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Houston,
Texas --
4343 Old Spanish Trail (U.S. 90) |
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OPENED
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OWNERSHIP
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AMENITIES
- 1948 |
STATUS
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Likely owned by Bill Farner
and
Charles Mooney |
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- 40
units
- 11
apartments/ kitchenettes
- AC
by Carrier
- Panel-Ray
heating
- tile
baths
- steel
furniture
- Simmons
Beautyrest mattresses and box springs
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Open
in 2006 as an
Alamo Plaza |
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High
Minded
A key ingredient to Alamo Plaza's
success was its founder's insistence on enforced respectability.
Determined to avoid the "Hot Pillow Trade" and
the "Camps of Crime" label, Lee Torrance devised
a set of criteria that determined the sorts of guests that
were allowed at his Plazas.
In
order to gain a community's support, he and especially the
Farner/Mooney branch of Alamo Plazas, set out to gain the
endorsements of local politicians and business leaders as
each new location was opened. Moreover as an additional
sign of purity, the Plazas usually celebrated highly publicized
grand openings on Sundays with public inspection encouraged
by advertisements in local newspapers.
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Although
not completely unexpected given changes in economic situations
during the 1970s and after, it is nonetheless ironic that
a faded add-on sign at the Houston Plaza advertised a
"SPECIAL 2HR $10" rate. Misters Torrance, Farner,
and Mooney would not have approved! |
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| More
than skin deep, Houston's guest room buildings were turreted
to reinforce the Alamo-as-fortress theme. |
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Still
flying the Alamo Plaza banner with its 1960s era sign, the Houston
unit had become one of the last by the middle 2000s. No longer
the posh "motor hotel" that its sign implied, it had
become a motel of last resort frequently visited by members
of local law enforcement. |
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