Memories of "old" Downtown El Paso (DeSoto, Bowie: apartments, credit)

[holmes]

The white house building is still there, but not as a department store. It was recently bought and now houses the headquarters of Western Refining.

[HIGH!Lonesome]

Victor Slape, THANKS for acknowledging something of El Paso's past, Gunning Casteel Drug Stores were locally owned and operated by Tom Gunnings and I cant remember Casteels first name but this drug store dominated all of El Paso's pharmacy needs plus they all had fountains and there were about 16 plus stores including Lakeside Northgate Fox Plaza, Ysleta, Downtown and one in Las Cruces and one in Alamagordo,I think Fabens had one to and WalGreens was just a drop in the bucket when they first enetered El Paso's market in Bassett Center and they too started off with a soda fountain but they wer'nt to popular like Gunning Casteel's, and yes LA POPULAR was common word mention among shopers in crowded Lower Valley buses headed daily to the city.

Also remember in those days El Paso had it's own home owned companies with names like
like the State National Bank, El Paso National Bank, SouthWest National Bank, the Popular, the White House, Gunning Casteel, Farah, Tony Lama, and I remember the first time I went to K Mart on Mc Rae to buy fishing gear, I never went back to Western Auto on North Loop Rd for my fishing needs again.

Memories it is, how about the OLD EASTER CROSS THEY USE TO LIGHT UP AT NIGHTS right about where the Star on the western slope of the Franklins is now, it was lighted during Holy Week till Easter Sunday and it was discontinued after 1967.

Downtown, the Blue Flame Building also use to light up a 12 story cross on the eastside
for both the Christmas and Easter holidays they did that during the mid 50's, 60's and up till the mid 70's.

Downtown use to have this hip cute little cool shopping center called La Villita that consisted of some of El Paso's oldest antigue houses but was demolished to build the Continental National Bank's Park and Drive Thru.

[Victor 13]

You are welcome HIGH!Lonesome! And thanks to you as well for stirring up the memory cells. Western Auto just got introduced about 10 years ago here in Nebraska, but you and I know they have been around a long time. I used to buy patches for my old bike there as well. It was inbetween the Piggly Wiggly Food Mart and SOS-TV and Appliance Company in Lakeside Village. I had a job at SOS when I was in high school.

Speaking of memories, I know there are a couple of threads on it here already, but I just have to mention Chico's Tacos! Another favorite was the Hamburger Inn off Alameda, near my old High school (Riverside) and Pancho's Mexican Restaurant. I remember the Texas hot dogs at the INN and still make them for my grandsons here, though they are probably not as good as the ones I remember.

Speaking of Fabens and bus rides, i remember catching the Lakeside to Ysleta bus and transferring to the Clint-Fabens bus. It was a long ride out in the country. I imagine it is just one big city now.

I did not know the Franklin Mountain cross was discontinued in 1967. I was probably self absorbed as a teenager back then. Sorry to hear that. It was a sight to behold for miles around.

[Johnboy71]

the man asking you if you want to sell your watch.

[franklyorange]

I remember watching movies downtown. They had the State Theater, they had the Palace, they had a few others. I remember the alligators, and the below level bathrooms in the park. I remember the guy who had pigeons cover him like a swarm of bees. I remember when it was hard to get a parking space. I remember when it was bustling with businessmen, and there were jewelry shops, the Popular, shoe stores, Levi's for dirt cheap prices (501's). I remember the Big Fisherman. I remember the old hotels, even the one they shot the 70's movie: The Getaway with Ali McGraw and Steve McQueen. I remember Liberty Hall where the El paso symphony played.

But it's dollar stores all now.

[HIGH!Lonesome]

I remember when the city moved Mandy the mule from San Jancinto Plaza to Cleveland Square, and drinking cocktails after UTEP games at the Top O' the Inn, Holiday Inn downtown which soon will become a Double Tree Inn.

[HIGH!Lonesome]

I remember the Lucky Boy Hamburgers on North Loop and San Jose and the one close to downtown on Cotton and Montana, Steve Mc Queen and Ali Mc Graw also shot a scene of the movie the Getaway there on Cotton and Montana, and the old city county building was the most poorly design building in all downtown, it had four entrances on each side of the whole city block building, but you could'nt get from one side to the other from the inside, you would have to go outside and around the block to enter a different department, what they had city hall, the county court house, liberty hall, and the county jail all in the same building.

As for the Lucky Boy Hamburgers, I still make them like Lucky Boy did, and my question to Victor Slape: so you do remember the giant Easter Cross on the mountain?

[Victor 13]

Originally Posted by HIGH!Lonesome

As for the Lucky Boy Hamburgers, I still make them like Lucky Boy did, and my question to Victor Slape: so you do remember the giant Easter Cross on the mountain?

I forgot all about the Lucky boy hamburger place. It was a good hamburger joint. Yes, I remember the giant easter star very well. I could see it on the Franklin Mountains from the front yard of my old house on Vivian Drive in the Lakeside addition.Ahhh, what memories.

[egaspar]

Do you remember a pharmacist, C J Glen, that worked at Gunning Casteel? He was my neighbor in the early 60's.

[XChucoresident]

Why hasn't anybody mentioned the alligators that used to be there in San Jacinto plaza...My mother always told me about them..and it is true..i have seen old pictures of them...there..no body would bother them at that time..they would just lie in the sun and swim!