1950 Brownsville Music Company - Gilbert Pineda and Dan Alaniz

Gilbert Pineda and Dan Alaniz ~ Brownsville Music Company (BMC) sent by Gil Tatar Pineda last January.  The original appears at bottom of this post.  This is the colorized version with photos found online to help with the coloring process.  The Wurlitzer 1250 was introduced in 1950.

The photo appears to be taken at a trade show convention with a display the latest Wurlitzer music boxes on the market.  The BMC store was located in the San Fernando complex building facing Market Square from the side of 11th St.  Sorry, no photo of that.

Gilbert Pineda was a teenager when he started working for the Brownsville Music Company prior to World War II.  He enlisting in the army in 1943 and took part in the D-Day Invasion operating heavy artillery and returned home in December 1945.  He returned to work for his uncle Bernadino ("Tio Nino") who owned BMC.  After Tio Nino passed on Gilbert and Dan took over the business and leased jukeboxes, pool tables and pinball machines throughout Brownsville, Port Isabel and Los Fresnos areas well into the 1990s.

This is an early Robert Runyon photo of Frenchman John B. Viano (standing) and parade float.  He was the proprietor of the "Diamond Loop Brownsville Music Company" and displayed the United States of America and French flags on his flower decorated float for a parade popular with Brownsvillites who owned vehicles in the early 1900's.  Viano probably sold pianos and phonographs and other musical instruments popular at the time.

1911 Flower Parade in Brownsville, Texas (Brownsville Historical Association)

 July 28, 1938 obituary for John B. Viano

 May 4, 1952 Cinco de Mayo ad from Brownsville Music Company

 The Wurlitzer Model 1250 jukebox showcased a visible record changer and could play (both sides) of  24 -  10" or 7" records.  It weighed about 380 lbs and stood 59" high, 36" wide and 27" deep.  

 Wurlitzer Model 4007 oval wall-mount auxiliary speaker featured a silver grille cloth and mirrored rim which was the top-of-the-line.  The 12" speaker gave increased output.  The unit was about 30" high, 22 wide and 11" deep.  Another attractive feature was the "revolving colored light cylinder behind Musical Note."

The Wurlitzer 3020 wall box accepted 5¢ 10¢ & 25¢ to play up to 24 selections of music from the Wurlitzer 1250.  It was nickel-plated with red push buttons.

Thanks to Gil Tatar Pineda for allowing me the privilege to colorize this piece of Brownsville history.  This was a difficult photo to work with and I did not achieve the desired realistic colors I wanted but that's alright.

Colorized photo of JC Penny party in 1951 in Brownsville, Texas with 1941 Wurlitzer 750 jukebox. Photo loaned by Nora Vasquez at Junk -N- Treasure in Brownsville, Texas (my first experience colorizing a jukebox).
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(photo & comments added 3/2017

San Fernando building complex at Market Square early 1970s 

"Love these photos side, by side. My father, Alfredo Serna, Sr., owned The Victory Place until he passed away in August 1970. It was a beer joint and the address was 1108 East Adams. It was the only bar that opened to both Adams and Market Square St. (The beer trucks lined up there, made me smile.) Looking at this picture I can't tell if my dad's bar was in the building next to the park or was torndown for the park. This is a clipping from a Mother's Day advertisement in the '50's I believe. My mom, Maria Teresa Serna, was the switchboard operator at City Hall just across the street, for many, many years, retiring a few years after he passed away. So, this photo and the recent photo of City Hall you posted hold so many memories for me and my family."

~ Lali Serna Castillo (via Facebook page)

"My dad Benito F Garcia owned the bar at the corner " El Caballo Blanco " all his life. He had an ajointed door to the Jukebox company owned by my cousins the Pinedas that faced the market. These pictures bring me back to those days of my dads good old days. People knew my dad as El Venado."  

~  Nago Garcia

1955 March 12 ~ Rocket Service Station - West Side Brownsville Junk -N- Treasure Anniversary Photo

Back in early 2014 local antiques dealer Nora Vasquez asked if I could look at some various sized negative photos she had saved and of course I was interested.  The bulk of these were over a hundred in a cardboard box, average sized about 4" x 6" and stored in bunches of wax paper the way they would have been if you ordered photos back in the late 1940s or early mid '50's which is what we estimate the collection to be from.  No one has fully studied the collection but we've seen several posted on the Facebook page and here.

One envelope found in the box was Kodak manufactured printed for Alex Studio which was at 1107 S E Washington St., Brownsville, Texas but others might be from Rogers Studio on E Levee or some other photo studio.  

My apologies to the Cisneros relative who supplied us with the above information which I embedded on the photo so people can keep the most accurate info about it.  I hadn't planned on making this post. Otherwise I would have written up a nice history but if you're resourceful enough you'll find more Cisneros Gas Station photos and info posted on this blog elsewhere.  Some of them are colorized by yours truly.

Anyway, it's been a long but good day.  God is great.

Junk N Treasure Slide Images Show Scenes of Brownsville's History

Two years ago we saw for the first time rare images of downtown Brownsville after Nora Vasquez at Junk N Treasure called to ask if I could develop photos from large (approx. 3" x 5") negative film.  My scanning equipment include templates which allow for scanning any transparent film or slides 35mm or smaller.  It required at least 3 or 4 cross sectional scans of each negative which had to be merged using Photoshop.  Needless to say it was a lot of work but well worth the look at interior and exterior photos of downtown businesses, buildings and people.  

When Nora contacted me again to ask if I was interested in looking at several color slides of historic Brownsville scenes I got excited.  Here's what we discovered about the images.  They appear to be photo-copies of museum scenes on display.  Many of these are now common images you can find on the internet but some are not.  Here are some of the slide images.

 1846 

The capture of General Vega (In the act of discharging a canon) by the gallant Capt. May, of the U.S. Army, during the engagement of the 9th May / / Lith. & pub. by Sarony & Major, 117 Fulton St. N.Y.

 Original litho 

 Variations of scene

Artists copied Vega figure from one depiction to next

 1846 wood-cut depicting soldier's life 

 Ft Brown after cannonade

 c1875 map

 from 1863 Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper of Santa Cruz ferry opposite Brownsville, Texas

 Union General Francis Jay Herron with a weird beard

 1858 Steel engraving showing Brownsville, Texas which is a Mexican Boundary Survey.

 Looks like steamboats on Rio Grande on Levee illustrations or photos we've seen before with Fort Brown or city of Brownsville in distance.  

 Fort Brown soldiers on parade grounds 

 Fort Brown from folding souvenir book

Fort Brown parade grounds

W.R. Jackson Feed and Seed

1951 W.R. Jackson Feed & Seed store on E Washington St. existed as early as 1932.  They specialized in garden seed, Purina Chow for livestock and poultry and insecticides.

1931

1934

Many Brownsville residents recall seeing baby chicken hatch-lings produced in Mr. Jackson’s 12,000 egg incubator.  W.R. Jackson was a pharmacist who came from North Texas to manage the F.G. Jackson Company.  

He also manufactured a roach and ant poison with a money back guarantee.  The store was relocated in the early 1990’s to its present location at 1755 E 7^th St. which was originally a warehouse on 7^th and Van Buren which stored freight delivered from the nearby railroad that is now a bike trail.

Junk -N- Treasure photo / Nora Vasquez

1934

1953

1972

They added Western wear to their line of products in the late 1960s and found added success.  

The store on 7th & Ringgold St.  Photo by Eddie Sanchez.

The building was relocated to 7^th and Ringgold to accommodate space for the new Federal Courthouse.  Its present owner is Oscar Garcia who purchased the business in 1986 and retained the WR Jackson Company name.

Here's another building next to a railroad from 1934.  It looks like it says "Benavides" on the sign.  Anybody know anything about this?  Let us know what you know and we'll pass it along.  Thanks to Veronica Lerma & friend for posting this.

1955 Lowrider-revised

1955 Pontiac Chieftain at Cisneros Rocket gas station on W Elizabeth and 5th

1955 Rocket Gas Stations in the RGV

 Grand re-Opening in March 1955.  Photo:  Nora Vasquez Ernesto C. Cisneros is the man sitting in the car getting gas at his station at 5th & West Elizabeth according to his daughter Cecilia Cisneros

January 1, 1950

 Antonio Cisneros Sr had seven sons.  Antonio Jr and Ernesto owned the family business which began in in the 1930’s from a corner market and majority of businesses on the block which was sold with capital moved toward the expansion in the oil business.  As the sons aged each took a role in the family businesses which operated seven gas stations.  Antonio Jr. eventually took over operations and Ernesto bought half of the company after he returned from World War II.

October 1, 1952

 They added more stations over time.

October 1, 1952

The Cisneros family owned trucks that delivered fuel and canned their own brand of motor oil.  Fuel was purchased locally from McBride Refinery at Elsa and Port Fuel Company at Brownsville.

March 3, 1955

To celebrate the opening of new refurbished stations Cisneros Oil Company offered four gallons of Rocket gasoline free with purchase of 5 gallons of gasoline and 5 quarts of motor oil.  Free gifts were also given for a four day period from October 2 to 6, 1952.  Gifts included key chains for men, hose mending kits for women, special “Rocket” balloons for children and free cold drinks for everyone.

Cisneros Rocket “Courtesy Cards” were credit cards you could use to purchase fuel, oil, batteries and other automotive supplies on credit.

Cisneros Rocket Service Station

October 1, 1952 Brownsville Herald