As we left The Village, I saw this darling house which is so typical of the 1930-40's era.
After a couple minutes of driving, we entered the City of Southside, a 9-block incorporated city. I rode my bike 9 blocks to the fire station which had a bicycle rack on the side. I'd park my bike then walk across the street to West University Elementary School.
We turned on Edloe and I took some photos of the houses in the area. This was a middle-class housing area but it has come up in the world. The homes have been updated, remodeled, and dare not even guess what the market value of these homes are today.
At last we came to my house.
Originally, the house was painted white; forgot the trim and shutter color. No one had air conditioning when I was young so the enclosed room on the right was a screened porch. We ate many a summer meal there and I played jacks on the cool, concrete floor many a summer afternoon. We had one small black fan which my mother moved from bedroom to bedroom during the night so we'd at least get some air part of the night. We'd also set up cots on the porch to sleep on during Houston's hot summer nights. We've come a long way, baby.
How about this tree? Isn't it beautiful? That was my aunt's house next door. The screened porch has been enclosed too. If I remember correctly, these homes cost about $7,000, maybe $8,000, and the monthly mortgage payments ran about $40 a month.
As we were leaving the area, we drove past what was once the Bellaire Theatre. The tower is still there. I either walked or rode my bike the three blocks for the Saturday Morning Fun Shows featuring Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Zorro, The Cisco Kid, Hopalong Cassidy, and some kind of serial which made you come back next week to see what happened. :D
I've never been one to go back in time; but I must admit, Saturday was one of the most pleasurable days I've had in a long time. It was truly wonderful. So, thank you, Patty and Julie for the day.
Until next time, God bless.
5 comments:
Those were pretty big houses! Lots of memories flooded back I bet.
Yeah, the houses are big but think that the most expensive did not cost over $9-10,000 and probably less. Most of the men in the area had very modest jobs. It was just a different era when women could stay home and fathers were able to earn enough to support a family.
How wonderful to be able to go back and replay those sweet memories. Beautiful houses. And that tree is incredible!
What a nice walk down memory lane, those houses are so pretty.
I grew up in Georgia and we also had the heat and high humidity. How did we every manage to sleep without air conditioning? Just like your family did, one fan and a big screen porch. Times have changed.
awesome neighborhood. great houses. they speak history and happy memories.
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