Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part II (Austin: trains, electric)

[Michael F.]

Lone Star Beer


YouTube - Old Lone Star Beer Commercial

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by mudpuddle

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I believe it would be the building with the Art Deco front just to the North of Cool Crest.

Only way to get a good look at a Ducati is if it is parked.

Otherwise its nothing but a taillight getting smaller and smaller.
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Thanks Mud. Maybe that's where Gemtronics was in the late 70's early 80's. There's a cycle place near Logwood on S.W. Military Drive. Used bikes repairs and such.

[Sweetie Pie]

Originally Posted by cemoto22

My family owned the Yamaha dealership on Fredricksburg road "Yamaha Sports Center" in the '70's next to Cool Crest Golf and "Kawasaki of San Antonio" on West Ave. before it moved to I10 near Wonderland.. My uncle owned Cycle World on Broadway outside 410 in the '70's--he sold Honda, Harley Triumph, Bultaco, Penton.. Remember these shops??

Got my first leather Harley Jacket at Cycle World!!!

[Vector28]

Does anybody remember the derelict C-119s that used to be parked on the north side of the airport? I think an FAA mandate got them moved. Wonder what became of them.

[BudB]

Originally Posted by Vector28

Does anybody remember the derelict C-119s that used to be parked on the north side of the airport? I think an FAA mandate got them moved. Wonder what became of them.

Vector, you may be thinking of the half dozen or so derelict C-82 Packets that sat in a dump out off Bitters in the mid-1960s. It was the C-119's older brother and not quite as large but the same basic, twin boom plan-form. I only saw them on one occasion and have no idea where they went but at one time that same dump was home to an abandoned and much abused DeHavilland Mosquito believe it or not. The Confederate Air Force bought the Mossie remains and took it apart then down to Harlingen with big plans. I photographed it still sitting on its landing gear out on Bitters in Oct. 1966 and again at Harlingen ten years later in pieces behind the big hangar there. As far as I know she was never restored due to the complex lamination process involved in molding that beautiful aircraft. That one flew for Tobin Aerial Survey out at Stinson Field until being retired.
The C-82 as seen below wasn't built in large numbers so is very rare now whereas C-119s were used thru Vietnam and by the Forest Service as fire bombers into the 1980s.

[Vector28]

I assumed they were 119s because there were so few of the others built and like you said - they were in service much longer than the 82. And I think you answered my question - where they went. I was used to seeing them on the far side of the airport across from the terminal - and then they disappeared.

[Vector28]

Close enough. We're talking about the same shop, but I'm wondering if we visited an earlier version since I don't remember them having any new bikes for sale, and believe me, if there had been new Mustangs on display we would have noticed! Only one kid we knew owned a Mustang - he lived in Oak Hills and had two!

That's about the best I can do for the toy shop. Around Spencer is about right, maybe a few blocks south. It was in a kind of non descript stand alone two story building. I took a Google drive through there and couldn't say where it was. They closed it and moved away in the early 60s. I was surprised to see the Siesta motel still there. Dang, that place is old. Couldn't tell if the little coffee shop there was still such or something else.

[Vector28]

I've been reading GBNF I to avoid bringing up things that have already been discussed but catching up is going to take awhile. I have a little to add to some topics and a question or two.

A little background. My family moved back to SA at mid the end of 1959. We had never been far away but it seemed a major move to us kids. I had one year of elementary at Sunset Hills Elementary, one year of junior high at the old Northside junior high - next to John Marshall. My last year of junior high was at Pat Neff followed by all four years at John Marshall. My brother followed me through JMHS but my sister had to go to the new Holmes HS.

The "midget mansion" - I'm assuming that refers to the one more or less off of Donore Place/Tupelo. Funny, my crowd at JMHS never refered to it as such and in fact I would not know of it except I briefly dated a girl who lived on Donore Place. I can't remember if she described it as deserted then or not. This would have been around 1965. She thought some older movie star owned it and also had been told that there was once a landing strip on the property. I've never heard that story since.

The old mansion and grounds at Wurzbach and Lockhill Selma that previous posters say is now Elm Creek was deserted back then but I never went on the grounds. My father worked for Tom Slick right after the war and said that Slick used the place for his aircrews to stay between flights. Whether he built, bought, leased, or borrowed the place I don't know.

I was glad to see mention of Stanley Wilson and a picture of his race car. Does anyone remember that Wilson's 66 was a (or the) designated fueling point for one of Chrysler's experimental gas turbine powered cars? I was standing under the apron on a day that a lady drove it in. I haven't thought of August "Hands" Harptkopf since - I don't know when - so was thrilled to see mention of him. Searching on Google, I find the Gear Grinders are still going strong. Wish their website had more info on members and cars.

Was anybody reading this a regular at The House of Sir John Falstaff at Hemisfair? If so we probably sat near each other. Early that summer, one of my buddies got a parking ticket near the grounds so all summer long we stuck that same ticket on the windshield of whatever car we took down there...and never got another ticket. Then we climbed a fence behind some place on the grounds - I can't remember where - to get in. I believe the regular entertainer was Lofton Cline. None of us were of drinking age but not a thing was said to us all summer.

Leon Valley. Sometime in the early 60s, a fighter on approach to KAFB crashed there. I think it was almost right behind the icehouse that was "downtown" LV in those days. My buddy and I rode our scooters out there and were on the scene within thirty minutes of the crash. Unfortunately, the pilot ejected too low and maybe upside down and was killed.

LV had a policeman who provided his own car - a Chevy 409. The older kids called him "Squeaky". LV was considered a speed trap back then and "Squeaky" didn't do anything to disabuse anybody of he notion.

More recently, but still quite a few years ago, my friends and I were regulars at the Midnight Rodeo on Nacco Perrin, SA Rose in Colonies North mall and Dallas on Fredericksberg Road. I think I have the clubs in the right location.

[TexasRedneck]

We were in our yard the day that plane went down - it blew apart almost over the house (on Sawyer Road), and landed (mostly) on El Verde - that's the street that runs alongside where the old T&L Ice House used to be.

And don't forget LV's SuperBee....standing offer was if you could outrun 'em, no ticket. Not many did....

[RGJ]

I went to House of Sir John Falstaff many times. It was Lofton Cline that played there a lot. Also went to the Garter on the river (you had to join as a member in order to get liquor by the drink) where a band called Six Part Invention played a lot. And you're right, being the ripe old age of sixteen, maybe seventeen, they did'nt card much. Fake id's were easy to make. The bar in Colonies North(was it SA Rose? and not to be confused with the place George Strait owns at Leon Springs), was also a favorite place. Tho, I think it was more of a drug money laundering operation than a bar to make money.