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Wow, my head is spinning. Just found this thread because I was reminiscing about Buccaneer Bowl! I may know Rust. I went to school with Judson M. -from Pope place, Wilson, Hamlin, Ray74.
As a kid, I remember walking to BBowl in the scorchy summer, into this suddenly dark and wonderfully cold place with modern architecture, unexpected little enclaves, the glassed in upstairs with the many pool tables where you could look down on the lanes below, the curved wall near the snack area, the round platform area where you stepped up to check in. I don't think we even bowled much, just wandered around, ate at the snack bar and played pinball. BB is etched in my memory. What a wonderful magical place it was for me as a kid, something so modern and new in my little 10 pin town.
Ashley's High Speed Boogie Shop was cool. I remember getting Patti Smiths horses album there. Ashley was from Austin where he had a store near ut where Les Amis rest was. my sister knew him there. I never could figure why he left cool Austin to move to cc.
I worked at the Taco 'smell' near there with the gas flame in front. Drunkies used to stand on the ledge around the flame and try to pee it out at night. Alameda was our stomping ground, burger chef, Enco, maverick market and Underwoods BBQ in that order. What was next to underwoods toward Carmel parkway? I think there were 2 or 3 other stores.
Parkdale plaza was our shopping place. I don't remember dinosaurs or trampolines but I remember petting zoos occasionally in the parking lot and Santa in the Plaza. And Neisners, was it 5 and dime? I remember the play area in the front corner of the HEB vaguely... Wasn't there a Lichtensteins there too? Parkdale, Piccadilly and Putt Putt and the Retama library. The Woolco roof collapse with Celia in 1970. Bought lots of records there.
I thought the residential courts near the now art museum were called The Indian Courts? Or something. Was dilapidated later on. Maybe this was what had been the Edgewater. The bldg was white later on and low rent residences. I know who owned them later and he also owned the Shoreline Drive In restaurant which was the very end turn around on Shoreline Dr. . I'd love to see a pic.
Remember Frenchys for adults at the beach on the road to port A?
I was just a little jellyfish then..
I visit cc fairly often but don't reside.
Excuse Darn ipad keyboard...
Last edited by Corpus Crusty; 04-25-2014 at 05:42 AM..
Wow, my head is spinning. Just found this thread because I was reminiscing about Buccaneer Bowl! I may know Rust. I went to school with Judson M. -from Pope place, Wilson, Hamlin, Ray74. <
Corpus Crusty, this is Habeas Corpus . . .older than you. You went to school with Mr. Judson Marsters son!
In 1974 I was doing grad work in Wash. D.C., watched X-President Richard Nixon's last flight from the White House from the roof of my bldg. at 19th. and K St. on August 9, 1974. I too went to Wilson Elementary school. In my 6th. grade class were Gary Lichtenstein, Sandra Bogus (Lewis Bogus Ford) Sharron Cox, David Gibson, Leigh Walton, and Dan(ny) Reader. Dan's mother taught 7th. grade English at Hamlin. I remember Morris Lichtenstein Jr. when I went back to CC during Hurricane Allen.
As a kid, I remember walking to BBowl in the scorchy summer, into this suddenly dark and wonderfully cold place with modern architecture, unexpected little enclaves, the glassed in upstairs with the many pool tables where you could look down on the lanes below, the curved wall near the snack area, the round platform area where you stepped up to check in. I don't think we even bowled much, just wandered around, ate at the snack bar and played pinball. BB is etched in my memory. What a wonderful magical place it was for me as a kid, something so modern and new in my little 10 pin town.<
I saw the old Buccaneer Bowl being build and knew some girls over there but didn't spend much time at the place. It was nice AND cool but I was spending most of my free time in Port A and Aransas Pass. Had a girlfriend in the Pass . . .young love, you know, and a car!
Ashley's High Speed Boogie Shop was cool. I remember getting Patti Smiths horses album there. Ashley was from Austin where he had a store near ut where Les Amis rest was. my sister knew him there. I never could figure why he left cool Austin to move to cc.<
Reminds me, Bobby Amaya, who grew up in the projects on Ayers, moved to Austin to open Amaya's Taco Village. He recently moved to a new location in South Austin, still going strong.
I worked at the Taco 'smell' near there with the gas flame in front. Drunkies used to stand on the ledge around the flame and try to pee it out at night. Alameda was our stomping ground, burger chef, Enco, maverick market and Underwoods BBQ in that order. What was next to underwoods toward Carmel parkway? I think there were 2 or 3 other stores. <
Are you talking about the old "Torch" Greek restaurant on Alameda? As a kid I used to hunt horny toads and frogs along Carmel Parkway - a euphemism for drainage feature feature (ditch.) I ought to have said, the now endangered Texas Horned Lizard. Recall when they once sold them to tourist along the roadside. My family was in partnership with the Town & Country restaurant across Robert St. from the Buccaneer. Didn't spend much time there either . . .later, in 1980's I gigged a bit at the old Club Robert, behind the restaurant. That could be a rough crowd and more properly called the "Buccaneer Club." Most often when leaving that club late at night you passed by the graveyard on Roberts and cause for thought.
Parkdale plaza was our shopping place. I don't remember dinosaurs or trampolines but I remember petting zoos occasionally in the parking lot and Santa in the Plaza. And Neisners, was it 5 and dime? I remember the play area in the front corner of the HEB vaguely... Wasn't there a Lichtensteins there too? Parkdale, Piccadilly and Putt Putt and the Retama library. The Woolco roof collapse with Celia in 1970. Bought lots of records there.<
Hombre, Parkdale Plaza was my play area!!!! There were some great dances across from Neisner's and next to Parkdale Records and women's dress shop. Leroy Frasier, Dawson Wilkins, and myself were always there for those summertime dances. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZZD8ckwLJA
I thought the residential courts near the now art museum were called The Indian Courts? Or something. Was dilapidated later on. Maybe this was what had been the Edgewater. The bldg was white later on and low rent residences. I know who owned them later and he also owned the Shoreline Drive In restaurant which was the very end turn around on Shoreline Dr. . I'd love to see a pic.<
Remember Frenchys for adults at the beach on the road to port A?
I was just a little jellyfish then..
I visit cc fairly often but don't reside.
Excuse Darn ipad keyboard...
<
Remember Frenchy's and Frenchy the Beachcomber. Port "A" and Aranasa Pass were my circuit in the early 60's. I had a convertible, gas was .30 cents a gallon, and Rust Never Slept!! Rust was heavily engaged in romances in Aransas county too! When friends in CC were cursing "Pick's" I was hitting the old dance pavilion in Aransas Pass on Saturday nights.
The other day I paid a Google Earth visit to my old house on Shell Ridge Road in Rockport. I hadn't seen it in 14 years for one reason or another. It's a bit off the road since I moved near Seadrift I came in on 239 from Goliad to Tivoli and missed Rockport as a rule. Anyhoo, I was shocked at how much had changed with my old house, rented, and Shell Ridge Rd. Most of those old properties had been demolished and new homes built on elevated pilings. My place looked sort of dumpy, faded, and lifeless, maybe befitting a decomposing
Rusty, Habeas Corpus Christi. When I lived there I had mass plantings of blue morning glories and moon flowers. It was an unpretentious beach vacation house.
Concerning the old Shoreline Drive In restaurant, I have a photograph somewhere on one of these machines I'll forward when I run into again . . .my photographs/files are emm'. . . . lacking to say the least.
Your post are the kind I find most interesting. It reminds me of a more charming city by the bay and more innocent times. The city has become a sprawling hustle out of proportion to it's old charm, lacks forward city leadership and civic pride as evidenced in it's urban paper trash tumble-weeds blowing down the streets
at night. These post remind me of a time and place that unfortunately no longer exist except in memory. They were certainly good memories for me . . .I still laugh at some of the stuff we did in the day.
I recall playing a party at the John Pitcairn home on Hewit Dr. and how pristine clean Corpus was after the hurricane. That area was immaculately maintained. Last time I was there I drove around the block with an old friend . . . decay seem to be creeping in on the backside. The Pitcairn's were famous in Santa Fe, N.M. for their support of the arts. They were also long time supporters of the CC Yacht Club. . .excuse me, I was thinking about the upcoming Buccaneer Day's thingie. . .Pitcairn Island, Mutiny on the Bounty, and the fact that Captain Bligh was voted one of the 50 worst villains of all times by the American Film Institute.
Read the other day, city Councilman David Loeb moved to annex the property of the proposed wind-farm site. Recall meeting his father, real estate/development businessman, in the early 80's. Of course they want to encourage more sprawl and ave nowhere else to go but south . . .seems to be it would be wiser to focus more on quality of life for existing souls than quantity of bodies (tax base). I'd like to see Apex Clean Energy push back on that one . . . there are some deep conflict of interests with wind energy and big oil.
It was explained to me that it takes the same amount of water to raise an acre of corn for bio-fuel that it does to generate one fracking well. Wind power uses no water, and when push come to shove, water is more important than oil in Texas. The single most important thing the City of CC has ever done is construct the seawall and port facilities. That set the stage for things to come in 1941. It seems they have been sucking off that work done by a hardier generation for the last 70 years.
In the 80's, living across the ditch awhile on North Beach an old retired merchant marine explained the build of the first breakwater on North Beach before the port was built. Over several days he told me the story as he remembered it as a young man. I'm speaking of the rock jetty just south of the current USS Lexington site. If any old-timers recall a little tar-papered shack/house on the northeast corner of Seagull Blvd. and Breakwater Ave. that had 50 something containers of all sorts with roses sitting in front, that was Red's place. He was a head merchant marine cook and traveled the world, bringing back roses. He was well educated and excellent story teller, maybe 70 years old when I knew him. Building the jetties at Port Aransas, the CC breakwaters, T-heads and seawall was truly man-sized work at the time. His little shack was clean and neat after a lifetime of living in small spaces on ships. That man could cook in his tiny kitchen. Who would have thought that old man made exquisite "Coquille de Coquina" ( pronounced Ko-kill' Ko-Kina ) and home made French bread with his WW2 US Navy dinnerware bearing it's fouled and fluked anchor. He didn't drive or have a car so I got to know him well. I left CC again in 82' and didn't return until a brief visit in 1996 when everything I knew of NB was gone, including Red and his Illegal roses - He would take cuttings from around the globe, nurse them aboard ship until he returned. He had friends who watered his roses for years.
You must have been very young when Hurricane Carla hit in Sept. of 1961 . . .a particularly brutal storm. That event has always impressed me with how powerful Mother Nature can be on occasion. It completely took out the colorful little shrimping barrio around Conn Brown harbor in Aransas Pass. I attended the blessing of the shrimp fleet with my girlfriends family earlier that spring at Conn Brown Harbor. Her family owned a fleet of Fort Myers Florida shrimp boats and packing house in the Pass where they lived in the summer. The only thing that hasn't changed is the old Bakery Cafe on S Commercial St. It's heart-stopping breakfast and hypertension chicken fried steak were as good as ever last time I was in the area. Happily, that nasty old Carbon Black on Bus. 35 was shut down after rubber sooting the area for a lifetime.
RNS, enjoyed your musings and expertise on old CC. Yes I am a gen younger I guess. I remember Carla some but Celia more. I lived on the southside near Everhart and Alameda since the mid 50s. All my family still lives in CC area. I live in Austin.
My father was a chem eng for the CC oil refineries, as a sideline he owned rental properties and for a while the Shoreline Drive Inn with a partner before the city got the land to develop the Art Museum area. Across the side st he owned a low income stucco housing apts, called the Indian Chief near N. Shoreline.
I would love to have a picture of the Shoreline Drive in. It was on the far N end of Shoreiine facing the median area. There was some official looking bldg in front of it in the median area. The road in front of the Drive in was like the turn around to go back to town on Shoreline. I'd love to see that area gain, I'm not sure what was behind it but it had to be one 1 or 2 blocks from the channel behind it? Not sure, I was a kid.
I am researching old photos of CC at the CC library online for a slideshow of old CC for my Moms 90th bd in June. There are a few pics of N shoreline but they are aerial far off shots. The Mayflower Hotel was just up/down the Shoreline and next I guess the Americana Motel.
While researching I found an an amazing! 200 pg essay called 'When the Century and I were Young' by Theodore Fuller, who lived in CC in 1914-24 as a boy. What a wonderful place he describes discovering the bays and the places in town as a boy, he lived at the Nueces Hotel for a while, and biking and sailing out to the ALta Vista hotel which was near the S curve on Ocean Dr and mostly always a vacant bldg 3 miles from town then. Theodore lived on N Beach near Timon Blvd and Pearl in 1919 and ended up near Sinton after the storm washed away their neighborhood. It's great reading!
regards...
oops- I was making a joke before about the Taco Bell on S Alameda, it was across Alameda from the Torch Rest. I worked at the Taco Bell in 1972? The very first post in this thread mentions both the Taco B and the Buc Bowl, 2 places I am well aware of..
Last edited by Corpus Crusty; 05-13-2014 at 10:02 PM..
RNS, enjoyed your musings and expertise on old CC. Yes I am a gen younger I guess. I remember Carla some but Celia more. I lived on the southside near Everhart and Alameda since the mid 50s. All my family still lives in CC area. I live in Austin.
My father was a chem eng for the CC oil refineries, as a sideline he owned rental properties and for a while the Shoreline Drive Inn with a partner before the city got the land to develop the Art Museum area. Across the side st he owned a low income stucco housing apts, called the Indian Chief near N. Shoreline.
I would love to have a picture of the Shoreline Drive in. It was on the far N end of Shoreiine facing the median area. There was some official looking bldg in front of it in the median area. The road in front of the Drive in was like the turn around to go back to town on Shoreline. I'd love to see that area gain, I'm not sure what was behind it but it had to be one 1 or 2 blocks from the channel behind it? Not sure, I was a kid.
I am researching old photos of CC at the CC library online for a slideshow of old CC for my Moms 90th bd in June. There are a few pics of N shoreline but they are aerial far off shots. The Mayflower Hotel was just up/down the Shoreline and next I guess the Americana Motel.
While researching I found an an amazing! 200 pg essay called 'When the Century and I were Young' by Theodore Fuller, who lived in CC in 1914-24 as a boy. What a wonderful place he describes discovering the bays and the places in town as a boy, he lived at the Nueces Hotel for a while, and biking and sailing out to the ALta Vista hotel which was near the S curve on Ocean Dr and mostly always a vacant bldg 3 miles from town then. Theodore lived on N Beach near Timon Blvd and Pearl in 1919 and ended up near Sinton after the storm washed away their neighborhood. It's great reading!
regards...
oops- I was making a joke before about the Taco Bell on S Alameda, it was across Alameda from the Torch Rest. I worked at the Taco Bell in 1972? The very first post in this thread mentions both the Taco B and the Buc Bowl, 2 places I am well aware of..
Let me get back to you on this. Yes, read Fuller's 'When the Century and I were Young' some years back, excellent.
RNS, enjoyed your musings and expertise on old CC. Yes I am a gen younger I guess. I remember Carla some but Celia more. I lived on the southside near Everhart and Alameda since the mid 50s. All my family still lives in CC area. I live in Austin.
My father was a chem eng for the CC oil refineries, as a sideline he owned rental properties and for a while the Shoreline Drive Inn with a partner before the city got the land to develop the Art Museum area. Across the side st he owned a low income stucco housing apts, called the Indian Chief near N. Shoreline.
I would love to have a picture of the Shoreline Drive in. It was on the far N end of Shoreiine facing the median area. There was some official looking bldg in front of it in the median area. The road in front of the Drive in was like the turn around to go back to town on Shoreline. I'd love to see that area gain, I'm not sure what was behind it but it had to be one 1 or 2 blocks from the channel behind it? Not sure, I was a kid.
I am researching old photos of CC at the CC library online for a slideshow of old CC for my Moms 90th bd in June. There are a few pics of N shoreline but they are aerial far off shots. The Mayflower Hotel was just up/down the Shoreline and next I guess the Americana Motel.
While researching I found an an amazing! 200 pg essay called 'When the Century and I were Young' by Theodore Fuller, who lived in CC in 1914-24 as a boy. What a wonderful place he describes discovering the bays and the places in town as a boy, he lived at the Nueces Hotel for a while, and biking and sailing out to the ALta Vista hotel which was near the S curve on Ocean Dr and mostly always a vacant bldg 3 miles from town then. Theodore lived on N Beach near Timon Blvd and Pearl in 1919 and ended up near Sinton after the storm washed away their neighborhood. It's great reading!
regards...
oops- I was making a joke before about the Taco Bell on S Alameda, it was across Alameda from the Torch Rest. I worked at the Taco Bell in 1972? The very first post in this thread mentions both the Taco B and the Buc Bowl, 2 places I am well aware of..
I remember that Taco Bell very well, especially that bonfire with all of the "hippies" crowding around. Sometime around the Energy Crisis, they turned the flame off and there was no more bonfire after that.
GWHOPPER,
Sure hope you got your camera back, BECAUSE, sadly the Ship Ahoy on the Bay was torn down earlier this month.(Jan 2014)
Sadly, I finally got a chance to return this weekend and made a special trip out to the old location. It was sad, the whole building is gone, even the parking lot. Only a portion of the original slab is visible I wanted to take a picture, but the demolition and whole chain link fence around the property kind of depressed me, I didn't want to stop and take the time. What's gone is gone.
Another couple of things I noticed while I was in Corpus, George's restaurant in Flour Bluff seems to be gone as well. Also, I noticed the Omni Marina Tower is now a Holiday Inn. I always preferred that Onmi to the Bayview due to the larger indoor/outdoor pool area. I guess Holiday Inn gave up the Emerald Beach location to takeover the Marina Tower.
Corpus Crusty,
I think you may be referring to the old City/County Health Department.
If you grew up in Corpus Christi perhaps you received your childhood immunizations there.
Also "health cards" were issued there if you worked ffor a grocery store. I had to renew these "health cards" about every 2 yrs and it entailed a trip to the "health dept".
I may be wrong but I think that's the building you're describing.
Sadly, I finally got a chance to return this weekend and made a special trip out to the old location. It was sad, the whole building is gone, even the parking lot. Only a portion of the original slab is visible I wanted to take a picture, but the demolition and whole chain link fence around the property kind of depressed me, I didn't want to stop and take the time. What's gone is gone.
I've always found listening to others, especially family members and old close friends, talk about the past fascinating, illuminating, and instructive. We are cautioned to remember the past, plan for the future and live in the present. Our past is part of our present. Mr. Hill's, "Ship Ahoy" may be gone but don't think for a minute his "Butterfly Shrimp" and "Wedge of lettuce with the house dressing is gone." Mr. Hill was very innovative, as were many of the old restaurateurs that left special flavors in our, South Texas, remembrance of things past. Mr. Hill knew exactly what he was doing. Some may recall how he treated kids, the little hats and his very animated exclamations. It was the place to celebrate after games and other events around town when going out to eat was a treat not everyone could afford but made an effort to enjoy, regardless. Mr. Hill created fond memories for a small city.
What's depressing, imo, is all the corporate chain and semi-Tex-Mex restaurants that now populate CC. Those old places had character, dash, and charm not found these days. We each have our own personal maps and constellations of plangent nostalgia for the Good Times . . .Like Martha would say, "It's a good thing."
There's only one thing I've found that's remained unchanged and timeless in the CC area for me. I'm speaking of course of that area around Big Shell which is also always changing, beneath our notice.
Iceberg Lettuce wedge w/ 1000 Islands Dressing - 1 c Kraft mayonnaise, 1/4 c bottled chili sauce, 2 tbls sweet pickle relish, 2 tbls finely minced green onion 1 Tblsp minced parsley, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce or prepared horseradish, milk to thin, hand rubbed fine tarragon, allow to rest a few hours in refrigerator.
Important: 1 tblsp smoked paprika OR/ Sexton's "Alamo Seasoning" . . .no longer available. Google it and follow the stories. Fiesta Spices in San Antonio has a very satisfactory replacement. Also great for BBQ (deep fried) crabs.
"Alamo Seasoning" was a major seasoning in the better CC restaurants in the 50's-80's.
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