BorderTown Laredo

It has been over 10 years since the show aired, and its high time it got a bit of coverage on this old blog. But first I have to watch it. Never really seen it until now. Ran across the episodes and uploaded them here for you to view. Click the link below. Then we can discuss.

Episode 1

Eddie Macon's Run in HiDef

 No doubt 1983 must have been an exciting time for movies in Laredo! Imagine hearing that big time TV star John Schneider, Bo Duke himself, is staring in a move to be filmed in our dusty little unpaved town. Glorious! While I am a tad too young to remember the event, I'm sure the buzz around the city was  clearly evident. After all, Dukes of Hazard was still a huge hit on the small screen with over 17 million weekly viewers.

Now, a more professional and dedicated blog would feature maybe interviews with those that remember the filming of the movie, or at least newspaper clippings or TV shows from the time period to offer a more complete post on this film. Unfortunately, I am not such a blogger. What I can offer you are vid-caps from the movie. Previously, the film was featured in grainy VHS quality, but it was recently released on high definition blue ray. So, take a gander at stills from the movie, Eddie Macon's Run. 

 

Santos downtown

I miss vendors hawking goods from their vans.

Glorious 1983 and major streets unpaved. Of course

I always vote Daniel Valdez

Joe Brand downtown. Nice

I get all my shoes at Scooti. You should too.

Careful w/ cartonero on the tricycle!

Before Bordertown TV show, we had this guy

Dude, this guy is driving down the WRONG way

Du

Brunch NOT at Danny's? Shocked!

 My abuelo would dress just like this in the early 80s

"Inseminoid" playing at the Plaza. Surprised its kinda intense. 

Joe Brand went HARD on the product placement.

La Posada looks sorta classy here. 

Look at the two sombrero wearing extras hanging out w/ Tom

This is one beautiful shot

Lone Star and Cops. Typical Friday night. 

Is this Park St? Martin High? 

Look at this scene here. Looks unchanged. 

Account Access returned

 As happens often, I had lost access to this account, and I had trouble recuperating my information since it was connected to an old cell phone number. However, by sheer luck I was able to get back into my blogger account. Long story short, I can return to posting more Laredo non-sense. Good for us, right? 

Old Pictures found in shoebox

 I have recently started buying abandoned storage units that go up for auction. Mostly I do it to keep me busy during my off days from my regular 9-5 job. Overall, I find junky items, but I have found a few valuable gems. Not long ago, I started finding boxes of old family pictures as well as  VHS family footage. 

1983 GW Parade with Mr. South Texas

Is this around the base? Hillside area?

Cedar St 1973

Slowly I have been going through the video footage in search of scenes from Laredo and a few have popped up (expect that someday). Also, I have found some good vintage pictures of Laredo that I have decided to rescue from landing in the dumpster. I tried returning the family pictures to the storage manager but he said those units had been "abandoned for years". Because of that, I kept the pictures in order to share with you and in the hopes of finding the family members and be able to return their cherished memories. So help me out  #Laredo! Recognize anyone? 

1957 Cotulla, Texas HS Prom

Unknown music store Laredo, TX

Everyone has that one cool uncle

1973 on Gustavus St. 

cool old guy enjoying a 7up in 1975

love the posters on the wall!! Seems like what 1990? Maybe

Daytrip on HWY 359 to Hebbronville (part 1)

 Work keeps me busy but blogging must continue. Now and then, I do venture past Santo Nino, Texas in order to view the outside world. Recently, I took a daytrip to visit the city of Hebbronville. I had never actually been there, other than to drive past it on my way to another destination. I was rather surprised at the feeling of these small towns that dot HWY 359 in south Texas. 

First stop was Oilton. Cool name but if you sneeze you will surely miss it. It's the the feel of a 70s action movie where the the small town sheriff harasses the out of towner, and that's exactly what I was expecting and I poked around town and took random pictures of the town. 

HEB sending wares as they rule south Texas

USPS drop off bin seems to be there since 1965

Empty town like in Children of the Corn, minus the corn

No more lonches at this stand

  

Z-93, Thrift Stores, video camcorders and the years before Tik Tok (pt. 1)

 No other activity gives me as much pleasure these days as rummaging through used piles of media that I come across as I scour through second-hand stores and auctioned storage units. The main reason why I enjoy finding old videos and photographs is because they piece together a past, a Laredo that is gone and mostly disappeared but reassembled only through forgotten footage and long-lost snapshots. 

One such day occurred last September. There was a box full of yearbooks and home recordings of VHS tapes that I happily bought for 10 dollars. It contained dozens of pictures of strangers I had never met. While this did give me a pause to reflect on the fickleness of our earthly possessions, I took it as a moment to rescue snapshots and images of Laredoans that would otherwise be lost, as a sort of digital Indiana Jones. 

There was one such VHS tape that caught my attention. It was titled "Melissa singing 1991". 

What drew my attention was the year, 1991. It was a memorable year, the Gulf War, Clarence Thomas hearings,  Jeffrey Dahmer, and Marky Mark has us feeling his vibrations.  But locally, the triple-ax murders rocked our city of 122,000 led by then-Mayor Saul Ramirez. The radio stations of the time might have been Y95 or Energy 98, but my personal favorite was Z93. Known mostly for Tejano and cumbias, it was the radio station of choice for many of the local youths of the time. I remember many Friday nights during this time period when my neighbors held their weekly Friday night carne asada ritual and the obligatory Tejano Z93 music blasting from their lowrider mini-truck. It never failed. The elders would be outside reminiscing of the 1960s and swigging Shaffer Light, the younger kids running around playing tag, while the teens huddled and recorded themselves singing and dancing on their Panasonic camcorder. 

When I saw the year the tape had been recorded was 1991, I immediately popped it into my Magnavox VHS player and uploaded the footage to my Twitter feed. It turned out to be analog gold! In it, a young girl, about 15 or 16, is seen  singing and dancing as if auditioning for Star Search. She takes turns with her friend singing Tejano and pop melodies. No doubt, if the scene played out today, the teens would be going live on Tik Tok in the hope for instant likes and shares. In 1991, there was no such pretenses. The best you could do was share the tape at school or at a family carne asada and await your fame to spread, days after it was initially recorded. Or worse yet, wait 25 years for some fool to find it in a long forgotten bin and upload it to social media.

 In the video, one of the young ladies is named Melissa while the other goes unnamed. But its this anonymous singer that captured my attention due to the fact she is wearing what has to be the greatest Z93 sweater ever made. I remember that sweater very clearly because a couple of classmates had a similar one in the early 1990s. So if you remember the days of lowrider minitrucks, constant Z93 Tejano, running around with a bulky camcorder eternally joined at your shoulder, then enjoy the video below and keep alive the memories that should not die. 

Things I learned about Laredo 1984'

I was scavenging and old box full of mementos and old documents and I came across an old newspaper someone had given me years ago. It's the April 17, 1984 LMT edition and I could not help but peruse through it in search of some interesting tidbits. Here below are 5 things I learned about 1984s Laredo.

1. Apparently, in 1984, Cigarroa's Silver Roses helped to trim beards for contestants that wished to enter a beard growing contest that was sponsored by Laredo Noon Lion's Club. The 5 dollar entry fee donations were split between Sacred Heart Children's Home and a "Crippled" Children's camp in Kerrville. The winners of this hairy contest enjoyed such prizes as a paid weekend at the Encinal Holiday Inn, a one year free front row pass to Laredo Council meetings, or a "prominent position in the snakepit" for the Frontier Day Celebration. Oh joy! Just delightful. (by the way I'm not making these prizes up. Read it for yourself.)

2. It seems that in 1984, newspaper reporters sat around at the post office to interview people that waited till the very last minute to file their income tax. In this piece of hard-hitting journalism, writer Sam Yates notes that things got "mean and ugly" right before the midnight deadline. Read the interviews below.

3. Students and clergy opened up academic discussions at Laredo Junior College with a hearty rendition of "Kumbaya". It seems that the spiritual song was not cliche in 1984.

4. Gaby Canizales's supporters wanted his hometown to support the esteemed boxer during a nationally televised bout. The problem was the lack of venue large enough to accommodate such a large quantity of spectators. At the time, Shirley Stadium was "the only logical and possible place for the event". However, the LISD board, with their old-fartsy and dickhead regulations, "did not permit the private use of the stadium for private profit".  The question was simple! Would the LISD board cave for hometown hero Gaby Canizales and his legion of supporters? Well, if you were around in 1984, you COULD HAVE BEEN COUNTED by sending in the form below. Anyone know how this turned out?

5. On a side note, right next to the Gaby Canizales piece is the showtimes for 1984's "Footloose". Ironically, it too features a similar scenario. Local people attempting to defeat an city ordinance for the benefit of the townsfolk and in defiance of rigid authorities. Classic 1984!