Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part II (Laredo: income, trailer)

[Primo]

Originally Posted by HillCountryHotRodMan

Thanks for the info. I remember that nothing really stayed there for very long.

This is my favorite thread. It's nice to be able to reminisce about things in yesteryear San Antonio.

I want to say Sea Island was there at least 7 years, maybe more? And it is ironic....they did so well (that was their 2nd location)...that cocky Albertsons kept raising the rent and that is what prompted them to move up I-10. My parents eat their every Friday, Lent or not and got to know the owners and got all the gossip. And only a few years later...albertsons closed up shop.

And if you notice....Sea Island made all their new locations look like the that rustic building inside and out....not the original on Rector(they all have a fishing/nautical theme...but the original has white walls and more a spanish galleon feel to it...the newer ones are rustic timbers).
It was a real shame that Blockbuster ruined that building...tore down all the authentic rustic lumber..stuccoed it and pained it safely yellow....now it sits abandoned. Now that location is doomed to ever become another restaurant, because that secret govt school that set up shop in the albertsons...put a gate & wall around that huge parking lot and that Pat/Sea Island/blockbuster has only about 15 parking slots.

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Yeah, I noticed. It looks really weird. I also remember across I-10 on Wurzbach there was a Sombrero Rosa and then it closed and became a Taco Cabana and now it's a Pasha restaurant. Further up on the same side of the street there was a Taco Bell before it moved across the street. I remember taking my first dates to the Pizza Hut there at Wurzbach & I-10 and then we would go to the Northwest 6. Or we would eat at the Mama's that was right next to the theatre.

You know, back when most kids that age used to "date" rather than "hang out".

[huckster]

However there are copies of San Antonio's infamous Blue Book,
page by page, on the web.

Originally Posted by BudB

Thanx Gabby and I for one am sorely disappointed that Madame Theresa never took her memoirs to a printer to scorch a couple hundred pages and several reputations. Fort Worth has an entire book about their notorious Red Light district so we should have one as well and Billy Keilman's little Blue book don't count. "Hell's Half Acre: The Life and Legend of a Red Light District" goes all the way back to when cowboys were drifting into Cowtown from the Chisolm Trail for some sport and San Antonio must have been just as wild maybe wilder. But a modern cathouse also deserves the literary treatment so if anybody knows where Miss Brown's manuscript went, please speak up!

[Boss Rider]

Originally Posted by BudB

Hey Bossman do you recall your Delmar address? Were you on Delmar when the old ice house on the corner burned up about 1956 or '57? If you lived in that block you may recall SAPD Captain "Babe" Matheny who lived on the opposite corner right across the street from Poe Jr. Hi's old red brick, wood and metal shops building. .

We lived at 545 Delmar, right on the corner of Gevers and Delmar, from mid 1948 to December of 1956. Moved to Schley Ave then, and Mom still lives there.
I remember seeing the aftermath of the icehouse fire, so it must have been 56.
I met the good Captain on a professional level in '59 and '60 while street racing in the Pecan Valley area and drag racing down near Mitchell lake (55 Ford w/ 56 Merc 392 engine, 4Bbl, cam, headers). Had nothing but respect for him, though. Always a calm, cool, pro, unlike his Barney Fife deputy.

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by HillCountryHotRodMan

Yeah, I noticed. It looks really weird. I also remember across I-10 on Wurzbach there was a Sombrero Rosa and then it closed and became a Taco Cabana and now it's a Pasha restaurant. Further up on the same side of the street there was a Taco Bell before it moved across the street. I remember taking my first dates to the Pizza Hut there at Wurzbach & I-10 and then we would go to the Northwest 6. Or we would eat at the Mama's that was right next to the theatre.

You know, back when most kids that age used to "date" rather than "hang out".

Man sombrero Rosa was a hangout of mine, went to the one by Churchill HS.

[BudB]

Originally Posted by Boss Rider

We lived at 545 Delmar ... remember seeing the aftermath of the icehouse fire, so it must have been 56.
I met the good Captain on a professional level in '59 and '6o ...

Thanks for adding the info Boss and '56 seems about right for that awesome icehouse fire. As mentioned Capt. Matheny lived directly across the street from the icehouse so his front yard became prime viewing spot while the local firemen fought the inferno. That would have been the men from Fire Station #9 which is still there as seen below. It sits at the corners of Mittman and Delmar and is a good example of a number of fire houses built in SA during the 1920s. all over town.
Capt. Matheny's nickname was Babe, and had apparently been given to him originally because he looked like Babe Ruth at a time when the baseball great was at his peak.

[SATX56]

Nice Fire Station Photo Bud! Thanks for sharing it. Extra bay on the left was probably an add on. I believe it is similar to the Fire House at Zarzamora and Culebra! I think it was still open ..passed it a few days ago. I've been to all the Fire houses except newer ones built in last 15 years maybe. Wonder if the musical talent Matheny Bros. were related to this fella.

[BudB]

Originally Posted by satx56

Nice Fire Station Photo Bud! Wonder if the musical talent Matheny Bros. were related to this fella.

Glad you liked seeing the old firehouse. There are many others around town of the same vintage, some closed others still operating like the one on S. Presa near Steves Ave. Sometime down the road the city will have a SAFD museum to be installed in the big old Central Headquarters Station behind the Alamo. That will happen when the new Central Station is completed at N. Cherry and Dawson but don't hold your breath as they've not even broken ground there yet. I look forward to visiting a SAFD museum whenever it's done since it will have lots of fotos and some vintage equipment as well or so I'm told; we'll see. We had one other spectacular fire in my old Denver Heights neighborhood and just around the corner from the icehouse. The other time about 1958 it was a large, two story wooden frame house that burned very brightly at night on Porter St. at New Braunfels across from the old Red & White Market. I guess fires aren't exactly fun things to remember but does anyone else have a SA fire tale to tell? Or are there any SA firemen out there?
And no, as far as I can say Captain Babe Matheny was not kin to Pat Matheny or his band but who knows, maybe he was. Whaddya think, is there a reason that they might be connected ... both from SA?

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by BudB

Glad you liked seeing the old firehouse.
And no, as far as I can say Captain Babe Matheny was not kin to Pat Matheny or his band but who knows, maybe he was. Whaddya think, is there a reason that they might be connected ... both from SA?

I've been in parts of this one too and a storage area attached I believe. Wish I could remember what was in there. I have no idea, was just curious about the Matheny's possible connection. The one or both worked for CPS back in the 70's I think. I met the wife of a man that ran an old Humble station on S.Flores and Hart street when I was a kid. She was a secretary at the old fire training facility on Zarzamora. Early 90's I guess that was. They also did Fire truck and modulance repair at that facility. Equipment like the hydraulic "Jaws of Life" were maintained there also.

[BudB]

Originally Posted by satx56

I met the wife of a man that ran an old Humble station on S.Flores and Hart street when I was a kid.

Memory tells me that policeman Matheny was a bachelor but I'm not certain about that.
Thanks for mentioning the old Humble station on S. Flores as that was one of many I visited as a small boy with my granddad. He was nearing retirement after nearly 35 years with the Humble Co. when I began living with them at age 5. His job then was to drive around in a red over white 1949 Chevy pickup to Humble stations all over town dropping off new batteries, tires, or other parts that customers ordered and occasionally taking extra cash receipts to a local bank. Mostly I remember being treated to sodas, peanuts and candy, etc. by the service station guys who all knew my grandfather so thot his grandson was there to spoil. That and jumping up and down on the air hose laid across the driveway that made a bell ring.
One special memory is of a motorcycle cop stopping to get a Coke at the station we were visiting. He opened the bottle and drank a quick swallow or two then poured salted peanuts into the bottle and slowly drank the rest; I don't know why but I can close my eyes and see him doing it plain as day. Wish I could remember where all those Humble stations were but there were so many and almost none survive except for this one at 1091 S. Laredo. Take a look at it here; San Antonio Humble Gas Station Wins National 'This Place Matters' Contest.
You also mentioned the fire training site on Zarzamora which I don't recall. Where is the current one located?