1969 Aerial maps of Boca Chica and Expressway 77

August 08, 1969 aerial photo sections courtesy of Brownsville Historical Association

Everybody Had a Maid ~ A poem by Marvin Gershowitz

Everybody had a Maid 
a poem – by: Marvin F Gershowitz ©

Everybody had a Maid 
Every man use to be Rich in Texas
When I was a kid
My Gramp-pa had a furniture store
Made beds – Sold readymade too
He had nice people working for him
and every one of them had a home
And Mom was a QUEEN
And every WOMAN Equal at the beauty parlor
A person could raise a family even just beginning
So there were a lot of happy homes
You knew the police – Some fought in wars
And all of them wanted peace
Fruit was available sometime of the year
It was natural, it was good, and it was cheap
Where ever I went ‘mom’s’ fed me
Rich or Poor food was on every shelf
But that wasn’t always true across the Rio Grande
Poor folks walking the street, all pretty nice.
But food was HIGH because the Peso was Low
And here folks go there & get cigarettes
Bring them home by the truck loads
… Even the border patrol.
Men were ready to work if you need help
Some had cards and some didn’t
Most folks had a regular Maid
She lived in the house for 5 days
And go home to another on Friday
Folks in the Projects they’d find a young girl
14 or 15 years old - who for a place to live
Food on the table - they’d stay and work
Everybody had a Maid!

Marvin Gershowitz lives in Calfornia

1973~ David Essex - Rock On

Hey kid, rock and roll
Rock on, ooh, my soul
Hey kid, boogey too, did ya

Hey shout, summertime blues
Jump up and down in my blue suede shoes
Hey kid, rock and roll, rock on

And where do we go from here
Which is the way that's clear

Still looking for that blue jean, baby queen
Prettiest girl I ever seen
See her shake on the movie screen, Jimmy Dean
(James Dean)

And where do we go from here
Which is the way that's clear

Still looking for that blue jean, baby queen
Prettiest girl I ever seen
See her shake on the movie screen, Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Dean
Rock on
Rock on
Rock on

Hey, hey
Rock and roll
Rock on

Funerals & Post-mortem Photography by Robert Runyon

 Sometimes it was better to have a photo of a deceased loved one than no photograph at all to remember them.  Post-mortem photographs were made for that simple reason.  These were also known as Sleeping Beauty photos.

 Funeral with Hinkley hearse car delivering casket at train station

Best Drummer Ever

c1948 Louisiana Photos from the Honey 'n' Gus Photo Album

 A man sits next to dirt road with umbrella and "DINNERS READY" sign near restaurant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

 "Istrouma" is the Indian word for the area of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  We do not have a lot of info on this theater but have provided "Cinema Treasures" with these photos for their online references.

Historians Among Us: Mr John A. Garza

It was my great pleasure to meet with Mr John A. Garza at the Vermillion to talk about era of the Crixell Brothers of 100 years ago when the city police and sheriff's deputies had shootouts in the saloons and streets of Brownsville and Republicans (Reds) and Democrats (Blues) fought for control of politics at a local and county level. Mr Garza has compiled a history of mostly newspaper accounts and shared a copy of his research with the Brownsville Historical Association.


***from email 2017 0206 ***

Javier, long time no contact. After my family research project of a couple of years ago, I have not kept up with Brownsville, but I see that there is a bit of misinformation here and there in the e-mail below from Bronsbil Estación.

Where your blog says: 

“Jose' L. Crixell was born in 1871 on a ship in the Gulf of Mexico traveling from New Orleans to Bagdad...”

and:

“Jose' arrived in 1906 and opened a restaurant.” ---------

I have attached Joseph’s Death Certificate with its information provided by my grandfather/V.L., which says that Joseph was born in “Mexico” (meaning Matamoros), not on a ship in the Gulf.  Teofilo was born in New Orleans in 1867 and V.L. was born in 1869.  Since the big hurricane happened in 1867, which caused Vicente pere, Eliza, and those two sons to relocate from Baghdad to Matamoros, they weren’t on a ship in the Gulf by the time Joseph was born in 1871.

And the Brownsville Herald clippings in my research say that Teofilo and Joseph were in Brownsville in 1903, when Teofilo had “received the fixtures and furnishings for the saloon which he will open in the Barreda building on Elizabeth street and expect to be ready for business by May 1” of 1903 (not 1906).  On June 9 1903, Joe is named as the “manager of the Crixell Saloon,” such that he did not arrive in 1906 for a restaurant.

I’m sure that I will be corrected by whomever, maybe they arrived by 1903 and opened a restaurant in 1906, but my project of Herald clippings allows me to say that all I know is what I see in the newspaper
John A. Garza

2015 Back to the Future Day

Scenes from Sunday's 2015 Latin Jazz Festival

The new arrangement of bleachers (on which I was standing when photo was taken) really opened the area better this year.

UTRGV Jazz Band

Clay Moore y Los Hombres

Salsa dancers

Jesus Antinori and Toni Hudson (her art in background) added displays of their art to the El Jardin side

Mary Helen Flores sells t-shirts every year at these events.  

Mr Frog showing his support for Breast Cancer Awareness

El Jardin on top of El Jardin

Dr Anthony Knopp and Al Roser showing this year's t-shirt with Capitol Theatre design

You did not have to be near the stage to watch people dance

Artist Ivy Zolezzi at center

Downtown icons George Ramirez, Peter Goodman and Alexander Stillman hanging out a t-shirt behind the bleachers.

Enjoy Bronsbil Estacion

t-shirt designs 

2009 ~ G.H.o.S.T. Ghost Hunters of South Texas

Back in 2009 or so I joined a group of like-minded individuals interested in organizing paranormal investigations led by Rick Perez.  We only met up a few times but it was a fun experience without any scary stories to tell here.  I decided to draw up a few individual logos for the group team members and even had a couple of t-shirts made which came out really nice but nothing ever came of it.  Here are the designs:

 

 This was my personal favorite.

I do not know if the group is still active or if they emerge every Halloween season.  There might have been a small dispute over the use of the name.  I think there was a group in Corpus Christi using the name at the same time.  In a future post we might see ghost photos we were ale to capture from some of the places we visited.