Gone but not forgotten in San Antonio! (Austin, Mission: new home, theater)

[940]

This thread is for those who have lived in SA for some time now or maybe just have memories of places that no longer exist. It might be interesting to some of the newer folks who have no idea what used to be here, whether it was a beloved place or just something different that you can't find anymore.

I'm in my early 40s but I remember all the old movie drive-ins that used to be everywhere in the city. We used to frequent the old Bandera Rd Drive-In that used to be located at the SE corner of Bandera and Loop 410 where the old Target building sits empty. We also used to go to the Fredericksburg Rd Drive-In about a mile past Crossroads Mall (the old Wonderland Mall) just south of Loop 410. I remember the Woodlawn, the Mission and the Valley Hi theaters also.

For those that live on the far west side near Potranco Rd, there used to be a business just about 1/2 mile south of Potranco outside 1604 where you could drive back into the woods and target shoot. It was called appropriately enough "A Place to Shoot"...original, eh?! That wouldn't go over so well now with all the new homes being built, of course.

Also, at the eastern corner where Potranco Rd and Talley Rd deadends, was an old country gas station and store named "Reds" with old 1930s or 1940s gas pumps. It was owned by Mr and Mrs Red Laidley and they stocked everything from some basic groceries to farm and ranch equipment and feed for livestock. Most people don't know this but if you can find an old scary movie entitled "Race with the Devil" starring M*A*S*H TV star Loretta Swit and also starring Peter Fonda, you can see just how rural Potranco and that area used to be. The film was made around 1973 and the premise of the film involved two couples trying to get away from devil worshippers who caught them spying on one of their sacrifices..anyway..the scene shows them driving on Potranco towards Talley Rd in their RV and stopping at Reds for gas and information. You get a great shot of what the interior of this old country store looked like and you see both Mr Laidley and his elderly wife who had bit parts in the film. In the distance, you can see empty farm land and not the sea of homes that inhabit the view now.

The old gas station there off Culebra just to the west of 1604 that I hear was finally demolished for a new Jim's was called "Dan's"...it was similar to the store just mentioned above..Red's...everything seemed to have just one name! It serviced all the farms and ranches on FM 471 from where the old Grissom Rd intersected to the east all the way west towards the county line.

Anyone else have any old memores? I'll add some more later!

[LivingLikeAGradStudent]

Earl Abel's, of course. I didn't care for the food but plenty of people did. It was strange seeing it demolished.

[Steel Man]

Great post 940!

I can only go back as far as 1979, but 27 years would count as a classic..in cars that is. I remember the drive-ins, especially the Valley-Hi and Mission theaters (I believe the Mission is the only one still open).

I remember when Marbach ended just past Hunt Lane and was the entrance into Heritage Northwest. I remember when Potranco was only two lanes. I remember some old stores no longer in SA, such as Handy Dan's (driven out of business by Builder's Square), and Montgomery Ward's to name a few.

[940]

I used to be able to drive on two laned 1604 back in the early 80's and get anywhere pretty quick. There was literally NO traffic at all on 1604 and every major intersection was a four way stop sign. I could leave my parent's house off Potranco..drive up 1604 to Braun Rd...down Braun to Bandera Rd...down Bandera towards Marshall High...and be at school off Eckert and Bandera within 15-20 minutes!! If you saw more than 3 or 4 cars at 6.45 in the morning on the way to school, then something was up..

I also remember Handy Dan..and Handy Andy grocery stores where the closest was off Culebra Rd just north of Potranco. I remember when Piggly Wiggly's were in SA too along with Woolco (a local K*Mart type of store).

[googie2525]

Most definately Playland Park. I'm 35 and have very faint, but pleasant, memories, of the place, but talk to any old-timer and their eyes usually light up. Here's a recent article from the SA Current, the 2006 Best Of issue:

READER'S PICK

Most missed place of the last 20 years
Playland Park

By the *****ing of my thumb, something evil this way comes: Some of us are too new to SA to remember Playland Park, but the dilapidated remnants have a spooky feeling native only to fun parks and traveling carnivals. One anonymous 40-something native recalls, “Stale cotton candy, bullies, and stinky bathrooms,” but feels some nostalgia nonetheless. “For some unknown reason my parents felt that it was safe and let us out of their sight so we could get away from them. And just for the record, we didn’t care that the cotton candy was stale.”

[OzzyRules]

Woolco was a large discount store opened by Woolworth's 5 and 10 in 1963. It was a national store, it just wasn't as successful as KMart.

Walmart first opened in 1963.

KMart also first opened in 1963, by Kresge (JS Kress) 5 and 10.

[sapphire]

Anyone remember those clothing stores--La Feria, Solo Serve?
Also, I think it's still around but I haven't been there in ages--it's called Burger Time on Valley-Hi Drive. They had decent burgers but they sold the best fried fish dinners. Remember when Luby's was affordable?

Pear Apple County Fair was kinda fun. We still have a caricature of us that we had done there!

[sapphire]

Remember when Kelly AFB was up and running? That was like the premier place to work in San Antonio. I remember too when USAA was like Ft Knox as far as getting on there--you had to know someone who knew someone. I got a call out of the blue from them last month calling ME for an interview. They got my resume off Monster.

Remember when Windcrest was considered "uppity"? They did have the coolest Christmas displays, though. Do they still do that?

Does anyone remember when American Airlines announced they were coming here--it turned out to be a call center and they paid their people like $6 an hour or something. Everyone was so excited at first!

Remember Henry Cisneros singing about the Alamodome? Dome, dome, dome, dome, dome, Al-a-mo-dome??? Remember the big scare when his son was born with the defective heart? Remember the Linda Medlar thing?

Remember when the pope visited?

[940]

I remember when Henry Cisneros was mayor; also Lila Cockrell. I remember when the Pope came to town and held his mass on part of the land that is now Stevens High School off Potranco Rd...1987, I believe?

I remember Playland Park..I also remember doing a tour of the Lone Star Brewery near downtown and their Hall of Horns or something like that.

I remember when the only things at the intersection of Hwy 281 and Loop 1604 was a County Line BBQ restaurant and a dinner theatre that actually had B List actors from California come and perform for up to six weeks at a time. That was so far out in the boonies back in the late 70s and early 80s that you actually had to stop on 1604 at the four way stop sign for 281...and then hang a right and drive south towards civilization which really didn't hit until you got closer to the airport although Hill Country Village was around but very rural.

I also remember when the only television available was channels 4, 5, 9, 12 and 41. Channel 9 was always PBS but years ago, it shared the transmitter with the city of Austin thus making the picture fuzzy and unwatchable for both cities. Austin eventually broke away and got their own station and channel 9 moved its transmitter closer to the city thus improving our reception as well. And unless you spoke spanish, channel 41 was SIN (Spanish International Network) which eventually became Univision of today.

[googie2525]

Ah yes, the B-list dinner theatre off 1604, was it the Harlequin Dinner Theatre or the Fiesta Dinner Theatre...I can't recall? Used to be in the sticks. It was owned for many years by Earl Holliman of Polica Woman fame:

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...rlHolliman.jpg