Houston Culture: Landmarks, Celebrities, Sayings, etc?

Would you want them to go against Dream’s ask on that?

 

The one on 1960? I got my first boob squeeze there behind the waterslide. Great mammaries!

 

Was that the one on South Main? My dad used to take me there after getting a haircut and before going to Astros games at the Dome.

 

Yep! A lot more than boobs gettin’ squeezed on those slides after hours!

 

I would have made something cooler for sure
Not some frozen Hans Solo copy cat that was going to Buba Fett

like giant columns that spell D R E A M

 

Random memories:

Commercial with Elvin Hayes for a taxi service I think…”you on Hayes Street” as he hits a shot behind his back

John Lander on 79Q (if memory serves, and it’s shaky, that became 93Q) and the Tookie Bird

The Bangles playing a concert for the opening of the Sam Houston Tollway.

The Cellar Door -restaurant where Goode Co BBQ is now on the Katy Freeway

Lover’s Lane Murders on Enclave (near Eldridge)…crazy ****

$5 Pavillion seats at the Dome with $4 parking for Astros games (having Andy Van Slyke lob you the bird on your 18th birthday)

Panjo’s Pizza. Mother Falcon Panjo’s Pizza. So good. I know there was a location in Town & Country…pretty sure there was also one at Memorial & Dairy Ashford. There’s still one in Corpus Christi where the family is from. It was so good.

Town & Country Mall turning into CityCentre and Memorial City turning in to what it turned into are both crazy to me as a west Houston kid who was actually born at Memorial City Hospital when it was a 4 story building…and whose first son was born in that same 4 story building…OLD AF!!!

Borden’s used to have a place in Midtown where we would get some kind of banana shake a lot of Sundays after church..that probably closed before I was 7 years old

Before iMax movies at the Museum of Natural Science (insanely cool and different date night in high school for a west Houston kid) had a preview before that I wish I could find online…it was a tribute to Houston…pictures and videos from all across the city. So great! It finished with the word HOUSTON in all caps and a strong voice saying the name. It gave me chills, and I was just a kid

“Call Gallery 694-5570!” Set to music

When Bennigan’s first came to Houston there was a location on Westheimer that my older brother went to that was literally 18 and up after 10 pm or so. ****ing Bennigan’s. I just want a monte christo or some fried cheese!

The original Landry’s wasn’t owned by our current Rockets owner and it was in Katy. It was the only reason my family went west of Highway 6 unless we were going on a trip.

Charlie’s Hamburgers

Original Lupe’s which was right by Charlie’s Hamburgers at Addicks and Highway 6

Town & Country 6…Town & Country 3…Town & Country 10….I saw a ton of my favorite movies ever at these places

The Spectrum movie theater at Augusta @ Westheimer. The only place in town (that I knew of) that had THX sound. I saw Die Hard there, and it was amazing!

Being in the mother falcon Summit when the Rockets win not 1 but 2 rings..I keep reading about these mixed use developments for stadiums and ballparks, and I can’t help but think, “oh, like Greenway Plaza?” I love that Toyota Center is downtown, and I want more there…but I can’t tell you how easy it was to get in and out of Greenway Plaza after Rockets games

Luther’s was cheap and easy bbq. Snob out all you want, but it was so easy and accessible, and I never had a bad meal there

Don the Beachcomber…ok, this was a restaurant at Gessner and Westheimer that was Polynesian food. I LOVED it. It probably closed by the time I was 7 or so…but holy crap, it was so good.

In the same area where Don The Beachcomber was…I would go with my dad to work on days James Bond movies opened. We’d have lunch (I remember eating at Luther’s once) after meeting with his customers, and we’d go to the movie right after. Woodway 3 I think? ….that some theater became SRO which was easily my favorite sports bar ever. Massive screens on the walls where the theater screens once were. Still had theater seating.

The Strawberry Patch. Great restaurant that my first girlfriend (the girl who got me to go to Baylor instead of UT — worked out fine since I met my wife there) absolutely loved. It’s where the Goode Co is on Westheimer near Augusta

I’d say Black Eyed Pea, but that’s too easy, right? Those were around not that long ago, I think…but also not that long ago when your old AF is probably a decade ago. Easy place to eat with good chicken fried steak….again, there was one in Town & Country (it’s a theme for me, really)

 

I think so…I just knew it was near the Dome. Was the the original location…I always thought it was

 

For Lamar and West U late 80’s people.
Do any of y’all remember that empty parking. Lot off of Alabama near Greenway plaza that kids would cruise to and drink at?

 

Mmmmm...roast beef sammich and dolmas

 

I would add Crawfish Noodles

 

I remember the day when tinman learned about the San Diego Rockets on this board. Fake fan.

 

Still the best onion rings and dirty rice I've ever had.

 

Not sure what year you worked there, but was Texas Tumbleweed still there? After that there was also the "Cosmic Cowboy" in the same strip mall which was a nice arcade place......................right across the street, my family ate at Casa Elana every friday night....that place was the best

 

Great Memories for sure!! I miss Black Eyed Pea and Grandys. I grew up in Champion Forest in the 80`s and I seem to remember Huey Lewis and the News opened for the Beltway at Veterans Memorial (Stuebner Airline)......was it the Bangles though?

I miss "cruising" North Oaks Mall before Willowbrook opened.

Tumbleweed Restaurant on 1960 and Kuykendahl

 

This might blow his mind then.

 

Rockss You know I agree with you on a lot of things but that you grew up in Houston and are on a board about Houston Sports yet still have THAT as your avatar with baseball playoff season is unforgiveable

At least we get to enjoy that both the Stros and the Twins are in playoffs while the "Bronx Bombers" bombed out of the playoffs.

 

Damn, I miss Casa Elena! And the queso puffs! ALWAYS went there for Tex-Mex until they sold out and then it was Marco's at 1960 and 45 until THEY sold out and then it was Cinco de Mayo in front of the AMC movie theater on Holzwarth until it burned down. Only thing close to old school '70's and '80's Tex-Mex I've found these days is Los 3 Ranchitos on Kuykendahl between Spring Cypress and Rhodes.

Spent many a quarter at Cosmic Cowboy...and Family Fun and Games at 45 and Rankin (or maybe it was Richey).

My memory has gone bad on Texas Tumbleweed's timeline but I feel like it WAS still there in the late '80's.

 

That's funny that you mention that. I have memories of my dad entering the underground garage right on the 59 feeder under the Edloe bridge. There was an officer there waving him to keep going down a level and he would just smile and wave to him....as we drove right by him and parked on the upper level. The officer would occasionally flip my dad the bird....but we always got a great parking spot!

Also...my dad had season tickets. Section 102, row 5, seats 1 & 2. This was in the non-smoking section....

 

Hell yeah. Aladdin's Castle was a great place to play games on Friday nights before your movie started. We used to tell the owner that a certain game ripped us off and he would just give us a handful of tokens.