Good Morning..."I yam what I yam"

[Okla-homey]

Mar 26, 1937: Popeye monument unveiled

http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/11270/2005130178240475741_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005130178240475741)

70 years ago on this day, Crystal City, Texas, unveils America's first monument to a comic strip hero. The six-foot-tall, brightly colored concrete statue of Popeye was unveiled in Popeye Park during the city's second annual Spinach Festival.

http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/12413/2005109870023355388_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005109870023355388)
1941 photo of Popeye Monument, before construction of Crystal City town hall on the site

Within eight years of his appearance in the newspapers, Popeye was immortalized in the small town only 50 miles from the Mexican border, Crystal City.

http://aycu14.webshots.com/image/12413/2005198158446568644_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005198158446568644)

But why Crystal City, where you would think cowboys would be more popular than sailors, the closest port being Corpus Christi? The one-word answer is spinach.

http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/11574/2005152237883658821_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005152237883658821)

Popeye, as any Baby Boomer or older knows, drew his strength from spinach. So, too, does the Crystal City economy. Thanks to ample underground water, its sandy soil, and abundant cheap labor, Crystal City produces 80 percent or more of the nation's spinach crop.

http://aycu20.webshots.com/image/13299/2005168493445297908_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005168493445297908)
Chicks dig Popeye

That's how Popeye happened to come to Crystal City TX.

http://aycu20.webshots.com/image/13299/2005107500757886093_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005107500757886093)

[OU4LIFE]

Do I hear a Queen song playing in the background?

[crawfish]

guh-guh-guh-guh-guh

[SoonerStormchaser]

Do I hear a Queen song playing in the background?


...She keeps Moet et Chandon
In her pretty cabinet
'Let them eat cake' she says
Just like Marie Antoinette...

[LoyalFan]

Homey,

Great post and tribute to fine sailor and patriot.
On the downside, Crystal City is one absolute dung heap.
Back in the 60's the La Raza Unida party took over Crystal City, under the leadership of one Jose Angel Gutierrez. That loon announced that his hero was one F. Castro and that he planned to raise property taxes to a level that would result in the wealthy gringos' (and some folks of Mexican descent,) homes, farms, and ranches being seized for nonpayment, then apportioned out to the po'folks. He dreamt of a socialist/communist regime deep in South Texas.
Well, all he accomplished was the near-destruction of the economy. Del Monte and some other firms stuck it to La Ciudad Cristal, the power company cut off the gas (people were cooking over open fires for a while) and things went to Hades in a hurry.
Somehow, this geek still prospers although La Raza Unida has long since cratered.
I spent a year there, all in one night, when doing some deer hunting in the area...whatta dump...Third World!

http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=jose+angel+gutierrez&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3D5 728fb798d41e6eb%26clickedItemRank%3D1%26userQuery% 3Djose%2Bangel%2Bgutierrez%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp %253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FJos%2 525C3%2525A9_%2525C3%252581ngel_Guti%2525C3%2525A9 rrez%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSCPToolbarNS%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F Jos%2525C3%2525A9_%2525C3%252581ngel_Guti%2525C3%2 525A9rrez

LF

[Okla-homey]

Homey,

Great post and tribute to fine sailor and patriot.
On the downside, Crystal City is one absolute dung heap.
Back in the 60's the La Raza Unida party took over Crystal City, under the leadership of one Jose Angel Gutierrez. That loon announced that his hero was one F. Castro and that he planned to raise property taxes to a level that would result in the wealthy gringos' (and some folks of Mexican descent,) homes, farms, and ranches being seized for nonpayment, then apportioned out to the po'folks. He dreamt of a socialist/communist regime deep in South Texas.
Well, all he accomplished was the near-destruction of the economy. Del Monte and some other firms stuck it to La Ciudad Cristal, the power company cut off the gas (people were cooking over open fires for a while) and things went to Hades in a hurry.
Somehow, this geek still prospers although La Raza Unida has long since cratered.
I spent a year there, all in one night, when doing some deer hunting in the area...whatta dump...Third World!

http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=jose+angel+gutierrez&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3D5 728fb798d41e6eb%26clickedItemRank%3D1%26userQuery% 3Djose%2Bangel%2Bgutierrez%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp %253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FJos%2 525C3%2525A9_%2525C3%252581ngel_Guti%2525C3%2525A9 rrez%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSCPToolbarNS%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F Jos%2525C3%2525A9_%2525C3%252581ngel_Guti%2525C3%2 525A9rrez

LF

Sounds like La Raza got some revenge when e. coli affected hands picked Crystal City spinach last year.:eek:

[C&CDean]

Momma set out spinach in the garden last weekend. Gooood stuff.

[OU4LIFE]

La Raza's Revenge.

it's worse that Montezuma's Revenge.


/fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin world go round...

[Taxman71]

Sounds like La Raza got some revenge when e. coli affected hands picked Crystal City spinach last year.:eek:

I thought that spinach came from northern cali. Not that I mind blaming that on Texas though.

[soonerbrat]

red x's :(

[Taxman71]

Popeye erected March 26, 1937? Even Cialis can't match that.