Boyhood memories
July 10, 2008 (Thursday)
Yesterday’s blog spoke of a photo of downtown taken from 75 stories up. Today I’d like to discuss that picture a little more.
As you look down from atop the 1002 feet high JP Morgan Chase Tower, you see the roof of the JP Morgan Chase Building, formerly the Gulf Building, built in 1929. The roof is at the 37th floor level, and once was host to a huge revolving sign, 53 feet high, illuminated and exhibiting the name, Gulf, in bright colors. For many years, it was the tallest building in Texas, and, along with the Niels Esperson Building, dominated the skyline. The ground floor and its annexes housed the Bank of Commerce, Sakowitz Department Store, and Rettig’s Ice Cream Parlor, directly across Rusk Avenue from the Majestic Theater, where I worked as an usher for a while. When Troy and I were barely old enough to go to town on our own, we decided to see the city from the top floors of the Gulf Building, and we did. The surprise in the view was the tremendous number of beautiful green trees as far as the eye could see. While there, we visited the studios of radio station KXYZ, and found the people there to be very friendly, showing us around the station and inviting us to become a part of their staff someday. We were amazed at how they welcomed us and made us feel right at home as we watched the announcers at the microphones. I never went back to see them again, but, while in Junior High School, one of my classes put on a radio program at KTRH, located in the Lamar Hotel, at Lamar and Main, next door to the Metropolitan Theater. I’ll never forget that, because I was suddenly seized with laryngitis on the day of the broadcast. I sucked on a lemon between my turns to read the script, and could barely squeak out sounds. Purely psychological, because it went away afterwards as quickly as it came. Oh, the pitfalls for a 13-year-old boy.
The site on which the Gulf building was built was originally the location of the home of the wife of one of the founders of Houston. She died in 1895. By that time the area was becoming commercialized. Read all about the Gulf Building and view pictures here.
More tomorrow about “the view from the top,” and boyhood memories.