Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I (Austin: nursing, party)

[gy2020]

Originally Posted by 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!

Fentress Laidley was a cousin of sorts. His mother and my grandmother were sisters. I remember visiting them many times. I was living in Houston when the movie was made. I returned to San Antonio in 1976 and heard stories of the movie and how his wife had the role of sitting in a chair rocking. A couple of years after this I starting collecting the history of movie theatres and drive-ins. Been doing it now for nearly 30 years. see San Antonio Theatres: Now and Then. gy2020

[gy2020]

Originally Posted by 940

3 miles from City Limits...hmmm, I wonder where it was located on Fred. Rd? 3 miles from the city limits years ago would have been probably down towards the Tip Top or even further south? Just guessing here...

gy2020. I ate at wolf's Inn many times after church on Sunday afternoons. It was located at the intersection of Wurzbach and Frederickburg Rd. The meals were fantastic. 3 course chicken dinner.

[EastSideRose]

I was born in San Antonio, and spent the first 31 years of my life there. So many memories, good and bad ...

Where was Burgundy Woods, exactly? I was fifteen when I went there with my two "running buddies." It was the Seventies, and we were high schoolers, but no one ever carded us. We would order drinks, and crepes (soooo sophisticated!) and dance. The whole building --- two or three stories? --- was built around this huge live oak tree; the first-floor bar was built around it, and the trunk disappeared through the ceiling to the second floor. I think there was a dace floor up there, too.

I remember the gas crisis, and my daddy getting the Texaco on Commerce Street(?) to open up. Back then, every Texaco station showed the owner's name right above the door. They all worked on cars, and the attendants wore neat jumpsuits. I can't recall the name of the owner of the station, but the guy who ran it for them was named "Ples" (I think his name was "Pleasant" or "Pleasance").

Playland Park would only let black people in one day a year --- the first Saturday of May, maybe? My friend Janice had her birthday party there, and we had such fun, I demanded that we go back for my birthday later in the month, but they wouldn't sell us tickets.

Standing outside the tamale factory at Christmas time, buying metal cans full of tamales for parties! I've lived in Austin for almost twenty years, and still can't find a decent tamale!

The best tamales, of course, came from your Hispanic neighbors. You knew when they were making tamales --- they would boil the head right in the back yard, and the whole neighborhood smelled good!

Eating Sunday dinner at Earl Abel's! The maroon tufted couches, and the velvet ropes, and Mr. Abel walking through the restaurant, shaking hands. The fried chicken, and the stuffed shrimp, and, oh, that German chocolate cake! We went to Earl Abel's the Sunday after San Antonio passed liquor-by-the-drink. Mr. Abel had set up a makeshift bar made out of a pair of two-by-twelves, and was doing land-office business --- I had my first Shirley Temple that day!

Someone mentioned the lava rocks outside the Walgreen's in North Star Mall ... that whole area was just nice, with the fountain and the greenery. That's what a mall should be ...!

Schneider's Bakery, out in Alamo Heights just past the swanky HEB there. My mamma loved Schneider's cookies almost as much as her own.

Does anyone here remember Dierolf's Grocery? It was on the East Side, across from Jacob's Chapel Church. It's some kind of community center now, but I remember his rotisserie chickens and fine meats.

There was a little Mexican food restaurant on Hackberry, I think? Best cheese enchiladas around --- with the white Mexican cheese and fresh chopped onions.

I remember the dinner theater in the woods! I saw a play there starring "Dan-o" from Hawaii 5-0 in the summer of 1981, the year I graduated from Trinity University.

Ice houses, where people would go and drink beer in the evening, then go home with a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk. To my husband, who's from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the concept of sitting around drinking outside is impossible to comprehend.

When I was very little, my mother and I would walk three blocks and hop the Exposition bus, which would head down Houston Street (back then, Houston was two-way). We would go to the Post Office, then start walking west.

We could shop in Sommers/Rexall Drug Store and Woolworth (acorss the street from Sommers/Rexall), but we couldn't eat at the counters there; Sommer's would bag up our food and we could eat as we walked, but Woolworth wouldn't even let you into the lunch area.

We couldn't get my mamma's glasses at the TSO next to the Sommers Rexall. But we would go to Wolff&Marx (couldn't try on hats there, though), and shop for men's accessories for my daddy at Joseph's (my daddy won't wear clothes from just any old store). We'd try on shoes at Guaranty Shoes, and then we'd hit Carl's(?) and Margo's La Mode. They had circular clothes racks, and I would hide in the middle of the clothes, enjoying the smell of new fabrics.

JCPenney's was a weird place, very old; as I recall, the floors were wooden, rough and splintery-looking. We would get on the elevator, and the elevator operator would say things like "Second floor, ladies' wear" and "fifth floor, sewing notions." I remember the sewing floor ... they had EVERYTHING. Huge books full of drawings of girls in dresses. You would write down the number of the Butterick or Vogue pattern, then the clerks would pull it out of the file drawers. The clerks could tell you which patterns ran large or small. The you would pick out your fabric from three-foot-tall bolts. The clerks would snatch up the bolt almost before you could point it out, and slap it down on a long broad tabletop that had measuring tape all around. They would unwrap the approximate amount of fabric from the bolt, then run it through this cool little measuring machine clamped to the side of the table. The clerk would slide the edge of the fabric through the measurer, which had a clock-type hand on the top that indicated how many yards had been run through. When the device indicated the right amount had been measured out, the measurer would clip the fabric, providing a starting point for the clerk's enormous shears. They could cut straight lines in an instant.

Kress's was a favorite stop ... as you walked in the store, the back left corner drew me like a magnet. That's where the animals were --- dogs, cats, birds, fish, everything! At Easter they would have dyed rabbits and chicks and ducklings. Seems like every time we were to Kress', I walked out with a plastic baggie with a goldfish inside.

Eventually, we would walk up the other side of the street, and stand in front of Woolworth's to catch the bus home.

Wow ... I didn't know I remembered all that!

[tcs]

East Side Rose, now that you have mentioned all of this you are remembering everything else that went on. I was a north side boy but remember a Mexican joint on WWWhite I think called the Curve Drive Inn. The hot sauce kicked and as I remember, this was mid 70s, you could see the stuff fermenting when you dipped the lard fried tortilla chips. OMG that was SO GOOD!

[irnag]

Finally, I have PROOF that the Dinos were at Wonderland! As you can clearly see in the second photo, I am pointing to the evidence.

Unfortunately by posting these photos, I am endangered of getting visits from the fashion police. Could my pants ride any higher? It'll be another 20 years before the ride that high again.

[Bluebonnet Mom]

Originally Posted by EastSideRose

Schneider's Bakery, out in Alamo Heights just past the swanky HEB there. My mamma loved Schneider's cookies almost as much as her own.

Gosh...I hadn't thought of Schneider's Bakery in years. Which is surprising since we loved their baked goods. Schneider's and Nadler's were the only "store-bought" goodies my mom liked. Thanks for jogging my memory! How long has Schneider's been gone? (seemed like we used to call it Mrs. Schneider's)

While we are speaking of Alamo Heights, does anyone remember the Plate and Platter Store on Broadway?

What about a restaurant called Raffles off of Broadway & XX? It seemed to me that it was a small strip center near the strip that has Steinmart in it now. I've gone back to find that area and had no luck. There was also a great gift shop in there called Mad's Blue Gnu? And maybe an old drugstore?

Anybody remember Southern Music where you could get sheet music for absolutely anything?

[Bluebonnet Mom]

I am going to apologize if these have been duplicated in another post. 237 pages is a lot to digest and I read pretty quickly to catch up. If these aren't dupes, enjoy!

I am looking for something (anything!) similar for Central Park Mall. Would love it if anyone has ANYTHING to share.

[Nostalgic]

Eastside Rose - I remember the J.C. Penney's downtown,too. My mom, sister, and I would ride downtown on the bus (we lived on the S.E. side in Highland Hills) and go to Penney's for material for our school clothes. I remember the wooden floors squeaked. First we would pick out our patterns and then the fabric we liked. I had forgotten about that neat measuring thing on the tables. After our purchases, we would ride the elevator to the mezzanine area where the restrooms were and there was also a soda and candy machine and some chairs. We would sit and have a snack and drink.

We always went to Kress's too. Sometimes we ate at the Kress's cafeteria downstairs.

We went to the movies sometimes and my mom took our lunch! Usually tuna sandwiches she hid in her big purse in a paper bag. We ate and watched the movie and had a grand time.

What memories!

[Golden Bear]

Does anyone remember going to Bee-Zee Corner Ice House, when we were young my mom would buy milk there and when I got older we use to buy beer there. We were also in high school at the time. It sat on west ave about a 6 blocks from ih-10 near or across from the whataburger thats there now, caddy corner(el monte st.), and across what use to be , but wasnt there at the time a circle K. Very nostalgic beer joint, also it was curb service,this old lady would come out and serve u by loading your car with case of Lone Star, no id required. It lasted up until that circle k came in and they had a bad shooting. Then moved down west ave by the post office.

[SAMusicGrinder]

What are everyone's all-time favorite music venues in SA?