston. They felt the same way about the north side. Hell -- EVERYBODY felt that way about the north side. It was a bad part of town and you just didn't go there if you didn't have to.

People think gangs are bad today, but I can testify from personal experience that the north side gangs of the 40s and 50s make today's gangs look like a bunch of amateurs. My parents moved around a lot, and we lived on the north side off Irvington for about six months in 1956, and to this day -- 50 years later -- I remember the gut gnawing fear I felt walking to and from Burbank Jr High. That was on top of the fear I felt in the hallways of that school.

Those were the days of switchblade knives, and all the bad-asses had at least one, and wouldn't hesitate to use it. They did the protection racket on smaller kids to get their lunch money, and there were fist and knife fights in school and after school just about every day. Teachers and principals saw it all going on but they did nothing to stop it because they were scared to death of them too. People it was bad. The happiest day of my young life was the day my dad told us he was moving us to Pasadena.

Edited August 19, 2006 by FilioScotia

[tomv]

Thank you for a very interesting and informative description of what it was like in Houston back then...

I knew about the west vs. the east; that's still mostly true today, with plenty of exceptions of course. But I didn't know the north side had such a scandalous reputation!

[FilioScotia]

Thank you for a very interesting and informative description of what it was like in Houston back then...

I knew about the west vs. the east; that's still mostly true today, with plenty of exceptions of course. But I didn't know the north side had such a scandalous reputation!

I've described the "class consciousness" that was so pervasive in Houston in the 40s and 50s, but I didn't mean to say or imply that there was any antagonism between east-siders and west-siders. I don't think there was.

It was more of a case of knowing where you belonged and fit in, and that was your world. You knew the boundaries and you didn't cross them, and you expected people on the other side of town to do the same. You didn't have anything against those people -- you just didn't think about them. They weren't in your world.

That's changed a lot in the past 40 years, and I think it started changing at about the same time the space program came to town and made people realize how big a world there was outside the Houston city limits. The civil rights movement showed us how meaningless class distinctions really were, and more and more people of my generation went to college.

Houston still has the east-west division of blue collar and white collar workers, again because of where the heavy industry is, but there's infinitely more cross over now. So much so that the old Main Street social boundary line has gotten so hazy it's practically invisible now. Nobody pays any attention to it anymore, and that's a good thing.

[WestUNative]

Filio,

You have really nailed it and eloquently. We were brought up not to hate anyone, but observed the accepted mores of that society. And from what you've said, maybe the parents were right, they had concrete reasons for our safety for us to stay on home ground. Throughout school and well beyond I never saw any drugs or weapons and knew no one who used them. I did not know what Marijuana looked like until I was in my 30's and the West U. Police gave a program for parents at my daughter's school, so we would be educated in what to look for in the 1970's.

It sounds like apolgia at this point, but honestly it seemed to me the separations were more because of cultural and interest differences. What on earth would we have understood or talked about to a factory worker or someone with Hispanic heritage? We hadn't a clue what experiences blue collar workers had.

I worked at NASA in from 1964-1966 and while we had people from all over the world, which was fascinating, the employees were still college educated professionals. The same really as we had all over the neighborhood, especially with Rice Institute just down the street.

As my husband and I remodeled my old home, we stayed and raised our daughter in same old way. I assure you many years down the pike, when I began to meet people from very different backgrounds, it was eye-opening.

Hope you enjoyed Pasadena, my best friend for last 30 years is from there and she loved it. So much, she just moved back there, after 5 years in NYC.

[FilioScotia]

Filio,

You have really nailed it and eloquently. We were brought up not to hate anyone, but observed the accepted mores of that society. And from what you've said, maybe the parents were right, they had concrete reasons for our safety for us to stay on home ground. Throughout school and well beyond I never saw any drugs or weapons and knew no one who used them. I did not know what Marijuana looked like until I was in my 30's and the West U. Police gave a program for parents at my daughter's school, so we would be educated in what to look for in the 1970's.

It sounds like apolgia at this point, but honestly it seemed to me the separations were more because of cultural and interest differences. What on earth would we have understood or talked about to a factory worker or someone with Hispanic heritage? We hadn't a clue what experiences blue collar workers had.

I worked at NASA in from 1964-1966 and while we had people from all over the world, which was fascinating, the employees were still college educated professionals. The same really as we had all over the neighborhood, especially with Rice Institute just down the street.

As my husband and I remodeled my old home, we stayed and raised our daughter in same old way. I assure you many years down the pike, when I began to meet people from very different backgrounds, it was eye-opening.

Hope you enjoyed Pasadena, my best friend for last 30 years is from there and she loved it. So much, she just moved back there, after 5 years in NYC.

Pasadena was an improvement over living on the north side, but I left when I got out of high school in 1961 and I haven't been back. Talk about living sheltered lives. In all the time I lived there and went to school, I never saw drugs either, and didn't know anybody who used them. It just wasn't an issue in the suburbs in the late 50s, but that changed in the 60s.

I agree with your observation that the social differences were cultural, but I think they also had a lot to do with geography. People tended to stay in "their" part of town because it was what we knew and were familiar with. Yes that did make us very "insulated", but that was the way things were in "the Fifties". I think that's what most people of our age miss when we get nostalgic about those days.

I'm sending you an email to ask about your friend.

Edited August 19, 2006 by FilioScotia

[Subdude]

The store on the left in the second photograph would have been Woolworths. It was across Capitol from Kress.

[devonhart]

Came across this youtube footage featuring Lassie.

[mkultra25]

The Metropolitan's marquee has SERGEANTS 3 on it, which would put this clip in 1962 - that film was released in February 1962.

[devonhart]

A short clip of Houston in our Grand Parents' day.

 

http://youtu.be/6oHZ-SCwgk4