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TALLEST BUILDING I EVER SAW----
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When we first arrived inClovis Dawson County , Texas West Texas !
Not right then, but a little later, when I learned to spell and read, it always seemed to me that the sign painter had a bad day and got mixed up---it should have read "Clovis Hotel!" I know that somewhere on the building was a big sign in black with white lettering. Maybe on the north side....
At that time it was a relatively new hotel---about six and a half years old. The bricks, though I didn't notice, were no doubt still bright.... though a bit sand-blasted by Dust Bowl sandstorms, forClovis
About a year after we got settled in, my two uncles---in their twenties and farm boys, came up fromTexas
Since my parents were both working, my uncles decided they'd take me to town and we'd walk around. After "dragging main" once, they decided they wanted to see more of THAT HOTEL! We parked down there in front of Mesa Theater, and they looked up at the tall building and discussed it to their heart's content.
We walked all around---up to Janeway Drug and turned around, and it being after eleven a.m., the smell of Coney Island Hot Dogs had been permeating the area ever since we got there! They had never smelled anything THAT GOOD (We know, don't we?) and they bought us all a hot dog and a big orange drink. We sat on the curb, or on somebody's car fenders,West Texas style, and ate our hot dogs!
There weren't very many people on the sidewalk that morning and I can still remember how neat and clean the sidewalk was---after all, the whole town was newer then. Keeping an eye on the HOTEL, which in turn was keeping an eye on us, we walked back down in front of the Mesa Theater. TheMesa
Many may not remember that it had a neat little concession stand on its north side, which opened into the lobby and also onto the street. The little store, with a selection of magazines and newspapers, also sold popcorn, candy, gum, peanuts, and cokes to walkers-by. My uncles, with their pockets full of dimes, said they'd buy me a candy bar, and we all had one!
South of the Mesa Theater, on the corner, was a building that would later become the Busy Bee Café. We all remember the blinking bee! On cold Armistice Days, after playing the Rattlers, a bunch of us kids used to go in there and get hot chocolate.
Over south of THE HOTEL, facing north onSecond Street Clovis
When we did eat out, and not many people did that often in those days, we would go to the Bus Station Cafe. My parents would order what they called a "plate lunch," for about $1.25, and I, feeling sorry for them, would get a great hamburger! They liked to eat there, occasionally.
The Conoco station, on Second, just south of THE HOTEL, was run by our dear friend, Sam Harris. Once, in 1949, my dad, and I, and my great-uncle E.A. Key (mayor of Clovis circa 1932), pulled into the Conoco station and opened the trunk to show Sam the results from a prairie chicken hunt down south of Dora. He liked to hunt but had to work.
I could go on and on with stuff about old times. EveryClovis kid has his/her fond memories of old Main Street
The good news is that our hotel is back, and will soon be hustling and bustling with activity and people. I guess too, that today's kids still dragMain , even though gas is no longer 25 cents a gallon.
I think I'll try to get over to Clovis, one of these days soon, and drag Main a few times for old time's sake, check out the new "Hotel Clovis Lofts," see if the old Conoco is still there, and maybe take with me a couple of chili hot dogs, with a little grease soaked through the brown sack; I'll park in front of where the Coney Island used to be---glance up at the old hotel a few times, check out the red bricks in the street, eat those hot dogs with a big orange drink---and just enjoy memories of those good times, long gone, on old Main Street.
TALLEST BUILDING I EVER SAW----
********************************************
When we first arrived in
Not right then, but a little later, when I learned to spell and read, it always seemed to me that the sign painter had a bad day and got mixed up---it should have read "Clovis Hotel!" I know that somewhere on the building was a big sign in black with white lettering. Maybe on the north side....
At that time it was a relatively new hotel---about six and a half years old. The bricks, though I didn't notice, were no doubt still bright.... though a bit sand-blasted by Dust Bowl sandstorms, for
About a year after we got settled in, my two uncles---in their twenties and farm boys, came up from
Since my parents were both working, my uncles decided they'd take me to town and we'd walk around. After "dragging main" once, they decided they wanted to see more of THAT HOTEL! We parked down there in front of Mesa Theater, and they looked up at the tall building and discussed it to their heart's content.
We walked all around---up to Janeway Drug and turned around, and it being after eleven a.m., the smell of Coney Island Hot Dogs had been permeating the area ever since we got there! They had never smelled anything THAT GOOD (We know, don't we?) and they bought us all a hot dog and a big orange drink. We sat on the curb, or on somebody's car fenders,
There weren't very many people on the sidewalk that morning and I can still remember how neat and clean the sidewalk was---after all, the whole town was newer then. Keeping an eye on the HOTEL, which in turn was keeping an eye on us, we walked back down in front of the Mesa Theater. The
Many may not remember that it had a neat little concession stand on its north side, which opened into the lobby and also onto the street. The little store, with a selection of magazines and newspapers, also sold popcorn, candy, gum, peanuts, and cokes to walkers-by. My uncles, with their pockets full of dimes, said they'd buy me a candy bar, and we all had one!
South of the Mesa Theater, on the corner, was a building that would later become the Busy Bee Café. We all remember the blinking bee! On cold Armistice Days, after playing the Rattlers, a bunch of us kids used to go in there and get hot chocolate.
Over south of THE HOTEL, facing north on
When we did eat out, and not many people did that often in those days, we would go to the Bus Station Cafe. My parents would order what they called a "plate lunch," for about $1.25, and I, feeling sorry for them, would get a great hamburger! They liked to eat there, occasionally.
The Conoco station, on Second, just south of THE HOTEL, was run by our dear friend, Sam Harris. Once, in 1949, my dad, and I, and my great-uncle E.A. Key (mayor of Clovis circa 1932), pulled into the Conoco station and opened the trunk to show Sam the results from a prairie chicken hunt down south of Dora. He liked to hunt but had to work.
I could go on and on with stuff about old times. Every
The good news is that our hotel is back, and will soon be hustling and bustling with activity and people. I guess too, that today's kids still drag
I think I'll try to get over to Clovis, one of these days soon, and drag Main a few times for old time's sake, check out the new "Hotel Clovis Lofts," see if the old Conoco is still there, and maybe take with me a couple of chili hot dogs, with a little grease soaked through the brown sack; I'll park in front of where the Coney Island used to be---glance up at the old hotel a few times, check out the red bricks in the street, eat those hot dogs with a big orange drink---and just enjoy memories of those good times, long gone, on old Main Street.
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BY MIL
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