33 shamrock hotel and movie theater beef on bun bbq princes on main before the new princes franchises malls being closed on sundays before the the mid eighties drive through theater on hiram clarke and south main
35 here. Not born but grew up here since 1975. I can remember many little things but not many that would cause a big flashback moment. Some might be: - My parents worked at a lot of convenience stores. Circle-K and 7-Elevens are no longer around. - My mom used to work on Jones Rd (NW Houston) when that was totally out in the middle of nowhere. And now I live right down the street from there. - When Willowbrook Mall just opened. Wiki says it opened in 1981. - Watching Empire Strikes Back at some movie theatre at corner of Gessner and Westheimer. Snuck over to watch The Exorcist and got kicked out by some adult. - Watching a lot of movies at drive-in on West Rd @ I-45. - When Beltway was not here yet and anything outside of 610 was out of town. - When my dad would see a bright spotlight in the sky and round up the family because that meant a fair was going on in some mall parking lot
Jersey Village has a Candy Cane Lane - maybe that's what you're thinking of. But I could be wrong. I'm 26 and I remember: 290 being a divided highway out past the beltway (there wasn't even much of a beltway, I don't think), with fields everywhere along the way both inside the beltway (no tinseltown 290, no walmart supermegashopping complex) and outside (again, no walmarts, targets, best buys, outlet malls, NOTHING in Cypress) I remember Gerlands and Apple Tree grocery stores. I also remember the petting zoo/pony rides place as previously mentioned I remember Northwest mall being a decent non-rundown scary place to shop. Hell, I barely remember people being able to smoke inside the mall. Most of the things I remember had already been built/established for a while - I just remember them before they changed ownership/got demolished/became crappy.
Here's one for the Bellaire Folk: Weingarten's Safeway Appletree Randall's Brought to you by the grocery location that refuses to die.
Talking about grocery stores... anyone remember Eagle? We had one before it was replaced with a Rice. Also, Weiner's for cheap clothing. And I worked at Montgomery Wards in high school.
Wasn't there an ice cream place in Sharpstown Mall called Farrells? I remember going to a few b-day parties there as well. They had this big loud horn they would blow if it was someone's b-day. Games People Play on 1960 near Stubner Airline. I felt up my first chick behind the waterslide............
I wore my Earl Campbell jersey everyday and played tackle football before school everyday. The teacher use to yell at us that we were heathans and we smelled like sweat. Now I dont think they can tell you anything without worrying about a lawsuit. I loved that time of my life.......
Hmm, I don't recall Farrells, but this did remind me of Swenson's Ice cream parlor. I loved that place.
I've been in Houston since 1977 or so (with a 7-year Chicago hiatus in the '90s), but I grew up in the suburbs and didn't see a heck of a lot of Houston as a kid. I grew up on the northside, near Greenspoint. I remember when Beltway 8 was built and Huey Lewis did a concert on it before it opened. Before Beltway 8, I used to ride my skateboard to a dollar theater at Green's Crossing, but couldn't once they built the freeway. I also went a lot to the dollar theater at Veteran's Memorial and FM 1960 (North something). I think it is still there. It was pretty fancy when we got to Willowbrook for a movie. I remember when Veteran's Memorial was called Stubner Airline. Back then, it was mostly scrub trees and fields from West Mt Houston to FM 1960 (which is a long way). Now, it has all these half-ass developments all along it. I remember when that lady cop got shot at Greenspoint Mall, and everyone called it Thugspoint after that. I always thought that mall was underappreciated. I remember when Veteran's Memorial became a Vietnamese strip. It was black/white/hispanic before, and then a lot of Vietnamese stores went up. It was the same to me, except that the Randall's closed up (which might be unrelated).
I'm 25 and a native Houstonian. My memory isn't that good. =( -Zoo -The Summit -Marvin Zindler on CH 13. I would imitate him every time he said "Marvin Zindler, Eyewitness News" -Astroworld/WaterWorld(I used to go there so many times as a kid) -Downtown (my mom used to work there and I remember it being a ghost town at night) I don't remember Houston before Beltway 8, Memorial City Mall and Galleria. I'm not that old just yet!
greenspoint was a really good mall when both dillards and foley's were still up and running, its just the area became rough in the late eighties. no myth about that
I also remember the city building the HARDY TOLL ROAD before, and it was just a bayou. It was PLANET MUSIC before... I know 'cuz my wife used to work there...
It was called North Oaks Mall. I remember it before it was a dollar theatre. You could buy your tickets early, then walk down to Aladdin’s Castle which was a SWEET arcade just a few feet away and play Defender until the movie started.
I was born in 1984 in Houston -- I remember going to the hospital (Southwest Memorial on 59 next to KPRC) with my parents when my little brother was born in 1988 and going to the Toys R Us next door afterwards. I also remember Peppermint Park (have quite a few pictures from being at birthday parties there). One place I vaguely remember was this shopping mall somewhere in Meadows Place. I remember they had this play area for kids with a bunch of crazy slides. It was somewhere near West Airport where that huge wholesale store now is / where the Home Depot used to be. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
I recall the Bel Air Theatre and how they would show The Rocky Horror Picture Show there every weekend.
