Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I (Kirby: traditional, circuit)

[Blanco Joe]

DickZ, I too worked for Handy Andy in the late fifties. You are correct in that they did not want us to take tips. They also had people who would try to get you take a tip, but they in fact worked for the store (sneaky, huh?) If you happened to get one of these mystery guys, and you passed the "no tipping" test, the store would later reward with you with a nice shiney silver dollar. Considering I was paid the awesome fee of forty cents an hour, one dollar equaled 2 and a half work hours. I loved the fifties, but that forty cents really sucked even then.

[wCat]

Also a Handy Andy alum! I remember having to wear either a navy or peach colored shift dress with a little bib collar. I would rush in after school and change into my nifty little uniform in the restrooms in the back. The rush to the front of the store and read the "specials" before opening the register. They would lay them out on the end register that was closed. They came out every Wednesday. No bar codes to read out sale items....and no scanners. We had to memorize the sale items and punch in the price on EVERYTHING.

I remember being late one day and was told to open up before I had a chance to check out the sale items. Just my luck I had a company mystery shopper come through my line that day. My manager pulled me from the register and made me peel scotch tape from the stock shelves for the rest of my shift.

This was about 1971....and I made about 2.72 an hour.

We did have fun though..lots of kids from school worked there.

[jpnagle59]

Originally Posted by munerider

The Abbey? TOO funny...Stillwater and the Abbey...virtually the same...haven't thought of that name in yrs...yes, Gary and crew stil get together...Clemens 77 here!l

Oh, yes. Lubiniskis (spelling) I was always there and at the Stallion. I too graduated from Samuel Clemens in 1977. I remember all those places, and miss them more. James Can you guess who I am??

[jpnagle59]

Originally Posted by munerider

bobby?????????

I remember in 8th grade. I was with the track team at O' Henry med school in Schertz. I was tasked to catch a pole, that 'G.B.' of Stillwater was using to practice pole vaulting. It shattered into pieces, and those pieces were rammed up my nose, and I had to go to Northeast Baptist Hospital. I bring that up, because my son was born there, and now his child was born there also. At the exit to the hospital, there was that garage there with the name of VolksToy. I wonder if it is still there. I no longer live their in S.A., but here in Waco. Dancing to the Abbey was really somthing I looked forward too.
There was a song they did on the album they released, (remember that???) that had the words in it......." the guys all getting their car's gased up, the girls.......". Does anyone remember that song on their album. I used to have that album, but my sister Debbie stole it from me, and it dissappered when one of her freinds took it.
I also remember the song titled, "When you are with out love"....that the Abbey did.

I also remember me getting my butt kicked out at Lubinainskis- I cannot spell it to save my life, forgive please. But that is another story.

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by Primo

Good call..i forgot about that. I used to work in that area and that building was several things over the years after Alamo Cafe. I know it was another mexican place after alamo cafe...this would have been around '97. It was probably a chinese buffet at one time or another.

It was Pancho Willie's after Alamo Cafe.
The same owners eventually opened Willie's backyard patio further up on 281.

Primo, that same family has owned other restaurants in SA going back at least 30 years. The reason that I know is that one of our former co-workers was a friend of the family and worked for them in all their restaurants. I'll give you one hint as to who it is:

Condongulations.

Yes. That guy.

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by jpnagle59

I remember in 8th grade. I was with the track team at O' Henry med school in Schertz. I was tasked to catch a pole, that 'G.B.' of Stillwater was using to practice pole vaulting. It shattered into pieces, and those pieces were rammed up my nose, and I had to go to Northeast Baptist Hospital. I bring that up, because my son was born there, and now his child was born there also. At the exit to the hospital, there was that garage there with the name of VolksToy. I wonder if it is still there. I no longer live their in S.A., but here in Waco. Dancing to the Abbey was really somthing I looked forward too.
There was a song they did on the album they released, (remember that???) that had the words in it......." the guys all getting their car's gased up, the girls.......". Does anyone remember that song on their album. I used to have that album, but my sister Debbie stole it from me, and it dissappered when one of her freinds took it.
I also remember the song titled, "When you are with out love"....that the Abbey did.

I also remember me getting my butt kicked out at Lubinainskis- I cannot spell it to save my life, forgive please. But that is another story.

I remember VolksToy. They had two locations, one out near Perrin Beitel and 410. the other down Hildebrandt, across from a McDonald's. They specialized, as the name suggests, in selling Volkswagen and Toyota parts. Don't know if they are still around, but I'll check on it. I do remember seeing them fairly recently (last 5 years or so?)

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by Primo

Along those lines. With Carls Jr coming back to town...anyone remember the exact year or years that Carls Jr was in town. I remember them being here in early 80s, and then several of those locations became Burger King when they first came to town.

All Carl's Jr's in SA shut down in 1986.
There was also one on Fredricksberg and I-10. They all became Burger Kings. They had a different floor plan than the traditional BK's at the time. They had the order counter at the front of the store and the seating area along the side. Traditional BK's had used a standard rectangle formula with the counter on one side of the dinning room and all the seating stretching back from it. The first real BK building was on Huebner and Babcock. It might be some kind of Tequira de whatever now. I think the second was at (then) Wonderland Mall. I only know this cause in high school it was kind of a game for us to spot the original Carl's Juniors!!!

BTW, I recently took my nieces to the new Carl's Jr's near Kirby. They LOVED it. They told everybody when we got back that they "were so full, but couldn't stop eating!". Me, I thought it was a little better than a Mickey d's or Wendy's.

[GWhopper]

WOW. I haven't checked in since July and have spent 3 days catching up on posts! It is always a pleasure to spend days reading page after page of this stuff.

What spurred me back to this site is I found a place that was definitely gone, almost forgotten, but is now back!

Several months ago I posted that i heard that the Old San Francisco Steakhouse was reopened. I was reluctant to try it because the last time I went there (shortly before it closed and the same family from Mexico owned it that bought the old Maggie's and started tearing it apart), the food was just simply awefull. The steak, which I think even Golden Corral wouldn't serve, tasted like it was boiled in water. It was so aweful.

Fast foward to last night, on a whim I decided to take my wife there since they reopend. I can tell you this: The steak I had was better than Morton's or Ruth's Chris. It was incredible. I'm not sure if it equals CowCatcher's, but it has to be close. Price-wise, it's not bad for a high-end steak. I got the grandaddy of steaks that all true steak lovers enjoy, the bone-in ribeye. This is usually an al'e carte steak at most places , but at the San Francisco it comes with a salad and two sides.

Both me and my wife took the signature salad, which was mixed field greens with strawberries, tangerines, walnuts, and feta with a raspberry dressing. As you can imagine by the description it was way too sweet. But that was the only low note in the evening.

The new owners tracked down the suppliers of the famous swiss cheese blocks and it's back there in all it's cheesy glory, and they even got the original sourdough bread recipe (though I remember the old restaurant served both a white sourdough and dark rye loaf with sesame seeds).

This was a big bummer for me: The original house salad is currently gone. I remember it as being a standard garden salad with a slightly creamy italian dressing that contained some sort of shredded cheese. I loved that salad more than anything else on the menu and would love to hear if anyone else remembers it.

I got to speak with the general manager and he said they had inherited a lot of paperwork from the old owners and he would personally look through it to find the salad recipe. He then gave me the history of the current ownership. Apparantly, after the family in Mexico ran the place into the ground, the owner of Absolutely Delicious catering bought not just the restauraunt but ALL of the franchise rights (there were locations in both Dallas and Austin, all closed). She, like many people like myself on this thread, have a lot of nostalgia for this place, and wants to restore it to it's primetime grandure. She's doing a great job. The main dinning room looks EXACTLY the way it did when I was maybe 7 years old, though it has clearly been cleaned up. The lighting is much better than it was and hits the right kind of note between too bright and too dark (I always remember that place being too dark, you could barely see the menu!) They still have the girl on the swing and (don't mention this to my wife) she looked hotter then the girls I remember as a kid (although I don't think I appreciated the female form as much at 7 or 10 as I do now). Did I mention the cheese is awesome?

Regardless, this is a local business woman bringing back a local cultural icon back from the dead and I strongly hope we can support this effort.

Get the bone-in ribeye, you won't be disappointed,

[linskie]

Originally Posted by GJTexas

The Las Palapas used to be a Winchells donut shop originally. The flower shop that used to be at the corner I believe was called flowers to go. One of the first fast food places to be opened on that corner was a Long John Silvers. There was also a GW Jr's there at one time. There was also a Church's fried chicken there. The GW Jr's was one of those pre-fabricated buildings that went up in about a week. The Albertsons that used to be was originally opened as a Skaggs-Albertsons then Skaggs dropped out of the partnership and it became Albertsons. I don't remember there being a Pizza Inn at the corner but next to McDonalds used to be a Pizza Hut. Does anyone remember Connies taco that used to be down West Ave past the Dairy Queen. How about the Wayne Bull auto parts store? I used to work there in the early 80's after i graduated high school.

Finally - someone remembers Connie's Tacos. They had a "Special" taco for $1.29 that was five-or-so ingredients in the tortilla. I remember splurging for one on high self-esteem days. Some other spots in that neighborhood: A bar at the end of the Albertson's strip center call "The Shadows", one of the first Las Palapas at West Ave and Patricia (now Ruthie's), four or five pizza places at West and Blanco (Dante's Pizza, Godfather's Pizza, Pizza Hut, Pizza Inn, and Mr. Gatti's), Royale Burger (now current Las Palapas) the old Churchill National Bank evolved into a video arcade, Click's Billiards (now gone).
I was a fan of GW Jrs which was a sister property of Church's Fried Chicken, so GWs were always located next to a Church's. Now, once in a while, one can spot an old GW location housing a used car lot office or an insurance business because of a similiar old (or current Church's) building next to it.

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

It was Pancho Willie's after Alamo Cafe.
The same owners eventually opened Willie's backyard patio further up on 281.

Primo, that same family has owned other restaurants in SA going back at least 30 years. The reason that I know is that one of our former co-workers was a friend of the family and worked for them in all their restaurants. I'll give you one hint as to who it is:

Condongulations.

Yes. That guy.

Pancho Willie's had some good food, its a shame it did not last.