August 25, 2020 (Tuesday)
Yesterday’s blog was about the changes in Houston, especially downtown. I conceived the idea for the blog as I thought about Houston’s skyline and how the old skyline had disappeared beneath all the new skyscrapers.
One of the buildings I wrote about was the Gulf Building and the huge sign on its roof. In the days before Houston’s sign ordinance, corporate logos like those of energy giants Conoco and Shell were a common skyline sight. Towering above them for a time, the orange, white and blue Gulf sign rotated on the roof of the former Gulf Building, now the completely-redone JPMorgan Chase Building. Critics derided its prominence atop the historic Art Deco building as an eyesore. It was therefore removed in 1973, after shining forth since 1966.
Today, though surrounded by many newer and more modern buildings, the building is still a treasure. It was situated directly across Rusk Street from the theater where I worked in 1946. It was a huge building, extending from Main Street to Travis Street and housing on its main floor a huge bank and Sakowitz, a large upscale department store, occupying several floors. The bank is decorated with paintings and stained glass art objects, depicting the history of Houston and Texas.
When my friend, Troy Conner, and I were about eleven years old, we went to the Gulf Building with the purpose of ascending to the top floors and looking out through the windows at the city. After our viewing, we headed for the elevator and passed the KXYZ radio station studio, located within the Gulf Building. A friendly man came from inside and invited us to come inside and visit the radio station. For some reason, we declined. I think we were scared.
At the base of the Gulf Building was a Rettig’s Ice Cream Parlor, one of many scattered across town. It was open, without doors, so that a customer could just step from the sidewalk to the counter, place his foot upon the brass rail, and order his dairy delight.
Across Main street from the building were many stores, one of which was Becker’s Jewelry. Sammy, a son of the owner, and I attended high school together. One day I saw a ring in their window that I liked, so I went inside, said hello to Sammy and his kin, and bought a gold ring, with a black onyx setting, a gold “C” mounted on top, and a small diamond in the lower corner. It was inexpensive but precious to me. However, I wore it to work in my parents’ restaurant, and lost it, probably in the ice box that held the sodas. I never found it, but I miss it to this day.
After visiting the KXYZ studios in the Gulf Building, a few years later I was part of a Junior High School project that required six of us to go to the studios of KTRH, in the Lamar Hotel, and present a discussion program as we sat around a table equipped with a microphone for each of us. When my turn to speak came, I found that I could not make a sound. Too bad. Psychologically, I was temporarily disabled. I don’t recall ever having such an experience again.
Later, when several of us boys in our church were about to go to college and study for the ministry, The Houston Press, one of three local newpapers back then, asked us to come down to their headquarters and allow ourselves to be interviewed. They took our picture and we were in the paper. Today the Press is down to online only editions, having morphed from a daily newspaper, to a weekly one, and then to online only. Their building at that time was on Chartres Street, on a corner with Rusk Street. Today that building would be on the frontage road on I69 behind the George Brown Convention Center, but it was demolished years ago.
As I said, there were three daily newspapers at that time, the Post, the Chronicle and the Press. Today only the Chronicle exists. We also had only three radio stations, but that blossomed into many stations through the years. I mentioned our visit to KXYZ (ABC Network) and KTRH (CBS Network). I never visited the NBC outlet, KPRC, but they outgrew their building and moved to the west side of town, all the stations later becoming television outlets.
Meanwhile, back at church, I was part of an active bunch of young people that found ways to serve the Lord. We went to the Tuberculosis hospital, which was located on the west side of downtown, and we went to the county home for old people, too. We sang and preached at each place. My grand aunt, Mrs. Fleming, worked for Volunteers of America (similar to the Salvation Army), and she made arrangement for me to preach there. We went to other mission centers in town as well. We also preached when we were asked, at local churches, which was rare. I remember going to the First Baptist Church of League City, a quaint country church then, almost a mega church today. We continued doing things like that until we went away to college, where we literally began a new life. For me, opportunities for service came one after the other. I never went to a church in Waco during the four years of college; I was always engaged in service in other places.
I never lived in Houston again, until 2004, when I became pastor of the Timbergrove Baptist Church in the Houston Heights. I served there twice, for a total of about five years. Then I came back home to Rockport, continuing to serve churches as Interim Pastor. I have finally retired for sure this year.