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

[Dwangle]

I always heard that the roads in San Antonio started out as cattle trail's. They tend to follow rivers and all converge downtown. Kinda like a big wagon wheel. If you go up in the Tower of the Americas at night you can see the layout. Somebody wrote earlier in this thread that a Doctor Kinny had some property off Vance Jackson and that is why there was a Kinny road at one time. I can't remember when it all became Callahan but it wasn't too terribly long ago. Ingram road is a hard one to follow too!

[Willsatx]

Its funny about the roads getting cut up, finally saw how starcrest is with different routes, But I think there must be other parts around SA that are also cut up. Anyone know any others?

[Dwangle]

I know one road that got cut a long time ago. It was Gill road and went from Dewhurst to Fred Rd. IH 10 cut it in half around 1960 and now it is almost impossible to identify. There is a big Boat sales store and further up a Macdonalds. I was looking at the other end of the street -The Dewhurst end not long ago and buried in weeds was the street sign. It was a square concrete post about 5 feet tall painted silver with Gill Rd. printed vertically in black paint.

[Dwangle]

I just looked at a map and it was Dewhurst that got cut. They call the other half Balcones Rd. but is clearly the same road. I don't remember where Gill Rd went before IH 10 was built. I was only around seven years old but rode all over that place on my bike. The Mapquest map that I looked at is wrong. Dewhurst turns into Beryl at the corner. What they label as Beryl is what most called Dewhurst also.

[Dwangle]

I just thought of something that nobody has talked about yet ( I think) --Tourist Courts. When I was a kid there was a Tourist Court at the Corner of Dewhurst and Beryl. It is a parking lot now for St. Gregory's Church. It was not the best thing to have across from a Catholic School but it was probably there way before the school was built. I remember people staying there until the late sixties when it closed and then was leveled. We explored the empty buildings and I found a Mickey Spilane (?) paper back. If I remember right in the center they had a kind of central cooking area where residents could prepare meals. Some of the cabins had kitchens and they all had bathrooms and water and electricity,all turned off when we were exploring it.

[linskie]

Originally Posted by Primo

I always hated going to that JC Penny's when I was little, because there was no toy department. But I remember that is where you went to pick up stuff you that you ordred from the catalog.

I remember there was a T.G.& Y at Northwest Center...if you were facing the mall...it was to the right of Panchos.

There was a "Whites"...which was similar to western auto, where the Harbor Freight is. They sold non-automotive stuff there too..I have a pair of binoculars from there.

Funny if you think about the name these days "Northwest Center"...that is hardly considered Northwest nowadays.

Primo. do you remember a bar/lounge in Northwest Center back in the mid '70's with "Red" or "Rooster" in the name? Or could that be before your time?

[travis1836]

Originally Posted by Willsatx

Its funny about the roads getting cut up, finally saw how starcrest is with different routes, But I think there must be other parts around SA that are also cut up. Anyone know any others?

Some that I can think of

Delarosa becoming Market at Main where as Delarosa continues for about another 300 feet to dead end to the old library on the south side of the Morris Hotel.

Also Bassie three different roads before becoming Nacogdoches behind the Quarry.

How about Wurzbach ending at Blanco then continuing after Bitters and Starcrest.

Theres another one Bitters starting at Nacogdoches going to Wetmore then picking back up at the split of Starcrest.


There is a few that I can thank of off the top of my head

[wCat]

Originally Posted by Dwangle

I just thought of something that nobody has talked about yet ( I think) --Tourist Courts. When I was a kid there was a Tourist Court at the Corner of Dewhurst and Beryl. It is a parking lot now for St. Gregory's Church. It was not the best thing to have across from a Catholic School but it was probably there way before the school was built. I remember people staying there until the late sixties when it closed and then was leveled. We explored the empty buildings and I found a Mickey Spilane (?) paper back. If I remember right in the center they had a kind of central cooking area where residents could prepare meals. Some of the cabins had kitchens and they all had bathrooms and water and electricity,all turned off when we were exploring it.

Dwangle...I think it was in another thread about some of the construction on Austin Hwy....but the topic of those old motor courts was touched on. I'll try to do a search and see if I can find that thread. Someone posted a link to some postcards that were for these vintage "motels". Before I-35 and Loop 410 were constructed, Austin Hwy was THE main thoroughfare into town....and it was loaded with them. Those postcards are wonderful and a few of the signs AND motor courts are still there. Including the three that are in demo progress, I think we counted at least 10 from the McNay all the way down to where Austin Hwy meets I-35. And that's only what's remaining! And then they continued down Broadway...serving Fort Sam, Brack Park and downtown. There was a very large one at the corner of Mulberry and St Mary's...and it had an addition across the street. WAY before my time.

I'll see if I can locate the name of the one you are talking about too.

Fred Rd had quite a few as well.....and there were always a number of them near the military installations. Talk about retro! And to think how "modern" they seemed...especially with a "kitchenette"!

The first place we stayed when we moved to Randolph was the Kon-Tiki Motel in Schertz....or UC. Now that place was scary back then! I've seen billboards for it on I-35 coming into town from Austin. Hopefully they have remodeled SEVERAL times!

BRB hopefully with some links!

[travis1836]

I think there are still two left on Fred. Rd. around Crossroads. Travis Motel and Siesta Motel. There may be others but those two stand out.

[wCat]

Here it is! Thanks to Mexicajun! There is a LOT more to this web site, but this section just on motels, hotels motor/tourist courts is great. Some of them still standing! Wow...

TheAlamoCity.com (http://www.thealamocity.com/scripts/ISERVCGI.EXE/postcardtable?Cat=Hotel&Rec=1&Sub=All - broken link)