Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I (Marshall: condos, house)

[irnag]

I remember buying my records and 8-tracks at the Record Hole with three locations: North Star Mall, Babcock and Callaghan and I don't remember the third. I remember a putt-putt course on the corner of Babcock and Hillcrest. The 18th hole was where you putted to the Alamo. Remember when Handy-Andy was part of Wonderland Mall. Oh, and there was a good site where the guy reminised (sp) about Playland. He said that the old rollercoaster from there was moved to Pennsylvania and is now called the Phoenix.

I found this site because I ran across a blurb that said Bob Crane was the composer of the Get Smart theme. Now did you know that if Crane was not murdered, he was scheduled to appear at Holliman's Fiesta Dinner Theater after he completed his gig at the Arizona one? Some Gee-whiz info for ya.

Anybody remember Cooter-Browns? I loved that place. A great place to see live bands like 'The Clocks'. Alexanders on St. Mary's was a good place as well. How about the monorail at Hemisfair? I think they had to remove it because they kept crashing the cars. I am sure lack of business was the other reason.

[940]

^^Great memories...I remember the putt putt course off Hillcrest too! And thanks for the memory jolt..I couldn't remember the name of the Fiesta Dinner Theater. I had heard that Bob Crane was supposed to be one of the rotating stars there before his untimely death.

I remember Cooter-Brown's. Great place for music! I also remember the movie theaters off I-10 just south of Callaghan when they were originally called the Northwest 6. That was the perfect double date...Mama's for mushrooms/dinner and then right next door to the movie theater.

Does anyone else remember the Midget Mansion? It was located north of Callaghan between Fredericksburg Rd and I-10. The easiest access was off Donore and Fred. Rd. where I believe there are condos built back there now. Anyway, the side road off there was gated but you could park and walk back onto the property where this huge old mansion sat on a high hill overlooking a lot of the city. It was in disrepair but you could walk all through the rooms and outside by the empty swimming pool. It got its name b/c there was some tale that midget ghosts overran the place ..something like that...who knows as we were all in high school then and that story just perpetuated itself!!

[googie2525]

That's really weird, the mention of Bob Crane, I was just talking about how he was murdered in Scottsdale like 5 minutes ago, and here you mention it in conjunction with the Fiesta Dinner Theatre that I posted about, what a small world.

Oh yeah, does anyone remember the Fun 'N Magic Company at 520 Broadway? It was amazing, they had these hilarious risque novelties, still packaged, from like the 1940's - and this was 4 years ago! I made a killing on eBay selling these Black Panther "power" stickers from the 1970's that I bought there in bulk for pennies. They had TONS of junk, covered in inch thick dust, amazing. ****, I miss that joint. It was torn down a couple of years ago and is still an empty lot. Sucks.

Yep, we would sneak into "Midget Mansion" in high school too, scary as hell place! It's an apartment building now, behind Lowe's. How lame.

[Paka]

Originally Posted by 940

GW Jr's brings back memories. There used to be a location at Huebner and Bandera where we would go for senior lunch while in high school. They had great chili cheese hamburgers! Carl's Jr had a location near Ingram Park Mall too, if I remember right. And yes, their locations are few and far between in Texas now but you can find them around.

Joske's was great especially the downtown location where Rivercenter Mall is now and of course locations at Windsor Park Mall (no longer a mall, I hear??), Northstar Mall and Ingram Park.

Remember San Antonio's semi professional football teams like the Toros and the Gunslingers? I also remember as a kid back in the early 70's when the Dallas Chaparrals came to town and became the San Antonio Spurs of the old ABA. Of course the Spurs were lucky enough to be included in the list of old ABA teams that were invited to join the NBA later. The Indiana Pacers, New Jersey Nets and Denver Nuggets were the other teams from the old ABA that came to the NBA at the same time.

I remember taking the bus to shop downtown with a friend when I was 13 years old (and your folks were OK with that because it was safe!), Burger chef with 5 burgers for $1.00, the Trail Drive-In, Mission Drive-In, and how about Capt Gus on Channel 5?

Was anyone else here when the "silo" on Medina Annex blew up and everyone saw a HUGE mushroom cloud??? I was in the 3rd grade and we were doing exercises on the playground (remember when kids DID that in school?????) and all the teachers had us run inside and lay down next to our desks and cover our heads.....also remember the "dry-runs" of the Cuban Missile Crisis when they would ring the bell at school 3 times, you ran home as quick as you could, pulled all the shades in your house and laid on the floor with your arms covering you head.....I AM dating myself.
I learned to drive on 1604 because it was "so far out there I was not going to hurt anything or anyone" per my dad...and if we passed 2 cars during a "driving lesson" it was SOMETHING!!!! Yea, I am old, but San Antonio was so special back then. (Hey, before I am attacked IT IS STILL FANTASTIC...I am just thinking what a special place it was to grow up in!!!!)

[irnag]

WOW! All these memories. I left SA in the mid 80's but visit occasionally because of family. I remember the Midget Farm. My friends and I scaled up the giant hill (a gentle rolling plain) up to the doorstep of the Mansion. Right when we were about to open the front door, we heard a scream from the inside. I don't think I ever looked back as we ran terrified to the road. We searched for the Donkey Lady in the hills of Helotes but never found her. Remember the observation tower that was out that way? I remember reading that it was built in the 1800's and was used as a lookout for protection of the city. Whatever happened to it?

Cap't Gus was great! Now that was must see TV!

Anyone remember the slot car racing track that was downstairs in the Wonderland Mall? My older cousins used to race their cars there. I was hoping to one day partake in that but once I was old enough, they had closed. It's funny but I recently ran across an article that said that slot cars are coming back. How about the big slide that was in the back of Wonderland Mall? I did get to go down that before they took that out and I saw Willy Wonka at the Wonder Theater.

I don't remember the Fun and Magic store on Broadway, although I may have been in it. I used to play basketball at the Y downtown and between games a bunch of us would walk the streets around there and I remember there were a lot of places where you could get fake IDs made. Was that near downtown? I remember the Superior Indian(Native American) resided by the park with train. And I guess Scrivners (sp) is no longer there. I think they had a tea room. Anyone remember the shooter at the Battle of Flowers? A friend of mine was playing golf at Brackenridge when that happened.

I remember seeing the Cowboy Cheerleaders at a Toros game when they were playing on the southside. Got my picture taken with them! (The Cheerleaders of course)

Does anybody remember the Hemisphere monorail. I think it was still operating after the fair was over but was closed because it kept crashing, killing a few people along the way. (I guess I have a lot of morbid memories) What I remember about Hemisphere was the Indians (Native Americans) that would climb the poles that had to be a billion feet up in the air and then leap off the poles and twirl down with a rope. I was only six at the time and I think that gave me a permanent case of vertigo.

I don't remember the Medina explosion, but I remember people always saying that there was a nuclear bomb there and that if that went off we were goners. I think that may have been the result of the explosion.

I remember the Lone Star Ice Houses that were on every corner. I grew up playing golf at Ed Carpenter's Little Champ par 3. Its now apartments, but I can still make out the rise where the driving range was and where the 9th green was.

I remember when I was a young child, my mom would go shopping all day. We went to Kahn's and Rubik's and then end up at Solo Serve. I hated those days with a passion. It was pure agony.

But most of all, I just remember nothing. As in nothing used to be there, it was just a vacant lot. Most of what I remember was that there were just fields where I grew up. (Babcock and Callaghan)

[googie2525]

There's an interesting documentary series on old San Antonio that was produced by local PBS affiliate KLRN. I bought them a while back on DVD and they were really entertaining, shed a lot of light on how SA was back in the day. And no, I'm not trying to hawk a product, and didn't produce them or anything, just think they're a great intro to SA for newcomers, and pretty nostalgic for old-schoolers (my grandmother loved them), plus they support public broadcasting if you buy 'em, which doesn't hurt. You can find them at the KLRN site (klrn.org).

The 3 titles are:

San Antonio Remembered: HemisFair
Relive HemisFair, the 1968 World's Fair, and a grand fiesta in celebration of San Antonio's 250th birthday during one of the most tumultuous years in American History.

San Antonio Remembered: Downtown
Remember when downtown was the place to go? Relive those memories in this nostalgic visit to the old San Antonio that exists now only in our memories.

San Antonio Remembered: The Good Times
A trip down memory lane to places that don't exist anymore, and interviews with the people who were there.

[Trivet The Fool]

Wasn't Cooter Brown's on Fredricksburg Rd, next to a Pancho's? I never had a chance to go there, but was always fascinated with it when we'd go to eat.

I also remember when there was nothing! You've seen Goliad & S.E. Military now...when we moved here, there was a Handy Dan, an HEB (that didn't sell pantyhose on Sunday - remember Blue Laws?), the fancy semi-gated mobile home 'community' Indian Hills, and - nothing else but the trails in 700 Acres.

Jim's on Goliad...when the Trail drive-in was where the closed Walmart is - the bug-drawing lights they had shining out toward the street because of the adult movies they showed. We went to the drive-in that used to be near 37 & Nakoma to see John Carpenter's The Thing before it closed.

I do remember GW Juniors *whines*; the monorail; a wax museum that was right near it; when HEB first began renting movies ; the water slides that were next to either 35 or 37 - waaaay before splashtown!; when St. Mary's street was THE place to be on the weekends *bows head for a moment for Wacky's Cantina*; the Bone Club (I'm an old punk, bear with me); Sunshine Amusement Park on Roosevelt & Southcross; La Hacienda that was diagonally across the street from it; Winn's (yay, first job!); La Feria;when Woolworth's in McCrelles & the store downtown had lunch counters. Anyone remember the excellent Elvis impersonator that would perform at McCrelles now & then?

Mega Food Mart, whose major selling point was that you bagged or boxed your own groceries, thus saving you money; Deluxe & Piggly Wiggly;the HUGE arcade that was at South Park Mall; Hacienda Bowl

I'll quit now

[googie2525]

The Bone Club! I never ever thought I'd hear that name on this forum - saw GG Allin there my freshman year High School, christ, that show freaked me out!

[googie2525]

Oh yeah, next to Pancho's on Fred Road was a place called "Daddy's" for many years, when I was a wee lad (early 80's), my mom and her friends snuck me in to see Oingo Boingo there, whom I was obsessed with at the time - what a show!

[wCat]

I love this topic! I was afraid I might be one of the "oldies" on this forum. I know some of you all will be green with envy now.....I actually have Capt. Gus's autograph!!!

Someone mentioned Windcrest.....my old neighborhood. I remember being told I was "uppity" because I lived there in Jr High and High school. LOL! That was news to me! It is exactly the same as it was 30 years ago. My mom still lives in our same house. It's certainly not uppity anymore by today's standards....but it's still a great neighborhood. My dad actually won grand prize for outside Christmas decorating years ago.

I also remember Playland Park....and the Teepee Steakhouse on Austin Highway......and the Seven Oaks Inn (it was actually a Sheraton hotel originally)

Anyone ever go swimming up to Edgefalls near Boerne? It was on private property and the owner allowed people to come up there in the 70's. It was so dangerous now that I think back about it.....but it was so REAL! We went searching for it about 5 years ago and found someone living in that area. That little branch of the Guadalupe was closed off for saftey and development. We were told that there were several kids that were killed after diving off the falls. I'm not surprised.....but too bad it wasn't preserved safely.

Northeast Park Preserve was also way out in the country and a great place to go in high school. It seemed like it took forever to get there. When I moved back here I was trying to find it and discovered it's now McAllister Park. At least it was saved from development~