I remember Montrose and Westheimer in the 1970's (Houston, Dallas: apartment, house)

[worldlyman]

My youthful time was the 1980s and I have my Montrose stories...and I'm a kid from the suburbs of Alief!

The Montrose in the 1980s was the ultimate cruising grounds. Rock clubs, new wave clubs, taboo and tatoo houses and parlors of every stripe...bumper to bumper traffic on Lower Westheimer all the way from N. Shepherd to Brazos...people simply loitering all over the place, sitting on storefronts and sidewalks.

Oh, the 1980s.

We went to a heavy metal concert to some club that was housed in some Victorian house, probably gone or converted now. After the show, my buddy's Volvo got towed. We walked all over trying to find a towyard, and man, talk about the sidewalk freak show masses that existed back then. We teenagers not knowing too much ventured into downtown from bright, cheesy streetlights with all the street revelers, transvestites, partiers, new wave fashionistas, hookers and such as Westheimer turned to Elgin.

We got lost in some dark corner, passed an old gated house, somewhere in Midtown...an old man called out to us from behind...and we three took off running. We eventually made it to the lobby of some hotel downtown, the Omni or Radisson or whatever and phoned our parents who weren't too happy to be awakened or to see how far we ventured.

Just cruising. Some weeks before, from my buddy's Volvo, I looked out...there was a trannie trying to solicit from three Mexican guys sitting on a storefront who were just frozen solid. Then the trannie turned around and stared at me really hard and I thought that was the freakiest thing I saw in late 1985.

As dangerous yet colorful as that all was...it was definitely an era. It reminds of the UFO song, "Out in the Street." Y'know, in an auto-oriented sprawl like Houston...yet there was nightlife on those streets here.

The times we'd be driving and we'd see classmates down there (think of the hundreds of high schools' kids thinking the same thing) and toss them a beer from the window (and vice versa). The times you'd see genuine partyers lining up for a nightclub, especially those LONG lines going down the buildings at places like Numbers, which is still around.

The times that we'd be stuck in traffic, have to time get out, find a house brush to **** on and still get back to the vehicle, still in the same position.

1988 came and one Friday night down Westheimer we actually drove traffic-free all the way down to Brazos...only to see the police detouring traffic off of Westheimer...and it was the end of one era of The Montrose.

I saw a Michael Schenker concert in the Tower Theater in 1990. The Theater facade now housing a Hollywood Video boutique, for the moment, I guess.

The Montrose of today, though without the edge of earlier times, is still a colorful shopping, dining and nightlife facade, gentrified now for sure, but those of us from back then still remember...

My wife and I enjoy going to Cafe Brasil, Tomo Sushi and sometimes the Half Price Books there.

[gy2020]

Great story.... let's here more. Anyone else out there?

[gmh1013]

I lived just behind St Thomas back in 1978, and went to school for 2 years...I forgot the name of the street now,
But rented an old house....My fondest memory was the Texas Opry House on Richmond ave....and another club behind river oaks theater? Damians? I cant remember the names.
Another place we ate was harvest moon cafe but i cant remember the street names...
Gays were starting to take over Montrose and I moved to Phoenix in 1980.
I sure it looks nothing like it did back then....is the House of guys still around on kirby?
and Leo's mexican joint...were ZZ Top ate

[houstoner]

House of Guys is still there. Not familiar with any of the other places you listed.

[Darlynn0217]

I (sorta) remember the 70's...hehe It wasn't exactly the "Just say NO" generation, was it?

I graduated from Channelview and, of course, came to the city for excitement! I remember one night "we all came down to Montrose" (remember that tune?)and did a little bar hopping. Can't remember names, but I remember our "waitress". "She" was really cute, I thought, but had on way too much makeup, like tryin to cover up a black eye. When "she" came to deliver our drinks, I saw her arms and hands, which were bigger and hairier than my Dad's! I had never seen a sight like that in my life! I might have been a little naive (ok, alot!) After leaving there, we went to a club and the guys with us were asked to leave....I was confused, and even more so when my friends told me it was a Lesbar. A WHAT?? (OK, very sheltered life!!)

I especially remember the Westheimer Art festivals, and all the freaks running around! Ahh, Those were the days!!

[gy2020]

Those were all great. how about some stories?

[gy2020]

Time for another story. I had a house on Pacific and i had about 8 of us living in it. But I felt like I was supporting everyone. One evening two of them came to the store and beg and pleaded to borrow the car so they could borrow someone else's tv and watch Saturday Night Live. After being nagged for a long time I gave in, mistake again. They were drinking and ran over a tree and smashed someone's mailbox. Did some frontend damage to my car. I was p###! and they were horrowfide, it made for some bad feelings for quite a while. DON'T EVER LOAN YOUR CAR.

[arbucle]

I grew up in montrose and went to Lanier junior high and would walk home to north blvd. which was about three miles away. At least twice a week I would get propositioned by men driving by in business suits saying hey cutie need a ride home or want to make some extra cash?I am a man by the way.I would tell my parents about it and they would say they are just being nice!They were completely ignorant about the world I guess.Now you would have Amber alerts and who knows what else.This was in 1975.I think its funny when i read about how perverts didnt exist back then.I went on to Lamar high school and still walked home everyday, but i grew to over six feet tall and i guess Iwas not as cute because the offers stop coming in.

[gy2020]

This story is not quite on Montrose, but while I was living and working in Montrose I read about a coin dealer who made a cool fortune in Gold. At this time Gold was frozen at $35/ounce and Nixon had gold unfrozen. This dealer, in Galleria, had horded a bunch of gold and it went to a couple of hundred dollars and continued to climb until it reached either $600 or $800/ounce. I believe he turned it over in the 200-300 range. Not a bad profit. This would have been 1974.

[gy2020]

I would like to add some photos. The first is the UtoteM on Dallas Street.
http://