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

[hhwolfman]

Originally Posted by BudB

Funny you should mention the S. Hackberry site of A. J. Ploch's. Remember how it actually sat on a short nameless ally with its back toward Hackberry? Last fall I tried to find it after having some enchiladas at Brown's just down the street. I found the alley but no sign of an old gas station which is sort of what I expected. Even when it was operating you had to know where it was to find it. Places like that are mostly a thing of the past as there are very few true filling stations left anymore.
This will really date me as an old codger, because also in that same general neighborhood but a bit north up Hackberry. On Drexel Ave. a bock west off Hackberry was another mostly forgotten place that is still sitting there but not used as originally intended when built just after WW II. I mean the old Boys Club that backs up to the Katy RR trax there. I spent many happy Saturdays there in the 1950s jumping on the full sized trampolines, shooting pool, playing ping pong or swinging on the really long rope that hung from the roof. That dang thing must have been fifty feet high or more so you could really swing. Imagine a hundred or so boys about ages 8 to 14 as I recall, playing hard, having fun, fighting occasionally but more or less under control. Now days it would be a legal nightmare because kids were always getting their heads busted, eyes blackened, teeth loosened or whatever but still having lots of good old fashioned fun without parents suing the club every other week. The large old hangar style structure is still there but now used for storage by someone. Saturdays meant dozens of boys having a good time and getting into a little trouble too naturally, all under the watchful eye of a great guy named Stanley something. He drove an early-50s, white pickup truck with the Boys Club emblem on its doors. Anybody else remember that special place and or Stanley?

Ah Browns Mexican food. I used to eat there. Is it still any good?? My wife's Grandmother Lived right on Hackberry, She had a Beauty Saloon There. HHW

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by Primo

Verify your sources before you post. Reggianos and Tom's Ribs are the only 2 places that have closed. Both Silo and Kirby's were open this past weekend.

You are right. I did a drive-by at Kirby's earlier today and they are still open. Thank God! Now, everyone should go in there and try out their Cowboy Ribeye.

I didn't check out Silo's, yet. But it looked open when I drove by to the turnaround.

[GWhopper]

Per today's paper, it looks like SATEL'S is going away. not because of the economy, though. It seems they are losing their business to La Cantera. Very Sad. Almost all the clothes I wore for job interviews over the last 15 years came from there.

[smuboy86]

They aren't closing their Alamo Heights store, so they aren't gone yet. I imagine their most valuble clientele mostly comes from inside 410 anyway.

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

Per today's paper, it looks like SATEL'S is going away. not because of the economy, though. It seems they are losing their business to La Cantera. Very Sad. Almost all the clothes I wore for job interviews over the last 15 years came from there.

Originally Posted by smuboy86

They aren't closing their Alamo Heights store, so they aren't gone yet. I imagine their most valuble clientele mostly comes from inside 410 anyway.

Didn't Satel's owner live on or near Cambridge Oval??

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by hhwolfman

Ah Browns Mexican food. I used to eat there. Is it still any good?? My wife's Grandmother Lived right on Hackberry, She had a Beauty Saloon There. HHW

Wife's daddy took us there once . Don't recall being that impressed but everyone has there own memories !! Been there a long time just never paid much attention! Hi Wolf!

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by BudB

Funny you should mention the S. Hackberry site of A. J. Ploch's. Remember how it actually sat on a short nameless ally with its back toward Hackberry? Last fall I tried to find it after having some enchiladas at Brown's just down the street. I found the alley but no sign of an old gas station which is sort of what I expected. Even when it was operating you had to know where it was to find it. Places like that are mostly a thing of the past as there are very few true filling stations left anymore.
This will really date me as an old codger, because also in that same general neighborhood but a bit north up Hackberry. On Drexel Ave. a bock west off Hackberry was another mostly forgotten place that is still sitting there but not used as originally intended when built just after WW II. I mean the old Boys Club that backs up to the Katy RR trax there. I spent many happy Saturdays there in the 1950s jumping on the full sized trampolines, shooting pool, playing ping pong or swinging on the really long rope that hung from the roof. That dang thing must have been fifty feet high or more so you could really swing. Imagine a hundred or so boys about ages 8 to 14 as I recall, playing hard, having fun, fighting occasionally but more or less under control. Now days it would be a legal nightmare because kids were always getting their heads busted, eyes blackened, teeth loosened or whatever but still having lots of good old fashioned fun without parents suing the club every other week. The large old hangar style structure is still there but now used for storage by someone. Saturdays meant dozens of boys having a good time and getting into a little trouble too naturally, all under the watchful eye of a great guy named Stanley something. He drove an early-50s, white pickup truck with the Boys Club emblem on its doors. Anybody else remember that special place and or Stanley?

Hey Bud !! Is the old Boy's club gone?? I remember that thing. Big Quonset hut bldg. It was still there last I've seen of it!! Wife's father got into real estate and bought an old two story apartment bldg. It was on Drexel just east of Hmmh, Hackberry or Presa I forget! There was a popular little
Restaurant on the corner! Can't recall the name! Thanks for the maps also , sorry hadn't gotten back to you!!

[BudB]

[quote=satx56;7241436]Hey Bud !! Is the old Boy's club gone?? It was still sitting there in Oct. '07 when I went by and shot a couple fotos. It was apparently being used by some entity but I cannot recall what the sign said. It is Quonset hut shaped but much larger and more like an airplane hangar really, so was terrific for the Boys Club. There was even a small wood shop for making things if you can imagine boys having semi-supervised access to power tools. Stanley was strict but he could only be one place at a time so things happened. He had older boys who did some supervision but again there were too many kids to watch them all. There was even a regular boxing ring with gloves so guys could duke it out whenever the urge hit without doing much serious damage. The real fights happened outside as usual but not too often as I recall.
I hope somebody else chimes in about their memories of that Boys Club because it was quite a place. Saturday nights meant a free movie, usually Tarzan, King Kong or other kid fare. The back wall had a huge American flag hung on it that was covered by a screen that was pulled down for movies. There were several rows of movable seats kinda like a real theater but not very comfortable. But oh brother, when the lights went down and the movie started, stuff started flying and at times you almost needed a helmet .. ah the good ol' days.
Before the freeways took a big bite out of that neighborhood there was a real movie theater on Hackberry nearby named the Highland. It sat just north on Hackberry and across the street from where the Little Red Barn is located. For those of us who grew up in the 1950s, it was another great place on Saturdays when movies were .25 cents for a double feature.
And back then Brown's was a beer joint that made great hamburgers and of course their later to be famous enchiladas. By the end of the '60s it was a restaurant primarily. I ate there last April just to see how the food was and learned that its owners for the past few years now are Chinese and are still making good enchiladas. No, they are not as good as once upon a time but then what is? Glad you enjoyed the map with South Loop.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by satx56

I remember Avery's. The old Sinclair later Diamond Shamrock on S.Presa was boarded up I believe last time I passed it!! Remember Kayo Stations?

Remember the Sinclair "dinosaurs"? I don't remember where I saw the life sized models.....in SA? or somewhere . [Edit for correction....the Dino models were never in SA...they were at the Worlds Fair in 1964 and were split up and sent to various states. Glenrose got the Bronto and the T-Rex!] The Dinosaur State Park near Glenrose, TX has them on site...the real thing! They are so nostalgic and what a great place for them to be "put out to pasture".

here's the link .....the Brontosaurus was always my fav.. TPWD: Dinosaur Valley State Park

[Mom0f2Girlies]

Ok....I'm feeling real old now !

Across the street from the drive in that use to be where Culebra and Bandera cross (now its an HEB) there was a restaurant. Was it a Jims? I think there was also one inside of Wonderland.

Remember when the Carmelite Nuns use to have a retreat at Culebra at Ingram?

I remember being around 10 and driving all the way out into the county to buy fireworks...back when Potranco was a two lane country road.

There's an old spanish style looking house in the southwest field on Culebra/fm 471 at fm 1560. What was that?