Mailbag - December 2020

RANCH DAYS Best friends for 40 years, this group of UT pledge brothers gets together every November at Billy Freed's ranch in Hondo. Pictured (at their inaugural ranch reunion in 2009) are back row, from left: Eric Blumrosen, Ralph Robinson, Lenny Davis, Richard Seline, Billy Freed, Barry Zietz, Alfie Meyerson and Michael Rubenstein. Front row, from left: Jeff Genecov, Alan Luskey and Stephen Berkman. Not pictured: Robert Glass and Brad Hacker.

Story was spot on

Andria, your Buzz article about the 40-year friendship of the ZBT “boys” [It Started at Texas-OU: Still friends after 40 years, by Andria Frankfort, October 2020] was absolutely spot on. You have captured the spirit of the friendship and supportive and loving circle we are lucky to be a part of. Just want to thank you for the really wonderful job you did. Many, many thanks.

Eleanor Balloff Seline, “One of the wives who wandered into this mess and got sucked into the vortex”

A Tracy Barnett fan

Tracy, I saw the article in The Buzz this week [Travel Buzz: Golf pilgrimage to Ireland, by Tracy L. Barnett, October 2020]. It was neat seeing it in print! You did a really good job of capturing our annual sacred pilgrimage. I can’t say enough about how much my brother Michael and I appreciate your fine work. Now when I am perusing The Buzz I will be looking for your articles!

John Keating

Reminiscing about restaurants 

This is my story, and I begin in Austin, Texas when I was in college under the G.I. bill. I was broke but together we ex. G.I.s got enough to go to Youngblood’s restaurant in Austin. They had a waiter walk around with a basket of hot rolls. The table had a bottle of honey. We would order one order of chicken and fill up on the rolls and honey! Oh, thank you, Youngblood’s! Once out of college I found a Youngblood’s in Houston. Well, it was not the same.

I could afford to go to other spots. I found Bill Bennett's for the night crowd, Gilley's for some fun, but then came the restaurants: Kaphan's for the trout; there was Sonny Look's for steaks (but truly, truly, Bud Bigelow's was my favorite); Felix Mexican Restaurant for Mexican food (the Monterey House was for a quick lunch). Then came new places: Virginia Station, San Francisco Steakhouse, and then the most extravagant of them all: the Great Mine Company! How could such a place fold? There is one more I must mention. The reception for my wedding was held at a place meant for memories – long since gone: The Green Parrot.

I must say I miss old Houston. Thank you for giving me cause to reminisce [in Restaurant Memories: A look back at Houston’s dining past, by Russell Weil, November 2014].

Alex Guevara

Editor's note: Thanks for sharing your memories with us, Alex. Click here to read this still-popular story from 2014. If you have restaurant memories, share them with us all at [email protected].

Error in article

Please accept my thanks for the increasingly interesting articles published in The West University Buzz magazine. I read and enjoy your well written and informative pieces each month.

Please note, however, that there is an error in the November 2020 article regarding the MIA bracelets [Full Circle: Bracelets to remember our soldiers]. She refers to former Senator Bob Dole "who died in 1996." Bob Dole is still alive, at age 97! 

Judy Hollinger

Another close reader

My husband and I received your magazine recently and read your article "Full Circle" with great interest. In your article you mistakenly write that Bob Dole died in 1996. I am from Russell, Kansas, home of Bob Dole, and have always been proud of the legacy he created as a U.S. senator, one of the greats of the Greatest Generation. I believe he's still alive and well, so it might be a good idea to clarify.

Tammy Barr

Editor’s note: Thank you so much, Judy and Tammy, for bringing this error to our attention. Our writer meant to say that Bob Dole served in the Senate until 1996, not that he passed away that year. We sincerely regret the error and have updated it in the online version of the story.

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