Old corner grocery in north Houston

When I was a child in the 1950s my aunt and uncle ran a small corner grocery store in north Houston, not far from downtown in the area of North Main and Quitman. We often visited them there, and I have some very pleasant memories of these visits. When we went to see them, we traveled from the suburbs in my father's old Plymouth by way of Kelley Street, since this was before the North Loop freeway was built. Those visits were always always very enjoyable - we were the only family that my aunt and uncle had in Houston.

The store was located across the street from the old Marshall Junior High. Since we lived in a newly-built house in the suburbs, and I went to a recently-built school, the neighborhood was a different world for me. Even fifty years ago the houses all looked very old, and the school building (not the modern one which is there today) looked ancient, with its dark, discolored brick and rusted metal fire escapes on the outside. The people were a different world for me, too. At that time the neighborhood was a mix of anglo, Hispanic, Italian and others. I remember the streets as always busy with people, not like today when it seems like most people are either in cars or indoors. It was definitely a different world in the 1950s, in the inner city.

I loved the sights, sounds and smells of the store. I always got my choice of drinks from what my uncle called his "pop box," which was a big, red Coca-Cola case filled with ice and glass bottles of soft drinks of all kinds: Royal Crown Cola, Nehi in different fruit flavors, and many others whose names I am sure I have forgotten. I got to watch my uncle operate the electric meat slicing machine, and cut and weigh slices from large cheeses. My aunt was a excellent cook, and we were always treated to an wonderful meal in their small apartment above the store.

Once I got to go with my uncle to pick up stock for the store in his station wagon. We made stops at the grocery wholesaler, the Farmers' Market (which was then located downtown near where the post office on Franklin is today), and the fish market which I believe was on Congress Avenue.

It was usually after dark before we started home again; I remember listening to the old Lone Ranger and Dragnet programs on our car radio.

Many years later, in the 1990s, I decided to see if the old store building was still standing. It was, although in pretty run-down condition. The store space was now occupied by a Mexican bakery, so I got to go inside and look around. Did that bring back some memories! I'm glad I did that, because some time later I saw on the television news that the building had burned. The current owner was very upset because he had had plans to restore it. I recognized him as someone I had met through business. Small world even in the big city.

(Near Northwest Banner, November 2, 2006)