Gone but not forgotten in San Antonio! (Houston, Austin: mattress, privacy)

[TexasBlonde]

Originally Posted by wCat

Burger Boy is among my top three fav old fashioned burger places! Awesome everything. Crinkle cuts ......yum!

Totally agree!

Wow, that sounds really good right now..

[Willsatx]

I had burger boy about a week ago and its like going back in time, the burger, and the fries were yummy.

[Boss Rider]

Originally Posted by BudB

And somehow even the so called five and dime stores like Woolworths, Kress, Neisners, etc. had a funky, soulful kind of atmosphere that the SuperWalmart or whatever simply does not have. The old stores had lunch counters that made simple but good stuff like hamburgers, BLTs, etc. and milkshakes and sodas or sundaes & banana splits. .

Oh, wow, A flashback. Which one of these had the big Maccaw or Cocatoo just inside the entrance in the mid-late 50's? I always looked forward to seeing the bird when we went downtown shopping, because the soda fountain there was my Mom's favorite place to stop off before we got the bus back home. My 'job' for the day was to remember to ask the driver for a transfer to the Highlands bus.

[gy2020]

Remember the old Cherry Faucefates in the corner drugstore fountain? My favorite!!

[BudB]

Thank you Nix54 for sorting out my poor spelling as Potchernick's certainly deserves its proper name and well earned reputation as the best place in town for sporting goods once upon a time. On a separate note from that same downtown location, does anyone out there remember the day when a local guy tied up traffic for several hours by climbing out on the top of the Alamo National Bank to jump off? Commerce and St. Mary's became the focal point of a huge traffic jam for most of an afternoon when thousands of people stood around waiting to see the fellow either jump or be talked down. Take a look sometime at what is now the Drury Inn Hotel at 201 N. St. Mary's and you'll get an idea of the shape and height of that tall old building. At that time, there was a railing along the lower roof line where the Alamo Bank's upper section began and the fellow walked along the flat railing for hours so he was serious. It must have started around or just after lunchtime and by mid afternoon there were literally thousands of people massed along St. Mary's and Commerce streets in all directions. Buses were rerouted, firemen and policemen were in constant vigil while all three local TV stations set up live cameras to follow the story which lasted most of that afternoon. I became aware of it when they broke into the TV show we were watching with a live report so it must have been a Saturday because I wasn't in school. I immediately ran the couple blocks needed to catch the Denver Heights bus to go downtown and joined the crowd just as it was really getting big right in front of the Aztec Theater. Everybody had a theory or notion about the "jumper's" motive and many people had one of those neat little transistor radios that were the rage back then so we could hear an occasional news update. I do not recall any details about who he was or why he wanted to die but it was a huge news story that day. It was exactly the type scene done a few years earlier in a movie titled "14 Hours" that coincidentally is on TCM this weekend. The young man on top of the Alamo Natl. Bank building walked slowly back and forth along the railing or sat and rested from time to time while policemen, then a priest, and others tried to talk him down from his perch that must have been about 25 floors high. Perhaps oddly or maybe typically, the mood of the crowd varied from really serious to light hearted as it went on and people tired. At least once during that afternoon and probably more than once, someone started yelling "jump, jump, jump!" until hundreds were yelling it for a couple minutes then it would slowly die down and get quiet again while people returned to talking amongst themselves. Lots of other people were watching from the upper windows of the surrounding office buildings so not much work got done that afternoon I reckon. Then late in the afternoon the man apparently changed his mind, got down or was grabbed and probably arrested then taken to jail or a hospital for psychological evaluation. For me as a 14 or 15 year old kid, this was an incredible experience which, thank goodness, was never repeated or not that I recall. It would have been about 1960 or so if my memory is correct so many of you will not remember it but surely some of the other old timers will. Considering all the terrible and tragic things that followed in the 1960s, this story at least ended on a positive note although I have no idea what became of that young man who held the city spellbound for an afternoon a long time ago.

[Nix54]

Cherry phosphates were great at the Sommers Drugstore under the Brady Building at the corner of Alamo & Houston streets.

[Nix54]

I was not there to see the chaos of the jumper at the time, but I do recall afterwards some days later walking by the Alamo National Bank, looking up and imagining where the jumper would have been.

[wCat]

Budb....We have a friend that used to work in that building. Some of the old timers (and I mean MUCH older ) told them about that story. I'm not sure if there was another incident, or if this was an embellishment to your recount, but she was told that someone did jump at one time ....and to avoid being graphic, they said a flagpole got in the way on his way down. I have no idea what time period said story was to have happened....or whether it's true or not. I prefer your version with a happier ending.

[Nix54]

I doubt if anyone was splattered. It ended as BudB explained.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by Nix54

I doubt if anyone was splattered. It ended as BudB explained.

Yes....interesting how "urban legends" evolve. I'll ask for more details to see if it was around the same time period.