The 1960's are when Houston went from being a somewhat known regional hub to a full blown nationally and even world famous city: -Houston became one of the ten largest cities in the US (by city proper population anyways) -The stadium that would influence like no other, the Astrodome, was built. -Professional sports came to town. -The University of Houston made big waves in both major sports, including playing in and winning the very important Game of the Century (basketball) --NASA unofficially made it's home here (it's technically HQ'd in Washington D.C.) I'm sure I'm forgetting something but that was a big decade for the city and I can only hope the city sees a more exciting decade in near future.
Interesting topic, and far to much to talk about, at least for me. Herman Short became the Chief of Police in 1964 and held that position the rest of the decade, and into the '70's. He was a card carrying member of the KKK, and worked hard to fill the ranks of the HPD with like-minded officers. In 1966, hippies started appearing in Houston (including yours truly), and we were pulled over at the drop of a hat. Harassed, stopped for no reason, car searched. One time, a pair of HPD's finest pulled me and a chick over and said as the reason, "You almost ran that light several blocks back there." I kept an eye on the cop searching the inside of the Vomit Comet, so I'd see him if he planted anything (happened to friends of mine). Meanwhile, there was the tinkle of glass from one of the tail lights. The other cop had busted one with his flashlight. He walked up smiling, and wrote me a ticket for having a tail light out. Know what I did? Thanked them for telling me that the light was out, pretending I didn't know how it happened. They knew that I knew that they were responsible, but we played the game and I considered myself lucky to get away with just the ticket. At least they didn't haul us in. Blacks and Latinos were frequently brutalized by them, sometimes killed, and often squad cars had "throw down" pistols in the trunk, just in case a "suspect" was killed "in the line of duty," so they could "prove" that "the bad guy" was armed when they shot him. I had a fantastic time during the '60's, but it wasn't all flowers and incense.
Wow... Yeah, I know the whole being a minority part wasn't the best but the city was booming back then.
