Space City (Now and Then)

Before the Coliseum: Sam Houston Hall

noreply@blogger.com (Pecos Bill) — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 23:34:00 +0000

According to The San Antonio Light, the Sam Houston Hall was built on the site of former marshland in just 64-working days. Why the rush? Because Houston businessman Jesse Jones (with a little help from Texas Governor Dan Moody) helped bring the 1928 Democratic National Convention to Houston. When the committee met in Washington on January 12, 1928, Jones was there and put in a bid of $200,000 with his own personal check. To counter a later bid of $250,000 from San Francisco, Jones promised a new 25,000-seat convention center. That sealed the deal, and Houston won the bid.

Now, just one small problem. With the convention opening date set for June 26, 1928, that gave roughly five months to plan, design, and build a large public facility. But build it they did. The resultant structure was built primarily of wood, and City Council had to let slide certain ordinances concerning non-fire-proof structures within fire zones. To ensure the safety of convention goers, twenty-five veteran firemen stood watch in the main hall during working sessions, and more than a few patrolled off-hours, as well. The name of the building came from Clem Shaver, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He suggested “Sam Houston Hall,”and that's the name that stuck.

Across the street from Sam Houston Hall (at the corner of Walker and Bagby), a “Hospitality House” was set up to give conventioneers a place to relax and to give the overflow crowd a place to hangout. To call this a “house” is a bit misleading. It was more like a series of heat-insulated roofs that formed a pavilion that spanned an entire city block. A community of homes had to be removed to make way for the $25,000 structure. To keep those informed of convention proceedings, loudspeakers were installed. In addition, the area was equipped with restrooms, writing rooms, iced drinking fountains, information booths, and a hospital, among other things. The main area could hold over 3,000 people.

(Hospitality House)

As far as the convention, itself: The weather was hot (no surprise there), the hotels were crowded, perhaps too crowded. On the first day, a man took his pistol and shot at the elevators at the Rice Hotel because they were taking too long. The next day, pandemonium broke out on the convention floor over some remarks Senator Joseph T. Robinson from Arkansas said in his opening speech. The Olean Times reported that “for 15 minutes the convention was a mob, it was in an uproar with several fights on the floor that necessiated [sic] the summoning of burly Texas policemen with clubs a-flying to quell.”

All in all, however, the convention went smooth enough. New York governor Alfred E. Smith was chosen as the presidential candidate, and the trouble-making orator Senator Joseph Robinson was nominated as the vice presidential candidate.

So what happened to the Sam Houston Hall? It continued to host various events. However, on June 24, 1936, The Abilene Daily Reporter reported that six bids were received for the building. Despite the original construction cost of roughly $200,000, the highest bid was only $3,250. The building was razed soon afterwards to make way for the Sam Houston Coliseum and Music Hall, which were completed the following year.

Future Visions Books

noreply@blogger.com (Pecos Bill) — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 04:57:00 +0000

There once was a bookstore in Houston that catered to the science fiction/fantasy/horror crowd. My nerdy friends and I enjoyed hopping in the car on the weekend and making the trek out to the northwest side of town. The first bit of fun, I remember, was trying to cross lanes of traffic to hit the Mangum/Dacoma exit. If you managed to make the exit, the bookstore was just to the right in a small strip center (10570 Northwest Freeway).

The store wasn't huge, but it was clean, well-organized, and had a decent collection of books in the genres I was most interested in at the time. Yeah, there were other bookstores that sold similar books, but this store catered especially to the interests of the geek community, much like Nan's did for comics and games.

The store sold new and used books. They had many used books in plastic wrapping. These were usually the older, first edition books. From what I remember, the prices were very reasonable. We would usually browse for half an hour and come away with 2-3 books apiece (even some with the plastic wrapping).

The store was also memorable for bringing writers in for signings. I was actually able to get Douglas Adams to sign my copy of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Fritz Leiber to sign a couple of books in his series with Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

The northwest store first opened in 1986. In 1987, another store opened in The Village (5925-H Kirby). Future Visions stayed in business for about 10 years, closing shop toward the end of 1996, beginning of 1997. It's one store I miss.

Here's a list of some of the writers who came to Future Visions over the years:

11-19-1988
Fritz Leiber
Justin Leiber

Justin is Fritz's son. He's also a sci-fi writer, but he's probably known better in Houston circles as the slightly-quirky, highly-entertaining philosophy professor at the University of Houston. I had the pleasure of taking several classes of his, including the philosophy of science fiction.

After doing a little research, it looks like Justin left UH last year and is now at Florida State University!

3-17-1989
Douglas Adams

3-18-1989
Greg Bear

They lured Greg out of Seattle by offering him a private tour of NASA.

10-15-1989
Roger Zelazny

3-24-1990
Terry Brooks

11-10-1990
Robert Jordan

7-16-1991
Orson Scott Card

10-24-1992
Douglas Adams
Dan Simmons

8-8-1993
Mercedes Lackey

8-22-1993
Martha Wells

10-13-1993
David Drake

10-5-1994
Jack McDevitt

10-15-1994
Mercedes Lackey

12-3-1994
Harlan Ellison

2-21-1995
R.A. Salvatore

5-28-1995
Walter Jon Williams

6-2-1995
Eric Nyland

6-11-1995
Octavia Butler
Barbara Hambly

6-25-1995
C.J. Cherryh
Lynn Abbey
Jane Fancher
Martha Wells

7-9-1995
Billie Sue Mosiman
Sean Stewart

1-14-1996
Dan Simmons

2-17-1996
Bill Baldwin

4-21-1996
Harry Harrison

4-27-1996
Elizabeth Moon
Katharine Eliska Kimbriel

7-24-1996
Buzz Aldrin

9-13-1996
George R.R. Martin
Bradley Denton

10-10-1996
David Feintuch

10-14-1996
K.W. Jeter

The Non-Heist of the Century

noreply@blogger.com (Pecos Bill) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 04:51:00 +0000

(News article, Sept. 15, 1929)

An amusing take on the National Bank of Commerce's move into the Gulf Building. I'm curious about the "little hand-pushed trucks," but unfortunately the article doesn't elaborate. The irony of it all is that the molestation of fortunes was just around the corner with Black Tuesday only weeks away, October 29, 1929.

Gulf Building Opens, Night Flyers Safe

noreply@blogger.com (Pecos Bill) — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:46:00 +0000

(News article, July 29, 1929 )

Built where Charlotte Allen's home used to stand, the Gulf Building remained the tallest building in Houston for many years. Later, it would become the Texas Commerce Bank Building and the JPMorgan Chase Building. For some pics and info (and GPS points, if you're into that) . . . Gulf Building at Waymarking

Houston's Other Founder

noreply@blogger.com (Pecos Bill) — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 07:28:00 +0000

Credit for the founding of Houston is usually given to the Allen brothers, John and Augustus. However, Charlotte Baldwin Allen, wife of Augustus, purchased most of the land for the new town. Also, she asked Sam Houston for permission to use his name. Houston was founded in 1836, and Charlotte was the first woman to arrive. Her home was at the corner of Main and Rusk where the Gulf Building would later go. She stayed in Houston until her death on August 3, 1895 and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery.