Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part II (Austin: things to do, classroom)

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by flatliner12

my parents used to shop there when it first opened. They had a great record department. Every album I bought there is still part of my 14,000 record collection

Would that be where K-mart and I think gulf mart before it stood?

[huckster]

Never forget Mr. Foster, he was a good teacher and a good person. Funny story about Mr. Foster
and the Impala. I know that he was a no-nonsense type of guy so I could see him being frugal. Yes I remember back then teachers making very little money too. Any idea of whatever became of Mr. Foster ?
Mr. Bryan my 8th grade math teacher at Hot Wells Middle School, two years before I was in Mr. Foster's class, stated out loud he would love to pay a lot of income taxes because that only meant - he would be making a lot of money. Mr. Bryan was a very big guy, 6"6" tall. In the front of our class underneath the feet of his desk were placed sawed off 4x4 segments so the desk would be tall enough to be comfortable for him to sit at. A good teacher.
He then went on to divulge to the whole class of eigth graders that he made only $5000.00 per year. Mr. Bryan lived on Utopia Rd on the southside, off Pecan Valley Rd., just down from my family and had an egg farm there to supplement his income, I would guess.

Originally Posted by TrapperL

I knew Mr Foster real well. I went to school with his boy, Eugene. Mr F decided he was going to buy a new car but he was kinda inclined to be cheap. On teachers wages he obviously didn't make a lot back then. He went and picked up a brand new red 66 Impala that he just knew it was the cheapest they made cause it had a standard transmission. Turns out it also had a fiberglas front end on it and a 396 under the hood with 2-4's. A VERY limited production Impala. Gene drove it for a few years and as I remember correctly, it got wrecked parked on the street. Bad deal.
I knew some folks that worked the steel on the Tower named Duke. Supposedly there was a guy that fell in the shaft as it was being poured and he's still in it as they couldn't stop the pour. Don't really know if that's true or BS but it made a good story.

[LilyLady]

Originally Posted by mudpuddle

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anyone remember the HemisTower going up??

I helped build it, and remember well.

some good images here, butt, ya gotta click and zoom a bit.....

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,,,,,,,,,,,,, UTSA Libraries - HemisFair
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I remember it too, Mud. I loved going down to Hemisfair. Those pictures are great!

[TrapperL]

Knew Mr Bryan very well- I worked for him one summer with the chickens. I grew up on a chicken farm and when he found out, I got offered a summer job feeding and shoveling......mostly shoveling. Another teacher from Hot Wells was Ms Stem, the redheaded fireball. Coach Martin I ran into about 15-20 years ago. Still looked the same.
I don't remember what happened to Mr Foster. Gene had told me but the memory isn't there. He died quite a while back, like in the 1990's.

[huckster]

Mr. Foster died? That is indeed sad news, I really liked the guy. I cannot remember Ms. Stem but I certainly can remember Coach Martin. You say, Trapper, he hadn't changed much when you last saw him some years ago? Yes, he was always very fit, and very strict. Like Marvin Foster-Another good person, too. I remember back to when Coach Martin and the Janitor always had coffee together first period gym class in his office, so... I was always sent to the cafeteria every morning there at Hot Wells for their two coffees.
You probably knew the Miller family too then ? You must have grown up in the same area as I.
That old neighborhood hasn't changed much appearance wise in all this time. Kudos to you also for working
at shoveling at Mr. Bryans'. That is one heck of a job in the summer's heat around here.

Originally Posted by TrapperL

Knew Mr Bryan very well- I worked for him one summer with the chickens. I grew up on a chicken farm and when he found out, I got offered a summer job feeding and shoveling......mostly shoveling. Another teacher from Hot Wells was Ms Stem, the redheaded fireball. Coach Martin I ran into about 15-20 years ago. Still looked the same.
I don't remember what happened to Mr Foster. Gene had told me but the memory isn't there. He died quite a while back, like in the 1990's.

[outafocus]

Remember Gulf gasoline stations in San Antonio? When Chevron bought gulf in the mid 80s, all the Texas Gulf stations were rebranded Chevron. It looks like Gulf is making a presence in Texas again. There is at least one in Austin:

Gulf photos

[*mud*]

Originally Posted by huckster

I used to watch it going up daily from my high school biology class at Highlands High, a
Mr. Foster was the instuctor. From a hilltop the building stood facing north
you could directly see the thing going up if you looked to the left and out the window
everyday, bit by bit.

It is interesting Mud... that you worked there, what part did you play in its' construction?
I remember Lyda Contracting was in there.

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as a young teenager I was a Hod Carrier working with the Plasterers.

at one point, if you weren't paying attention, a wrong step on the scaffold was 600 feet to the dirt.

$2.49 an hour. I took home 88 bux a week.

back then you could buy a used car for 50.

tank up the sickle with 100 octane, pay with a dollar bill, and get change back.

and rent a decent place for 75 a month or less.

good interview with Lyda here. be sure to start at page one...

Interview with Gerald Lyda, 2000 :: UTSA Libraries - Oral History Collection
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Originally Posted by LilyLady

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I remember it too, Mud. I loved going down to Hemisfair. Those pictures are great!

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yes ma'am good pix.

and there are many more if you click around and/or do a search.
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[Vector28]

Not a place but an event. Was anybody here around when the munitions bunker at Medina Base blew up in the mid-60's?

[TrapperL]

Yeah, I was around. We were just about to move out to Helotes when that happened in 1963. Should have been something like November as I was in John Marshall by January. We actually moved during Thanksgiving but I continued to go to Highlands at the time. We lived on Avondale behind the Parkair theater and could see it from the house. Everybody thought it was nuke that blew up from the large mushroom cloud. Had LOTS of airplane traffic overhead too as the house was on Brooks flight path. Planes flew over everyday but that day was incredible. We even got to see the rare B36 vamoosing outa Kelly. Man those planes were noisy! The ground would vibrate from those guys.

[huckster]

I don't where exactly on Avondale Rd. you lived Trapper, but you ought to recall the Planters
some guy had made out of WW2 Bombs hanging on chains parallel to the street from the rafters of his front porch? The house stood right near the intersection of I-37 and Avondale on Avondale, before the freeway obliterated that area, on the south side of the street.
That wasn't your place was it? It must have been near yours anyway.
Recall the Atom bomb shelters that stood for sale on Probandt just south of the Flour mills?
Located on the west side of Probandt the shelters looked a lot
like what supposedly a UFO looks like.
Roundish, oblong and different colors, turquoise etc. and stood up on feet maybe three feet off the ground. Crazy.

Originally Posted by TrapperL

Yeah, I was around. We were just about to move out to Helotes when that happened in 1963. Should have been something like November as I was in John Marshall by January. We actually moved during Thanksgiving but I continued to go to Highlands at the time. We lived on Avondale behind the Parkair theater and could see it from the house. Everybody thought it was nuke that blew up from the large mushroom cloud. Had LOTS of airplane traffic overhead too as the house was on Brooks flight path. Planes flew over everyday but that day was incredible. We even got to see the rare B36 vamoosing outa Kelly. Man those planes were noisy! The ground would vibrate from those guys.