The stories in this book, historical and personal sketches, owe their being largely to chance. The whole series was unintentionally begun and the letters letters have come from all parts of the state and from several Eastern and Northern states. The stories are highly enjoyable, for each one will bring back some pleasant memory of oldtimes Houston.

Visitors to Market Square Park can pause on their stroll through the downtown centerpiece for a palpable experience of its past. Houston's first four city halls laid their foundations here, and relics of the square's heritage remain embedded in the sidewalks of the park. Chalk up a chance sneeze on Milam Street to the final ghostly gasp of dust from Robert Boyce's sawpits. Step from Congress Street into La Carafe, Houston's oldest commercial building, for the kind of atmosphere that even deceased bartenders are reluctant to leave. From the phantom tailors above Treebeard's to the forgotten mysteries of the town's founding, Sandra Lord and Debe Branning resurrect the history humming through the four blocks surrounding Market Square Park.

Randy Hames (as Irv Harrigan) co-hosted the last 30 years of the show's run with his on-air partner and life-long friend Fred Olson (Mac Hudson), and together they forged a new format and broke new ground as an early-morning comedy team, with unprecedented tenure and ratings success. Over the decades, much misinformation has been written and circulated about how the behind-the-microphone title characters changed and the format was modified, so Hames has meticulously researched the show's history through endless conversations with its principal players. Houston's Morning Show carefully chronicles the program's wild and sometimes wacky twists and turns with wit and accuracy, and it pulls back the curtain so readers can experience for themselves the demands and rewards of anchoring a blockbuster, major-market team show. From local Texas ownership to CBS, from the fictional Jim Bob Jumpback to Tyrone Tyrone Tyrone, from the original Hudson and Harrigan to the final duo, Hames painstakingly recounts the evolution of one of the most hilarious, iconic and award-winning morning team shows in broadcasting history. A must read for fans and industry insiders alike, Houston's Morning Show is a one-of-a-kind, firsthand, fanciful romp through radio's heyday.

Excerpt from True Stories of Old Houston and Houstonians: Historical and Personal Sketches I suppose it must have been published many times, but if so it has escaped my notice until the other day. I refer to the original advertisement of the town of Houston by the Allen Bros. The following is the document in full, which appeared originally in the Telegraph, published at that time at Columbia, on the Brazos River: "The Town Of Houston." "Situated at the head of navigation on the west bank of Buffalo Bayou, is now for the first time brought to public notice, because, until now, the proprietors were not ready to offer to the public, with the advantages of capital and improvements. "The town of Houston is located at a point on the river which must ever command the trade of the largest and richest portions of Texas. By reference to the map it will be seen that the trade of San Jacinto, Spring Creek, New Kentucky, and the Brazos, above and below Fort Bend, must necessarily come to this place, and will at this time warrant the employment of at least $1,000,000 of capital, and when the rich lands of this country shall be settled a trade will flow to it, making it, beyond all doubt, the great commercial emporium of Texas. "The town of Houston is distant 15 miles from the Brazos River, 30 miles a little north of east from San Felipe, 60 miles from Washington, 40 miles from Lake Creek, 30 miles southwest from New Kentucky and 15 miles by water and 8 miles by land above Harrisburg. "Tidewater runs to this place and the lowest depth of water is about six feet. Vessels from New York and New Orleans can sail without obstacle to this place, and steamboats of the largest class can run down to Galveston in eight or ten hours in all seasons of the year. "It is but a few hours sail down the bay, where one can make excursions of pleasure and enjoy the luxuries of fish, fowl, oysters and sea-bathing. "Galveston harbor, being the only one in which vessels drawing a large draft of water can navigate, must necessarily render the island the great naval and commercial depot of the country. "The town of Houston must be the place where arms, ammunition and provisions for the government will be stored, because, situated in the very heart of the country, it combines security and means of easy distribution, and a national armory will no doubt very soon be at this point. "There is no place in Texas more healthy, having an abundance of excellent spring water and enjoying the sea breeze in all its freshness. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.