Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I (West: contractor, warehouses)

[OzzyRules]

Wow. I remember famous rock groups having signings at the Sound Warehouse on San Pedro. I think it's a Grady's barbecue restaurant now.

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by OzzyRules

Wow. I remember famous rock groups having signings at the Sound Warehouse on San Pedro. I think it's a Grady's barbecue restaurant now.

I can say that where Grady's is at it used to be a show store, I think it was a Thom Mccan or a kinney's. They also had locations on Bandera (Its used to be a foot lockers oulet and now a snow cone place?), and one on SW Military (Its next door to jack in the box by pleasanton-military). I think sound warehouse was next door to mcdonalds.

[Macgrad89]

Yep, that was a Kinney Shoe store at Jackson-Keller and San Pedro which is now Grady's. Sound Warehouse was a little more north on San Pedro, I think across from Solo Serve. Look for the building with Eduardo's in it and that should be the one.

Anyone know if Murf's on San Pedro (south of Rampart) is still open? That was once a Whopper Burger; the neon is a leftover from that time.

Next time I'm in town I need to see if Burger Boy is still open on N. St. Mary's, just north of Josephine. That too is an old Whopper Burger and Burger Boy was owned by the Bates family who owned Whopper Burger. I wandered in there one day a few years back for a bite to eat and felt like a kid again - burgers wrapped in the same paper Whopper Burger used, crinkle-cut fries, and Orange Freezes. Well worth a try if you're down toward SAC and they're still open.

Macgrad89

[GWhopper]

I wish I could think of the name of fish place that was in a free-standing building in the parking lot of the Colonies North Mall parking lot in the '80s. Really good (and cheap!) fish and shrimp.

That place was called the Fishing Pier. I lived 3 blocks from there. Loved the fried shrimp!

[pacific_trader]

I vaguely remember Whopper Burger, I believe there was one on Rittiman or Eisenhauer? Didn't they close up when Burger King came to town?

[eyeta2]

Originally Posted by Macgrad89

Yep, that was a Kinney Shoe store at Jackson-Keller and San Pedro which is now Grady's. Sound Warehouse was a little more north on San Pedro, I think across from Solo Serve. Look for the building with Eduardo's in it and that should be the one.


Macgrad89

No the music store I was talking about was on the same side as Gradys. It was either in the building Gradys was in, or next door to it where a pawn shop now is. This was way before the Sound Warehouse that was located in Eduardos...probably in the mid-70's. I thought it was called Sound Warehouse, but it may have been Warehouse Music.

[Eily71]

Originally Posted by eyeta2

My question to all you locals, I was told by a few people that Stevie Ray Vaughan played a lot at Maggies before he was famous. Does any one know about this? Did anyone see him, and if so, do you know what year or approx. when this was? I belong to his fan club, and the president of our club is now writing his second book about Stevie's life. He is looking for acurate data on clubs that Stevie played, etc. I would appreciate any help on this.

Terry

Lots of great bands got their start in the San Antonio/Austin area and here is a website dedicated to them. Mikes Band Archive - Texas Bands and Musician Trivia

Here is the direct link for the info on Stevie Ray where it talks about him playing Maggies/Reeds Red Derby Mikes Band Archive Trivia Page 4 (http://www.mikesbandarchive.com/trivia4.html - broken link)

The whole site is a trip down memory lane for anyone who was into the early San Antonio rock scene during the Sixties.

[Macgrad89]

From what I remember, the story on Whopper Burger was the Bates' had worked out an agreement regarding the exclusive use of the term "Whopper" in the San Antonio area with Burger King which is why Burger King was not in San Antonio until the mid 80s. Burger King wanted to come into the market badly, so much so they decided to approach the Bates Family with a buyout offer. The offer was accepted and the Whopper Burger name went away around 1985-1986 and Burger King began operations in San Antonio then. Burger King took over very few if any Whopper Burger outlets and instead took most of the Carls' Jr stores when they left SA (Carl's had flame-broilers like BK's). My wife worked at a Burger King at Marbach and Horal (a former Carl's Jr) before she graduated from Jay in '87.

The person to have asked a lot of this stuff would have been my father as he was in the construction business in San Antonio for nearly 40 years. Dad always seemed to know the right people to ask the right questions about all this stuff. Unfortunately we lost him in May, 2006 after a very brief bout with a rare form of lung cancer. He worked at General Supply Co off of Broadway estimating acoustical ceiling tile jobs and supervising their installation. For those who remember, General Supply had their name painted in very large red letters on their warehouse which faced Loop 410 near the airport (Building Specialties is now in that building). I do my best nowadays to remember all the stories about different construction jobs he worked, such as helping build the now-demolished GPM Towers and Central Park Mall, Old San Francisco Steak House, and various additions to the Barn Door.

Macgrad89

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

That place was called the Fishing Pier. I lived 3 blocks from there. Loved the fried shrimp!

Where was it located? What is there now?

[akpedrob]

I lived in Babcock North from 1980-1985. I remember as a kid crossing ranchland on my bike that still had longhorns roaming around. The whole area surrounding the neighborhood was wooded and pretty much vacant. By the time I moved they had built Rudder Middle School and a few other subdivisions behind and to the side of Babcock North. (fond memory was when they had to dump ice in the local pool to keep it cool!)