A major downtown Houston landmark is scheduled for demolition this weekend.
Local TV channels are referring to it as “the historic Macy’s building.” What a load of crap!
For me, and anybody who was around Houston in the 50s, it is FOLEY’S – always was, and will be even after it’s a pile of rubble.
Foley’s was the hub of downtown shopping. A trip to downtown Houston was not complete without a trip to Foley’s basement. Foley’s sponsored the traditional Thanksgiving Day parade that almost came to an end last year – the city managed to save the parade, but that’s another story.
Christmas wasn’t Christmas without a visit to see the animated display in the Foley’s Main Street window.
Sure, the signs on the building now say Macy’s. Foley’s was acquired by a big department store chain, and after a series of mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies and lawsuits almost too complicated to follow, the name was changed to Macy’s in September of 2006.
By then, downtown Houston was no longer a destination. The big theaters – the Majestic, the Metropolitan and Loew’s State – were all long gone. Other downtown stores like Battlestein’s and Sakowitz had gone out of business or fled to the suburbs. The only thing historic about Macy’s downtown was its historically bad timing, putting the Macy’s name on the building in the middle of downtown’s demise.
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