I made it a week and a half without posting, which is better than I expected.
I am very far from home and the internet situation is not ideal. But I’ve had lots of quiet time to browse around my laptop and see what I’ve forgotten in the press of daily business. I love this picture with it’s full parking lot and view of downtown. It’s not dated but my first guess is it might be the early 1960s.
I’m also curious about where it was taken from. Here maybe?
Bonus: There are compensations for the lousy internet.
Pre-1960. That’s a 48 star flag
Pre-1960. That’s a 48 star flag.
Thanks!
I think this was taken at THE GAME in 1957. The bleachers would have been jam packed during the game, but it does look like a good crowd, so the photo could have been taken a while before game time. So good to have a RHC fix. Thanks, Melissa.
1957 sounds right. I think I can see some 1956 and 1957 Chevys in that parking lot. That and the flag pretty much force this to be the 1957 game.
I think that must be right, that this is the 1957 game in which Rice whipped my alma mater, A&M, 7-6. The Aggies were ranked No. 1 going in. And not only are the stands not absolutely full, there’s no score on the board yet, so this must be shortly before kickoff.
Press box?
Or maybe by turning to the left and sticking the camera out the window after taking the second photo.
The second photo was taken later, probably a decade or so later. Next time I have a chance to post I’ll show you the others that were taken with it.
Wagon might be early to mid-60s, hard to tell for sure from the rear. Looks like there are 1960s buildings in the Med Center, though.
must be in the 60’s… No football offices or R Room in the south end.
Conoco Weather Ball is visible on the Texas National Bank, so it’s after 1955.
Gulf logo is not on the Gulf Building, so it’s before 1966.
A few cars have quad headlights, which were generally introduced in the 1958 model year, so the earliest this could be is fall 1957. I’d be OK with it being a year later but I don’t see any cars later than 1958, and very few of those. Note the Studebaker sedan and pickup in the front row bottom left.
It has to be an odd year if Rice is hosting A&M in the 1950s, so 1957 it is.
Probably shot from the roof of the stadium press box. That’s where photographers were stationed back in the day if they weren’t on the sidelines.
I was going to say the area that is now the Stadium Club during the time the Oilers played at Rice.
Does the large puddle under the scoreboard help? What years did it rain in the morning?
What year did it rain in the morning? Every year.
Shot from the roof of the press box. I think they still shoot game film from there.
I am certain it is the ’57 game. I have a large photo of the stadium during the game hanging in the office and compared the parked cars in the first two rows and it’s a match. I guess there is a chance all those folks had reserved spots, but I doubt it. if you look closely. you’ll see there are temporary stands in that end zone, but the larger photo shows they were only installed on that side. Since the corps was seated in the NE corner, I wonder if those seats were placed there for A&M fans? One other thing to note, the series was A&M was played at Rice Stadium each year from 1957-67, so during that time frame the games played in even numbered years were at Rice Stadium.
There are a BUNCH of Chevrolets in the first row. Like four ’55’s next to a ’57. I don’t see any German, French or English cars but I haven’t looked super-carefully.
Because Rice stadium was so much larger-capacity than Kyle Field?