Old Port Neches
- Thread starter IndianFan
- Start date
pngfanatic
100+ Posts
Spent many a Saturday morning watching movies at the Neches Theatre. 25 cents to get in if you were under 12, 35 cents over 12. My parents gave me 50 cents for a ticket and concessions. At the 1968 50 year class reunion, we went to Mike's Old Fashioned Soda Shop which is near where the theater stood. He has a picture from the 50s of that area (great sodas and shakes too!). The Port Neches Pharmacy and a car dealership (Chevy I think) were next to the theater. Port Neches had a viable downtown before the shopping malls and stores like Walmart and Target came along.
I had no idea that Port Neches had a theater! Was it a single auditorium? One screen? Two screens? What caused the fire? I remember a bank, the remnants of a car dealership (it was vacant), Western Auto, and Leo Weeks in downtown Port Neches. I never knew that a pharmacy and theater existed. What else was in downtown? Bring back the small town downtown! It was one of the great threads in the fabric of Americana. Bring it back!
Go Indians. Peace.
pngfanatic
100+ Posts
Single auditorium with one screen. But it did have a balcony, which was good place to cause trouble - like dropping popcorn and ice on your friends down below. Another place I remember was Walters Hardware store. My Dad went there all the time. I got my hair cut at the barbershop that was near Western Auto. The Port Neches Bank was where my parents kept their savings. Another favorite place of mine was a 5&10 cent store - lots of toys. That's what I remember off the top of my head. From back in the 50s and 60s.
Someone once told me as a kid that the outline of the theatre stairs are still visible on the outside of the building next to the new post office.
I also remember Buddy Porter’s Flooring on Port Neches Avenue which had a big glass front. The address was 1329 PN Ave and a newer building Is there now. My parents bought carpet from there back in 1969. Shag carpet that literally required use of a carpet rake as part of upkeep. (Shag was popular back in ‘69.)
Braud Camera was an institution on the avenue for decades.
Further down the avenue was Mr. T’s grocery store.
Also fondly remember the Western Auto at the end of PN Ave and Llano St. That’s where my dad acquired a Western Auto Wizard self propelled mower for me to use in my lawn mowing business. $5 per yard! Good money for a young kid and my first excursion into capitalism.
Great, shared PN memories.
I also remember Buddy Porter’s Flooring on Port Neches Avenue which had a big glass front. The address was 1329 PN Ave and a newer building Is there now. My parents bought carpet from there back in 1969. Shag carpet that literally required use of a carpet rake as part of upkeep. (Shag was popular back in ‘69.)
Braud Camera was an institution on the avenue for decades.
Further down the avenue was Mr. T’s grocery store.
Also fondly remember the Western Auto at the end of PN Ave and Llano St. That’s where my dad acquired a Western Auto Wizard self propelled mower for me to use in my lawn mowing business. $5 per yard! Good money for a young kid and my first excursion into capitalism.
Great, shared PN memories.
pngfanatic
100+ Posts
RE: "the outline of the theatre stairs are still visible on the outside of the building next to the new post office." That could be true. The new post office sits where the theater used to be. The building next to it is where the old car dealership was. And it did share a wall with the theater.
I also just remembered that there was a music store near where Nall Street dead ends into Port Neches Ave. I took some trumpet lessons there from Mr. Gioviale I think.
I also just remembered that there was a music store near where Nall Street dead ends into Port Neches Ave. I took some trumpet lessons there from Mr. Gioviale I think.
pngfanatic
100+ Posts
Using Google Maps, I see that the old barbershop is still there - called Salon 910 now.
benchwarmer53
Active Member
Does anybody remember Deafy"s Pool Hall? That's where we hung out in my day. Beat up tables and it cost a nickel to play eight ball.
Benchwarmer , I suspect you are in a rare category of folks that were around in the 50s and 60s. May have been a few more here but not sure we were old enough to shoot pool.
Where was it located?
benchwarmer53
Active Member
As a Groves native, I don't remember the Port Neches streets. It was on the same street as the bank on the same side of the street back toward the old high school. It was on the corner. I don't remember what was across the street or next door. The original Teepee Club(does it still exist?) was some where between the pool hall and the bank. My parents banked there until the Groves State Bank was organized. Speaking of the theater, Rodney LeBoeuf worked there and when we had a. home game the football team would go to the theater(no charge) and watch the movie. After the movie we went back to the cafeteria and had our pregame meal. I haven't lived in Groves since the summer of 1956. By the way part of the additions to the high school building were designed by Lynn Harden who was also on the 1953 team.
Speaking of old Port Neches Ave, here's an interesting resource from 1949.
Not tremendously detailed but interesting. For example, this snippet from 1 of the 8 map images shows 2 movie theaters.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Port Neches, Jefferson County, Texas.
Jan 1949. 8 sheet(s).
www.loc.gov
Not tremendously detailed but interesting. For example, this snippet from 1 of the 8 map images shows 2 movie theaters.
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