Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part II (Austin: pier, pizza)

[GWhopper]

A long time ago, I asked this forum if anybody knew anything about the old Smugglers Inn Restaurant that was the originally in the location where Perfect 10 is today. I knew it was a chain and that the Perfect 10 building was originally built as a Smugglers Inn because I remember seeing the same restaurant chain with the same distinct architecture in other cities as a kid as I traveled with my family by car on many road trips, both to the east and west coasts. I have found some information recently regarding this place. It was called Smugglers Inn Food and Grog and seems to be based out of California. It was owned by a company called Associated Hosts restaurants. I'll keep looking to see what I can dig up.

[Primo]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

A long time ago, I asked this forum if anybody knew anything about the old Smugglers Inn Restaurant that was the originally in the location where Perfect 10 is today. I knew it was a chain and that the Perfect 10 building was originally built as a Smugglers Inn because I remember seeing the same restaurant chain with the same distinct architecture in other cities as a kid as I traveled with my family by car on many road trips, both to the east and west coasts. I have found some information recently regarding this place. It was called Smugglers Inn Food and Grog and seems to be based out of California. It was owned by a company called Associated Hosts restaurants. I'll keep looking to see what I can dig up.

Wasnt it also called Fishermans Wharf at one time? Or was that one on 410 & Perrin Beital? Or were they both Fishermans Warf? They have the piers and ropes outside..so it had to be something fishy?

[GWhopper]

I just found out more information on Associated Hosts and Smugglers Inn. Associated Hosts was a company based in Beverly Hills that owned 57 casual dinning restaurants across the US. Most prominent among these holdings was Smugglers Inn, Julie's Place, and Bombay Bicycle Club. In 1986, they started closing down a lot of their restaurants in the US due to financial trouble.

This makes sense because I remember the Smugglers Inn location here in San Antonio being turned into a Bombay Bicycle Club for a short time after it closed. I had always thought that the Bombay Bicycle Club was originally locally owned and operated, but it appears it started out life as a franchise. It was one of the more successful franchise chains owned by Associated Hosts and had several locations across the country.

Associated Hosts was eventually sold in 1988.

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by Primo

Wasnt it also called Fishermans Wharf at one time? Or was that one on 410 & Perrin Beital? Or were they both Fishermans Warf?

I remember that Fisherman's Wharf on 4-10 near 35, it was the first place I ever ate Mahi Mahi!!! My parents bought me a bed from the Grandtree or Greentree Furniture store that was behind the restaurant in 1986. I am pretty sure that Fisherman's Wharf and Smugglers Inn were two completely different restaurants. At least I can't find any evidence that Fisherman's Wharf was a chain owned by Associated Hosts, but I'll keep looking.

[86Greyhound]

Originally Posted by outafocus

There have been 22 drive ins in San Antonio. The Alamo was the second one built. I worked there as a projectionist it's last summer in 1972.

The Alamo was not built until 1946. The Varsity and the Fredericksburg Rd. drive-in theaters were both built in 1940.

[outafocus]

The Varsity was NOT built in 1940. The Fredericksburg Road was, and was the only San Antonio drive In during WWII. The Alamo came up in 1946, followed closely by the Trail. The Varsity Drive-In opened on July 14, 1949. It had a capacity for 638 cars. 1950 saw the Rigsby, South Loop 13, and Kelly Drive ins open.

[TrapperL]

Drive in theaters, what a topic. We lived on what is now the triangle of Goliad, Clark, and Avondale. My dad was raising chickens for the then new chicken place on Houston Street called Churchs Chicken. Unfortunately, we got hit with the pink eye which was not curable in those days. They dug a hole and clipped wings of chickens for a whole day, sprayed 55 gallons of kerosene on them and threw a match. They came back the following day with a big Cat and covered up the mess. Dad then sold the corner of Clark and Goliad to a gentleman who built the Air Park drive in. It was the first drive in in San Antonio that was outside yet air conditioned. They had pipes run along the top of the surrounding fence with misting nozzles to cool the air. Pretty neat actually. I don't rmember how long it was open under that name but the name was changed to Parkair Theater. We always sat in the back yard and could hear the movie although the original owner offered to let us run a cable back to the house so we could really hear it good. As a kid, I spent a few minutes crawling under their fence and turning all of the speakers on as loud as they would go so I could hear the movies really good. Saw my first Bridget Bardot movie from my back yard. It was considered an adult film at the time but you can see more skin in commercials on TV now. How times have changed.
To totally keep on topic, did you know that Goliad Road was actually a cattle trail? Mr Shadrock had a dairy farm about where Southcross and Clark are now. He would take his dairy cows to Brooks AFB everyday to feed on the weeds/grass along the runways. He drove an old green Chevy truck with a pail of feed hanging from the open tailgate. The cows followed him there and in the afternoon he would come back with them. When they decided to turn it into a street, they just followed his trail. My sister and I played on the road building equipment after the workers would go home.

[outafocus]

I think the Parkair was originally called the Hi-Park. Probably the least remembered drive in was the Roxy at Pleasanton Road and Moursund. So many drive ins came and went including the Valley Hi, El Charro, The Capitan (where I worked three years), the Bandera Road, and the Towne Twin. The Towne Twin was a beauty that never seemed to catch on. I worked at most of the drive ins. My favorites were the Lackland, San Pedro, Varsity, and Capitan.

[69GSstage1]

Wow! You really brought back some memories! Miss Mendoza was my 4th Grade Reading Teacher.Mrs. Spiekermann was my Home Room teacher. This was back in '79. Who was the Principal when you were there?

[Sonny Chiba57]

Did anyone remember Shakey's pizza?