My brother Bruce has done some research on Galveston and found two relics from our personal history. Our paternal grandparents took us to Galveston for a week's vacation every summer from the early 1950s to the mid 1960s. Each year we stayed at Hawkins Cottages on the Seawall Boulevard at 14th St.
It was very basic, which was exactly what our grandmother wanted. She didn't want to worry about messing up a room with tracked-in sand or wet swim suits on the floor. She also wanted a kitchen so we could cook gumbo, fry fish, or boil crabs -- whatever. The rooms had linoleum tile floors which were easy to sweep clean. We brought our own water because Sugar Land water was the best in the world, and Galveston's was pretty bad. No maid service and no air conditioning. Since we were there for the bracing Gulf breeze, who wanted air conditioning?
Our favorite dining spot was a restaurant called Manuel's Cafe on the Seawall Boulevard at 61st Street. It was famous for its stuffed flounder, definitely my favorite. Bruce found the following postcard, a miniature menu, on eBay and bought it for me. I think it comes from the 1950s, but I don't have a precise date. It's a treasured blast from the past.
