Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part II (Spring: spring break, kids)

[1313]

My father worked for Datapoint assigned to USAA.. that lucky situation allowed me to become fully USAA eligible as an adult to this day. Back in high school I was the lucky owner of a fabulous Apple II Plus with a whopping 48K of memory!! WOW!! I even used to know some FORTRAN, COBOL and even a bit of 6502 assembly language.. what a nerd. At high school we had a WANG mainframe that used marked cards for program entry.. amazing what a little over 25 years does for technology.

[ged_782]

Originally Posted by Dwangle

Does anybody remember the early days of computers? Datapoint made a personal computer but their main client back then was USAA.

USAA may have been Datapoint's biggest local customer, but their products were actually sold & installed worldwide. By the late 1980s, I think the bulk of their business came from outside the United States.

[johnrex62]

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

ummm....you forget ol' Frenchie at the Shamrock station across from what was then KBAT, just north of the creek there?

Just up the road from TX Star was our liquor store (until the mid-70's) and Hardware store (until the mid-70's). T&L Ice House in beautiful downtown Leon Valley....Paula's Cafe next to our hardware store, Meiske's Gas Station...

Alas, ol' Frenchie never made my dance card. Back in those days I was at the mercy of the boss man who made the dining choices, so it was mostly El Azteca, Texas Star Inn, Hickory Hut, Floores, and Jim's Frontier. Anything else was purely by accident or because he had to meet someone near lunch time.

On a number of occassions I had to hitch a ride home with my Dad's partner and we always stopped at T&L to get a coke and a 6-pack. Yeah, I got the coke. He would usually have the 6-pack down to 3 before we got on 410 to head back south. Yeah, open containers were illegal back then, just not so well enforced.

In the early 70's my Dad's truck was so worn out that it barely made it up the three hills in Leon Valley. We had to pray it would crest each hilltop, usually moving at 5mph or less with the engine racing like mad and the line of cars behind up wondering what the hell we were doing. I was so glad he bought a new truck that summer.

[johnrex62]

Originally Posted by Dwangle

Does anybody remember the early days of computers? Datapoint made a personal computer but their main client back then was USAA. I used to work in computer rooms cutting holes in computer floors to run cables. Remember some of the languages? FORTRAN? COBOL? I took a computer course at UTSA in the late seventies. It was all punch cards! A real pain to use. There was a big debate over which system would eventually take over--The Main Frame Vs. The Personal computer. Secretary's all needed to learn Word Perfect. I joined the Comodore 64 club. Now THAT was a computer!

I was at UTSA in the early eighties and we still had the same punch card system. It wasn't until 83 that they bought some punch card machines with a buffer so you could punch in the 80 chars and edit before stamping the card. It was a nightmare when you made a mistake after char 50 and had a deadline to get all 600 cards punched.

[kryophan]

ok, I am gonna jump in on this thread. We moved to SA in 1971 when my father lost his business in del rio after my mother died.

I attended john jay (when I wasn't truant, that is).

We lived in rainbow hills, right at the intersection of demya and horal.

Place I remember? The piggly wiggly at marbach and 410. It later became an heb.

The infamous blue ice store on marbach near john jay.

mr gatti's on sw military. My first real job was working there washing dishes in about 1974.

La Espiga, a taco place on blanco just south of 410 (the daughter of the owners there liked me, but I could not pull the trigger...)

The Handy Andy at sw military and 90.
There was a auditorium in that general area where I saw ted nugent play in about 77.

I also attended holmes high. Strange school with round buildings....never seen anything like it....

What was the all you can eat mexican food place that had several locations? Known for their sopapillas. Our family almost broke them....

attended utsa in the 80s. Used to have a great cafeteria there, then they were commercial and went after the student dollars like all the other universities. I programmed a vax computer in basic there....

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Originally Posted by kryophan

What was the all you can eat mexican food place that had several locations? Known for their sopapillas. Our family almost broke them....

Was it the place where you could raise the little flag if you wanted more food? There's a Pancho's at 410 and Marbach. When I was a kid I worked summers mucking stalls, pickin' up rocks and taking care of horses for 10 bucks a day and the boss bought me lunch at Pancho's several days a week.

[Nix54]

Does anyone know any former employees that used to work at the old Coney Island downtown on St. Mary's street across from the Empire theatre? Sure would like to get the recipe for a Genuine Coney Island hot dog. When the Coney Island closed it moved to Broadway street across from Brackenridge park.

[TXsurburbanmom]

I was going to answer the Panchos question but it's already answered. Are those still around? I loved their sopapillas! I'm sure it would be under different ownership if it was.

My cousin and husband went to Holmes. Actually my cousin was murdered getting off a Holmes school bus in '79 then my husband started there the next year. Even though he didn't know Billy he was slightly freaked out--and not by the round buildings. My Jr. High in San Angelo was round too, I wonder if it was some 70's thing--anyone know when Holmes was built?

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by kryophan

ok, I am gonna jump in on this thread.
mr gatti's on sw military. My first real job was working there washing dishes in about 1974.

Whoa!! Mr Gatti's in 1974???

[ricvphoto]

I am looking for employees of the Studers Photo Lab on the southside...I worked, ran and slept in the place at least it seems for years before they shut down.If anyone remembers someone from there let me know
Richard Vasquez
[email]ricvphoto@sbcglobal.net[/email]