Star Trek the Original Series humor

The following were originally posted on the Star Trek Original Series Fan group created by Al Kesh on Facebook.  

Gorn and Mugato 

Gorn greeting card

Star Trek aliens and monsters 

Homage to "Man Trap" episode

More Gorn porn for you and yourn

1965 Jupiter 8  reactor March II build by automotive artist Gene Winfeild

The notorious Miami Beach photo bomber

Merchants and Planters Rice Milling Co Photos

A compilation of photos; not a history

The following is a collection of images to assist the reader in identifying photos taken in the vicinity of what was once the Rio Grande Railroad yard and specifically, the old rice mill that once occupied the space that is now home to Cameron County Clerk Administration and related courtrooms and offices.  The maps to follow should prove useful to placing the area as it was and now stands.

1904 Photo showing the Merchants and Planters Rice Milling Co.  It closed about three years after opening.  Rice farming proved to be a failed venture in the region.  As Harlingen historian Norman Rozeff explains in "P.E. Blalack, A Man of Mystery" that rice farming necessitates the irrigation of "tremendous amounts of water placed on the land [which] raised water tables and brought subsurface salts to the surface" as was found to be the case at Hill's Rincon farm (5-6 miles north of Brownsville).

Early 1900s phot of the rice mill by Robert Runyon with identifying labels.

Two merged photos for a wider view of Washington Park with the rice mill seen in the distance.  

On top is a Sanborn map and below it a Google map to show distance of three city blocks from park to mill.

Again we use the Sanborn map juxtaposed with a Google map to view the area of space taken by the rice mill versus the county building.  

Three views of Robert Runyon photos showing building likely after it had closed.  The bottom photo shows Ft Brown army soldier tents which is unusual and without record as to the purpose of their being there rather than the Ft Brown property.  

It is also unknown who owned the building and rented its spaces.  The author can recall a few instance where the rice mill was casually referenced as a place where gambling took place during the evening hours which was probably where some railroad workers nearby spent some of their wages hoping to get lucky.  One instance is alluded to but barley raises suspicion as to actual activities which occurred there after hours in a report which begins on page 3184 in "Affray at Brownsville, Texas" that reference the area as being where "lewd women lived."  There was also another report from the Brownsville Herald which involved the shooting of a boy who shot after trying to escape with others after a raid by Sheriff's deputies.  A revision of this article will include a reference if it can be found.

Ft Brown soldiers on top of a rail car some distance from the rice mill building.

A boy, a donkey and Ft Brown soldiers with mill in the background.

The rice mill was still there in 1929 when this aerial photo was taken by pilot Les Mauldin.  Sanborn maps reveal that the rice mill warehouse section was used as auto storage and warehousing for Borderland Furniture Co and Edelstein Furniture Co.  Photo (in part) courtesy of Junie Mauldin.

This 1933 photo shows the aftermath of a hurricane that destroyed the old mill.  John R. PeaveyScrapbook, UTRGV Digital Library, The University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley

This isn't a pictorial history and very little research was done to gather information to tell the story of the rice mill that lasted only a short while.  The following is what was gleaned by a casual internet search for resources.  If the topic is of interest, feel free to follow the leads for yourself.  

Some online resources and additional info:

Affray at Brownsville, Texas – Hearings Before the Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate Concerning The Affray at Brownsville, Texas on the Night of August 13 and 14, 1906 Volume 3.  Washington Government Printing Office 1907.

The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin,   Runyon (Robert) Photograph Collection.  Photos of a Sugar Mill and Brownsville, Texas can be found here.

John R. Peavey Scrapbook, UTRGV Digital Library, The University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley

A Field Guide to Irrigation in the LowerRio Grande Valley by Lila Knight

Foscue, Edwin J. “Land Utilization in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.” Economic Geography, vol. 8, no. 1, 1932, pp. 1–11. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/140467. Accessed 4 July 2021.

2021 Brownsville Texas Award Recipient

 

Not to brag but I finally won this year's Texas Bullshitter Award (Brownsville recipient) which came as a surprise because I was up against politicians, lawyers, city and county workers, used car salespeople, friendly neighbors and barflies.

This much coveted award was created in the 1980s in Austin, Texas by a secret committee based in Dallas-Ft Worth.  As you know, no one can pile bullshit higher than a Texan so just about anyone born and living in Texas qualifies.  Bullshitter chapters in 70 cities across Texas each year select and vote on who they will choose to receive the tri-gold-plated belt buckle valued at $478.52.

Recipients can only receive the prize by diving in and sifting through a ton of cow manure which is delivered to their driveway (or as close to their doorstep as possible).  I used a snow shovel to make quick work of it.  If you're wondering what a Texan would need with a snow shovel but if I stated why you would just think it's bullshit so why bother explaining?

1980s Texas Southmost College Collages

 I have been visiting the Brownsville Public Library ~ Central Branch to scan through a few Texas Southmost College yearbooks to post on the Brownsville Station Facebook page.  The response has been very active.  We recently reached the 19,000 member/followers most of them have probably missed seeing all of these.  The advantage here is that these can be downloaded and for the very  adventurous, reproduced as poster sized prints.  The 1980s Padre Island Spring Break collages include Eddie Money but there were many other performers of the era including Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, rock goddesses Vixen, The Outfield, Jefferson Starship, Triumph, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and other entertainers of the era.  

c1986 Stevie Ray Vaughn at South Padre Island photo by Hector Cano

Bob's / Rafa's Coney Island Hotdog Stand on E 13th/14th St

by Javier Garcia with Joe Von Hatten and Alfredo Zamora 

A 1964 Chevy Impala which collided with a mid 1960s International Harvester Travellall 5-door full-sized wagon in service for the Joe A. Besteiro funeral business will not be the subject of this revised Bronsbil Estacion blogpost though admittedly there is quite a bit more that could be gleaned from this photo.  That might make an interesting discussion for another time.  Instead, we're going to take a look back at Bob's Coney Island hotdog stand which was serving chili dogs on the corner of E Adams and 13th when this accident incident photo was taken in 1966 by Brownsville Police Department photographer Ruben Garcia (who later became a Captain).

A conglomerate of internet-borrowed images of Nathan's Coney Island Hotdog stand in Brooklyn, New York.

When someone hears "Coney Island" they might automatically associate it with the amusement park and when you throw in hot dogs it connects it to the hot dog of the same name that probably originated there.  We'll let the reader Google whatever knowledge about that they hunger for and stick to the point which is in Brownsville, Texas.  

"Burglars hit Bob’s Coney Island hot dog stand again, this time for a dollar in change."  Brownsville Herald Newspaper Archives June 22, 1979 Page 2

Recently, new information surfaced when this image was posted on the Vintage Brownsville, Texas and History Facebook page about "Bob," the original owner of the hotdog stand.  According to U.S. Army Sergeant Alfredo Zamora, Bob Cohen was from New York city who left after his ex-wife divorced him and took him to the cleaners.  Zamora worked at the hotdog stand during the summers of 76-78 to earn enough money to pay for his school clothes.  By this time Cohen had been established on the corner of E Adams and 13th St for a bit more than a decade and was a heavy chain smoker probably in his 60's as Alfredo can recall.  

The two met because they were neighbors living on the outskirts of town on Zena Dr and 5th Avenue (off E 14th a.k.a. South Padre Island Hwy).

Cohen embraced south Texas culture and frequented his favorite places across the border in Matamoros.  Cohen's nickname for Zamora was "Little Chingaso" (which roughly translates to "little slugger') for his ornery disposition.  Most interestingly is how Bob Cohen decided to land in Brownsville, Texas after leaving New York to start a new life.  As Mr Zamora tells it:

"I asked him once how he came to Brownsville.  He said 'I opened up a map of the USA, closed my eyes and pointed to one place and that place was Brownsville!'   He [Cohen] loved the people down here."

c2004 The stand on E 14th between E Washington and Adams, a block away from the corner where it was Bob's Coney Island 

Alfredo Zamors thinks Rafael was working at the stand about two years before he came along in the summer of '76.  Rafael had a sister named "Letty" who helped out on the weekends.  The house on the corner had been rented to the Escobedo family who used it as a second hand store; selling preworn clothing.  There was also a cab stand nearby.  Bob Cohen use to tell Alfredo that his chain smoking would eventually be the end of him and he was probably right about that.  The business went to Rafael who was the last owner.  Zamora had been long gone from the business so he wouldnt know the date when Cohen met his demise.

I can't recall exactly when but imagine it was in the 1990s that I first pulled up a red-painted metal stool at the hotdog stand while I was a student at the nearby college.  Traveling on foot either to or from the B.U.S., as I did back then, it was the alluring aroma of grilled onions that attracted me to the place.  Inside there was a stocky man who stood about 5'5" wearing "Coke-bottle" glasses  hovering over the sound of sizzling onions coming from a small flat-top grill.  "Rafael" served up a simple Mexican-style hot dog with grilled onions, diced tomatoes and jalapenos from this spot on E 14th and Washington St.  There was more on his menu such as chili dogs, burritos, nachos, papas fritas ... and I did try one of his hamburguesas  after he strongly recommended that I try something else beside the usual every time I stopped by. He had been on that same spot for approximately 13-15 years when I met him at the turn of the century.  

When the street was closed to begin construction on the new bus station business died down and Rafael probably had to sell his dogs in Matamoros or some other means to make a living.  

There are not many other places to eat other than Rafa's that take me back to my first experiences downtown.  While there are still a variety of places to eat on the cheap and new upscale wine and food restaurants in more fanciful air-conditioned historical building surroundings, it'll never be the same as eating from a paper tray on a narrow counter while sitting with my toes and ankles balanced on a lower ring of one of Rafa's red metal stools out in the hot summer heat with the sounds of a busy downtown all around me. 

Revised March 3, 2021 -- originally posted Sep 14, 2015