Tuesday, January 9, 2018

IN BROWNSVILLE HOW THINGS CHANGE, YET REMAIN THE SAME


Special to El Rrun-Rrun
The corner of Levee and 10th streets has undergone tremendous changes in the 70-odd years since the photos above (1948) and the one below (2018) were taken. In the photo above, workers can be seen finishing the construction of the Majestic Theater, the rear which can be seen in the photo below. Old timers tell us that around the corner of friedman Motors was the Brownsville Opea House. The Cpitol Theater can be seen in the on th next blovk in the center of the 1948 circa shot.

Levee, as can be seen here, was a two-way street, which has changed. And the Sinclair station is long gone. There are also more people on the sidewalks and no plam trees or decorative street lights. These were placed there to take us back to the good old days of Brownsville, but as can plainly be seen, no such things existed then.



Things have changed even more from the angle of the lower two shots. Again, one can appreciate the two-way traffic on Levee, and the numerous businesses that included gas tations, car dealerships, and one or two shoeshine boys, and no trafffic lights. The lower photo makes it appear as if it had just rained. 

There are placards on the rear side windows of the cars line up headed toward El jardin Hotel (a parade?) and the vantage point of the photographer seems to be elevated, as if he or she were standing atop a building or a vehicle. Is that Tony Garza Sr.'s Texaco station with three attnedants? We thank one of our seven readers for these interesting photos.)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pinche Bronsvil. Siempre mamando!

Anonymous said...

I lived here in 1948 and that is how I remember the downtown area. In those days downtown was the beating heart of Brownsville. Today,it is more like the anus of Brownsville.

Anonymous said...

Old timers tell you? YOU'RE an Old Timer, juanito!!! LOL

Anonymous said...

Nobody gives A SHIT ABOUT THIS SHIT, BRO! NEWS, NEWS, NEWS!!!!!

Anonymous said...

There were mojados then and there's mojados now.....what's the point of the pictures ?!

Anonymous said...

If downtown is the "anus" of this city, then Tony Martinez is using it as a "money pit" and lots of tax dollars are being spent on the city's hemorrhoid problem. If it weren't for the city and government offices, none of us would have to visit this "anus".

Pat Ahumada said...

Brownsville has become a shit hole under mayor Martinez and Commissioner Gowen's self serving agenda. The city needs and priorities have no place in their plan for the city. They truly believe thousands of bicyclist use the lanes they have created displacing motorist needs for good roads without potholes. In my opinion even the daily slaughtered pets at the shelter have more value than the millions they have spent on the bicycle lanes no one uses. Goes to show their disregard for life and their lack of empathy to deal with a real need to have continued with the pet agenda I left for them to make Brownsville a no kill city. If not the pet agenda, then the need to deal with real health issues facing our impoverished citizens,especially kids by networking with BISD to break the unhealthy culture of obesity. If not the pets or a health agenda, how about investing in building a convention center to attract large conventions, enough money has been wasted on personal pet projects with little or no over all benefit for the city as a whole, instead a minute special interest group who could care less about the cost and the city's needs and priorities. These two elected leaders can take credit for the shit hole Brownsville is becoming and the fiscal catastrophe that will be left when they are gone or before.

Anonymous said...

We need somebody that will flush the toilet once and for all. Pushing that lever will ultimately lead to stopping kick back, bribes, cronyism and all those illegal goods. Here nobody has the ball to do that.

Pat Ahumada said...

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Brownsville at one time was a shithole. Most of the residents with the exception of the whites (most not all) had flushing toilets and walk in showers or tubs. The rest and you know who, had outhouses and a bucket to shower. The north part of this town had streets paved while the rest of the city had dirt streets. Forget about light poles and sidewalks. All of this because of the ALL WHITE COMMISSIONERS AND MAYOR.
Money is the undercurrent that run this city. Elected officials know this. Most banks are owned by whites, so when an elected official walks into a bank it’s like they are walking into a candy store. They can't help themselves, and the whites know this, so this takes us to where we are today. The return to shithole city.

Anonymous said...

Is that you Juan in the Texaco pic with a shine box?

rita