musicman Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 Anyone remember Palm Center, the FIRST mall in Houston? It was at South Park (now MLK) and Griggs. I remember there was a Penney's there as the main anchor. A grocery store was the other main anchor. This was built in the early 50's.Across the street was Loma Linda Mexican Restaurant which was basically the only Mexican Restaurant in the area. Hard to believe but i didn't like Mexican food back then and i always ate the children's plate, which was turkey and french fries. I think they "sold" it to the current owners on Telephone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 Yep, sure do. Now THAT is a flashback. But the buildings are still there, I think, and occupied. That's an odd part of town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted August 4, 2005 Author Share Posted August 4, 2005 Yep, sure do. Now THAT is a flashback. But the buildings are still there, I think, and occupied. That's an odd part of town.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Just some of the buildings are standing. the JC Penney's was razed years ago. Perhaps the Montgomery ward across the street is standing? not sure though but know it is abandoned. The City/county has taken over what remains of the mall for satellite offices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 What was the giant odd building across the street.It is still there, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted August 4, 2005 Author Share Posted August 4, 2005 Voila: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Houston,+TX+...09805&t=h&hl=en<{POST_SNAPBACK}>thanks for that. YES the old Montgomery Wards is standing but the JC Penney's has been razed.Great google shot, even captured an airliner going into Hobby two blocks south of Palm Center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted August 4, 2005 Author Share Posted August 4, 2005 What was the giant odd building across the street.It is still there, too.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Across MLK was the old Montgomery Wards. That same corner also had a Kip's Big Boy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnu Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 I never saw the original Palm Center (at least that I was old enough to remember ) but I have been intrigued by the pic in the 1972 architecture guide. Two story open air retail. looks similar to a 50's-60's motel - sort of. Can anyone describe this part of Palm Center and what stores were in there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted August 4, 2005 Author Share Posted August 4, 2005 I never saw the original Palm Center (at least that I was old enough to remember  ) but I have been intrigued by the pic in the 1972 architecture guide. Two story open air retail. looks similar to a 50's-60's motel - sort of.Can anyone describe this part of Palm Center and what stores were in there? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I was 10 or 11 when the very first shopping center in Houston opened less than a mile from our house. It was called Palm Center. It wasn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnu Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 So are the current buildings used by the HCC, etc the same that were there but remodelled. I have had a hard seeing how the pic in the arch guide can become what is there now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 thanks for that. YES the old Montgomery Wards is standing but the JC Penney's has been razed.Great google shot, even captured an airliner going into Hobby two blocks south of Palm Center.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Either that or it's parked in someone's back yard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 This is that restaurant that was across the street at 5111 Griggs: Gnu your description from the 1972 AIA guide is exactly right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted August 4, 2005 Author Share Posted August 4, 2005 This is that restaurant that was across the street at 5111 Griggs: Gnu your description from the 1972 AIA guide is exactly right. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> if i remember correctly much of this drive in was standing in the early 80's. but i think it had already closed at that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnu Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 Gnu your description from the 1972 AIA guide is exactly right.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks, I still cannot picture how the existing buildings could have looked like that. From driving by on Griggs it just looks like a run of the mill converted strip center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Plastic Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 I always was told Northline and Gulfgae were the first malls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heights2Bastrop Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 I, too think Gulfgate was the first. Maybe there is a distinction between a shopping center and a mall? If they are the same, then I think Gulfgate was the first.The last time I was by Palm Center was well over 20 years ago. It was all boarded up and resembled a war zone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstonsemipro Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 I thought the first mall in Houston was Northline Mall? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heights2Bastrop Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 I am positive that Gulfgate was before Northline, maybe by some 5-10 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stolitx Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 I am positive that Gulfgate was before Northline, maybe by some 5-10 years.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Found this online -"In 1956, Gulfgate Mall opened to great fanfare as the first enclosed mall in Texas." First in Texas, not just Houston. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnu Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 "In 1956, Gulfgate Mall opened to great fanfare as the first enclosed mall in Texas." <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Palm Center is/was not an enclosed mall. I found this description in chron: Palm Center , built in 1955, is the city's oldest suburban mall shopping center While on the topic of first malls... River Oaks Shopping Center (1937) is the oldest shopping center in Texas and the second oldest shopping center in the nation (Country Club Plaza (1922) in Kansas City, Missouri is the nation's oldest). I have always heard that about River Oak Center But 15 years before another center was built in the nation??? I have also heard that Highland Park Village (1931) in Dallas was the first shopping center in America . Highland Park Village was the first development built on a single lot surrounded by parking areas with stores facing away from access streets. Uninterrupted by public streets, the Village hosts individual stores unified under one image, built and managed as a unit under single ownership. So i guess the key is to define a category so you can be "first" in something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchful Posted August 13, 2005 Share Posted August 13, 2005 Anyone remember Palm Center, the FIRST mall in Houston? It was at South Park (now MLK) and Griggs. <{POST_SNAPBACK}>If I recall correctly, the original name was the (hard to pronounce differently) PALMS CENTER. Later after it was snatched up for offices, community center, etc., the new signs read PALM CENTER. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djrage Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 If I recall correctly, the original name was the (hard to pronounce differently) PALMS CENTER. Later after it was snatched up for offices, community center, etc., the new signs read PALM CENTER.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>There is an old neon sign on MLK south of 610 that says Palm Center on it. Was it for the "mall"? Always been curious to why it was placed so far from the shopping center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchful Posted September 1, 2005 Share Posted September 1, 2005 This historical account uses the name "Palms Center."http://www.houstonhistory.com/decades/history5n.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 today... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashikaga Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 if i remember correctly much of this drive in was standing in the early 80's. but i think it had already closed at that time.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Probably the only curb service restaurants that are still around are Sonic Drive-Ins, which are a chain. There are several of them over here 100 miles east of Houston. Are there a lot of them over there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJones Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 thanks for that. YES the old Montgomery Wards is standing but the JC Penney's has been razed.Great google shot, even captured an airliner going into Hobby two blocks south of Palm Center.Good 'ol Southwest Airlines buzzin' the rooftops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 today... I love the googie font on the second sign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 (edited) I love the googie font on the second sign. yeah! i am so disappointed by the cheapie crap that we know of now - uncreative polycarbonate backlit signboxes, and so forth Edited July 22, 2006 by sevfiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnu Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 yesterday... today: Residents of an apartment complex jumped off their balconies and threw their children to safety to escape an apartment fire Thursday, KPRC Local 2 reported. The blaze broke out at the Royal Palms Apartments in the 5600 block of Royal Palms Street near Griggs Road at about 1:30 a.m. Fire officials said the fire started in a unit on the ground floor. Officials said unattended candles may have started the fire. Flames blocked the stairway from the second floor. Residents tossed their children down to other residents, who caught them. Several residents jumped off the balconies to escape the fire. Officials said seven residents suffered minor injuries, including smoke inhalation. Four people were transported to the hospital. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtmbin Posted July 28, 2006 Share Posted July 28, 2006 Yep, sure do. Now THAT is a flashback. But the buildings are still there, I think, and occupied. That's an odd part of town.The Houston Public Library's Young Branch has been located in the Palm Center for several years. It's smaller than most HPL libraries but it has free wi-fi (like every HPL facility) and you can check out a laptop for use in the building. Palm Center is alive and well.http://www.hpl.lib.tx.us/branches/you_home.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted July 28, 2006 Author Share Posted July 28, 2006 (edited) Palm Center is alive and well.Palm Center is alive because most of the tenants are government entities. Harris County Annex, City of Houston, HCC, etc. I believe there is a small cafe that you can see from Griggs. But that's about it. No stores. Edited July 28, 2006 by musicman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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