Back in the 70's we use to go inside the bunker...dark and damp,but so awesome. Also we would climb the hill above it...had to be careful because there were cactus everywhere. The 70's were a great time to be a kid in Galveston.
Thank you! I'd forgotten about all those cactus being there. In the 70's, I used to have to sleep down in those bunkers for a few times when I had become homeless, just to escape the storms that came suddenly. They were the scariest place I've ever hunkered down at. Read the comment I left earlier and you'll see why.
@@BeeFunKnee Wow....that sounds scary!! I hope you are doing well now....I moved off the island 14 years ago....still have family there. The old island is gone,not what she use to be......it felt so free and without so much authority. Good luck to you.
@@digidrum2003 I'm doing well and good, considering this world would have otherwise! I live in Maine now. I last lived in Galveston back in 1994. I was born there, at Saint May's Infirmary. I grew up in the 60's in Galveston. I lived and worked there in the 70's, too. It just got too hot and humid for me. Yes, Galveston Island had lots of freedom when I lived there, haven't a clue about it now. I used to drive while drinking beers and tip my cans to say "hello" to the patrol cars when they passed me by on the seawall. It was legal to drink and drive. You could drive "drunk" though, or be driving down an alley because they stop you and say you were either hiding or up to something. I worked on the Pelican Island Bridge, and at Perry's Variety Store and at Hudson Upholstery. I used to have a tent setup at The East Beach Travel Park. I recall the earlier Galveston with the original Pleasure Pier before the Flagstaff was build. Galveston Island brings back decent memories. I'll end by saying "Thank you for your reply" and I hope life is going well and good for you, too.
@@BeeFunKnee Seems you made the right decision leaving Galveston....it's all made for tourists now.....property taxes and home insurance are ridiculous.....big city people are buying up homes and renting them out. We use to ride our bicycles around Galveston drinking beer and cops didn't look twice back I the 70s-80's. Thank you for bringing back memories about some of the places you mentioned . I am as good as can be now almost 60 years old. BTW I was born at the old John Sealy Hospital.Good luck brother!
I used to explore that bunker when I was a kid. It had ammo rooms, rooms that looked like a jail Cell with bars. I remember one room with the label above the entrance that said "Hell Room" ( Never found out what that room was used for) It wasn't garatti, It was in Government block lettering, And you could tell it had been on there for years. I am surprised the Hotel has not utilized the bunker for a patio bar, or restaurant. I certainly would.
Dad flew CAP after the war and fellow pilots here during WWII told him about constantly seeing UBoats. Much later he humored me and stopped for Pill Box tours and the gun mounts on the East end. So many cool memories.
My dad is a Texas reclaimed wood master. I wanted to build a round table for my dining room and I asked him about getting some of his wood for the project. He had plenty of old Texas Red Cedar for the top. He asked me how I wanted to make the base and I told him I wanted a pedal stool base. He said I have something I want to show you. He had several really big rafter tails 3 1/2" x 7 1/4". He said they came from Fort Crockett. They have a very cool decorative cut. I am putting the four of them against a center post to make the legs. I have no idea which building they came from but I am looking for pictures to see if I can see them. I've always seen that concrete bunker and assumed it was housing some equipment for the hotel or something. Cool video.
In the early 80’s I was one of the group electricians at the Coast Guard base. The homes that were torn down were the quarters for the officers and families. I believe the commanding officers of the floating units were housed there as well. Just behind the hotel were the housing for the senior enlisted personnel and their family. Because of the age of the housing I was always trying to fix the electrical problems.
Long before the San Luis hotel was built over them, I hunkered down in the center bunker at Ft. Crockett during a big storm that they reported might be turning into a hurricane. Back then, all there was stopping me was a chain link fence next to the sidewalk on Seawall Blvd., and it had a hole in it. Then I just had to cross over a small overgrown-weed/trash-strewn dirt lot to quickly to get to it before somebody saw me. I hunkered down in those bunkers quite often only because I had found myself homeless in between jobs, now and then. But that one dark and stormy night, I heard a voice that had seemed to say "Get out.., I live here. This is mine". When I turned on my bright-as-day big 9v floodlight to see who I'd be dealing with, all I saw was flat dirt and some trash scraps. There was nobody else down there, I was sure of it. So I just ignore it, thinking my mind had played tricks on me somehow. But the second and third time I distinctively knew exactly what I had heard, "Get out..., I live here. This is mine". I shone my light on every inch down there, thinking someone just had to be hiding down there somehow. I didn't see anyone or anything. So I quickly skedaddled. Instead, I went and hunkered down at the front of the former Buccaneer Hotel, facing the gulf, out in the open where the strong winds kept blowing me back and forth under their tall colonnade(or is it called a "portico". And I never returned to those bunkers ever again either. That was in the mid 70's.
@@ScottDaileyTH-cam "If walls could speak", I've heard that vintage saying said my entire life. Those old walls all around have seen a whole lot, and could say a whole lot, but would we listen, or just ignore their voices all the while gluing ourselves onto only new things, and thinking we alone have all the insight there ever could be, or even is?
The battery used to be open to the front and back. I remember begging my Dad to stop on one our trips and he did. We walked inside and it felt cool and you could sense the enormous mass of concrete around you. This was around 1979 or 80. Thanks DAD!!
Up until the 1970s those bunkers were open. People used to hang out there smoking pot. There’s another bunker toward the end of the east seawall. It’s out in the marsh behind the seawall. It was another popular hangout for people smoking pot and drinking. They were always peaceful gatherings abd a good place to meetup with people.
The guns housed in those batteries were 18 inches in diameter and protected much of the gulf costal US during WWII. There was 1 other battery on the east end of the island & 1 across the channel on Bolivar Peninsula.
I remember as a kid me and my family would always go to the ihop right next to it. I wonder if it’s still there?? I remember looking across the street and saying how that was the most beautiful hotel I ever saw on the seawall. It’s nice to see it still holds true today.
Would be nice if the St. Louis or somebody would organize tours of the bunkers. I've stayed there numerous times on business in the last 10-15 years and it is a Very nice place. But when asked about exploring the bunkers the management isn't having any of it.
Lived here for 4 years went to parties and shit there and hung out there and didn’t realize it was a military bunker until after 2 years of going there haha
Back in the 70's we use to go inside the bunker...dark and damp,but so awesome. Also we would climb the hill above it...had to be careful because there were cactus everywhere. The 70's were a great time to be a kid in Galveston.
Thank you! I'd forgotten about all those cactus being there. In the 70's, I used to have to sleep down in those bunkers for a few times when I had become homeless, just to escape the storms that came suddenly. They were the scariest place I've ever hunkered down at. Read the comment I left earlier and you'll see why.
@@BeeFunKnee Wow....that sounds scary!! I hope you are doing well now....I moved off the island 14 years ago....still have family there. The old island is gone,not what she use to be......it felt so free and without so much authority. Good luck to you.
@@digidrum2003 I'm doing well and good, considering this world would have otherwise! I live in Maine now. I last lived in Galveston back in 1994. I was born there, at Saint May's Infirmary. I grew up in the 60's in Galveston. I lived and worked there in the 70's, too. It just got too hot and humid for me. Yes, Galveston Island had lots of freedom when I lived there, haven't a clue about it now. I used to drive while drinking beers and tip my cans to say "hello" to the patrol cars when they passed me by on the seawall. It was legal to drink and drive. You could drive "drunk" though, or be driving down an alley because they stop you and say you were either hiding or up to something. I worked on the Pelican Island Bridge, and at Perry's Variety Store and at Hudson Upholstery. I used to have a tent setup at The East Beach Travel Park. I recall the earlier Galveston with the original Pleasure Pier before the Flagstaff was build. Galveston Island brings back decent memories. I'll end by saying "Thank you for your reply" and I hope life is going well and good for you, too.
@@BeeFunKnee Seems you made the right decision leaving Galveston....it's all made for tourists now.....property taxes and home insurance are ridiculous.....big city people are buying up homes and renting them out. We use to ride our bicycles around Galveston drinking beer and cops didn't look twice back I the 70s-80's. Thank you for bringing back memories about some of the places you mentioned . I am as good as can be now almost 60 years old. BTW I was born at the old John Sealy Hospital.Good luck brother!
There is still cactus but you have to go to the bolivar peninsula over in fort Travis which is abandoned
I used to explore that bunker when I was a kid. It had ammo rooms, rooms that looked like a jail Cell with bars. I remember one room with the label above the entrance that said "Hell Room" ( Never found out what that room was used for) It wasn't garatti, It was in Government block lettering, And you could tell it had been on there for years. I am surprised the Hotel has not utilized the bunker for a patio bar, or restaurant.
I certainly would.
I wish they would have utilized it more!
Dad flew CAP after the war and fellow pilots here during WWII told him about constantly seeing UBoats. Much later he humored me and stopped for Pill Box tours and the gun mounts on the East end. So many cool memories.
My dad is a Texas reclaimed wood master. I wanted to build a round table for my dining room and I asked him about getting some of his wood for the project. He had plenty of old Texas Red Cedar for the top. He asked me how I wanted to make the base and I told him I wanted a pedal stool base. He said I have something I want to show you. He had several really big rafter tails 3 1/2" x 7 1/4". He said they came from Fort Crockett. They have a very cool decorative cut. I am putting the four of them against a center post to make the legs. I have no idea which building they came from but I am looking for pictures to see if I can see them.
I've always seen that concrete bunker and assumed it was housing some equipment for the hotel or something. Cool video.
In the early 80’s I was one of the group electricians at the Coast Guard base. The homes that were torn down were the quarters for the officers and families. I believe the commanding officers of the floating units were housed there as well. Just behind the hotel were the housing for the senior enlisted personnel and their family.
Because of the age of the housing I was always trying to fix the electrical problems.
Great history! I never noticed the fortified walls/batteries. Thanks for the info.
Great new episode, I just drove past there last weekend, keep it up!
Long before the San Luis hotel was built over them, I hunkered down in the center bunker at Ft. Crockett during a big storm that they reported might be turning into a hurricane. Back then, all there was stopping me was a chain link fence next to the sidewalk on Seawall Blvd., and it had a hole in it. Then I just had to cross over a small overgrown-weed/trash-strewn dirt lot to quickly to get to it before somebody saw me. I hunkered down in those bunkers quite often only because I had found myself homeless in between jobs, now and then. But that one dark and stormy night, I heard a voice that had seemed to say "Get out.., I live here. This is mine". When I turned on my bright-as-day big 9v floodlight to see who I'd be dealing with, all I saw was flat dirt and some trash scraps. There was nobody else down there, I was sure of it. So I just ignore it, thinking my mind had played tricks on me somehow. But the second and third time I distinctively knew exactly what I had heard, "Get out..., I live here. This is mine". I shone my light on every inch down there, thinking someone just had to be hiding down there somehow. I didn't see anyone or anything. So I quickly skedaddled. Instead, I went and hunkered down at the front of the former Buccaneer Hotel, facing the gulf, out in the open where the strong winds kept blowing me back and forth under their tall colonnade(or is it called a "portico". And I never returned to those bunkers ever again either. That was in the mid 70's.
Love the story! So much captured in those walls.
@@ScottDaileyTH-cam "If walls could speak", I've heard that vintage saying said my entire life. Those old walls all around have seen a whole lot, and could say a whole lot, but would we listen, or just ignore their voices all the while gluing ourselves onto only new things, and thinking we alone have all the insight there ever could be, or even is?
The battery used to be open to the front and back. I remember begging my Dad to stop on one our trips and he did. We walked inside and it felt cool and you could sense the enormous mass of concrete around you. This was around 1979 or 80. Thanks DAD!!
This is fascinating! I never knew those buildings were from an old army encampment. I love the old photos you found.
In the 70's we used to drive by the bunker. They turned it into a snake pit attraction. As kids we could only imagine what was inside.
I recall that snake pit attraction!
Up until the 1970s those bunkers were open. People used to hang out there smoking pot. There’s another bunker toward the end of the east seawall. It’s out in the marsh behind the seawall. It was another popular hangout for people smoking pot and drinking. They were always peaceful gatherings abd a good place to meetup with people.
The guns housed in those batteries were 18 inches in diameter and protected much of the gulf costal US during WWII. There was 1 other battery on the east end of the island & 1 across the channel on Bolivar Peninsula.
Haven't checked but more than likely not 18 inch.
See 1:25 they were 12" guns.
I remember as a kid me and my family would always go to the ihop right next to it. I wonder if it’s still there?? I remember looking across the street and saying how that was the most beautiful hotel I ever saw on the seawall. It’s nice to see it still holds true today.
Gosh i remember them well but forgot about them
Wow! Thanks for sharing I had no clue!
Houston native love your videos gained a subscriber keep it daley
Thanks!
You can see this whenever we have a hurricane come onto the island as the local news people on the scene will take shelter there.
Used to have BB gun wars and paintball in those forts way back in the day.
I had no clue there was a base there. Wow.
Would be nice if the St. Louis or somebody would organize tours of the bunkers. I've stayed there numerous times on business in the last 10-15 years and it is a Very nice place. But when asked about exploring the bunkers the management isn't having any of it.
It's an artillery emplacement. Probably held 14 or 16 inch gun. I remember driving past it far back as the 70's.
Great stuff but the Tennessee mountain music doesn't fit at all.
Fr
this pisses me off. when i was a senior these "resorts" weren't there. you could go into them. now a big ugly complex seats on top of history
Lived here for 4 years went to parties and shit there and hung out there and didn’t realize it was a military bunker until after 2 years of going there haha
San Louie or San Luis? I always thought it was the San Luis.
And called the snake pit snake wrestlers in 60s
I thought it was a nightclub at one time....
The snake pit
Hello
makes a whole video on a bunker but doesn't even explore it. lame