Just before we put September 2016 behind us, let's take a look back at September 1986.
* Remember the Heights Festival? In the lead-up to the October event, the Chronicle sent a reporter and photographer to familiarize Houstonians with the history of the Heights and where to go when visiting. Though much has changed in the neighborhood, some things have stayed the same.
From reporter Michael Spies' Oct. 2 article:
To get your bearings, begin with the esplanade down Heights Boulevard, which was laid out in 1892-93 by Carter with railroad and streetcar lines in mind - they were advertised attractions to the area. On Heights also stands the stateliest jewel on the boulevard, the Milroy House, 1102 Heights Blvd., which was built in 1898 in the Queen Anne style by John Milroy, the first and foremost real-estate developer.
A principal renovation on the boulevard involves the Heights Public Library, 1301 Heights, originally constructed in a Renaissance style with stucco roof in 1925 and renovated with additions in 1979 to highlight architectural features.
Another public building that has served the community well is the Heights Fire Station at Yale and 12th, which dates from 1914. It was formerly the mayoral office and chambers for the city of Houston Heights, which was incorporated into the larger city of Houston in 1918.
Significant buildings that have turned to commercial purposes include the Citizen's State Bank from 1925, later the Heights State Bank. In recent years, it has taken on a name dripping with money to become Rockefeller's, 3620 Washington, the prime small concert hall in the city with all the art-deco chic retained. Trivia question: What is the statement on the balcony engraved in stone above the concert stage?
(Answer: Devoted to the service of our citizens that the fruit of their labors may be made secure, to the encouragement of thrift, the molding of character and the building of Americanism.")
Only in the last few months, the Macdonald House at 1801 Ashland has been converted into The Tea Room, which is now open for a Heights lunch with history dating from 1907 behind it.
Its architectural significance is close to nil, but the Schaeur filling station at 1400 Oxford just keeps pumping along and has been in the family and dispensing gas since 1929; because of its importance as one of the first places to tank up in the area, it makes the National Register, too.
The central business district in the Heights is in the vicinity of 20th and 21st and Yale, anchored by the Yale Pharmacy, complete with pennant symbol and fountain drinks, and Kaplan's Ben Hur, a large general store where novelties and notions still mean something, as they have since the teens of this century.
At the other end of this section of the Heights is Harold's clothing store, 350 W. 19th. "Harold's in the Heights, open nights" is a slogan that may recall earlier days, though Harold's is no longer open nights. It does still stock fine menswear and provides the attention to the customer that few larger men's stores do, but it also has women's and children's clothes.
Other landmarks in this district have gone to seed - the Heights Theater is no more than a provocative facade now, recalling the days when there was an opera house and a front-line hotel in the Heights - but the potential is still present, and the old buildings perk up again with fresh paint and a little work, as several business have shown. At the Hits Unicorn Theater, 311 W. 18th, the first steps are being taken to establish a theater base in the Heights.
While touring the Heights, you're bound to come upon the bulwarks of the east end, which means the 24-hour cafe Andy's, 115 E. 11 St., where many a late-night or early morning breakfast of huevos rancheros has appeased the hungry, especially after a trip to the rowdy old Polish dance hall that is now the equally lively local-plus dance and concert hall Fitzgerald's, 2706 White Oak. Another place to end up or start out the evening is the 11th Street Cafe, 748 E. 11th, which has a homey small-town diner feel.
Among the homes that have been shown to advantage on the yearly home tour is the Hurt Home, 1537 Tulane, which was called the "dollar home" because it was scheduled for demolition while located at 17th and Ashland before it was sold to be moved for $1. Built in 1911, the Colonial-style home was completely renovated in 1977. The Bart Truxillo Home, 1802 Harvard, was also on the home tour this year. The Bundy-Day House, 1401 Oxford, is famous, or infamous, as one of the places where Bonnie and Clyde holed up during their criminal career.
* The Van Hagar incarnation of Van Halen rolled into the Summit on Sept. 29. As Marty Racine put it, their cover of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" sent fans "into a sonic boom of high-level auto-destructive ear-shattering arena-rock heavy metal noise."
From Racine's article:
At best, Hagar's addition settles Van Halen into a "real" band, with all four members - also guitarist Edddie Van Halen, drummer Alex Van Halen and bassist Michael Anthony - taking more equal roles in the vocals, solos and spotlight. When Hagar also plays guitar, the band is capable of some fine cross-solo jamming. And at his best, Hagar looked happier and more in his element than he ever did fronting his own assorted bands.
On the down side, Van Halen, now on the third leg of an extended tour are taking themselves more seriously. The departed David Lee Roth was a showman, and the old Van Halen concerts were upfront carnivals.
Now we have to listen, and there are too many holes in the music to find much to grab onto.
Van Halen did, however, use the Summit better than I've seen in awhile. The gigantic drum riser sloped into the stage in a configuration that drew the audience in. At the opposite end, the Summit rose to the rafters with the seats packed, creating a bowl of humanity and lighting effects that had everyone standing for the entire show.
The Chronicle reexamined that practice in a Sept. 16. article. Reporter Leslie Sowers polled some of Houston's largest grocers to get their take on whether to tip or not to tip.
If the carryout boy plants himself in your path or holds out an empty palm or flashes a sign that says cheapskate, you can be assured he is acting against store policy in the case of at least five major Houston grocery stores.
But as Joel Levy of Rice Food Market said, "Tipping is a common thing in the Houston market."
Jeff Jamail, of Jamail's on Kirby, said, "If the customer wants to tip, that's fine."
Carmen Lovell, consumer affairs specialist at Kroger, said: "Tipping is allowed but not encouraged. We want customers to feel comfortable not having to tip. We feel our sackers make a fair wage without the addition of tips. Some people want to tip."
Kroger stores have signs stating: "Carryout is offered for the customer's safety and convenience. Tipping is neither required nor encouraged."
Ron Barclay, senior vice president for human resources at Randall's, says the store does not have any signs about tipping.
"We leave it up to the customer. Some of our customers feel carryout is a service Randall's provides, and that's the way we want them to feel. (But) a lot of our customers do tip," said Barclay.
* It's perhaps one of the greatest moments in Houston sports history: Mike Scott throws a no-hitter against the Giants and the Astros clinch the NL Western Division title.
Well all remember that. (I was invited to go to that game but somehow didn't.) But do you remember the two-step process to get tickets for the NLCS series against the Mets?
These days we can snag playoff tickets right from the comfort of our homes and cell phones. About the worst that can happen is a crashed server brought on by overwhelming demand.
In 1986, Astros fans had to line up early Friday to get a numbered wristband that would later determine their place in line to buy tickets. Once you got that wristband, you had to be at the West Gate of the Astrodome by 3 a.m. when the numbers were announced. Ticket sales would begin at 7 a.m.
Here's how the night went according to reporter Mark Carreau in a Sept. 28 article:
Years from now, many Astros fans may well remember the Saturday they bought their National League playoff tickets as well as they recall the historic no-hitter tossed last week that won Houston a Western Division championship and placed them in the pennant battle with the New York Mets.
Memories of Saturday, though, will be bittersweet. Sweet for the fans like Marty Kobs, a 33-year-old state highway department right-of-way agent who won the right to be first in the ticket line and a little bitter for David Ezernack, a 23-year-old Channelview electrician, who was delegated to the end of the line by the Astros' rather mysterious lottery process.
As it turned out, the ticket lottery determined more than whether one stood at the beginning, middle or end of the line and thus where one sat for Games 1 and 2, Oct. 8-9. Those at the end had to decide whether to give up their ticket quest after hours of waiting or take a risk that the playoffs would extend through Games 3-5 at Shea Stadium in New York into Games 6 and 7 back in Houston.
All in all, though, the 10,000 or so eager fans who gathered at the West Gate of the Astrodome at 3 a.m. Saturday for the drawing that would determine line position endured the heat and the absence of restrooms with their enthusiasm for the Astros intact.
I'm happy. I feel great," said Kobs, who beamed from ear to ear and hammed it up for the television cameras after paying $80 in cash for two tickets to each of the first two games. He made his selections like a connoisseur on a budget, picking two seats in the loge section on the third base side of home plate for Game 1 and two seats in the pavilion for Game 2.
Kobs plans to take a date to the first game of the playoffs and give the other two tickets to his brothers.
Why such a seemingly convoluted process? The team said it was done to keep fans from camping outside the Astrodome for hours to score tickets and to discourage ticket scalping.