Retro El Paso (Houston, Austin, Victoria: for sale, real estate, houses)

[atrabilius]

Originally Posted by ZSP

Do you remember the A&W on Trowbridge...

There was one at Hondo Pass at Alps, too, with an A-frame roof. A&W belongs to Yum Brands now, along with KFC (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken), Taco Bell and Long John Silver's, and these brands often share the same restaurant space, and it doesn't look like El Paso even has an A&W anymore.

[mistabinks]

There are in fact several A&W's in El Paso.

[atrabilius]

Originally Posted by mistabinks

There are in fact several A&W's in El Paso.

Where? I searched the A&W website,

awrestaurant.com

and according to it the only A&W within 100 miles of El Paso is in Alamogordo, on South White Sands Boulevard.

[mistabinks]

Did the ones on Zaragoza and Dyer close down? I thought the one on Zaragoza was still open. I remember there was an issue with the one on Mesa. A fire perhaps?

[Ms Kitty 98]

There use to be a A&W on North Loop Rd in the mid 60's about a block away from the Lucky Boy Hamburgers, There was also a A&W next to Ysleta High School on Alameda. The Oasis in Lakeside was also a a cool hamburger stop, there were no MC Donald's in El Paso during this era.
El Paso had it's own Drug store chains, Gunning Casteel Rexall all over town and Alamagordo NM., three bus companies that all stopped at the San Jancinto Plaza, El Paso City Lines, Lower Valley Bus Lines and Country Club Bus Lines,
Interstate 10 would end at the Raynor exit in 5 Points, and the city would end behind Kmart on MC Rae in the east side.

[Strider62]

I seem to recall that there was an A&W on the site of the recently shut down Whataburger on Alameda and Delta.

[Strider62]

Originally Posted by ZSP

I was here during the time(s) you mentioned...and yes, sometimes I miss that too. And I remember everything you posted.

Do you remember the A&W on Trowbridge...the Oasis at Montana and Geronimo, the Pershing Theatre, all the drive-ins?

Found some great pictures of the original Fiesta Drive In on Mesa. They must be from the 50's because the drive in looks pristine. The web site is drive-ins.com. Here is one:
Drive-ins.com - Fiesta Drive-In (original

[mistabinks]

There were at least three A&W's in El Paso just a few years ago. Two of them were in combo restaurants. I think the west side had a joint Long John Silvers and A&W. Time flies. I thought the one on Zaragosa was still in business.

[atrabilius]

I was surfing the web the other day and came across some old issues of the El Paso Herald (later the Herald-Post, now defunct) from 1950 and 1955.

The El Paso Independent School District was founded in 1883, but has grown to its present vast size partly by annexing other school districts, including Smelter (around Smeltertown in West Central--it operated Jones Elementary), Winkler (which operated Winkler School, which I think is now called Travis Elementary), and (the subject of these articles) the Wainwright school district in Northeast. There was an article about the grand opening of Wainwright Elementary in 1950; I think that was a new school building, because the school opened in 1949, according to the EPISD website. They might have been holding classes in temporary facilities during the 1949-1950 school year. The school was named for General Jonathan Wainwright, the war hero of the Pacific theater of World War II; he was there for the school's grand opening.

Five years later the Wainwright school district had opened another school (was it Burnet Elementary? Or Magoffin? Those two were the only schools that opened in Northeast during the early-to-mid-1950s) and a coalition of women meeting in somebody's house on Andes Drive whose kids went to these schools was trying to get El Paso ISD to annex the school district (and eventually succeeded, apparently). Because both Wainwright schools were severely overcrowded, to the point where they were holding classes in the kitchens while lunch was being prepared and the toilets in the bathrooms were getting choked from overuse; evidently the district couldn't keep up with the growth out there.

[jkharley]

Originally Posted by Strider62

I hope I'm not the only one, but I miss the way El Paso looked in the 60's and early 70's. I was just a kid but the memories of those times just make me want to go back and see it just one more time. I miss the unique look of those times like Bassett Center without the roof, that stretch of Montana from 5 points to Bassett, Piggly Wigglys, Cox's Bakery, Red Rooster, the Fox theater, the retro signs of Ranchland, Sunrise, Lakeside. Does anyone remember Grant City off of Mcrae, Fedmart, Woolco, Kresge's, Winn's, Shakey's Pizza, Jett's petting zoo and the super slide they used to have at Bassett? Just really good memories. But as you get older, those memories just keep getting fuzzier and fuzzier. Can anyone post pictures of El Paso from those times? I think us children of the 60s would really appreciate a walk down memory lane.

Wow lots to remember there, I lived in EP from 1970 to 1988, Graduated 1976 from Eastwood, Red Rooster, I worked there in 1977, I actually painted that whole interior Pink, Fed Mart was alway fun to shop st. AlsoGibsons dept store, And Paul Perrys Smorgasboard and All American Pies
Used to love going to Skakeys, How about the 1.00 theator at Montwood,
and of course we can't forget Ponchos, spent many an afternoon there ditching 6 th period