Houston in December 1991: Bye-bye Goodyear and a salsa queen visits – Houston Chronicle
Dec. 23, 2021Updated: Dec. 23, 2021 2:23 p.m.
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Houston mayoral candidate Bob Lanier and wife, Elyse, at an election night party at the Westin Oaks Hotel, Dec. 7, 1991. Lanier defeated Sylvester Turner in the runoffs.
David Fahleson/Houston Chronicle2of20Houston mayoral candidate Sylvester Turner at an election night party at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Dec. 7, 1991.Howard Castleberry/Houston Chronicle
3of20Escalator malfunction injured 14 during the City Wide Club of Clubs Christmas feast at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Dec. 24, 1991.Betty Tichich/Houston Chronicle
4of20Chuck D and Flavor Flav of Public Enemy meet with reporters at the Summit before their concert, Dec. 30, 1991.Steve Campbell/Houston Chronicle
5of20Salsa queen Celia Cruz performs a late-night show at Crystal Nightclub, Dec. 22, 1991.Ben DeSoto/Houston Chronicle
6of20Salsa queen Celia Cruz performs a late-night show at Crystal Nightclub, Dec. 22, 1991.Ben DeSoto/Houston Chronicle
7of20Salsa queen Celia Cruz performs a late-night show at Crystal Nightclub, Dec. 22, 1991.Ben DeSoto/Houston Chronicle
8of20Neil Diamond at the Summit, Dec. 21, 1991.Paul S. Howell/Houston Chronicle
9of20McCrory’s is closing three stores in the Houston area. This one is located at 6704 Harrisburg, Dec. 23, 1991.Ben DeSoto/Houston Chronicle
10of20Houston Fire Department Arson Chief H.G. Torres examines an area in the faculty lounge at Ryan Middle School where a fire was deliberately set Friday. A few hours later, a fire bomb was tossed into a classroom. No injuries resulted from either incident. A juvenile was taken into custody for questioning in both cases, Dec. 13, 1991.Larry Reese/Houston Chronicle
11of20Jim Masucci, left, president and general manager of Channel 13, and Tom Doerr, the station’s news director, leave the church where Masucci delivered a prepared text Wednesday night to a meeting at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church of the Christian Coalition for Change, Dec. 11, 1991. The meeting addressed complaints from a coalition of black ministers and churches against KTRK and the Houston Post over what they cited was biased coverage against defeated mayoral candidate Sylvester Turner.David Fahleson/Houston Chronicle
12of20Dec. 8, 1991: Nelson Mandela displays the honorary degree awarded him by Texas Southern University. With him are TSU President William H. Harris, left, and regents Chairman Rufus Cormier.Paul S. Howell/Houston Chronicle
13of20Nelson Mandela, Dominique de Menil and former President Jimmy Carter at the Rothko Chapel, Dec. 7, 1991.Paul S. Howell/Houston Chronicle
14of20Pearl Harbor survivor Milan Kelly marks the attack’s 50th anniversary aboard the USS Texas, Dec. 7, 1991.Buster Dean/Houston Chronicle
15of20Filming for the movie “Sidekicks” inside Lee’s Inn restaurant, 5326 North Freeway.John Everett/Houston Chronicle
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Actor Joe Piscopo, right, practices martial arts moves with instructor Gil Coppersmith during a break in filming of “Sidekicks,” Dec. 6, 1991.
John Everett/Houston Chronicle
17of20Dec. 6, 1991: Foley’s Vice President Hope Brick helps customer Lea Bolton pick out a sweater during the department store’s Red Apple sale Friday at the chain’s downtown store. Foley’s put executives on the sales floor to help with an expected flood of customers.Buster Dean/Houston Chronicle
18of20Dec. 6, 1991: Foley’s Vice President Hope Brick helps customer Lea Bolton pick out a sweater during the department store’s Red Apple sale Friday at the chain’s downtown store. Foley’s put executives on the sales floor to help with an expected flood of customers.Buster Dean/Houston Chronicle
19of20From the Dec. 6, 1991, Houston Chronicle: Firefighters battle flames at the Comet Rice Co.’s abandoned mill on Clinton Drive in east Houston, where a four-alarm blaze ignited about 6:45 p.m. Thursday. It took about 2 1/2 hours to extinguish the fire, believed started by vagrants. The mill has been closed about six years.David Fahleson/Houston Chronicle
20of20From the Dec. 5, 1991, Chronicle: Paul Baumgarten, a 34-year veteran of Pan American World Airways, inserts a “cancelled” marker in the sign behind the ticket counter at Intercontinental Airport. Pan Am’s final flight out of Houston left Wednesday morning for Miami.Carlos Antonio Rios/Houston Chronicle
Houston elected a new mayor, the McCrory’s chain closes three Houston stores and a salsa queen performs here in the wee hours of the morning. This was Houston at the end of 1991.
What else happened here? Well, a familiar sight in the skies over Houston would soon be going away.
1of5Dec. 10, 1991: The Goodyear blimp, based near Spring since 1969, will be leaving the area in April 1992. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. will close its base and relocate the 192-foot-long flying billboard to its headquarters near Akron, Ohio, to save money.Steve Ueckert/Houston Chronicle
2of5Dec. 10, 1991: The Goodyear blimp, based near Spring since 1969, will be leaving the area in April 1992. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. will close its base and relocate the 192-foot-long flying billboard to its headquarters near Akron, Ohio, to save money.Steve Ueckert/Houston Chronicle
3of5Dec. 10, 1991: The Goodyear blimp, based near Spring since 1969, will be leaving the area in April 1992. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. will close its base and relocate the 192-foot-long flying billboard to its headquarters near Akron, Ohio, to save money.Steve Ueckert/Houston Chronicle
4of5Dec. 10, 1991: The Goodyear blimp, based near Spring since 1969, will be leaving the area in April 1992. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. will close its base and relocate the 192-foot-long flying billboard to its headquarters near Akron, Ohio, to save money.Steve Ueckert/Houston Chronicle
5of5Dec. 10, 1991: The Goodyear blimp, based near Spring since 1969, will be leaving the area in April 1992. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. will close its base and relocate the 192-foot-long flying billboard to its headquarters near Akron, Ohio, to save money.Steve Ueckert/Houston Chronicle
Goodyear floats away
After 22 years here, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. announced the closure of its blimp base in Spring on Dec. 10.
The reason? It was a money-saving decision. The company said it was moving the airship America to company headquarters near Akron, Ohio.
Houston was considered a winter home for the airship for six months out of the year. The blimp spent the rest of the time traveling across the nation and Canada.
The decision to close the blimp base was also made easier when you consider the company had three blimps in its fleet but four bases.
“I hate to see them go. It’s a real attraction. People love driving by and seeing that blimp,” Toby Stark of the Greater Houston Partnership told the Chronicle in its Dec. 11 editions. (Count me in as one of those people.)
The blimp left Houston for good in early 1992. The hangar has since been demolished.
J.R. Gonzales, a native Houstonian, is a web producer for HoustonChronicle.com. Before that, he was a news copy editor. Since 2006, he has overseen the Bayou City History blog, which covers various aspects of Houston’s history.
Prior to joining the Houston Chronicle, Gonzales worked as a night cops reporter at The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., and later as a copy editor. He has also worked as a courthouse reporter for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Gonzales is a journalism graduate of the University of Houston.
