OK, the 70's had to be one of the ugliest decades for fashion. Why am I thinking that? I have spent some time the past few afternoons looking at FB pages and websites of Houston from the 1950s and beyond. There is a page on FB called, does anyone remember Westbury Square? Oh my gosh, of course. It was the hangout place. Even before I was old enough to know how to hang out and be "really cool," Westbury Square was a Camp Fire Girl's sponsor's dream. We got to make and dip our own candles at the Candle store. There was Rumplehiemer's, ice cream, candy and limited menu items. A lot of my allowance was spent at Cargo Houston. That was a fun store to shop through for all the latest must haves. Westbury Square was ahead of its time, the mixture of shopping and apartments overlooking the shops. I thought my dream come true would be to rent one of those apartments when I was older. There was a pizza place, the Village Inn, I think. My boyfriend and I would go there for pizza when we wanted to hang out with my friends and we went to the Pizza Hut on Hillcroft next to the Purple Cow when we wanted to see his friends from Bellaire. The Villiage Inn Pizza place is where we went after going to a James Robinson Crusade and Revival service. We both were saved that night. It was our first true test by fire, because we told everyone I knew that happened to be there, what had happened to us at Willow Meadows Baptist Church. After that night, it was never difficult for me to share my faith. Westbury Square had great 4th of July fireworks and since our friends had the perfect house for up close viewing, we headed over to their yard each year to ooo and ahhh ourselves silly with the spectacular show. Even as young marrieds, Westbury Square was trying to hold on. I never felt so grown up when we ordered personalized Christmas cards from the Pink Giraffe. Fast forward to 2012 and Westbury Square is pretty much vacant and the civic club is trying to get what's left of it demolished.
There is another page on FB and it is a remember when of Southwest Houston. People have posted videos from their childhood and pictures of places that have been gone out of sight but not out of memory for a long time. Meyer Speedway, 2 K's, Meyerland Shopping Center when it first opened for business and lots of other places like Wee Wild West, Peppermint Park, Kiddie Land and Playland Park. Amusement parks before Astro World came on the scene.
I even read through a page dedicated to the Westbury Rebelettes. I interviewed to be a part but the first question I was asked in the interview was, if I didn't make it into Rebelettes, would I play on the volleyball team? Even then, I knew my fate was sealed and I would never be a Rebelette, but I had a lot of friends who were.
Lots of fun memories of places that are etched into the fabric of my childhood and teenage years. Almost all those places are gone, in ruins or have been re purposed. It has been fun looking back. I am so thankful that my brain and emotions didn't stop growing and maturing because there are way too many people whose lives are still ensconced in their "glory" days. Too bad, they are missing a lot of the present and soon to be future. The 70's weren't that great of a decade to get mired in, remember double knit, pant suits,leisure suits, polyester and the whole disco thing came from that decade.
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