FRIDAY PHOTO: NORTH BEACH 1936

/ The Coastal Crone

This is a photo of my mother and my two older sisters taken on the sands of North Beach in the summer of 1936. North Beach is a part of the city of Corpus Christi. Access to it then meant crossing the ship channel via a draw bridge. It would have been an eighty-mile drive for my parents from the small town of Freer eighty miles west.

There was a permanent carnival that went almost to the water’s edge with many attractions and rides like a Ferris wheel, Tilt-a-Whirl, bumper cars and the merry-go-round my mother and sisters were posed in front of. The midway offered cotton candy and candied apples and the usual games hawked by carnival barkers. The sound of the waves competed with the sounds of the carnival. Going back there years later as a child with my parents in the 1950s, I thought it was a magical place infused with the scent of the sea. Maybe I still do.

The carnival is gone now and the attractions are different. The USS Lexington Museum, a WWII aircraft carrier. is docked not far from where this photo was taken. Further down the beach near the ship channel is the Texas State Aquarium.

I live about ten miles from North Beach.

52 thoughts on “FRIDAY PHOTO: NORTH BEACH 1936”

  3. Loved the photo and all this History Jo, looks a lovely location. ENJOY Summer ..
    We live around 90 miles from the ocean . More or less slap in the middle of England, hence , we say we live in the East Middlands ..
    I love looking at old photographs and fashion.. xx 💕

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  4. Hi. Speaking of Tilt-A-Whirl: Last week I saw a concert by Jimmy Vaughan and the Tilt-A-Whirl band. Jimmy Vaughan is from Texas, and most or all of the rest of the band probably is too. I saw them in a town near Philadelphia. It was a real good show.

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  5. What a great photo or your mother and sisters! I love what the women wore back then. They took such care on family outings. A treasured picture. Hope you’re managing the heat, Jo. Thinking of you when I see the weather in your area. Hugs.

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  6. i loved visiting North Beach when i was a kid with my Nana and her best friend, EvieWiederkehr and all of the granddaughters. we had so much fun. once i was on a inner tube and lost sight of the shore…panic attack! But soon the waves gently floated me back…angels watching over me!💜

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    • Yes! The beach was a magical place for kids from dry Freer where swimming often meant a water tank where the cattle drank. Inner tubes were fun to rent, Luckily you made it back! Did you know Bibi Wiederkehr? I think she was Evie’s granddaughter. I didn’t meet her until years later when she came back to Freer.

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      • was that Barbara or Beverly? Yes, my sister and i spent a lot of time with them when we were elementary age…we lived in the old Riley house on the ranch. i heard that Susan, the youngest one, had died in a car crash many years ago. We had good times….Evie always had special things going on and i loved their beautiful house. Did Bibi move back to Freer?

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      • Barbara or Beverly? I only knew her as Bibi. Yes, she moved back to Freer and built a nice house off the road going to Evie’s and Henru’s house. That would have been maybe 20-plus years ago; she was friends with my niece, Cherry Lyles Smith. Last I heard she moved not long after that to a condo on the coast near here. At least that is what I remember. I loved the Wiederkehr’s house too with the big W on the chimney and built from Austin stone. Evie had it decorated inside so lovely. Henry seemed to prefer the casual den off the kitchen. I can’t remember if she was from Freer. Seems she was. What was her maiden name? I think I have it somewhere.

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      • i think it was Riley because Nana’s house had belonged to Evie’s mother…..just a big old farmhouse, weatherbeaten, but i loved it…such good memories! Evie really did a beautiful job with the house and the yard….lovely roses and grass?! i think they had to haul in soil because all we had was caliche and cactus….and Nana’s beautiful agave plant. Barbara was the oldest and i think Beverly was called Bibi…i heard she had remarried amd moved to Cloudcroft, NM at one time. so long ago….

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      • Riley sounds right. There were Rileys that lived on the road to our house – big old weatherbeaten house with lots of kids. My grandparents’ house was like that, but then most of the old settlers’ houses were like that. Yes, so long ago! Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Thank you – it is very special to me. My sisters were much older than me and both are gone now. It is a very small beach and is popular with families – not as cool as Padre Island that spring breakers like. It was nice to take my grandchild there. I always say I imprinted him with North Beach like I was.

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  10. North Beach is special to me. The first reason my dad was a naval aviator, and some of his training took place in Corpus Christi. We traveled with him and stayed in a cabin on the beach. The second is he served on the Lexington, and I consider CV 16 as a memorial to him. Thanks for the memories.

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    • Visitors often visit the Lex seeking connections to a father or grandfather. It is especially meaningful to have someone who served on it or trained at NAS come aboard.

      What year did your father train there? What type of training did he have there? I am sure there are special memories there. North Beach is rich in history. i am glad my Friday Photo brought back some good memories, John. Take care.

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  11. What a splendid photo. It evoked the times my father would take me to the little carnivals that came to our Iowa town. Of course there was no sea close by, but everything else sounds perfectly familiar. I kept the tiny bisque Kewpie doll he won for me for years, until it somehow disappeared, as things do.

    I couldn’t help drawing some comparisons between your North Beach attractions and the Pleasure Pier that now exists in Galveston. The rides there are different, I suppose, and people have to pay to get in, but I suspect there are children who are enjoying the over-the-water ferris wheel and cotton candy just as much as we enjoyed our older carnivals.

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    • We had those small carnivals come to Freer too. It was just dusty there. I never got a Kewpie doll but I had some type of doll with feathers that I kept forever.

      I haven’t been to Galveston in ages so I haven’t seen the Pleasure Pier. I can see where it would be a big attraction even if it costs to go on it. Some pleasures for children don’t change. We need to take a trip to Galveston – when it is cooler!

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      • Galveston’s best in fall and winter. The crowds are gone, the weather is gorgeous, and the water and the skies often look more like yours: pretty and blue. There can be good shelling in winter, too — and of course there’s wonderful food.

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    • That is true. Many had boardwalks as this one had at one time. Beauty contests were held there too. Now North Beach had a cement walkway the length of it. You would be welcome for a walk along North Beach – it is not long. Have a safe and happy 4th, Frank!

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  16. Love these old pictures. I have some of my mom and dad but wish I had more. I would have recognized your mother easily. We used to go to North Beach also….and of course to Padre. I do remember the sunburns. Such great memories. I remember us playing by the tank at your house when I would spend the night. We were so lucky to have such great parents and such a great childhood.

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    • Yes, we were fortunate to have had great parents that took us to North Beach. That pond/tank by the house was magical too. Cool water pumped out by the windmill provided cool drinks of water. Good memories! Take care and stay cool, Sue!

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    • I hit the “Post Comment” button before I finished commenting! – I haven’t been to Corpus Christi but your memories of carnivals are familiar. We used to go to Seaside Heights NJ in the summers and I will never forget the sounds and all the boardwalk food there.

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