SAN ANTONIO in 1970 (Marshall, Boerne, West: theater, construction, best schools)

[RGJ]

There was a Handy Andy at Colonies North "mall" in the late sixties-early seventies. I lived in Shenandoah in the early 70's and there were no subdivisions beyond that point.

As far as the Southeast side being middle class, there were a few families that had bookoo money. Red Berry, EJ Burke, McCreless, come to mind. Many doctors, surgeons, attorneys, developers, etc.
But back then most doctors, developers, attorneys lived in the neighborhoods they served. Unlike today.

[adtobias]

There use to be a mall with a restaurant called marios downtown near UTSA downtown is now...does any one remember that.

[huckster]

I have already entered , but could add information here I guess to info about
S.A.. About Northwest San Antonio, Highway to Marbach Rd. mostly empty to 1604 except for a cople of subdivisions, Adam Hill. Marbach Rd. ended before 1604 I believe to remember. No Hwy 151 north- Potranco started off Ingram past 410 around a mile out and then passed Culebra and was country side out to 1604. 410 and Ingram was Holmes High and a gas station with a motel behind the Texaco. An old gravel quarry was where Ingram Mall is now.
South of Hwy 90 and 410 hasn't changed much , not much there at all all the way around to F.M. 16 where the auto junkyards have always been out Somerset rd and all down that way. Pretty poor and crowded housing
started the closer to town one went interspersed with industrial businesses and the then huge Kelly Field which seemed to dominate the landscape from there all
the way to highway 90 from Nogalitos. Enormous orange and white water towers
is what I remember from there as a child. My father and grandfather worked
there when I was small. Lackland seemed small in comparison.
Out Bandera rd. There was a Jim's Coffe shop and of course the Bandera drive in and then not much else til' you reached tiny Helotes except for some businesses at Wurzbzch and Bandera and the car lot that was there.
Fredricksburg and Babcock was woods from Wurzbach to 1604 as was West Ave. San Pedro was developed out a little way past the airport but piecemeal.
Wetmore and the northeast , Blanco rd., the city stopped at the airport too
all the way to I-35 to the best of my recollection. Nacodoches Rd. went out quite a bit past 410 with development about a quarter of the way past 410
to 1604. I-35 had some buildup of businesses all the way to Universal City, which was a small community then with 1604 barely just making it through east through with a widening into a separated four laner. It was beautiful , the drive around 1604 through there, just wilderness, Mesquites etc. Like a linear Park it was.
Windcrest was the city limit and then things got interspersed all down that way
past Hwy 90 past 410. Loop 410 development was spotty all the way around the city, even, back then except for across the northside where 410 was well populated,even back then. 410 around the southside was wild and undeveloped
wilderness. W.W. White past Loop 13 , even before Loop 13 was undeveloped, mostly. I remember except around Holt Caterpillar and some small businesses.
Kirby was way out there as was China Grove.Goliad and Loop 13 was small buinesses from Hot Wells out but then Goliad ended there and dead ended at
Brooks field as did New Braunfels. I can also remember a very,very old bridge
on the old Corpus Christi Hwy. which looked as if it would barley hold up
my dad's 1960 Ford without collapsing there about ten miles out past Loop 13
over the San ANtonio River I guess. It was wrought iron, cables , cable supported, and had wooden planking and I remember thinking to myself will this thing collapse? I didn't look as if it could. NoI 37 south back then you know just 181 south which was only a two lane highway.
The southside from Presa around loop 13,Military Drive, has changed little in my opinion except that it is much,much, more populated and very busy and a much rougher place than it used to be. Even back then living there was no picnic, but not like the problems that exist there today.
Crime was highest on the inner west side and the Eastside. The worst slums in the United States had been razed already in the inner,inner west side before 1970 but it still could get very rough around there. The homes located around Vera Cruz and Tampico streets were very,very bad and built on tiny,tiny lots sometimes only 20 feet wide with even tinier wooden structures built on them. There were some bad,bad living conditions there. I can remember those areas from childhood.
The far westside was lower income housing from about to Gen. McMullen , Cupples etc. westward on Hwy. 90 until you drove to near Kelly Field. From these intersections southweastward in an arc to Division the inner city has not changed much -likewise further eastward to Goliad and Northward toward the Freeman Coliseum.
Once near Kelly Field on Hwy 90 there were the Van De Walle Farms westward, which ate up a lot of property between the Base and Southwest research. The whole area seemed vacant out there between these two, toward Pinn Rd to Culebra and both sides of Callghan to 410 from Hwy 90- except for around old Hwy 90 outward which was small businesses used car lots etc. Like a line of division though, Callaghan was the dividing line , running east west,from the inner west side and the countryside and where a more prosperous area began.
A long winded post but this is what I can remember about San Antonio
from 1970, in a nutshell as far as the cityscape,spotty but short. But of course, not everything.

Originally Posted by samustang91

How was San Antonio in 1970 then schools, the people...... you get what I mean

[Divine_Ms._Q]

Originally Posted by adtobias

There use to be a mall with a restaurant called marios downtown near UTSA downtown is now...does any one remember that.

I think it was called Fiesta Mall...it never seemed to get off the ground.

[RGJ]

That mall was a Henry Cisneros debacle. Urban money pit. And the owners of Bill Millers bought either the mall and/or surrounding land for $300k and donated it to UTSA.

[Sonny Chiba57]

In 1970 I was parking cars in the neighborhood where Durango blvd. is for the fiesta week festivities going on at the Hemisfair grounds. Even then $1.00 was alot of $$ to me.

[outafocus]

Originally Posted by RGJ

There was a Handy Andy at Colonies North "mall" in the late sixties-early seventies. I lived in Shenandoah in the early 70's and there were no subdivisions beyond that point.

As far as the Southeast side being middle class, there were a few families that had bookoo money. Red Berry, EJ Burke, McCreless, come to mind. Many doctors, surgeons, attorneys, developers, etc.
But back then most doctors, developers, attorneys lived in the neighborhoods they served. Unlike today.

There was also the Cinematex Theatre next door to Handy Andy. It was the last single screen theatre built in San Antonio. I was assistant manager there in 1970/71. We closed because of lack of business, and Santikos later took it over and renmaed it the Colonies North Theatre in 1972.

[LovingSAT]

Originally Posted by outafocus

There was also the Cinematex Theatre next door to Handy Andy. It was the last single screen theatre built in San Antonio. I was assistant manager there in 1970/71. We closed because of lack of business, and Santikos later took it over and renmaed it the Colonies North Theatre in 1972.

Remember the Olmos Theatre on San Pedro? I was a 1978 Jeff Graduate. One of the best schools? Really? Well I never knew, hard to believe.

[Willsatx]

Wanted to know if anyone lived in leon valley in the 70's, moved to the neighborhood by marshall high school in the mid 80's and wondered how things were on Bandera rd in the 70's-early 80's?

[adtobias]

never heard of colonies north theatre