These are old postcards from the Isla Blanca Park area, which were found during our efforts to save the park against commercialization and casinos (thanks, Susan Smajdek!). There were older hotels on the Island but this is the earliest postcard or picture I have found so far. Interestingly, at one time there really was a casino on the Island, although I am sure it was quite small. The Dunes, above, was quite aptly named.
Some things hardly ever change, do they?
Here's Boomerang Billy of surfer fame out by his hang-out on the beach. He rented stuff and lived quite a storied life, so they say. A cabana bar up the beach by the Surf Hotel now carries his name. Credit: Rio Bravo.
This is the old pavilion, which was replaced by two new centers in more recent decades. The concrete pad still exists and is being considered for a helicopter landing pad.
1 comment:
I personally knew Boomerang Billy. When I was a little girl my family used to travel to South Padre every year and we couldn't wait to see him. He'd be out on the beach throwing his boomerangs. Back then you could eat a a restaurant called "The Jetty". When I moved there in 1983 for three years, I became a fast friend of his. He used to ride his bike across the causeway to Port Isabel where he lived in a small apartment. He would come and visit me at a restaurant I worked at during winter in Port Isabel and I would give him hot tea and some free snacks. I hear he died with no family and was laid to rest somewhere in a "pauper's" grave of sorts. Anyone have any information about him email me at paigeleigh2@yahoo.com
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