Style & Design
May 31, 1983
Texas Primer: The Name Belt
Wearing one won’t make you a real live cowboy, but it sure will brand you as a modern Texan.
Being Texan
Being Texan
April 30, 1983
Texas Primer: The Water Tower
Sure it means water. It also means pride.
Being Texan
April 1, 1983
Hail to Thee, George E. Fischer
Most of the time you’re a nice, ordinary businessman. But for one brief, shining moment you were King Antonio, monarch of San Antonio’s Fiesta and semi-beloved ruler of the one Texas city that still loves a good king.
Being Texan
April 1, 1983
Texas Primer: The Farm-to-Market Road
The last best way to see the real Texas.
Energy
March 1, 1983
Texas Primer: The Right-angle Pump
West Texas was a desert when this little irrigation device came along. Now it’s a desert that produces more cotton than anywhere else in the country.
Texas History
February 1, 1983
Texas Primer: Lyndon’s Lincoln
Can you picture Lbj in a Datsun?
Being Texan
February 1, 1983
Main Street
It’s Houston's driveway, a twenty-mile kaleidoscope of bankers, punkers, strippers, surgeons, students, grackles, and cars.
Style & Design
December 1, 1982
Piece by Piece
Out of Texas’ ragbag history came the patchwork quilt, the product of cold winters, isolated homesteads, empty pocketbooks, and fertile minds.
Texas History
December 1, 1982
Texas Primer: The Comic Texan
The life and times of the cowboy-millionaire hero of a thousand postcards.
Texas History
November 1, 1982
Texas Primer: The Blue Norther
Sunny in the morning, sunny in the evening, freezing by suppertime.
Being Texan
November 1, 1982
Easy Street
Houston’s black elite have come a very long way to live in MacGregor Way, the swankiest black neighborhood in Texas, but they still don’t feel safe.
Being Texan
September 1, 1982
The Gods of Padre Island
Between watching girls and getting a great tan, lifeguards occasionally have to save lives.
Being Texan
August 31, 1982
Texas Primer: Mesquite
It looks fragile with its lacy leaves and fragrant flowers. Looks can be deceptive.
Texas History
July 31, 1982
Texas Primer: The Tract House
It symbolizes either the American dream or the American nightmare—one or the other of which is enveloping Texas.
Being Texan
July 1, 1982
What Texas Means to Me
God created Texas, and then He created people who would love it.
Being Texan
July 1, 1982
The Store That Made Jonesville Famous
And other great country stores of Texas.
Texas History
June 30, 1982
Texas Primer: The Ghost Town
The lost hopes of places like Belle Plain haunt Texas’ prairies.
Being Texan
May 31, 1982
Growing Up Fast
Every parent with a teenage kid knows the fears: drinking, drugs, and rebellion. For the Cartwrights, those fears all came true.
Texas History
April 30, 1982
The Autumn of Alamo Heights
Welcome—well, sort of—to San Antonio’s dowager bastion.
Being Texan
April 1, 1982
Texas Primer: The Tornado
The air is muggy, the sky turns an eerie green, then you hear a sound like a fleet of freight trains. Beware, Texas, it’s that time of year again.
Country Notes
March 1, 1982
Texas Primer: The Tumbleweed
It’s only a humble weed, but just try to imagine West Texas without it.
Libations
March 1, 1982
BYOB
When liquor by the drink went into effect in 1971, Texas changed forever.
Being Texan
March 1, 1982
The Very Rich Life of Enrico di Portanova
Hugh Roy Cullen found the oil and made one of Houston’s great fortunes; now his grandson is spending his inheritance like there is no tomorrow, and suing for more.
Being Texan
February 1, 1982
Way Out West in the Land of Cotton
People still think of cotton as a Dixieland crop, but the heart of the nation’s production is on the dry, flat, and windswept High Plains of Texas.
Texas History
February 1, 1982
Texas Primer: The Hughes Drill Bit
This clunky piece of machinery made Howard Hughes very rich. It is the first in our series of things that every Texan should know.
Health
January 1, 1982
The Saint of Falfurrias
Supplicants in the Valley worship at the shrine of faith healer Don Pedrito Jaramillo, more powerful in death than he was in life.
Business
December 1, 1981
Let’s Get Serious About Toys
They used to be virtuous and wooden and they were good. Now they’re commercial and plastic and they’re great.
Being Texan
November 1, 1981
The Fundamentalist
He’s the man with the Word, and the Word is for you.
Texas History
October 1, 1981
The Failures That Made Texas
When it comes to flops and fiascos, Texans can outdo anyone.
Being Texan
September 1, 1981
Gone to Texas
Thousands of people from the North, broke and out of work, are streaming into the state. This is the true story of two of them who abandoned Detroit for Houston, learned about cockroaches, tacos, and freeways, and finally discovered happiness in broken air conditioners.
Being Texan
August 1, 1981
Play (It One Last Time With Feeling) Land
Before Six Flags, before Astroworld, there was Playland.
Being Texan
August 1, 1981
Country Boy
Texas cities are full of people who grew up in the country—and want everybody they meet to know it.
Being Texan
July 1, 1981
A Simple Man
Archbishop Patrick Flores acts like a country priest, but he has a tough job: he is the most powerful Catholic clergyman in Texas, and perhaps the most powerful Mexican American as well.
Music
May 1, 1981
Champs
It IS whether you win. And these eight Texans are winners.
Being Texan
April 1, 1981
God’s Angry Man
Evangelist James Robison is using the pulpit, prime time television, and Cullen Davis to try to save the world.
Being Texan
June 1, 1980
Lawn Boy
Here’s how to achieve inner peace, perfect serenity, spiritual calm, and a nice, neat lawn.
Border & Immigration
March 1, 1980
An American Family
Pedro Martínez, with only his Mexican heritage, a determination to work hard, and a desire for a better life, brought his family across the Rio Grande to find a home in a new land.
Being Texan
February 1, 1980
The Joy of Kissing
The art of romantic osculation barely survived the jaded seventies. Now it’s time to rediscover the private delights and civic benefits of real kissing.
Health
February 1, 1980
The Crack-Up
You learn one clear and not so very grim lesson by looking death in the face.
Health
January 1, 1980
Life Got You Down? Getting Nowhere? Wishing for Wealth? For Success? For Happiness?
My friend, you have come to the right place.
Being Texan
January 1, 1980
Elegant Fossils
Once Texas was a land of fabulous, ornate county courthouses. It still is, but today they’re flamboyant relics in our streamlined urban landscapes.
Sports
December 25, 1979
The Real Mean Green
Talk to coaches and team owners about AstroTurf and you’ll hear all its advantages. Talk to the players and you’ll hear a different story.
Being Texan
December 1, 1979
My Life and Hard Times in the Junior League
“In the League, you’ll run into a little tradition, some noblesse oblige, and a lot of talk about diets, dyslexia, designer dresses, and divorce.”
Health
December 1, 1979
Smokers Are People Too
You can always spot a smoker. He fiddles with matches, his shirt pocket bulges in a tiny rectangle, and fumes emerge from his mouth and nose. But what should we do about him?
Being Texan
October 1, 1979
A Delicate Balance
Who turned off the melting pot? Vietnamese and Texans fight on the coast.
Politics & Policy
June 1, 1979
I Hate You!
Although Texans make good friends, they make even better enemies.
Country Notes
April 30, 1979
All That Litters
Trash collectors are not necessarily garbage men.
Texas History
April 1, 1979
Fiesta!
Whether you drink champagne or beer, wear diamonds or rhinestones, one thing about Fiesta San Antonio is the same for everyone: it’s fun.
Being Texan
March 1, 1979
Sisters
An album of female kinship.
Texas History
January 1, 1979
In Search of La Salle
The riddle of the French explorer lies buried beneath the Gulf of Mexico, but what is it, where is it, and why, oh why, are we looking for it?