Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part II (Abilene: summer, working)

[Ken Southeast]

Originally Posted by BudB

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?

Your talking about the Porter/New Braunfels intersection reminded me of my "victory party at the end of WWII." I can't remember if it was VE Day (in May) or VJ Day (in August), but this is what I do remember. My dad and mom and baby brother and I walked the couple of blocks to that intersection which seemed to be our neighborhood's celebration point. I remember lots of horns blowing, some church bells ringing, and crowds of people (seemed like hundreds were out on the streets and in their yards and front porches). My dad and mom (who were not big drinkers) each bought a beer at the "ice station" (I think it was next to the Sinclair station catty corner from the A & P). Me being all of 4-1/2, I asked if I could have my own 6 oz. Coke. I drank all of it and asked for another, seeing as how everyone was still celebrating. Dad said, "OK, but you have got to finish it" (after all, it cost a whole nickle). I agreed, drank up, threw up on the way home and could not tolerate the smell or taste of Coke again for at least 7 or 8 years.

[Nix54]

Theres a new battle brewing at the Alamo. Not only is the custodianship in question but just exactly when the roof is going to cave in. So we all better visit the Alamo real soon!

I received this email....

The DRT's statement:
As for the roof of the Alamo's church, Sloan wrote, "I have personally
walked on the top of the length and width of the vaulted roof and detected
no indication of weakness or instability."

The Engineer's statement:
We are in the process of studying the Alamo Shrine roof structure and hope
to know more about it, soon, but I have walked most of the length and
breadth of the top of the vaulted roof, myself, within the last two weeks,
and I believe that it is stable and safe, and will remain so for, at least,
the next several months (say, 6).

If anybody wants a copy of what the Governor's Office sent me this
afternoon, I will be delighted to forward it.

To search the archives, go to RootsWeb: TEXAS-CENTENNIAL-L Archives
*******
See the websites for the Texas Centennial at PictureTrail - Gallery


Can anyone give some insight into this?

[BudB]

Originally Posted by Ken Southeast

I have a lot of memories of Poe (good and otherwise) and was grateful about ten years ago when they had an open house and let everyone visit the old building just before they tore it down to build the new one. It was great to see everything again after 50 years and it all looked pretty much the same except the auditorium was much smaller than I remembered. What I remember most about the "Shop Building" is freezing my butt off at 8:00 am on the New Braunfels side when we waited there for the Mech Drawing teacher to come open the door for us.

Ken you were at Poe just a few years before me at the same time my sister Pat was there. But it was probably mostly the same teachers like Coaches Jimmy Dugger & Mr. Montoya, Mr. Briscoe did Texas History, Mrs. Franke taught math, etc. Ms. Buchannon was my home room teacher first year and Mr. Robinson was the long time principal. Mech. drawing was then taught by bow-tied Lucius Campbell who moved to Highlands a few years later where I had him again for algebra.
Was Coach Dugger doing the Poe Minstrels(1955 below) when you were there? Man talk about politically incorrect and those were the good ol' days of getting "swats" with a paddle in wood shop for misbehaving around the power tools or "licks" in gym from Dugger's wicked little knotted leather rope with his whistle attached .... "grab your ankles boy!" And yes it stung like the devil but you got the point.
Mr. Briscoe also headed up the Operators Club which I joined and became a film projectionist. That was cool because you missed one period a day and showed cooking films in the all girls kitchen classroom, etc. or feature movies in the auditorium. We lived just a half block away on Cooper St. off New Braunfels so it was only a five minute walk home for me. That old school was built in the mid 1920s so was not air-conditioned but had ceiling fans in all classrooms and cafeteria. My dad and uncles went to Poe in the late 1920s when Coach Dugger was just starting his long career there lasting well into the 1960s.
Living in Austin, I missed the reunion you mentioned for that one last visit. But I did get a couple snapshots of the old red brick building before it was demolished. To SAISD's credit, Poe was fully integrated by 1958 when I arrived, well ahead of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

[Primo]

This was mentioned in the restaurant open/closing thread.

The strip center at West Ave & NW Military...on the end is a present day IHOP Cafe (same strip center as La Scala)....this location has been so many things over the years. Someone mentioned Kenny Rogers Roasters...I remember in the late 80s it was a gourmet burger place called "Burger Time" or was it "Burgies"? or both?...it has been countless other things...every 6 months. What are all the places that been in that samed doomed location?

[gbotello]

Originally Posted by outafocus

Another great Mexican food place was The Corn Shack on West Avenue, just south of IH 10. They had a tortilla making machine that was fun for a kid to watch

I actually, very briefly, knew the owner of the Corn Shack. He was married to a friend of my wife's.

Sadly, he died very young (in his mid-30's) of throat cancer. It was very aggressive and took his life within a few months of diagnosis. The place closed soon after his death.

[Dwangle]

Ok well the Hurricane is on the way and with the oil spill we might all end up like the "GOLDEN GIRL" in that old James Bond movie and I haven't eaten all day and everybody is talking about food --Oh by the way--that new Jimi Hendrix record "Valleys of Neptune" I thought it was really FAR OUT!. Do you remember " The Colonel's got Rib's" or how about " Corn and Cluck" how about the Macdonalds "McDLT" I still wish I could get a "MOBY JACK" They might still have it I dunno. Just a little ways from the CORNSHACK was HOLBROOK CONSTRUCTION --I have some memories of the place but I don't really want to share them unless you are familiar with it.

[Primo]

We have discussed a lot of places...what about pivotal events from San Antonio's past. For some reason the other day I was thinking about when the garbage men went on strike in the mid to late 70's and there was no garbage pick up for many weeks. Does anyone remember what year that was?
I remember several weeks went by with no garbage pick up and chaos was starting to ensue. I can still remember being over at my cousins house in the Dellview area and the city had designated Pilgrim Public Pool as a location you could come drop off your garage. I will never forget that scene - it was right out of a disaster movie...there was this mob of people and a panic like trying to get on the last helicopter leaving Saigon. I think they were only limiting people to droping off 2 garbage bags per car or family. It was crazy, and I remember being scared. Pilgrim was bad enough on a normal weekend...imagine this scene!

Anyone have memories of this event or have details of the garbage strike?

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

I don't remember the garbage strike, but I remember when Henry B. Gonzalez punched the guy at Earl Abels. Does anyone remember that?

[ged_782]

Originally Posted by Primo

We have discussed a lot of places...what about pivotal events from San Antonio's past. For some reason the other day I was thinking about when the garbage men went on strike in the mid to late 70's and there was no garbage pick up for many weeks. Does anyone remember what year that was?

Yes, I vaguely remember it. It was definitely late 1970s, and I'm pretty sure it was 1979. Tom Huebner was the City Manager then, and he played hardball with the worker's demands. Ended up firing a bunch of them, IIRC. I remember seeing pictures of all the people lined up outside City Hall when they were taking applications to fill the multiple vacated positions.

I think most people just let their garbage pile up at home, and then put it all out when the strike was settled. We had thrice weekly pickup back then, either M-W-F or Tu-Th-Sa. It went to twice weekly either immediately or shortly after the strike.

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by Primo

We have discussed a lot of places...what about pivotal events from San Antonio's past. For some reason the other day I was thinking about when the garbage men went on strike in the mid to late 70's and there was no garbage pick up for many weeks. Does anyone remember what year that was?
I remember several weeks went by with no garbage pick up and chaos was starting to ensue. I can still remember being over at my cousins house in the Dellview area and the city had designated Pilgrim Public Pool as a location you could come drop off your garage. I will never forget that scene - it was right out of a disaster movie...there was this mob of people and a panic like trying to get on the last helicopter leaving Saigon. I think they were only limiting people to droping off 2 garbage bags per car or family. It was crazy, and I remember being scared. Pilgrim was bad enough on a normal weekend...imagine this scene!

Anyone have memories of this event or have details of the garbage strike?

Oh Yeah, I remember this. We had a two car garage, but only parked one car in it. The trash accumulated for a few weeks in the empty side of the garage. It stank worse than anything I can describe. To paraphrase a famous movie, "it stank like something I would never want to smell twice in my life".

Even after service resumed, it took us about 3 or 4 pickups to get rid of all that garbage.