Volume 8 , Issue 8

Pugster's Report...

by - Duchess & Sadie, Pugsters

Ooops!... This Sadie Pugsters got caught letting NW Okie's age & birthday out of the bag last weekend. BUT... no harm was done. Thank goodness! She (NW Okie) still scratches us behind the ears, rubs our bellies and lets us be her lapdogs. So... these pugsters are taking over this weekend while NW Okie is taking this birthday weekend off. HAPPY 58th BIRTHDAY to that NW Okie!

We found some more WWII German POW artwork & murals this week lingering in our archives and webpages. One wood carving of "Afrika" came in from a reader this week. AND... we are hot on the trail of some more Alva WWII camp barracks that were moved to other towns around NW Oklahoma. If you have any information about recycled WWII POW barracks in your neck of the woods, let us know -- if they are still standing, get a photo of it.

AND... we have heard from the Rialto projectionist the truth about the twin booths of Alva (Oklahoma). It was NOT the "Ranger" theatre, but the "Pix" Theatre that had the twin booths in this NW Oklahoma community long ago. This is the 1950 photo that the Rialto owners supplied us that shows the twin booths of the Pix Theatre. Notice the Jetts building on the right and what we presume is the Huff building on the left of the Pix, on the west side of the square, College Avenue (6th Street), in the middle of the block. Today an Antique store occupies the spot that once housed the Pix and later the Faires Cafe. Just north of the Pix Theatre was the Jett building where an attorney (Rick Cunningham) has his law office today. AND... The Pix was never owned by the Jones Amusement Co. (Rialto) until they purchased the Drive-In -- The Pix theatre was thrown into the deal for the Drive-In.

Have you ever heard of a little cafe that used to be operational in Freedom, Oklahoma. It went by the name of "Ma South Cafe." We learned about the name of this cafe this week. It was owned by the South family that settled near the Freedom area in NW Oklahoma. Henry "Ed" South was night watchman for the town of Freedom, Oklahoma in the late teens and early 1920's, and his wife, Alice Tyler "Allie" South, ran Ma South Cafe. Does anyone out there have an old photos of "Ma South's cafe?" Where in Freedom was it located?

In last week's comments one of our readers mentioned that the Golden Krust Bakery was located in the building just east of the Old Surety building around 1940. These are two pictures of the bakery of Golden Krust Bakery that the Henry's loaned us from Marvin Henry's website.

As to the Old Surety Life building... back in 1910 we know that the NW corner of 5th & Flynn Avenue housed the "Woods County Bank" downstairs with the "Republican Headquarters" upstairs.

The Cigar Store (pool hall) building on the NE corner was "Snyders Cigar Store." There was a grocery store just to the west of the cigar store, but we are not sure of the name at present. If you traveled about a half-block north of Snyders Cigar store you might have seen the "Mistletoe Express" office. The Mistletoe Express was where the Oklahoma City paper was dropped off about 5:30a.m. every morning for local paperboys to pick up and deliver around town ... after they went to the back door of the bakery and got a fresh, HOT donut, of course.

In the middle of the 500 block of Flynn Avenue was the Beegle Bros. Drugstore. We found this 2002 snapshot of the the 500 block of Flynn Avenue showing the Rialto building in the center. Beegle's drugstore must have been next to it or just west of it at one point in time.
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