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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMichael Gomez TranscriptionOral History Interview Michael Gomez | Author Kimberly McNally | Historical Records Archivist May 16, 2024 | 8:49 AM Audio file Michael Gomez I.MP3 Transcript 00:00:01 Speaker 1 OK. 00:00:02 Speaker 2 And I can edit this and I'll send it to you before we put it online. 00:00:06 Speaker 3 OK yeah cool. 00:00:09 Speaker 2 Alright hello my name is Kimberly McNally I'm the historical records archivist for the city of College Station and the interviewer of today's recording today is May 16th 2024 and it is 8. 00:00:22 Speaker 2 40 9:00 AM. 00:00:24 Speaker 2 I am here at the City Hall on Texas avenue with Michael Gomez author of a pictorial history of Bryan College station 1980s published in March 2024 to start would you like to. 00:00:36 Speaker 2 Introduce. 00:00:37 Speaker 3 Yourself my name is Michael Gomez I am you want me to say where I'm from. 00:00:43 Speaker 3 Here. 00:00:44 Speaker 3 Yeah sure OK OK because I was going to say like personal or OK. 00:00:47 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:00:49 Speaker 3 Just edit it OK. 00:00:52 Speaker 3 My name is Michael Gomez I am from Bryan Texas I grew up in College Station I am currently a senior at Texas A&M University and I'm studying urban and regional planning this is my first publication it pictorial history of Bryan College station. 00:01:10 Speaker 3 Which are based in the 1980s? 00:01:14 Speaker 2 So what made you want to stay in the Bryan College station area. 00:01:19 Speaker 3 Like why I chose A&M. 00:01:22 Speaker 3 I just felt like it was a great fit for me I had to choose between UT&A&M&I just didn't want to have to move so far away from my family I'm really close to my mom and. 00:01:33 Speaker 3 My. 00:01:33 Speaker 3 Sisters so I just thought it would be a better fit to stay here and. 00:01:37 Speaker 3 Save money too so yeah it's always a plus. 00:01:43 Speaker 2 So you said you went to A&M and you're or you're going to and M and you are doing urban regional planning. 00:01:51 Speaker 2 Do you have anything other than that that's part of your educational and career background that you'd like to? 00:01:56 Speaker 3 Mention that's all really I like I've wanted to do architectures and so I was little like my mom used to work in construction science and right now she's in the administration building as an executive. 00:02:11 Speaker 3 Consistent but she started out there and so yeah I've always wanted to do architecture since I was little so. 00:02:18 Hmm. 00:02:20 Speaker 2 And you are graduating in August is that correct. 00:02:23 Speaker 3 Yeah that's right. 00:02:24 Speaker 3 I can't believe. 00:02:25 Speaker 3 It. 00:02:26 Speaker 2 Are you ready? 00:02:28 Speaker 3 I I want to have a job lined up so yeah but yeah I would say I'm ready to finish. 00:02:33 Speaker 3 School though yeah. 00:02:35 Speaker 2 Excited yeah. 00:02:38 Speaker 2 Are you involved in any student organizations on campus? 00:02:41 Speaker 3 I used to be I was in an organization called Aggies reaching out and we would volunteer at the boys and Girls Club and so I was like a mentor there for 2. 00:02:53 Speaker 3 Years and then I was also part of the association of student planners think that's what it was OK and yeah so I was just in those 2 but other things that weren't like organization wise I participated in the big event for all 4 years of school so yeah. 00:03:14 Speaker 3 Was pretty involved? 00:03:16 Speaker 2 So can you tell us a little bit about. 00:03:18 Speaker 2 Your book. 00:03:19 Speaker 3 Yeah so this is a 200 page book I have several different photographs of businesses schools and infrastructure in the area and I chose the 1980s specifically because that's like the decade where you can. 00:03:36 Speaker 3 By the least amount of photos from I know most photos are like like the western times when you find it was really old and you can find pictures from the 60s more than you can in the 80s and so I was. 00:03:46 Speaker 3 Like. 00:03:48 Speaker 3 I've always wondered what it looked like here because my whole family 's from here and so my parents and family will talk about places here that they would go to that don't exist anymore and I would always wonder what they look like so. 00:04:00 Speaker 3 Yeah that's why I put this together took Me 2 years to to do it but I'm glad to be sharing it. 00:04:07 Speaker 3 With y'all though. 00:04:08 Speaker 2 So yeah it looks. 00:04:09 Speaker 3 OK. 00:04:09 Speaker 2 Great thank you. 00:04:13 Speaker 2 So you said that you got interested because of like your family history here. 00:04:18 Speaker 2 Was there anything? 00:04:19 Speaker 2 Else that prompted you to start the book or was it something that you always wanted. 00:04:25 Speaker 3 To do no it's not something I always wanted to do when I started at A&M. 00:04:31 Speaker 3 I used to work at Cushing Memorial Library yeah so I was there for 2 years and. 00:04:38 Speaker 3 When I was there I had to look through old photographs and like categorize them that was part of my jobs as a student worker and I had always had that interest like I said since I? 00:04:47 Speaker 3 Was? 00:04:47 Speaker 3 Little and so I just remember I was like huh wouldn't it be cool to like see what's in here and I ended up finding some pictures and I just put them together in a little like document. 00:04:58 Speaker 3 I mean a power point and I just kind of left it there but it took me like a whole year until I decided like I want to make something out of this you know. 00:05:08 Speaker 1 And so. 00:05:09 Speaker 3 Yeah just kept working on it here recently I've been working on it nonstop and I eventually. 00:05:15 Speaker 3 Had it published as of March. 00:05:17 Speaker 3 And so yeah yeah just kind of progressed overtime. 00:05:21 So. 00:05:24 Speaker 2 Oh see. 00:05:27 Speaker 2 So other than the lack of photographs that you could find in the about the 1980s was there anything else that. 00:05:33 Speaker 2 That made you want to choose the 80s specifically. 00:05:39 Speaker 3 Yeah my dad is turning 60 this year he's 59 he went to high school here in the 80s and he was my age at that time so he remembered a lot of places in my book and also my mom she grew up here her whole life. 00:05:58 Speaker 3 And so she's uh she's she's 50 right now she's turning 51. 00:06:03 Speaker 3 And a little bit so they both. 00:06:05 Speaker 3 Grew up here at that time so that really helped me connect with them more because they were able to show share stories that they had never told me. 00:06:12 Speaker 3 4 by seeing these pictures I was like what that's so cool so yeah it's. 00:06:19 Speaker 2 So did their experiences kind of set a framework for the stuff that you wanted to find. 00:06:24 Speaker 3 Yeah. 00:06:25 Speaker 3 Yeah definitely well part of the picture like in there they have some of the schools that they went to that aren't here anymore SFA junior high school Carver school which was for 6th grade and yeah I just kind of went around I started with that and I went around. 00:06:44 Speaker 3 The different places that they used to go to so yeah I would say the schools was a very important part of the book. 00:06:55 Speaker 2 So who would. 00:06:56 Speaker 2 You say is the intended audience for your. 00:06:58 Speaker 3 Book anybody from Bryan College station or people who have. 00:07:04 Speaker 3 Been here for many decades because they can have people that can't remember family members and stuff like that and also my mom has said A&M alumni who went here during that time which I didn't even. 00:07:17 Speaker 3 Think of and I was like Oh yeah. 00:07:18 Speaker 2 We. 00:07:19 Speaker 3 Because people can be all over the world but. 00:07:21 Speaker 3 They could have gone here in the 80s. 00:07:22 Speaker 3 And remember the. 00:07:23 Speaker 3 Stuff in there so yeah yeah. 00:07:28 Speaker 2 So while you were researching and compiling all the pictures and like writing everything what was your research process like. 00:07:37 Speaker 3 So I had many different sources I used the eagle you know it's online newspapers the battalion is online. 00:07:46 Speaker 3 I use the the Carnegie library where I became a regular at like I used to go there like almost every week and so basically I would just find photographs put them in that PowerPoint document that I said I. 00:07:59 Speaker 3 Had. 00:08:00 Speaker 3 And I would just look up in the eagle because you have the search crew. 00:08:05 Speaker 3 And I would look up when this I would try to find when the business opened and then closed. 00:08:11 Speaker 3 And then I will try to find some information about it because usually when it opens they tell you what it's about and everything and then when it closes it's something entirely different I notice like the business has changed after like 10 years and so yeah I would just write that down my PowerPoint later on it feels incorrect I would go back and. 00:08:24 Speaker 2 Yeah yeah. 00:08:31 Speaker 3 Change it because I know some people 's personal. 00:08:37 Speaker 3 Accounts that they had is really different from what you find they remember something that's not even in there I'm like oh OK let me go ahead and change that so yeah that was my whole process it kind of stayed the same. 00:08:40 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:08:50 Speaker 1 Yeah I just kind of. 00:08:51 Speaker 2 Went from there did you have to contact the individual businesses or research like property transactions or did you use public resources mostly. 00:08:59 Speaker 1 Uh. 00:09:02 Speaker 3 Public resources mainly but somebody recommended to me I don't remember who was they recommended me the. 00:09:09 Speaker 3 This website called Brazos scad and you can look up the property records and see not not not the entire record but it goes back to like the 90s I think about which businesses used to be there so I used that but it was mainly public resources. 00:09:26 Speaker 1 That I use so. 00:09:30 Speaker 2 So how did you choose to present your information pictorially instead of primarily like text. 00:09:37 Speaker 3 I had found books from Evans library in the Carnegie library that were kind of similar like they showed where they talked about the history of Brian from. 00:09:48 Speaker 3 Lay back in the day like the 1800s up until now but I saw that they didn't have enough pictures and so like they were talking about all these changes that happened in businesses that were here. 00:09:58 Speaker 1 But. 00:09:59 Speaker 3 You don't know what they look like you. 00:10:01 Speaker 3 Know so that's why I decided to go with it like a picture. 00:10:04 Speaker 3 Book. 00:10:05 Hmm. 00:10:05 Speaker 3 So it's easily you're easily able to follow it it's not just text so. 00:10:15 Speaker 2 So what resources did you find the most helpful when you were research. 00:10:20 Speaker 3 Definitely the eagle they had they had just recently published the entire eagle newspapers because before when I looked because I started this in 2222 they only had the eagle. 00:10:35 Speaker 3 From way back in the day all the. 00:10:36 Speaker 3 Way up to. 00:10:37 Speaker 3 The 70s and so there was this huge gap with information and then when they finally published it this was like a few months ago they had the 80s all the way. 00:10:45 Speaker 3 Up. 00:10:45 Speaker 3 Until the 2000s so that was a huge resource I could just search whatever I wanted and then. 00:10:50 Speaker 3 Usually a picture came. 00:10:51 Speaker 1 Up so yeah. 00:10:54 Speaker 2 Was there anything that you were surprised by or really interested in while you were working on the? 00:11:02 Speaker 3 Yes some places I could not find a picture of like whatsoever and what's crazy is that like hearing this cover photo you can see that excuse me the back cover photo you can see this is university drive this is from 82. 00:11:20 Speaker 3 And the Pizza Hut in Sonic they used to be there you cannot find a picture of the Sonic. 00:11:25 That was there. 00:11:27 Speaker 3 And so it was like well what if this thing look like because this Sonic was up here until 2:00 1007 I think so it wasn't that long ago and so things like that I know the Sonic the. 00:11:39 Speaker 3 There was a theater where that churches off of southwest Parkway I don't know if you know behind Wendy's things like that that was like really popular that you can't find any pictures of so that was like really surprising for me. 00:11:52 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:12:00 Speaker 2 So what information or ideas. 00:12:02 Speaker 2 Do you want readers to take away? 00:12:03 Speaker 2 From your book. 00:12:06 Speaker 3 Like I said like. 00:12:08 Speaker 3 The way that it's shown like pictorially instead of just text it gives you really a broader perspective of what this town looked like at that time and then also like I said the places where you just can't find pictures of I want readers to take that away and really show other people you know I would hope to. 00:12:27 Speaker 3 Get it out more and then uh another interesting aspect which I wanted to talk to. 00:12:32 Speaker 3 You about. 00:12:33 Speaker 3 Was have black businesses in there if you go to page 51 I believe? 00:12:39 Yes. 00:12:42 Speaker 3 My aunt. 00:12:43 Speaker 3 Had had encouraged. 00:12:44 Speaker 3 Me she was like well what about blackness yes so this is really important neo campus my my grandma was a daycare teacher there and then my great grandparents went to junior high there this is something I want people to. 00:12:46 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:13:00 Speaker 3 Take from this book because I feel like it's really important and you can't really find anything on it like I didn't even know there was a whole entire school year prior to Neil elementary. 00:13:10 Speaker 3 Like you would. 00:13:11 Speaker 3 Have known that unless you researched it? 00:13:14 Speaker 1 And so yeah I think that's really important along with these other businesses that we're in the black community so yeah and there's a. 00:13:20 Hmm. 00:13:22 Speaker 2 Lot of stuff did you have any trouble finding resources about these black businesses more than white businesses or other. 00:13:31 Speaker 3 Uh no actually it was pretty easy to find information there was a book called up from cotton that was published in 1980 do. 00:13:39 Speaker 3 You know about that book or. 00:13:40 Speaker 2 I've heard of it. 00:13:41 Speaker 2 Yes. 00:13:41 Speaker 3 Yeah and so they had it has a lot of information that I was able to just get from there but the actual pictures of it were hard to find of the businesses but. 00:13:49 Speaker 1 Yeah. 00:13:50 Speaker 1 But yeah thank you. 00:13:58 Speaker 2 So as you are a student working on all of this how did you balance making this book with your class work and any jobs that you had. 00:14:08 Speaker 3 Yeah so like I said I was working on it a lot this past semester I usually would work on it like when I got home. 00:14:17 Speaker 3 Usually I well I didn't have any assignments or anything I would just kind of lift things up and add to my book but beforehand I used to work at like I said Cushing and. 00:14:29 Speaker 3 I would work on it there at work because we had our own computer to ourselves so I was just able to do. 00:14:35 Speaker 3 Stuff like that. 00:14:37 Speaker 3 But outside of that I just kind of did it in my free time it wasn't really a priority you know so. 00:14:44 Speaker 2 Yeah what did you work. 00:14:45 Speaker 3 In Cushing I worked at the front desk yeah but they also have me reshelving and archiving and stuff like that so it just kind of depended what day. 00:14:54 Speaker 1 It was yeah yeah. 00:14:59 Speaker 2 Was there anyone involved in your editing process? 00:15:05 Speaker 3 No not really I should have got my sister to edit it she has 2 books so but yeah I just kind of proofread it myself I showed a couple people before I published it and make sure it's accurate and everything but yeah in terms of like the editing the cover and everything everything was. 00:15:25 Speaker 3 Done by myself so yeah. 00:15:30 Speaker 2 I have seen your texags post that you said that you had encouragement from a professor was it more that they saw your work and wanted you to publish it or what was that relationship. 00:15:42 Speaker 3 Like they they saw it what is the publish it my publisher was Mister bussard he's a black history. 00:15:49 Speaker 3 Feature he taught he's been teaching black history at A&M for over 35 years I think and so he's been here since the 80s so I was like wow wouldn't this be cool to show him and everything and. 00:16:00 Yeah. 00:16:01 Speaker 3 So yeah he. 00:16:02 Speaker 3 He saw just the PowerPoint and he was like wow this is really good you know you should. 00:16:08 Speaker 3 You should make something out. 00:16:09 Speaker 3 Of it OK so yeah yeah. 00:16:15 Speaker 2 And did you. 00:16:15 Speaker 2 Self publish or use a traditional publisher. 00:16:18 Speaker 3 I self published and then I use a printing company that also distributed distributes it so it's on Amazon Barnes and nobles on all these places if you search on Google. 00:16:30 Speaker 1 So yeah I just. 00:16:32 Speaker 3 I wanted it to. 00:16:33 Speaker 3 Look and be the way they wanted it to be so self published. 00:16:35 Speaker 2 Yeah yeah what was the self-publishing. 00:16:40 Speaker 2 Process like for. 00:16:40 Speaker 3 You it was pretty easy. 00:16:44 Speaker 3 I just have to find. 00:16:47 Speaker 3 The right company that would print this size book because it's 11 by 8 and a half inches it's pretty big I want it to be this way so people can easily see the pictures of how big they are and so I just have to look that up specifically but yeah so publishing was easy I just submitted my file. 00:17:09 Speaker 3 Make sure it was proofread and everything and I got to create my own cover using their cover creator so yeah it was. 00:17:16 Speaker 3 Pretty pretty easy didn't take. 00:17:19 Speaker 2 Long did you have other alternatives that you almost chose for the cover or did were you set like far ahead. 00:17:26 Speaker 2 Of using this. 00:17:26 1. 00:17:28 Speaker 3 No those pictures were like perfect some about these pictures too I wanted to say was I found these. 00:17:35 Speaker 3 In a negatives folder at Cushing they were just sitting there and when I. 00:17:38 Speaker 2 OK. 00:17:39 Speaker 3 Found it I was like what. 00:17:41 Speaker 3 Wow you know. 00:17:42 Speaker 2 That's perfect. 00:17:42 Speaker 3 Nobody sees and especially like I said. 00:17:46 Speaker 3 This back cover. 00:17:47 Speaker 3 You can't find pictures of these businesses and so it was just perfect for the book so yeah. 00:17:52 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:17:57 Speaker 2 Have you written any? 00:17:57 Speaker 2 Other books. 00:17:58 Speaker 3 No this is my first publication I've had people ask me what other books am I going to write like I don't I wasn't really planning on it but yeah this is my first so. 00:18:11 Speaker 2 Was from start to finish this project easier or more difficult than you expected? 00:18:18 Speaker 3 It was more difficult than I expected probably because I put it off you know with school and everything I think if I would. 00:18:25 Speaker 3 Have focused more on it? 00:18:27 Speaker 3 I probably would have done it in like a few months it wasn't it wasn't hard to find the actual information but I would say that the pictures were probably the hardest part to find which like I said the some pictures just weren't available some were sending it negatives you know. 00:18:38 Hmm. 00:18:44 Speaker 3 Like I said so. 00:18:45 Yeah. 00:18:46 Speaker 3 Yeah yeah. 00:18:49 Speaker 2 Do you have any other projects that you're currently working on? 00:18:52 Speaker 3 Yes I want to create some sort of book or document that talks about like the bars and nightclubs that used to be here because I think that's really interesting you know like when my mom and my dad or my family members. 00:19:09 Speaker 3 Talk about places we used to go to. 00:19:11 Speaker 3 I was like. 00:19:11 Speaker 3 What where was it and they have to explain? 00:19:13 Speaker 3 It. 00:19:14 Speaker 3 To me I was like would it be cool to just have like some type of directory we can just. 00:19:19 Speaker 3 The Harlem club or something that is really hard to find so yeah I have I have a few pictures that I've collected and I'm thinking about creating something out of that so yeah. 00:19:20 Hmm. 00:19:31 Speaker 2 I feel like bars and like social club type things are constantly changing hands and changing names. 00:19:36 Speaker 3 Yeah. 00:19:38 Speaker 1 Yeah definitely that'll be interesting yeah. 00:19:38 So. 00:19:42 Speaker 2 Is there anything else that you would like to discuss that we haven't covered? 00:19:47 We've pretty much covered. 00:19:49 Speaker 3 Everything I would like to talk about the people that. 00:19:52 Speaker 3 I work with. 00:19:53 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:19:55 Speaker 3 Bill page from Evans library he's he's been here he graduated from A&M in 76 so he's been. 00:20:04 Speaker 3 There a long time. 00:20:05 Speaker 3 And I'm not sure how long he's worked at A&M or in the libraries but he's helped me a lot with this book. 00:20:12 Speaker 3 He's referred me to resources for black history because that's like his thing he researched black history and other minorities that were here in Texas and yeah he referred me to some of those businesses I was talking about and yeah also he also helped me remember I said. 00:20:32 Speaker 3 I bought a draft copy and let people look over it so yeah he he was one of the people that got one and also at the. 00:20:41 Speaker 3 The Carnegie library the lady at the front desk her name is jolene Odell I'm not on off you know yeah she's real real cool she helps me anything that I had asked for I'll tell her I'll be like have you heard of so and so business should be like uh no but I'll look it up for you whenever whenever you come back. 00:21:01 Speaker 3 We'll have something for you I know you so yeah yeah she was great too. 00:21:02 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:21:07 Speaker 1 Uh. 00:21:08 Speaker 3 But yeah that's. 00:21:09 Speaker 3 That's all the people that I can really. 00:21:12 Speaker 3 Think of to have like a real. 00:21:13 Speaker 3 Impact. 00:21:14 Speaker 3 Real big impact on my book. 00:21:16 Speaker 2 Are there any other sections that you want to highlight about your book after the black-owned businesses? 00:21:24 Speaker 1 Yeah here let me. 00:21:27 Speaker 1 It's just the. 00:21:29 Speaker 3 I wanted to talk about downtown Brian. 00:21:32 Hmm. 00:21:35 Speaker 1 These pictures. 00:21:38 Speaker 3 Uh. 00:21:40 Speaker 3 Yeah these pictures like how like real clear they are and are in color and everything really hard to find this is from texashistory.unt dot Edu they had a they took a bunch of pictures for the. 00:21:55 Speaker 3 Brazzers historical site I mean Historical Society I think is what it's called and so they took a lot of clear pictures of downtown which I think a lot of people would like to see these are all from 86 and the palace theater you can't find a good picture like this and so yeah I think it's really significant. 00:22:17 Speaker 3 Also the Brian hospital people are really talk about that which I thought was really weird you know because a lot of people. 00:22:24 Speaker 3 Went here and. 00:22:26 Speaker 3 I believe my uncle was born here. 00:22:28 Speaker 3 And yeah I've got these pictures from Google Earth and the Carnegie and yeah there's just several other places that I think people should see or would want to remember from downtown that it really isn't there's not a lot of information on it. 00:22:48 Speaker 3 From this time period from from older older time. 00:22:49 So yeah. 00:22:51 Speaker 3 So. 00:22:52 Yeah. 00:22:53 Speaker 2 I think my last question for you is since you used a lot of photographs did you have any issues with like copyright law or anything while you were. 00:23:02 OK let. 00:23:03 Speaker 3 No not really I had to purchase the images from the eagle and the battalion the eagle I got a license with so they let me use whatever. 00:23:12 Speaker 3 Pictures on one and I just have to pay a fee and then the battalion it was the same way I had a I had a small smaller fee but there was one person that had a small problem with my book are you aware of. 00:23:29 Speaker 3 CS roads and retail that blog. 00:23:32 Speaker 2 I haven't heard. 00:23:33 Speaker 3 Of that no this guy yeah this guy he he's been working on this bar for like 10 years and he basically talks about all the different places that used to be here in Bryan College station the only difference with his is that he has like very few pictures. 00:23:49 Speaker 3 From these time periods he usually goes out and takes pictures of it with his phone just uploads it and shows how different it's changed. 00:23:59 Speaker 3 I thought we had like a little agreement on pictures this was when I first started because he actually found his website when I was first researching and yeah I thought we had an agreement I could use some pictures of it and then whenever I I released my book whole 2 years later I had emailed him and I was like hey you know. 00:24:19 Speaker 3 I use sounds of pictures and he was like what you didn't tell me you know I was like wait I thought we had an agreement and so yeah we got that straightened out I sent them a free copy because I sent all the contributors free copy and he was really happy to see it so there wasn't. 00:24:35 Speaker 3 Really a big problem but yeah. 00:24:41 Speaker 2 And then where can we find. 00:24:44 Speaker 2 Your book. 00:24:45 Speaker 3 It's on Barnes and nobles right now and Amazon for some reason Amazon is taking a long time to ship taking like 2 to 3 weeks whereas at Barnes and noble you get it in like it shifts in like 2 days you can get it in like a week like 5 days so yeah I would recommend. 00:25:04 Speaker 3 Going to those 2 places but it is available at Walmart book reads.com all these different. 00:25:13 Speaker 3 Bookselling websites because that company I said they just distributed everywhere so I'm not sure what all is out there but yeah. 00:25:21 Speaker 3 Last Friday so. 00:25:22 Speaker 2 Well thank you so much for your time and contributing to project hold I really appreciate you working to preserve college stations history so. 00:25:32 Speaker 3 Yeah thank you thank you for having me OK. Here. 00:00:44 Speaker 3 Yeah sure OK OK because I was going to say like personal or OK. 00:00:47 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:00:49 Speaker 3 Just edit it OK. 00:00:52 Speaker 3 My name is Michael Gomez I am from Bryan Texas I grew up in College Station I am currently a senior at Texas A&M University and I'm studying urban and regional planning this is my first publication it pictorial history of Bryan College station. 00:01:10 Speaker 3 Which are based in the 1980s? 00:01:14 Speaker 2 So what made you want to stay in the Bryan College station area. 00:01:19 Speaker 3 Like why I chose A&M. 00:01:22 Speaker 3 I just felt like it was a great fit for me I had to choose between UT&A&M&I just didn't want to have to move so far away from my family I'm really close to my mom and. 00:01:33 Speaker 3 My. 00:01:33 Speaker 3 Sisters so I just thought it would be a better fit to stay here and. 00:01:37 Speaker 3 Save money too so yeah it's always a plus. 00:01:43 Speaker 2 So you said you went to A&M and you're or you're going to and M and you are doing urban regional planning. 00:01:51 Speaker 2 Do you have anything other than that that's part of your educational and career background that you'd like to? 00:01:56 Speaker 3 Mention that's all really I like I've wanted to do architectures and so I was little like my mom used to work in construction science and right now she's in the administration building as an executive. 00:02:11 Speaker 3 Consistent but she started out there and so yeah I've always wanted to do architecture since I was little so. 00:02:18 Hmm. 00:02:20 Speaker 2 And you are graduating in August is that correct. 00:02:23 Speaker 3 Yeah that's right. 00:02:24 Speaker 3 I can't believe. 00:02:25 Speaker 3 It. 00:02:26 Speaker 2 Are you ready? 00:02:28 Speaker 3 I I want to have a job lined up so yeah but yeah I would say I'm ready to finish. 00:02:33 Speaker 3 School though yeah. 00:02:35 Speaker 2 Excited yeah. 00:02:38 Speaker 2 Are you involved in any student organizations on campus? 00:02:41 Speaker 3 I used to be I was in an organization called Aggies reaching out and we would volunteer at the boys and Girls Club and so I was like a mentor there for 2. 00:02:53 Speaker 3 Years and then I was also part of the association of student planners think that's what it was OK and yeah so I was just in those 2 but other things that weren't like organization wise I participated in the big event for all 4 years of school so yeah. 00:03:14 Speaker 3 Was pretty involved? 00:03:16 Speaker 2 So can you tell us a little bit about. 00:03:18 Speaker 2 Your book. 00:03:19 Speaker 3 Yeah so this is a 200 page book I have several different photographs of businesses schools and infrastructure in the area and I chose the 1980s specifically because that's like the decade where you can. 00:03:36 Speaker 3 By the least amount of photos from I know most photos are like like the western times when you find it was really old and you can find pictures from the 60s more than you can in the 80s and so I was. 00:03:46 Speaker 3 Like. 00:03:48 Speaker 3 I've always wondered what it looked like here because my whole family 's from here and so my parents and family will talk about places here that they would go to that don't exist anymore and I would always wonder what they look like so. 00:04:00 Speaker 3 Yeah that's why I put this together took Me 2 years to to do it but I'm glad to be sharing it. 00:04:07 Speaker 3 With y'all though. 00:04:08 Speaker 2 So yeah it looks. 00:04:09 Speaker 3 OK. 00:04:09 Speaker 2 Great thank you. 00:04:13 Speaker 2 So you said that you got interested because of like your family history here. 00:04:18 Speaker 2 Was there anything? 00:04:19 Speaker 2 Else that prompted you to start the book or was it something that you always wanted. 00:04:25 Speaker 3 To do no it's not something I always wanted to do when I started at A&M. 00:04:31 Speaker 3 I used to work at Cushing Memorial Library yeah so I was there for 2 years and. 00:04:38 Speaker 3 When I was there I had to look through old photographs and like categorize them that was part of my jobs as a student worker and I had always had that interest like I said since I? 00:04:47 Speaker 3 Was? 00:04:47 Speaker 3 Little and so I just remember I was like huh wouldn't it be cool to like see what's in here and I ended up finding some pictures and I just put them together in a little like document. 00:04:58 Speaker 3 I mean a power point and I just kind of left it there but it took me like a whole year until I decided like I want to make something out of this you know. 00:05:08 Speaker 1 And so. 00:05:09 Speaker 3 Yeah just kept working on it here recently I've been working on it nonstop and I eventually. 00:05:15 Speaker 3 Had it published as of March. 00:05:17 Speaker 3 And so yeah yeah just kind of progressed overtime. 00:05:21 So. 00:05:24 Speaker 2 Oh see. 00:05:27 Speaker 2 So other than the lack of photographs that you could find in the about the 1980s was there anything else that. 00:05:33 Speaker 2 That made you want to choose the 80s specifically. 00:05:39 Speaker 3 Yeah my dad is turning 60 this year he's 59 he went to high school here in the 80s and he was my age at that time so he remembered a lot of places in my book and also my mom she grew up here her whole life. 00:05:58 Speaker 3 And so she's uh she's she's 50 right now she's turning 51. 00:06:03 Speaker 3 And a little bit so they both. 00:06:05 Speaker 3 Grew up here at that time so that really helped me connect with them more because they were able to show share stories that they had never told me. 00:06:12 Speaker 3 4 by seeing these pictures I was like what that's so cool so yeah it's. 00:06:19 Speaker 2 So did their experiences kind of set a framework for the stuff that you wanted to find. 00:06:24 Speaker 3 Yeah. 00:06:25 Speaker 3 Yeah definitely well part of the picture like in there they have some of the schools that they went to that aren't here anymore SFA junior high school Carver school which was for 6th grade and yeah I just kind of went around I started with that and I went around. 00:06:44 Speaker 3 The different places that they used to go to so yeah I would say the schools was a very important part of the book. 00:06:55 Speaker 2 So who would. 00:06:56 Speaker 2 You say is the intended audience for your. 00:06:58 Speaker 3 Book anybody from Bryan College station or people who have. 00:07:04 Speaker 3 Been here for many decades because they can have people that can't remember family members and stuff like that and also my mom has said A&M alumni who went here during that time which I didn't even. 00:07:17 Speaker 3 Think of and I was like Oh yeah. 00:07:18 Speaker 2 We. 00:07:19 Speaker 3 Because people can be all over the world but. 00:07:21 Speaker 3 They could have gone here in the 80s. 00:07:22 Speaker 3 And remember the. 00:07:23 Speaker 3 Stuff in there so yeah yeah. 00:07:28 Speaker 2 So while you were researching and compiling all the pictures and like writing everything what was your research process like. 00:07:37 Speaker 3 So I had many different sources I used the eagle you know it's online newspapers the battalion is online. 00:07:46 Speaker 3 I use the the Carnegie library where I became a regular at like I used to go there like almost every week and so basically I would just find photographs put them in that PowerPoint document that I said I. 00:07:59 Speaker 3 Had. 00:08:00 Speaker 3 And I would just look up in the eagle because you have the search crew. 00:08:05 Speaker 3 And I would look up when this I would try to find when the business opened and then closed. 00:08:11 Speaker 3 And then I will try to find some information about it because usually when it opens they tell you what it's about and everything and then when it closes it's something entirely different I notice like the business has changed after like 10 years and so yeah I would just write that down my PowerPoint later on it feels incorrect I would go back and. 00:08:24 Speaker 2 Yeah yeah. 00:08:31 Speaker 3 Change it because I know some people 's personal. 00:08:37 Speaker 3 Accounts that they had is really different from what you find they remember something that's not even in there I'm like oh OK let me go ahead and change that so yeah that was my whole process it kind of stayed the same. 00:08:40 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:08:50 Speaker 1 Yeah I just kind of. 00:08:51 Speaker 2 Went from there did you have to contact the individual businesses or research like property transactions or did you use public resources mostly. 00:08:59 Speaker 1 Uh. 00:09:02 Speaker 3 Public resources mainly but somebody recommended to me I don't remember who was they recommended me the. 00:09:09 Speaker 3 This website called Brazos scad and you can look up the property records and see not not not the entire record but it goes back to like the 90s I think about which businesses used to be there so I used that but it was mainly public resources. 00:09:26 Speaker 1 That I use so. 00:09:30 Speaker 2 So how did you choose to present your information pictorially instead of primarily like text. 00:09:37 Speaker 3 I had found books from Evans library in the Carnegie library that were kind of similar like they showed where they talked about the history of Brian from. 00:09:48 Speaker 3 Lay back in the day like the 1800s up until now but I saw that they didn't have enough pictures and so like they were talking about all these changes that happened in businesses that were here. 00:09:58 Speaker 1 But. 00:09:59 Speaker 3 You don't know what they look like you. 00:10:01 Speaker 3 Know so that's why I decided to go with it like a picture. 00:10:04 Speaker 3 Book. 00:10:05 Hmm. 00:10:05 Speaker 3 So it's easily you're easily able to follow it it's not just text so. 00:10:15 Speaker 2 So what resources did you find the most helpful when you were research. 00:10:20 Speaker 3 Definitely the eagle they had they had just recently published the entire eagle newspapers because before when I looked because I started this in 2222 they only had the eagle. 00:10:35 Speaker 3 From way back in the day all the. 00:10:36 Speaker 3 Way up to. 00:10:37 Speaker 3 The 70s and so there was this huge gap with information and then when they finally published it this was like a few months ago they had the 80s all the way. 00:10:45 Speaker 3 Up. 00:10:45 Speaker 3 Until the 2000s so that was a huge resource I could just search whatever I wanted and then. 00:10:50 Speaker 3 Usually a picture came. 00:10:51 Speaker 1 Up so yeah. 00:10:54 Speaker 2 Was there anything that you were surprised by or really interested in while you were working on the? 00:11:02 Speaker 3 Yes some places I could not find a picture of like whatsoever and what's crazy is that like hearing this cover photo you can see that excuse me the back cover photo you can see this is university drive this is from 82. 00:11:20 Speaker 3 And the Pizza Hut in Sonic they used to be there you cannot find a picture of the Sonic. 00:11:25 That was there. 00:11:27 Speaker 3 And so it was like well what if this thing look like because this Sonic was up here until 2:00 1007 I think so it wasn't that long ago and so things like that I know the Sonic the. 00:11:39 Speaker 3 There was a theater where that churches off of southwest Parkway I don't know if you know behind Wendy's things like that that was like really popular that you can't find any pictures of so that was like really surprising for me. 00:11:52 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:12:00 Speaker 2 So what information or ideas. 00:12:02 Speaker 2 Do you want readers to take away? 00:12:03 Speaker 2 From your book. 00:12:06 Speaker 3 Like I said like. 00:12:08 Speaker 3 The way that it's shown like pictorially instead of just text it gives you really a broader perspective of what this town looked like at that time and then also like I said the places where you just can't find pictures of I want readers to take that away and really show other people you know I would hope to. 00:12:27 Speaker 3 Get it out more and then uh another interesting aspect which I wanted to talk to. 00:12:32 Speaker 3 You about. 00:12:33 Speaker 3 Was have black businesses in there if you go to page 51 I believe? 00:12:39 Yes. 00:12:42 Speaker 3 My aunt. 00:12:43 Speaker 3 Had had encouraged. 00:12:44 Speaker 3 Me she was like well what about blackness yes so this is really important neo campus my my grandma was a daycare teacher there and then my great grandparents went to junior high there this is something I want people to. 00:12:46 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:13:00 Speaker 3 Take from this book because I feel like it's really important and you can't really find anything on it like I didn't even know there was a whole entire school year prior to Neil elementary. 00:13:10 Speaker 3 Like you would. 00:13:11 Speaker 3 Have known that unless you researched it? 00:13:14 Speaker 1 And so yeah I think that's really important along with these other businesses that we're in the black community so yeah and there's a. 00:13:20 Hmm. 00:13:22 Speaker 2 Lot of stuff did you have any trouble finding resources about these black businesses more than white businesses or other. 00:13:31 Speaker 3 Uh no actually it was pretty easy to find information there was a book called up from cotton that was published in 1980 do. 00:13:39 Speaker 3 You know about that book or. 00:13:40 Speaker 2 I've heard of it. 00:13:41 Speaker 2 Yes. 00:13:41 Speaker 3 Yeah and so they had it has a lot of information that I was able to just get from there but the actual pictures of it were hard to find of the businesses but. 00:13:49 Speaker 1 Yeah. 00:13:50 Speaker 1 But yeah thank you. 00:13:58 Speaker 2 So as you are a student working on all of this how did you balance making this book with your class work and any jobs that you had. 00:14:08 Speaker 3 Yeah so like I said I was working on it a lot this past semester I usually would work on it like when I got home. 00:14:17 Speaker 3 Usually I well I didn't have any assignments or anything I would just kind of lift things up and add to my book but beforehand I used to work at like I said Cushing and. 00:14:29 Speaker 3 I would work on it there at work because we had our own computer to ourselves so I was just able to do. 00:14:35 Speaker 3 Stuff like that. 00:14:37 Speaker 3 But outside of that I just kind of did it in my free time it wasn't really a priority you know so. 00:14:44 Speaker 2 Yeah what did you work. 00:14:45 Speaker 3 In Cushing I worked at the front desk yeah but they also have me reshelving and archiving and stuff like that so it just kind of depended what day. 00:14:54 Speaker 1 It was yeah yeah. 00:14:59 Speaker 2 Was there anyone involved in your editing process? 00:15:05 Speaker 3 No not really I should have got my sister to edit it she has 2 books so but yeah I just kind of proofread it myself I showed a couple people before I published it and make sure it's accurate and everything but yeah in terms of like the editing the cover and everything everything was. 00:15:25 Speaker 3 Done by myself so yeah. 00:15:30 Speaker 2 I have seen your texags post that you said that you had encouragement from a professor was it more that they saw your work and wanted you to publish it or what was that relationship. 00:15:42 Speaker 3 Like they they saw it what is the publish it my publisher was Mister bussard he's a black history. 00:15:49 Speaker 3 Feature he taught he's been teaching black history at A&M for over 35 years I think and so he's been here since the 80s so I was like wow wouldn't this be cool to show him and everything and. 00:16:00 Yeah. 00:16:01 Speaker 3 So yeah he. 00:16:02 Speaker 3 He saw just the PowerPoint and he was like wow this is really good you know you should. 00:16:08 Speaker 3 You should make something out. 00:16:09 Speaker 3 Of it OK so yeah yeah. 00:16:15 Speaker 2 And did you. 00:16:15 Speaker 2 Self publish or use a traditional publisher. 00:16:18 Speaker 3 I self published and then I use a printing company that also distributed distributes it so it's on Amazon Barnes and nobles on all these places if you search on Google. 00:16:30 Speaker 1 So yeah I just. 00:16:32 Speaker 3 I wanted it to. 00:16:33 Speaker 3 Look and be the way they wanted it to be so self published. 00:16:35 Speaker 2 Yeah yeah what was the self-publishing. 00:16:40 Speaker 2 Process like for. 00:16:40 Speaker 3 You it was pretty easy. 00:16:44 Speaker 3 I just have to find. 00:16:47 Speaker 3 The right company that would print this size book because it's 11 by 8 and a half inches it's pretty big I want it to be this way so people can easily see the pictures of how big they are and so I just have to look that up specifically but yeah so publishing was easy I just submitted my file. 00:17:09 Speaker 3 Make sure it was proofread and everything and I got to create my own cover using their cover creator so yeah it was. 00:17:16 Speaker 3 Pretty pretty easy didn't take. 00:17:19 Speaker 2 Long did you have other alternatives that you almost chose for the cover or did were you set like far ahead. 00:17:26 Speaker 2 Of using this. 00:17:26 1. 00:17:28 Speaker 3 No those pictures were like perfect some about these pictures too I wanted to say was I found these. 00:17:35 Speaker 3 In a negatives folder at Cushing they were just sitting there and when I. 00:17:38 Speaker 2 OK. 00:17:39 Speaker 3 Found it I was like what. 00:17:41 Speaker 3 Wow you know. 00:17:42 Speaker 2 That's perfect. 00:17:42 Speaker 3 Nobody sees and especially like I said. 00:17:46 Speaker 3 This back cover. 00:17:47 Speaker 3 You can't find pictures of these businesses and so it was just perfect for the book so yeah. 00:17:52 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:17:57 Speaker 2 Have you written any? 00:17:57 Speaker 2 Other books. 00:17:58 Speaker 3 No this is my first publication I've had people ask me what other books am I going to write like I don't I wasn't really planning on it but yeah this is my first so. 00:18:11 Speaker 2 Was from start to finish this project easier or more difficult than you expected? 00:18:18 Speaker 3 It was more difficult than I expected probably because I put it off you know with school and everything I think if I would. 00:18:25 Speaker 3 Have focused more on it? 00:18:27 Speaker 3 I probably would have done it in like a few months it wasn't it wasn't hard to find the actual information but I would say that the pictures were probably the hardest part to find which like I said the some pictures just weren't available some were sending it negatives you know. 00:18:38 Hmm. 00:18:44 Speaker 3 Like I said so. 00:18:45 Yeah. 00:18:46 Speaker 3 Yeah yeah. 00:18:49 Speaker 2 Do you have any other projects that you're currently working on? 00:18:52 Speaker 3 Yes I want to create some sort of book or document that talks about like the bars and nightclubs that used to be here because I think that's really interesting you know like when my mom and my dad or my family members. 00:19:09 Speaker 3 Talk about places we used to go to. 00:19:11 Speaker 3 I was like. 00:19:11 Speaker 3 What where was it and they have to explain? 00:19:13 Speaker 3 It. 00:19:14 Speaker 3 To me I was like would it be cool to just have like some type of directory we can just. 00:19:19 Speaker 3 The Harlem club or something that is really hard to find so yeah I have I have a few pictures that I've collected and I'm thinking about creating something out of that so yeah. 00:19:20 Hmm. 00:19:31 Speaker 2 I feel like bars and like social club type things are constantly changing hands and changing names. 00:19:36 Speaker 3 Yeah. 00:19:38 Speaker 1 Yeah definitely that'll be interesting yeah. 00:19:38 So. 00:19:42 Speaker 2 Is there anything else that you would like to discuss that we haven't covered? 00:19:47 We've pretty much covered. 00:19:49 Speaker 3 Everything I would like to talk about the people that. 00:19:52 Speaker 3 I work with. 00:19:53 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:19:55 Speaker 3 Bill page from Evans library he's he's been here he graduated from A&M in 76 so he's been. 00:20:04 Speaker 3 There a long time. 00:20:05 Speaker 3 And I'm not sure how long he's worked at A&M or in the libraries but he's helped me a lot with this book. 00:20:12 Speaker 3 He's referred me to resources for black history because that's like his thing he researched black history and other minorities that were here in Texas and yeah he referred me to some of those businesses I was talking about and yeah also he also helped me remember I said. 00:20:32 Speaker 3 I bought a draft copy and let people look over it so yeah he he was one of the people that got one and also at the. 00:20:41 Speaker 3 The Carnegie library the lady at the front desk her name is jolene Odell I'm not on off you know yeah she's real real cool she helps me anything that I had asked for I'll tell her I'll be like have you heard of so and so business should be like uh no but I'll look it up for you whenever whenever you come back. 00:21:01 Speaker 3 We'll have something for you I know you so yeah yeah she was great too. 00:21:02 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:21:07 Speaker 1 Uh. 00:21:08 Speaker 3 But yeah that's. 00:21:09 Speaker 3 That's all the people that I can really. 00:21:12 Speaker 3 Think of to have like a real. 00:21:13 Speaker 3 Impact. 00:21:14 Speaker 3 Real big impact on my book. 00:21:16 Speaker 2 Are there any other sections that you want to highlight about your book after the black-owned businesses? 00:21:24 Speaker 1 Yeah here let me. 00:21:27 Speaker 1 It's just the. 00:21:29 Speaker 3 I wanted to talk about downtown Brian. 00:21:32 Hmm. 00:21:35 Speaker 1 These pictures. 00:21:38 Speaker 3 Uh. 00:21:40 Speaker 3 Yeah these pictures like how like real clear they are and are in color and everything really hard to find this is from texashistory.unt dot Edu they had a they took a bunch of pictures for the. 00:21:55 Speaker 3 Brazzers historical site I mean Historical Society I think is what it's called and so they took a lot of clear pictures of downtown which I think a lot of people would like to see these are all from 86 and the palace theater you can't find a good picture like this and so yeah I think it's really significant. 00:22:17 Speaker 3 Also the Brian hospital people are really talk about that which I thought was really weird you know because a lot of people. 00:22:24 Speaker 3 Went here and. 00:22:26 Speaker 3 I believe my uncle was born here. 00:22:28 Speaker 3 And yeah I've got these pictures from Google Earth and the Carnegie and yeah there's just several other places that I think people should see or would want to remember from downtown that it really isn't there's not a lot of information on it. 00:22:48 Speaker 3 From this time period from from older older time. 00:22:49 So yeah. 00:22:51 Speaker 3 So. 00:22:52 Yeah. 00:22:53 Speaker 2 I think my last question for you is since you used a lot of photographs did you have any issues with like copyright law or anything while you were. 00:23:02 OK let. 00:23:03 Speaker 3 No not really I had to purchase the images from the eagle and the battalion the eagle I got a license with so they let me use whatever. 00:23:12 Speaker 3 Pictures on one and I just have to pay a fee and then the battalion it was the same way I had a I had a small smaller fee but there was one person that had a small problem with my book are you aware of. 00:23:29 Speaker 3 CS roads and retail that blog. 00:23:32 Speaker 2 I haven't heard. 00:23:33 Speaker 3 Of that no this guy yeah this guy he he's been working on this bar for like 10 years and he basically talks about all the different places that used to be here in Bryan College station the only difference with his is that he has like very few pictures. 00:23:49 Speaker 3 From these time periods he usually goes out and takes pictures of it with his phone just uploads it and shows how different it's changed. 00:23:59 Speaker 3 I thought we had like a little agreement on pictures this was when I first started because he actually found his website when I was first researching and yeah I thought we had an agreement I could use some pictures of it and then whenever I I released my book whole 2 years later I had emailed him and I was like hey you know. 00:24:19 Speaker 3 I use sounds of pictures and he was like what you didn't tell me you know I was like wait I thought we had an agreement and so yeah we got that straightened out I sent them a free copy because I sent all the contributors free copy and he was really happy to see it so there wasn't. 00:24:35 Speaker 3 Really a big problem but yeah. 00:24:41 Speaker 2 And then where can we find. 00:24:44 Speaker 2 Your book. 00:24:45 Speaker 3 It's on Barnes and nobles right now and Amazon for some reason Amazon is taking a long time to ship taking like 2 to 3 weeks whereas at Barnes and noble you get it in like it shifts in like 2 days you can get it in like a week like 5 days so yeah I would recommend. 00:25:04 Speaker 3 Going to those 2 places but it is available at Walmart book reads.com all these different. 00:25:13 Speaker 3 Michael Gomez I.MP3 Transcript 00:00:01 Speaker 1 OK. 00:00:02 Speaker 2 And I can edit this and I'll send it to you before we put it online. 00:00:06 Speaker 3 OK yeah cool. 00:00:09 Speaker 2 Alright hello my name is Kimberly McNally I'm the historical records archivist for the city of College Station and the interviewer of today's recording today is May 16th 2024 and it is 8. 00:00:22 Speaker 2 40 9:00 AM. 00:00:24 Speaker 2 I am here at the City Hall on Texas avenue with Michael Gomez author of a pictorial history of Bryan College station 1980s published in March 2024 to start would you like to. 00:00:36 Speaker 2 Introduce. 00:00:37 Speaker 3 Yourself my name is Michael Gomez I am you want me to say where I'm from. 00:00:43 Speaker 3 Here. 00:00:44 Speaker 3 Yeah sure OK OK because I was going to say like personal or OK. 00:00:47 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:00:49 Speaker 3 Just edit it OK. 00:00:52 Speaker 3 My name is Michael Gomez I am from Bryan Texas I grew up in College Station I am currently a senior at Texas A&M University and I'm studying urban and regional planning this is my first publication it pictorial history of Bryan College station. 00:01:10 Speaker 3 Which are based in the 1980s? 00:01:14 Speaker 2 So what made you want to stay in the Bryan College station area. 00:01:19 Speaker 3 Like why I chose A&M. 00:01:22 Speaker 3 I just felt like it was a great fit for me I had to choose between UT&A&M&I just didn't want to have to move so far away from my family I'm really close to my mom and. 00:01:33 Speaker 3 My. 00:01:33 Speaker 3 Sisters so I just thought it would be a better fit to stay here and. 00:01:37 Speaker 3 Save money too so yeah it's always a plus. 00:01:43 Speaker 2 So you said you went to A&M and you're or you're going to and M and you are doing urban regional planning. 00:01:51 Speaker 2 Do you have anything other than that that's part of your educational and career background that you'd like to? 00:01:56 Speaker 3 Mention that's all really I like I've wanted to do architectures and so I was little like my mom used to work in construction science and right now she's in the administration building as an executive. 00:02:11 Speaker 3 Consistent but she started out there and so yeah I've always wanted to do architecture since I was little so. 00:02:18 Hmm. 00:02:20 Speaker 2 And you are graduating in August is that correct. 00:02:23 Speaker 3 Yeah that's right. 00:02:24 Speaker 3 I can't believe. 00:02:25 Speaker 3 It. 00:02:26 Speaker 2 Are you ready? 00:02:28 Speaker 3 I I want to have a job lined up so yeah but yeah I would say I'm ready to finish. 00:02:33 Speaker 3 School though yeah. 00:02:35 Speaker 2 Excited yeah. 00:02:38 Speaker 2 Are you involved in any student organizations on campus? 00:02:41 Speaker 3 I used to be I was in an organization called Aggies reaching out and we would volunteer at the boys and Girls Club and so I was like a mentor there for 2. 00:02:53 Speaker 3 Years and then I was also part of the association of student planners think that's what it was OK and yeah so I was just in those 2 but other things that weren't like organization wise I participated in the big event for all 4 years of school so yeah. 00:03:14 Speaker 3 Was pretty involved? 00:03:16 Speaker 2 So can you tell us a little bit about. 00:03:18 Speaker 2 Your book. 00:03:19 Speaker 3 Yeah so this is a 200 page book I have several different photographs of businesses schools and infrastructure in the area and I chose the 1980s specifically because that's like the decade where you can. 00:03:36 Speaker 3 By the least amount of photos from I know most photos are like like the western times when you find it was really old and you can find pictures from the 60s more than you can in the 80s and so I was. 00:03:46 Speaker 3 Like. 00:03:48 Speaker 3 I've always wondered what it looked like here because my whole family 's from here and so my parents and family will talk about places here that they would go to that don't exist anymore and I would always wonder what they look like so. 00:04:00 Speaker 3 Yeah that's why I put this together took Me 2 years to to do it but I'm glad to be sharing it. 00:04:07 Speaker 3 With y'all though. 00:04:08 Speaker 2 So yeah it looks. 00:04:09 Speaker 3 OK. 00:04:09 Speaker 2 Great thank you. 00:04:13 Speaker 2 So you said that you got interested because of like your family history here. 00:04:18 Speaker 2 Was there anything? 00:04:19 Speaker 2 Else that prompted you to start the book or was it something that you always wanted. 00:04:25 Speaker 3 To do no it's not something I always wanted to do when I started at A&M. 00:04:31 Speaker 3 I used to work at Cushing Memorial Library yeah so I was there for 2 years and. 00:04:38 Speaker 3 When I was there I had to look through old photographs and like categorize them that was part of my jobs as a student worker and I had always had that interest like I said since I? 00:04:47 Speaker 3 Was? 00:04:47 Speaker 3 Little and so I just remember I was like huh wouldn't it be cool to like see what's in here and I ended up finding some pictures and I just put them together in a little like document. 00:04:58 Speaker 3 I mean a power point and I just kind of left it there but it took me like a whole year until I decided like I want to make something out of this you know. 00:05:08 Speaker 1 And so. 00:05:09 Speaker 3 Yeah just kept working on it here recently I've been working on it nonstop and I eventually. 00:05:15 Speaker 3 Had it published as of March. 00:05:17 Speaker 3 And so yeah yeah just kind of progressed overtime. 00:05:21 So. 00:05:24 Speaker 2 Oh see. 00:05:27 Speaker 2 So other than the lack of photographs that you could find in the about the 1980s was there anything else that. 00:05:33 Speaker 2 That made you want to choose the 80s specifically. 00:05:39 Speaker 3 Yeah my dad is turning 60 this year he's 59 he went to high school here in the 80s and he was my age at that time so he remembered a lot of places in my book and also my mom she grew up here her whole life. 00:05:58 Speaker 3 And so she's uh she's she's 50 right now she's turning 51. 00:06:03 Speaker 3 And a little bit so they both. 00:06:05 Speaker 3 Grew up here at that time so that really helped me connect with them more because they were able to show share stories that they had never told me. 00:06:12 Speaker 3 4 by seeing these pictures I was like what that's so cool so yeah it's. 00:06:19 Speaker 2 So did their experiences kind of set a framework for the stuff that you wanted to find. 00:06:24 Speaker 3 Yeah. 00:06:25 Speaker 3 Yeah definitely well part of the picture like in there they have some of the schools that they went to that aren't here anymore SFA junior high school Carver school which was for 6th grade and yeah I just kind of went around I started with that and I went around. 00:06:44 Speaker 3 The different places that they used to go to so yeah I would say the schools was a very important part of the book. 00:06:55 Speaker 2 So who would. 00:06:56 Speaker 2 You say is the intended audience for your. 00:06:58 Speaker 3 Book anybody from Bryan College station or people who have. 00:07:04 Speaker 3 Been here for many decades because they can have people that can't remember family members and stuff like that and also my mom has said A&M alumni who went here during that time which I didn't even. 00:07:17 Speaker 3 Think of and I was like Oh yeah. 00:07:18 Speaker 2 We. 00:07:19 Speaker 3 Because people can be all over the world but. 00:07:21 Speaker 3 They could have gone here in the 80s. 00:07:22 Speaker 3 And remember the. 00:07:23 Speaker 3 Stuff in there so yeah yeah. 00:07:28 Speaker 2 So while you were researching and compiling all the pictures and like writing everything what was your research process like. 00:07:37 Speaker 3 So I had many different sources I used the eagle you know it's online newspapers the battalion is online. 00:07:46 Speaker 3 I use the the Carnegie library where I became a regular at like I used to go there like almost every week and so basically I would just find photographs put them in that PowerPoint document that I said I. 00:07:59 Speaker 3 Had. 00:08:00 Speaker 3 And I would just look up in the eagle because you have the search crew. 00:08:05 Speaker 3 And I would look up when this I would try to find when the business opened and then closed. 00:08:11 Speaker 3 And then I will try to find some information about it because usually when it opens they tell you what it's about and everything and then when it closes it's something entirely different I notice like the business has changed after like 10 years and so yeah I would just write that down my PowerPoint later on it feels incorrect I would go back and. 00:08:24 Speaker 2 Yeah yeah. 00:08:31 Speaker 3 Change it because I know some people 's personal. 00:08:37 Speaker 3 Accounts that they had is really different from what you find they remember something that's not even in there I'm like oh OK let me go ahead and change that so yeah that was my whole process it kind of stayed the same. 00:08:40 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:08:50 Speaker 1 Yeah I just kind of. 00:08:51 Speaker 2 Went from there did you have to contact the individual businesses or research like property transactions or did you use public resources mostly. 00:08:59 Speaker 1 Uh. 00:09:02 Speaker 3 Public resources mainly but somebody recommended to me I don't remember who was they recommended me the. 00:09:09 Speaker 3 This website called Brazos scad and you can look up the property records and see not not not the entire record but it goes back to like the 90s I think about which businesses used to be there so I used that but it was mainly public resources. 00:09:26 Speaker 1 That I use so. 00:09:30 Speaker 2 So how did you choose to present your information pictorially instead of primarily like text. 00:09:37 Speaker 3 I had found books from Evans library in the Carnegie library that were kind of similar like they showed where they talked about the history of Brian from. 00:09:48 Speaker 3 Lay back in the day like the 1800s up until now but I saw that they didn't have enough pictures and so like they were talking about all these changes that happened in businesses that were here. 00:09:58 Speaker 1 But. 00:09:59 Speaker 3 You don't know what they look like you. 00:10:01 Speaker 3 Know so that's why I decided to go with it like a picture. 00:10:04 Speaker 3 Book. 00:10:05 Hmm. 00:10:05 Speaker 3 So it's easily you're easily able to follow it it's not just text so. 00:10:15 Speaker 2 So what resources did you find the most helpful when you were research. 00:10:20 Speaker 3 Definitely the eagle they had they had just recently published the entire eagle newspapers because before when I looked because I started this in 2222 they only had the eagle. 00:10:35 Speaker 3 From way back in the day all the. 00:10:36 Speaker 3 Way up to. 00:10:37 Speaker 3 The 70s and so there was this huge gap with information and then when they finally published it this was like a few months ago they had the 80s all the way. 00:10:45 Speaker 3 Up. 00:10:45 Speaker 3 Until the 2000s so that was a huge resource I could just search whatever I wanted and then. 00:10:50 Speaker 3 Usually a picture came. 00:10:51 Speaker 1 Up so yeah. 00:10:54 Speaker 2 Was there anything that you were surprised by or really interested in while you were working on the? 00:11:02 Speaker 3 Yes some places I could not find a picture of like whatsoever and what's crazy is that like hearing this cover photo you can see that excuse me the back cover photo you can see this is university drive this is from 82. 00:11:20 Speaker 3 And the Pizza Hut in Sonic they used to be there you cannot find a picture of the Sonic. 00:11:25 That was there. 00:11:27 Speaker 3 And so it was like well what if this thing look like because this Sonic was up here until 2:00 1007 I think so it wasn't that long ago and so things like that I know the Sonic the. 00:11:39 Speaker 3 There was a theater where that churches off of southwest Parkway I don't know if you know behind Wendy's things like that that was like really popular that you can't find any pictures of so that was like really surprising for me. 00:11:52 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:12:00 Speaker 2 So what information or ideas. 00:12:02 Speaker 2 Do you want readers to take away? 00:12:03 Speaker 2 From your book. 00:12:06 Speaker 3 Like I said like. 00:12:08 Speaker 3 The way that it's shown like pictorially instead of just text it gives you really a broader perspective of what this town looked like at that time and then also like I said the places where you just can't find pictures of I want readers to take that away and really show other people you know I would hope to. 00:12:27 Speaker 3 Get it out more and then uh another interesting aspect which I wanted to talk to. 00:12:32 Speaker 3 You about. 00:12:33 Speaker 3 Was have black businesses in there if you go to page 51 I believe? 00:12:39 Yes. 00:12:42 Speaker 3 My aunt. 00:12:43 Speaker 3 Had had encouraged. 00:12:44 Speaker 3 Me she was like well what about blackness yes so this is really important neo campus my my grandma was a daycare teacher there and then my great grandparents went to junior high there this is something I want people to. 00:12:46 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:13:00 Speaker 3 Take from this book because I feel like it's really important and you can't really find anything on it like I didn't even know there was a whole entire school year prior to Neil elementary. 00:13:10 Speaker 3 Like you would. 00:13:11 Speaker 3 Have known that unless you researched it? 00:13:14 Speaker 1 And so yeah I think that's really important along with these other businesses that we're in the black community so yeah and there's a. 00:13:20 Hmm. 00:13:22 Speaker 2 Lot of stuff did you have any trouble finding resources about these black businesses more than white businesses or other. 00:13:31 Speaker 3 Uh no actually it was pretty easy to find information there was a book called up from cotton that was published in 1980 do. 00:13:39 Speaker 3 You know about that book or. 00:13:40 Speaker 2 I've heard of it. 00:13:41 Speaker 2 Yes. 00:13:41 Speaker 3 Yeah and so they had it has a lot of information that I was able to just get from there but the actual pictures of it were hard to find of the businesses but. 00:13:49 Speaker 1 Yeah. 00:13:50 Speaker 1 But yeah thank you. 00:13:58 Speaker 2 So as you are a student working on all of this how did you balance making this book with your class work and any jobs that you had. 00:14:08 Speaker 3 Yeah so like I said I was working on it a lot this past semester I usually would work on it like when I got home. 00:14:17 Speaker 3 Usually I well I didn't have any assignments or anything I would just kind of lift things up and add to my book but beforehand I used to work at like I said Cushing and. 00:14:29 Speaker 3 I would work on it there at work because we had our own computer to ourselves so I was just able to do. 00:14:35 Speaker 3 Stuff like that. 00:14:37 Speaker 3 But outside of that I just kind of did it in my free time it wasn't really a priority you know so. 00:14:44 Speaker 2 Yeah what did you work. 00:14:45 Speaker 3 In Cushing I worked at the front desk yeah but they also have me reshelving and archiving and stuff like that so it just kind of depended what day. 00:14:54 Speaker 1 It was yeah yeah. 00:14:59 Speaker 2 Was there anyone involved in your editing process? 00:15:05 Speaker 3 No not really I should have got my sister to edit it she has 2 books so but yeah I just kind of proofread it myself I showed a couple people before I published it and make sure it's accurate and everything but yeah in terms of like the editing the cover and everything everything was. 00:15:25 Speaker 3 Done by myself so yeah. 00:15:30 Speaker 2 I have seen your texags post that you said that you had encouragement from a professor was it more that they saw your work and wanted you to publish it or what was that relationship. 00:15:42 Speaker 3 Like they they saw it what is the publish it my publisher was Mister bussard he's a black history. 00:15:49 Speaker 3 Feature he taught he's been teaching black history at A&M for over 35 years I think and so he's been here since the 80s so I was like wow wouldn't this be cool to show him and everything and. 00:16:00 Yeah. 00:16:01 Speaker 3 So yeah he. 00:16:02 Speaker 3 He saw just the PowerPoint and he was like wow this is really good you know you should. 00:16:08 Speaker 3 You should make something out. 00:16:09 Speaker 3 Of it OK so yeah yeah. 00:16:15 Speaker 2 And did you. 00:16:15 Speaker 2 Self publish or use a traditional publisher. 00:16:18 Speaker 3 I self published and then I use a printing company that also distributed distributes it so it's on Amazon Barnes and nobles on all these places if you search on Google. 00:16:30 Speaker 1 So yeah I just. 00:16:32 Speaker 3 I wanted it to. 00:16:33 Speaker 3 Look and be the way they wanted it to be so self published. 00:16:35 Speaker 2 Yeah yeah what was the self-publishing. 00:16:40 Speaker 2 Process like for. 00:16:40 Speaker 3 You it was pretty easy. 00:16:44 Speaker 3 I just have to find. 00:16:47 Speaker 3 The right company that would print this size book because it's 11 by 8 and a half inches it's pretty big I want it to be this way so people can easily see the pictures of how big they are and so I just have to look that up specifically but yeah so publishing was easy I just submitted my file. 00:17:09 Speaker 3 Make sure it was proofread and everything and I got to create my own cover using their cover creator so yeah it was. 00:17:16 Speaker 3 Pretty pretty easy didn't take. 00:17:19 Speaker 2 Long did you have other alternatives that you almost chose for the cover or did were you set like far ahead. 00:17:26 Speaker 2 Of using this. 00:17:26 1. 00:17:28 Speaker 3 No those pictures were like perfect some about these pictures too I wanted to say was I found these. 00:17:35 Speaker 3 In a negatives folder at Cushing they were just sitting there and when I. 00:17:38 Speaker 2 OK. 00:17:39 Speaker 3 Found it I was like what. 00:17:41 Speaker 3 Wow you know. 00:17:42 Speaker 2 That's perfect. 00:17:42 Speaker 3 Nobody sees and especially like I said. 00:17:46 Speaker 3 This back cover. 00:17:47 Speaker 3 You can't find pictures of these businesses and so it was just perfect for the book so yeah. 00:17:52 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:17:57 Speaker 2 Have you written any? 00:17:57 Speaker 2 Other books. 00:17:58 Speaker 3 No this is my first publication I've had people ask me what other books am I going to write like I don't I wasn't really planning on it but yeah this is my first so. 00:18:11 Speaker 2 Was from start to finish this project easier or more difficult than you expected? 00:18:18 Speaker 3 It was more difficult than I expected probably because I put it off you know with school and everything I think if I would. 00:18:25 Speaker 3 Have focused more on it? 00:18:27 Speaker 3 I probably would have done it in like a few months it wasn't it wasn't hard to find the actual information but I would say that the pictures were probably the hardest part to find which like I said the some pictures just weren't available some were sending it negatives you know. 00:18:38 Hmm. 00:18:44 Speaker 3 Like I said so. 00:18:45 Yeah. 00:18:46 Speaker 3 Yeah yeah. 00:18:49 Speaker 2 Do you have any other projects that you're currently working on? 00:18:52 Speaker 3 Yes I want to create some sort of book or document that talks about like the bars and nightclubs that used to be here because I think that's really interesting you know like when my mom and my dad or my family members. 00:19:09 Speaker 3 Talk about places we used to go to. 00:19:11 Speaker 3 I was like. 00:19:11 Speaker 3 What where was it and they have to explain? 00:19:13 Speaker 3 It. 00:19:14 Speaker 3 To me I was like would it be cool to just have like some type of directory we can just. 00:19:19 Speaker 3 The Harlem club or something that is really hard to find so yeah I have I have a few pictures that I've collected and I'm thinking about creating something out of that so yeah. 00:19:20 Hmm. 00:19:31 Speaker 2 I feel like bars and like social club type things are constantly changing hands and changing names. 00:19:36 Speaker 3 Yeah. 00:19:38 Speaker 1 Yeah definitely that'll be interesting yeah. 00:19:38 So. 00:19:42 Speaker 2 Is there anything else that you would like to discuss that we haven't covered? 00:19:47 We've pretty much covered. 00:19:49 Speaker 3 Everything I would like to talk about the people that. 00:19:52 Speaker 3 I work with. 00:19:53 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:19:55 Speaker 3 Bill page from Evans library he's he's been here he graduated from A&M in 76 so he's been. 00:20:04 Speaker 3 There a long time. 00:20:05 Speaker 3 And I'm not sure how long he's worked at A&M or in the libraries but he's helped me a lot with this book. 00:20:12 Speaker 3 He's referred me to resources for black history because that's like his thing he researched black history and other minorities that were here in Texas and yeah he referred me to some of those businesses I was talking about and yeah also he also helped me remember I said. 00:20:32 Speaker 3 I bought a draft copy and let people look over it so yeah he he was one of the people that got one and also at the. 00:20:41 Speaker 3 The Carnegie library the lady at the front desk her name is jolene Odell I'm not on off you know yeah she's real real cool she helps me anything that I had asked for I'll tell her I'll be like have you heard of so and so business should be like uh no but I'll look it up for you whenever whenever you come back. 00:21:01 Speaker 3 We'll have something for you I know you so yeah yeah she was great too. 00:21:02 Speaker 2 Yeah. 00:21:07 Speaker 1 Uh. 00:21:08 Speaker 3 But yeah that's. 00:21:09 Speaker 3 That's all the people that I can really. 00:21:12 Speaker 3 Think of to have like a real. 00:21:13 Speaker 3 Impact. 00:21:14 Speaker 3 Real big impact on my book. 00:21:16 Speaker 2 Are there any other sections that you want to highlight about your book after the black-owned businesses? 00:21:24 Speaker 1 Yeah here let me. 00:21:27 Speaker 1 It's just the. 00:21:29 Speaker 3 I wanted to talk about downtown Brian. 00:21:32 Hmm. 00:21:35 Speaker 1 These pictures. 00:21:38 Speaker 3 Uh. 00:21:40 Speaker 3 Yeah these pictures like how like real clear they are and are in color and everything really hard to find this is from texashistory.unt dot Edu they had a they took a bunch of pictures for the. 00:21:55 Speaker 3 Brazzers historical site I mean Historical Society I think is what it's called and so they took a lot of clear pictures of downtown which I think a lot of people would like to see these are all from 86 and the palace theater you can't find a good picture like this and so yeah I think it's really significant. 00:22:17 Speaker 3 Also the Brian hospital people are really talk about that which I thought was really weird you know because a lot of people. 00:22:24 Speaker 3 Went here and. 00:22:26 Speaker 3 I believe my uncle was born here. 00:22:28 Speaker 3 And yeah I've got these pictures from Google Earth and the Carnegie and yeah there's just several other places that I think people should see or would want to remember from downtown that it really isn't there's not a lot of information on it. 00:22:48 Speaker 3 From this time period from from older older time. 00:22:49 So yeah. 00:22:51 Speaker 3 So. 00:22:52 Yeah. 00:22:53 Speaker 2 I think my last question for you is since you used a lot of photographs did you have any issues with like copyright law or anything while you were. 00:23:02 OK let. 00:23:03 Speaker 3 No not really I had to purchase the images from the eagle and the battalion the eagle I got a license with so they let me use whatever. 00:23:12 Speaker 3 Pictures on one and I just have to pay a fee and then the battalion it was the same way I had a I had a small smaller fee but there was one person that had a small problem with my book are you aware of. 00:23:29 Speaker 3 CS roads and retail that blog. 00:23:32 Speaker 2 I haven't heard. 00:23:33 Speaker 3 Of that no this guy yeah this guy he he's been working on this bar for like 10 years and he basically talks about all the different places that used to be here in Bryan College station the only difference with his is that he has like very few pictures. 00:23:49 Speaker 3 From these time periods he usually goes out and takes pictures of it with his phone just uploads it and shows how different it's changed. 00:23:59 Speaker 3 I thought we had like a little agreement on pictures this was when I first started because he actually found his website when I was first researching and yeah I thought we had an agreement I could use some pictures of it and then whenever I I released my book whole 2 years later I had emailed him and I was like hey you know. 00:24:19 Speaker 3 I use sounds of pictures and he was like what you didn't tell me you know I was like wait I thought we had an agreement and so yeah we got that straightened out I sent them a free copy because I sent all the contributors free copy and he was really happy to see it so there wasn't. 00:24:35 Speaker 3 Really a big problem but yeah. 00:24:41 Speaker 2 And then where can we find. 00:24:44 Speaker 2 Your book. 00:24:45 Speaker 3 It's on Barnes and nobles right now and Amazon for some reason Amazon is taking a long time to ship taking like 2 to 3 weeks whereas at Barnes and noble you get it in like it shifts in like 2 days you can get it in like a week like 5 days so yeah I would recommend. 00:25:04 Speaker 3 Going to those 2 places but it is available at Walmart book reads.com all these different. 00:25:13 Speaker 3 Bookselling websites because that company I said they just distributed everywhere so I'm not sure what all is out there but yeah. 00:25:21 Speaker 3 Last Friday so. 00:25:22 Speaker 2 Well thank you so much for your time and contributing to project hold I really appreciate you working to preserve college stations history so. 00:25:32 Speaker 3 Yeah thank you thank you for having me OK.