I remember TG&Y when I was a kid in Amarillo. We'd go there to buy school supplies and stuff. My father went to Bellaire High in the late '50s/early '60s, I guess he would've graduated in 1962. About a year ago, my Dad went back to Houston for the first time since probably 1974 (when his father died and his mother moved to DeSoto) for his medical school reunion. He couldn't believe all that had happened to the neighborhood and the city in general. Of course, I'm amazed at how much Amarillo has changed since I graduated high school in 1989. I can imagine how much Houston changed between 1974 and 2002.
The local convenience store chain in Amarillo (which still exists, and as a matter of fact, dominates the market) is called Toot N' Totum.
My parents dragged me to Globe (see link I posted above). I just remember buying slushees and popcorn from there. I don't remember much from the inside other than the thing was pretty big. From what I can recall it was like a Woolworth/Woolco or KMart. But for some reason I keep thinking it was even bigger, but that could be because I was just a kid at the time. 6 locations listed at the bottom of the ad : Gulfgate - Gulf Freeway, Ex. 8, Next to Frizzell Pontiac No. Shepherd - 5300 North Shepherd @ Donovan Bellaire - Bellaire Blvd. @ Hillcroft Eastex Freeway - Eastex Freeway @ Langley Rd. Gessner - 975 Gessner @ Katy Road Pasadena - Southmore @ Tatar That Bellaire location I know has a Fiesta on one side. Can't remember what's on the other side. Isn't it some kind of grocery store? I think a Payless shoe store was over there a few years ago, too.
One more thing about that Globe ad : there's a line under the addresses. They look like this. MI 4-1941 (underneath the Gulfgate address) OX 7-5381 (underneath the N. Shepherd address) PR 4-6331 (underneath the Bellaire address) OX 7-2001 (underneath the Eastex Freeway address) 464-5511 (underneath the Gessner address) GR 3-6271 (underneath the Pasadena address) Are these phone numbers? I know those old I Love Lucy shows always had phone numbers like "Klondike 4985" - are these similar?
Sure, you don't remember when the exchanges had names? Though I think you're missing a number in your Klondike example. It would usually be KLondike 5-4985, for example. Of course, no real exchange had the KLondike 5 prefix because that would be 555. By the way, the OX prefix was said either as OXbow or OXford. PR was PRescott, PResident or PRospect, MI was MIdway, MIlton, MIssion or MItchell and GR was GRanite, GReenwood, GReenfield, GReenleaf, GRover or GRidley. It would've only been one in each city, but the phone company made those suggestions for those prefixes. I believe it was DRexel-9 in Amarillo back in the day.
Hey Dr of Dunk, sorry I didn't see your reference to globe earlier. Globe was a Wal-Mart type store before there was a Wal-Mart. I remember going to the Globe on N. Shepherd back in the 60's. North Shepherd is one part of town that still looks the way it did 40 years ago. If you need to buy a hub cap, that is the place to go.
mrpaige, I came to this country in 1974 as a 4 year old and can honestly say I have no recollection of the exchange stuff. I do know they existed at some point in the past, but always assumed it was way back in the 50's. I didn't know they were still using it in 1969. I noticed that one of the Globe locations used a "normal" 7 digit phone number. Neat stuff.
Actually, I don't remember it, either (I was born in 1971), except for in old movies and stuff. Technically, hardly anyone was still using it in 1969. The phone company stopped using those prefixes in 1958. But tradition being what it is, a lot of companies and people continued using the old system. The one Globe location with the seven numbers probably had a newer exchange that never had a "name". I know that people in Amarillo referred to the DRexel prefix for a long, long time after 1958. Apparently, there is still a company up in Cleveland that advertises their number as Garfield 1-2323. The exchanges would be the same for any given neighborhood and would often identify that neighborhood to people. To me, it just seems like more trouble than calling out seven numbers (or ten in the case of people like us in the big cities). I think I'm going to start telling people my phone number is POplar9-XXXX. It just seems like a nice, quaint thing to do.
I went to Klein Oak (opened 1982), their drill team is called the Strutters, oh course the natural nick name of Slutters stuck
Actually, what I said about CFHS, I got from the website CFHS History But thanks for clearing up the rest of it. And I didn't recall correctly about the other schools. I apologize.
