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Guest
Column
I REMEMBER
A FADED LOVE
by Ken Rudine |
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Just
looking at a San Antonio map, I want
to say it was probably on Taylor Street, near the intersection with
4th Street – but of course, I could be wrong. It was called “Hips
Bubble Room”. Less than 1/2 mile north of the Alamo
and only about 400 square feet in size, Hips offered tasty hamburgers
and colder beer. The beer on tap was called “GimmeDraw” served in
a cold mug.
Walking in the door, the register was immediately on your left and
the bar and stools ran to the rear occupying the left half of the
room. Overhead at the bar, a toy electric train ran on its track,
sometimes. The hamburgers were cooked behind the bar. The only illumination
inside was the Christmas lights that bubbled, and they bubbled all
year long.
The right half of Hips Bubble Room had booths along the wall and a
few tables in the middle. Each booth had a selection box to choose
music remotely from the jukebox in the rear. It was well air-conditioned
and restrooms in the back. It was a good place to spend a hot Saturday
afternoon in San Antonio.
I first walked in Hips in 1951 while I was stationed at Brooks Air
Force Base on Loop 13. Later I was overseas for a couple of years
but spent the rest of my 4-year enlistment in San
Antonio and occasionally at Hips. All my other years, I have lived
in Houston.
Just passing through at some point after 1996 I stopped in Hips for
a "GimmeDraw" and found out they were going to close. A parking lot
was to be built there. Since then I've driven past the area and saw
parking lots but recognized no landmarks.
Hips was there for 50 years dispensing its brand of ambience and endorphins,
and now it is gone. It was a miracle that I was there the year it
began and the year it ended and some of the years between. But that
is a "faded love" and memory now, just like the song. If your footprints
ever crossed the threshold of Hips Bubble Room, I would be interested
in your memories.
© Ken Rudine
11-22-05
Guest Column
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