Beaumont's old Castle Motel Burns Down [Archive]

LUSportsFan

07-24-2014, 04:06 PM

Kind of sad to hear it burned, but it should have been torn down years ago. It was supposed to have been a very nice place in its day, but it had not been like that for an extremely long time.

Used to drive by the Castle Motel all the time on the way to the movies at the Gaylynn Theatre ... torn down years ago ... at the corner of Calder and 11th where doctors offices are now.

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/10822

There is a lot of stuff gone that was in that area when I was growing up.

Carnation - great food and really good ice cream, malts, and shakes

Castle Motel - now - Interesting building from the outside. I never went inside, but in its heyday, it was reputed to be a very nice motel; much like the Ridgewood Motor Hotel off the freeway that turned into an old folks home. My brother in law came down to visit us once ... way after the Castle's prime. He was not impressed.

Gaylynn Theatre - saw lots of good movies there. The wife and I stood in a line that ran almost around the block waiting to get in to see "Star Wars", the first one. It was worth the wait.

Lubys - Good food and desserts there

The three Pig Stand restaurants (11th, Calder, and College Avenue) - I liked a lot of stuff at the Pig Stand. One of my favorites was the Outlaw Burger that they came up with to add a little more variety to the menu. Sheldons wasn't in the local vicinity, but it was worth the drive. There was one on Washington Blvd near present MLK that was always packed back then.

On down 11th, there was the Hub Diner and a bunch of other stuff.

Years later, the fast food chains made it to town. They added a Burger Chef, a Whataburger, and a McDonalds...first one in town among others.