Guys...I've been scouring the internet for a picture of the old Gulfgate Mall that I used to frequent in the late 80's but haven't had much success. I did, however, find a picture of the Gulfgate cinema (dated 1968) which I thought was pretty cool and brought back memories. There is now a storage complex where the cinema once stood across the freeway from where the mall stood and there was a walkway that crossed above the freeway. Ah, good times. Anyway...it would be awesome if someone found a genuine picture of the old Gulfgate mall. Here's the picture of the cinema...
Nice, can anyone upload more pics of Throwback Houston? I was born in the 80s so I would like to see how this great city looked like back in the day.
You should try the Houston Library photo archive. It has over 3 million historic photos of the city of Houston. You can call in advance and they'll pull photos for you. That place is awesome.
While these are mostly aerial photos of area highways, there are some interesting shots (growing up in Spring, the I-45 north photos are stunning). There IS a shot of the old Sea-Arama Marine World, however. Historical Photos of Houston Highways
Wow these are old. http://www.texasfreeway.com/Houston...s/i45_houston_traffic_study_tower_undated.jpg http://www.texasfreeway.com/Houston/historic/photos/images/i45_north_of_conroe_undated.jpg http://www.texasfreeway.com/Houston/historic/photos/images/us59_near_hazard_before_trench_1958.jpg
There is also a book I saw at Barnes and Noble that had pics from the 30s, 40s, and 50s. About 50 pages I think. It was really nice. That is an option of you want something permanently to look at.
There's a book called "Houston: Then and Now" that has side-by-side comparisons of historic and contemporary photos of the Houston area. I have the Austin book by the same author, and it's pretty neat to see what has changed and what hasn't (which, in Austin, is suprisingly quite a lot): http://www.amazon.com/Houston-Then-Now/dp/1592231373/ref=pd_sim_b_5/103-0724002-7077459
man, that place brings back memories. had a high school friend who worked there. we got in free just about every other weekend.
Houston is so flat that the "hills" built as part of Gulfgate were a big deal. There was another outside of the underground bowling alley that sloped down to the lower level of Sakowitz. (hope I spelled Sakowitz right!) We used to go down the curving sidewalk on boards with roller skate wheels nailed to the bottom. A miracle none of us were killed!
I actually have the Texas Then and Now coffee table book. Different author than the Houston one, but still very, very cool... http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Then-No...6199264?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175465688&sr=1-1
the bowling alley underneath picadilly's? i'd never been down there. besides, it was so obscure in it's location, i don't know how anyone knew it was down there.
Well, if you grew up off of Reveille, went to Gulfgate from the time that it opened, and loved to bowl, you would.
Man that's where I grew up. That's the theater my mother dropped me to see batman only to find out that all the shows from 7pm all the way until midnight were sold out. I caught that last showing though. STayed there the entire time. No mp3 players to keep me company no handheld video games and I was absolutely by myself. I was crazed and deranged.
If you want to see photos of Houston go to Bob Bailey Photo Archive Comprised of over 500,000 images, the Bob Bailey Studios Photographic Archive provides a rich pictorial history of life in Houston from the 1930s through the 1990s. The Bailey brothers’ archive features a remarkable variety of people and events, including visits by touring movie stars and campaigning presidents, aerial views of the burgeoning Houston skyline, byproducts of the petroleum industry such as drilling rigs, oil tankers, and gas stations, large gatherings of crowds for parades on Main Street, and the interiors and exteriors of early movie palaces. Particularly noteworthy portions of the archive include images depicting life in Houston during World War II and coverage of local news events such as the Texas City disaster and Howard Hughes’ 1939 visit to Houston. The Bob Bailey Photo studio was at 913 Yale and closed down about ten years ago. This archive is fantastic, it's too big to put everything online, but there is still a lot to look at. Enjoy!
