I had never heard of JU (or J8) numbers. But after scanning ads in the 1954 City Directory for Houston on ancestry.com, it appears that “JU” in Houston was “JUstin”. There’s an ad for the Hugh Wilkin Lumber Co., 2302 Danville, on the page labelled “I 238” (page 40 of 413 on ancestry.com’s copy) listing the phone number as “JUSTIN 5454”.
Sadly, yes, Kay’s is closed. Sold for condo development. I tended bar there in the early 80s for seven wonderful years. And I have one of those old time mugs somewhere around my house. One night when I was working, a guy came in and said, “I have this mug I stole from Kay’s many years ago. I decided to bring it back tonight.” He looked like he hadn’t stopped drinking since he stole the mug. Janelle Black owned Kay’s in the 50s, and there are several Rice year books from that era dedicated to Kay’s Lounge.
Six guys, seven beers.
That reminds me of something! I’ll put up another beer post on Monday.
Hmmm… third guy on the left is two-fisted drinker…
… perhaps he’s holding the replacement for the guy pouring?
I understand that Kay’s is closed now. Alackaday!
The phone number was Ju-9723. Was that the Judson exchange?
I had never heard of JU (or J8) numbers. But after scanning ads in the 1954 City Directory for Houston on ancestry.com, it appears that “JU” in Houston was “JUstin”. There’s an ad for the Hugh Wilkin Lumber Co., 2302 Danville, on the page labelled “I 238” (page 40 of 413 on ancestry.com’s copy) listing the phone number as “JUSTIN 5454”.
According to the database at the Telephone Exchange Name Project (http://ourwebhome.com/TENP/TENproject.html), the JUstin (58) exchange became JAckson 8 (528).
BTW, JU-4141 was Rice Institute.
Sadly, yes, Kay’s is closed. Sold for condo development. I tended bar there in the early 80s for seven wonderful years. And I have one of those old time mugs somewhere around my house. One night when I was working, a guy came in and said, “I have this mug I stole from Kay’s many years ago. I decided to bring it back tonight.” He looked like he hadn’t stopped drinking since he stole the mug. Janelle Black owned Kay’s in the 50s, and there are several Rice year books from that era dedicated to Kay’s Lounge.