Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I (Houston: things to do, donating)

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by mudpuddle

They sell Belly Bombs, right??

Ate one once in Columbus Ohio.

mud

That's actually a slang term for their sliders. Not awknoledged by corporate, just what the kids called it.

[49 Olds]

mudpuddle- would you check your 1964 Cole's City Directory for White Castle Hamburger joint. It should be a few blocks south of Handy Andy #7 which is at 2716 Fredericksburg Rd. I think it was in the block just south of the $3 motel.
Thanks 49 Olds

[maluminse]

lol oh the buttercrust tour. a must for all children.

Im pretty sure northwest center was first. Wonderland was great too. Remember Orange Julius? I think that was the first one. He told me the ingredients.

[huckster]

Your a new comer, I lived there wayyyyy before then, an old timer, yes , but there was nothing at Goliad and "Loop 13" as Military drive was called when only "Brooks Field" was there and really nothing else, Just planes circling and nothing else. Around 1960 a Spartan -Atlantic store was put in at the southeast corner , only spartans at first.

Originally Posted by Dementia_Impaled

Wasn't Cooter Brown's on Fredricksburg Rd, next to a Pancho's? I never had a chance to go there, but was always fascinated with it when we'd go to eat.

I also remember when there was nothing! You've seen Goliad & S.E. Military now...when we moved here, there was a Handy Dan, an HEB (that didn't sell pantyhose on Sunday - remember Blue Laws?), the fancy semi-gated mobile home 'community' Indian Hills, and - nothing else but the trails in 700 Acres.

Jim's on Goliad...when the Trail drive-in was where the closed Walmart is - the bug-drawing lights they had shining out toward the street because of the adult movies they showed. We went to the drive-in that used to be near 37 & Nakoma to see John Carpenter's The Thing before it closed.

I do remember GW Juniors *whines*; the monorail; a wax museum that was right near it; when HEB first began renting movies ; the water slides that were next to either 35 or 37 - waaaay before splashtown!; when St. Mary's street was THE place to be on the weekends *bows head for a moment for Wacky's Cantina*; the Bone Club (I'm an old punk, bear with me); Sunshine Amusement Park on Roosevelt & Southcross; La Hacienda that was diagonally across the street from it; Winn's (yay, first job!); La Feria;when Woolworth's in McCrelles & the store downtown had lunch counters. Anyone remember the excellent Elvis impersonator that would perform at McCrelles now & then?

Mega Food Mart, whose major selling point was that you bagged or boxed your own groceries, thus saving you money; Deluxe & Piggly Wiggly;the HUGE arcade that was at South Park Mall; Hacienda Bowl

I'll quit now

[huckster]

A great idea ,revitalizing and historic! I feel it will bwe a great thing,
I will come!

Originally Posted by googie2525

teach22244, you might find this insteresting:

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f379/ede2525/hotwells.jpg (broken link)

Lifshutz (well, senior anyway, who recently died - sonny-boy runs the operation now) basically kick-started the Blue Star area, so who knows?

Oh yeah, there's a really cool (and pretty obscure) book on silent movie making in San Antonio waaaaaayyyyyyy back in the day, the Star Film Ranch, headquarted around the Hot Wells (I did a college paper on this segment of the Hot Wells history years ago, very, very interseting book): "The Star Film Ranch: Texas' First Picture Show" by Frank T. Thompson (btw, it's OOP, but you can still find it on eBay or Amazon used quite easily)

[simmonscpa]

Sorry if this is a dupe reply. I'm a new member and still getting the hang of how this site works.

Wow...there is a lot to digest here. Cooter Browns caught my eye. The Cooter Browns I remember was on 1604 close to UTSA. I have read some of the messages in this forum, and have been shocked and amazed. The part where you wouldn't drive through the neighborhood you used to live in? I did exactly that the last time I was there...and drove away as fast as I could! (The old sofas on front porches and discarded appliances in the front yards certainly add character to the neighborhood, though).

And the GW Jr's burgers? Damn I miss those! If memory serves me right they were owned by Church's. I probably ate more guacamole burgers than anything else at the time, and I think I kept the franchise at Broadway and Loop 410 in business.

And to whoever mentioned Burgundy Woods, well, I may have danced with you! I would have been the guy in the polyester pants, landscape knit shirt and white suede shoes, and I wore a wedgewood blue leisure jacket when it was cold outside. (Wait...every guy there was dressed like that...never mind!). Burgundy Woods was my favorite nightspot at the time, although the Max, Deja Vu, Hallelujah Hollywood and Daddy's were pretty fun places too. (The Max was in an old warehouse district off Bandera and 410...unusual location for a nightclub).

The Grand Hotel disco (on Wurzbach) had a soup & sandwich lunch buffet during the week that attracted a lot of local business people. Weekends were a time to go to Sound of Music on Houston St. and buy the latest 12" disco singles. (I still have mine!).

I also did not know that Earl Abel's was no longer (I moved to Dallas in 1982). I remember many early morning (3 AM) breakfasts there after a night out at the clubs. Ah, those carefree years of early 20-something.

As for the radio stations, how well I remember KTSA and Bruce Hathaway. KTSA had (I think) a 50 thousand watt transmitter, and I was able to pick up the signal in Corpus Christi, where I grew up. And Casey Kasem's American Top 40 from 9 AM until 12 noon on Sundays was not to be missed. (Whatever happened to Steve Casey? He left KTSA for KEYS in Corpus Christi in the late 70s; haven't heard from him since).

KTSA was a happening place in the 70s. Logan Stuart always mentioned "4050 Eisenhauer Rd.", home of Waterman Broadcasting. Morton Southwest was "concerned with the way you live", and there was "no place like a Ray Ellison home". On weekends, everyone was "all here at North Star". Broadway National Bank was not on Broadway anymore, and everywhere you looked, Lone Star beer was being sucked dry by the giant armadillo.

G. G. Gale was selling "prime real estate" off San Pedro, five miles outside Loop 410. Besides low prices, there were no city taxes! The area was outside the city limits at the time. (That area was what is now the 281/1604 intersection.) Eastern, Braniff, Delta and Mexicana were the major air carriers at SAT (Southwest was a new startup). When TWA and Ozark both announced service to San Antonio a few years later, it was a big deal.

By the late 70s, the more sophisticated <nose in air> radio listeners had begun to gravitate to FM (i. e. KTFM and KZZY). And when we were not listening to FM radio we had our collection of 8-track tapes in the front seat, or else prominently displayed in a dark wood-grain case in our living rooms, next to the turntable with the smoked glass cover.

San Antonio also became the second most popular tourist destination in the country in the mid-70s, catapulted to that position by their venerable advertising agency, Ed Yardang & Associates. (Ed Yardang was not a real person; he was an imaginary childhood friend of one of the agency's founders). The agency created and trademarked the slogan "Nowhere Else But San Antonio", which is still being used today.

The three most dangerous intersections at the time, as reported in the San Antonio Light were (a) Loop 410 at Fredericksburg, (b) I-35 at Walzem and (c) Loop 410 at Airport. UTSA had 6,000 students, four buildings and no on-campus housing when I enrolled in 1978.

Lastly, to this day it is difficult to convince some people that the "sleepy little town down around San Antone" called China Grove is actually a real place. Reminds me of that old country song back in the late 1960s..."don't it make you want to go home."

[*mud*]

Originally Posted by 49 Olds

mudpuddle- would you check your 1964 Cole's City Directory for White Castle Hamburger joint.
It should be a few blocks south of Handy Andy #7 which is at 2716 Fredericksburg Rd.
I think it was in the block just south of the $3 motel.
Thanks 49 Olds

Don't see it Olds.

Would it be where Pizza Hut appears?? 2502??

mud

[john559]

I used to work at SAT fueling aircraft and I remember Morris Jaffe having his own airplane hangar, and a Merlin turboprop, which I used to have to go service often. He had a nice setup there at the airport.

[rssawyer]

I remember selling lila Cockrell Scout Country Fair tickets...remember that in October?

[gy2020]

A new appreciation for the Woodlawn Theatre. The Hi-Ho was always my favorite because I went there as a young kid in 1952. Last fall I found out that John Eberson, one of two or three really significant theatre architect in the U.S. designed the Woodlawn. Eberson and Karl Hoblitzelle (owner of the Interstate Theatre circuit were good friends and both had a St. louis connection. Hoblitzelle was born and raised in St. L and Eberson moved there from Europe in 1906 about the time Hoblitzelle was getting ready to move to Dallas. Hoblitzille employed Eberson to build many of his theatres starting as early as 1910. A book came out in 1987 and it researched part of my collection at Conservation Society Library. she quoted me in her book and I'm quoting her on my website and now in this forum. It is known that Eberson built 7 theatres in Texas for sure. The Majestic in Dallas, the Majestic in Houston, a theatre in Ft. Worth, the Paramount in Austin and three theatres in San Antonio, the Majestic in 1926 and in 1944-45 he designed two neighborhood theatres, the Laurel, opening in January of 1945 and the Woodlawn, opened in August of 1945. We all know that we allowed the Laurel to be destroyed. Now we must do everything in our power to not let the Woodlawn be destroyed. We are fortunate at this time to have an owner who appreciates his theatre and is putting money into the interior of the theatre to help it thrive as a live performance theatre. I have spoken to him. He is not putting any money in the exterior of the theatre. To bring the marque back to its original state would cost upwards of $100,000. It would be good if we could interest people into donating a few bucks each and raise the money to fix the marque. Any thoughts out there fellow gbnf's Oh, by the way, Eberson designed Atmospherics (he created the style) and after the depression he changed to modern. So we have both styles in SA, that's the importance.