Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I (Keller: furniture stores, yearly)

[BudB]

The bowling alley Boss Rider referred to was the old lanes across the street from Seibert's Pharmacy next to the Winns store and Piggly Wiggly market. South of the bowling alley was Keno's Cleaners then Westfall, then the Katy rr trax. Seibert's had great malts, burgers and BLTs, etc. from a long gone but not forgotten soda fountain. My so called memory says the bowling alley was named Friend's Lanes and across their long outer wall a sign read "Where the Elite Meet to Eat!" because it too had a lunch counter. I bowled my first game there about 1958 while a student at Poe Jr. High farther north on New Braunfels Ave.

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by BudB

The bowling alley Boss Rider referred to was the old lanes across the street from Seibert's Pharmacy next to the Winns store and Piggly Wiggly market. South of the bowling alley was Keno's Cleaners then Westfall, then the Katy rr trax. Seibert's had great malts, burgers and BLTs, etc. from a long gone but not forgotten soda fountain. My so called memory says the bowling alley was named Friend's Lanes and across their long outer wall a sign read "Where the Elite Meet to Eat!" because it too had a lunch counter. I bowled my first game there about 1958 while a student at Poe Jr. High farther north on New Braunfels Ave.

Great info BudB !! I remember Seibert's it's probably still there. I'd have to look the place over again to figure it out. Did Poe become St. Gerards?

[elizlampe]

To Cygnet about the synchro swim team: There were two Cygnet Swim teams in the 1960's. Both ran at the same time by Margaret Swan. The city team started in 1961 and ran through the 1970's and was restarted in 1986 by Nancy Doyle ( I assisted her with the team for a while) and is still in existance today. There is a yearly fund raiser show at the University of Incarnate Word in the middle to end of October with the Cygnet's and the UIW synchro teams. I swam from 1971 through 1982 then coached 1986-1987 and 1990 through 2005 and still assist.
By the way Margaret Swan is still alive and lives in the Alamo Heights area, she has some problems with memory, but is still a wonderful person.

[elizlampe]

to texxmatty regarding the synchro swim team: I swam with you at the TMI "indoor" pool. I was around 16 at the time. At least the Arneson River Theater had running water, unlike the old hemisphere lake with 2 foot thick algae on the bottom and molded dressing rooms! Those were the good old days!

[BudB]

Edgar Allen Poe is still there but in a new building since the late 1990s and St. Gerard's is still the same Catholic high school school it has always been but I'm not sure the bowling alley is still downstairs there. Seibert's Rx is long gone as is the Winns and Piggly Wiggly from that strip. There was a similar retail strip firther south some blocks where Donegan's Pharmacy sat at one end and Johnson's bakery on the other end with those wonderful orange cupcakes. Donegans also had a nice little lunch counter with fine burgers and fires in a basket plus shakes, floats, etc. Before I-10 took them all out Johnson's moved south to New Braunfels Ave. and Steves and kept making their great pastries until the late '90s. I grew up first on Cooper St. near Poe then McKinley Ave. for high school at Highlands.

[catriona]

Originally Posted by elizlampe

To Cygnet about the synchro swim team: There were two Cygnet Swim teams in the 1960's. Both ran at the same time by Margaret Swan. The city team started in 1961 and ran through the 1970's and was restarted in 1986 by Nancy Doyle ( I assisted her with the team for a while) and is still in existance today. There is a yearly fund raiser show at the University of Incarnate Word in the middle to end of October with the Cygnet's and the UIW synchro teams. I swam from 1971 through 1982 then coached 1986-1987 and 1990 through 2005 and still assist.
By the way Margaret Swan is still alive and lives in the Alamo Heights area, she has some problems with memory, but is still a wonderful person.

I'm glad to hear she's still alive. I had a friend that was in her swimming classes at SAC in the 70's. She loved her and the classes.

[tjdsatx]

Originally Posted by cygnet

One of the breweries -- Pearl? Lone Star? -- had a swimming pool on the grounds. The synchronized swimming team at SAC (I was a member in 63-65) used it for practice for a performance in Monterrey, Mexico. Was this a public pool, does anyone remember?

Don't know if you got your answer or not: It was the Lone Star Brewery, and the pool was only for employees and their families. My dad worked there for 35+ years, and we spent many days there during the summer....and had many birthday parties there too. There were some days during the week when just a handful of people were in the pool.....lots of room in an Olympic-sized pool!

[Boss Rider]

Originally Posted by BudB

Seibert's Rx is long gone as is the Winns and Piggly Wiggly from that strip. There was a similar retail strip firther south some blocks where Donegan's Pharmacy sat at one end and Johnson's bakery on the other end with those wonderful orange cupcakes. I grew up first on Cooper St. near Poe then McKinley Ave. for high school at Highlands.

By golly I think you're right, it was Seibert's, not Highlands pharmacy. If the one on the corner of Gevers and Highland was Donegans,(as I recall there was a grocery store in between the pharmacy and the bakery) then where was the Highlands I got mixed up with Sieberts?

I grew up on Delmar and then Schley, graduated from Highlands in '60.

[BudB]

Boss, you have the right location for Highlands Rx at Gevers and Highlands while Donegans Rx was at New Braunfels and Drexel. It gets confusing because back then there were mom & pop groceries everywhere as well as neighborhood pharmacies all over too not to mention the scores of ice houses. Now it's Super-Walmarts and Mega-HEBs ... are we better off ... Who knows? Being a small businessman, I prefer the old way but the modern generations are probably happier with everything under one roof.
later, Bud

[offshore92135]

i recall the little mom and pop store across the naval armory depot on arsenal strret near the SA river.......i miss it.