Telephone Road

Telephone Road is a street in eastern and southeastern Houston, Texas, United States. The road extends from South Lockwood Street to the City of Pearland. A portion of Telephone Road is also designated as Texas State Highway 35.

Telephone Road was and is a dynamic thoroughfare meandering from the east side of Houston through working-class developments and suburbs, out to the area that was the countryside (until broad development of Pearland and north Brazoria County). It was home to the A&P Store, the Golfview Hardware Store, the Tropicana Swimming Club, the Santa Rosa Theater, the Four Palms Bar, and still the Tel-Wink Grill. It runs alongside Hobby Airport starting at Airport Boulevard. Just north of Hobby Airport, it borders Garden Villas subdivision.

Burton Chapman wrote a book called Telephone Road, Texas. In a 2008 blog post J. R. Gonzalez, a journalist for the Houston Chronicle, said that he could not "think of any other Houston thoroughfare that has garnered a more negative reputation in the last 40 years or so" than Telephone Road.[1] Dave Straughan, a former sergeant of the robbery division of the Houston Police Department said "Telephone Road had a national reputation for being pretty wild. It had good neighborhoods and good people, but it had pockets of people that were known for living on the wild side."[2]

Historically, Telephone Road is named after the telephone lines that ran along the road in the early 1900s. The Long family of Pearland first started the phone company or was involved with laying the lines. Long Drive intersects with Telephone Road and may be named for the Long family.

Steve Earle and Houston native Rodney Crowell have named songs after Houston's "Telephone Road."[3]

See also

References
  1. Gonzalez, J. R. "A conversation with Burton Chapman." Houston Chronicle. January 29, 2008. Retrieved on February 7, 2009.
  2. Shilcutt, Katharine. "Still Standing." Houston Press. Wednesday January 12, 2011. 2. Retrieved on January 13, 2011.
  3. "The Houston 100: From Harry Choates to Johnny Preston." Houston Press. Wednesday September 26, 2007. Retrieved on February 9, 2009.

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