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Valentine Story 2-10-11
Valentines Day 1986 fell on a Friday as it sometimes does. For my
wife Lorraine that meant a late afternoon school party with her
Special Education colleagues enjoying a few goodies before heading
home. And sure enough, when Mom pulled into our driveway a little
before suppertime, we could see a back seat full of helium filled
balloons, some red ones and a few white ones too...
San
Antonio's New Braunfels Avenue Bridge 9-2-08
Adventures
of Eddie Fung: Chinatown Kid, Texas Cowboy, Prisoner of War
6-26-08
Five
Buildings of San Antonio 4-1-08
The Star, the Pig, the Dealership, the Icehouse and the Chinese
Grocery
Kathy
Dell: A Cowboy's Sweetheart; the life of a famous unknown 2-18-08
"Dell’s true importance to the state’s music history is found
in the pioneering spirit and unconventional accomplishments of her
career... in two male dominated professions, first as a rodeo star
and then as a country musician and band leader."
J.
Frank Dobie and Colonel Jack Jenkins 1-1-08
Two Texans become friends in War-torn England
"The two images have never before been published or even seen outside
Jack Jenkins' family and I would like to share them - and the story
behind them - with Texas Escapes' readers." - Mel Brown
Gruene
11-16-07
The
Short Yet Semi-Happy Life of Zip the Dog 10-15-07
Ever since seeing an old movie long ago titled “The Biscuit Eater”
I have been enamored of coon dogs. Something about their especially
soulful faces and incredible voices has always touched me deeply,
perhaps the result of some fifteen or so generations of Southern
heritage...
"Rattlesnake
Bomber Base" - The Rattler 9-27-06
Humble
Station, San Antonio, 1938 9-13-07
Ilf
and Petrov's American Road Trip: The 1935 Travelogue of Two Soviet
Writers 7-1-07
35
Years of Humble Service - San Antonio's C.K. Brown 6-12-07
Zuehl,
Texas 4-18-07
Hochheim
General Store - photo 2-25-08
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Biography
Mel Brown was born in San Antonio, Texas shortly after WW II. He is
a fifth generation Texan who graduated from the University of Texas
at Austin in 1969. Mel married Lorraine Lee of Houston in 1974, then
settled in Austin where they have raised a son and two daughters.
Mel has been a professional fine artist since 1976 specializing in
Southwestern landscape and aviation subjects and is a member of the
United States Air Force Art Program. Now as a full-time writer, CHINESE
HEART of TEXAS; the San Antonio Community 1875-1975 is his third
book dealing with San Antonio's rich and colorful history. "I'm a
general history buff concentrating mainly on San Antonio, WW II and
aviation subjects plus just about anything Texana." Mel's first book
was SAN ANTONIO In Vintage Postcards while the second was Wings
Over San Antonio, a photographic history of military aviation
there in over 200 images. Chinese Heart of Texas is the first
lengthy and detailed history of the Chinese in Texas to be published
anywhere. He is currently working on a follow up to it titled TexAsian
Infusion that will cover the significant Asian immigration into
San Antonio since 1975. This includes the Japanese, Korean, Chinese,
Thai/Cambodian, Filipino and Indian communities as well. A second
book also currently in progress is titled San Antonio; Past, Present
& Always which will be a look at that city's rich heritage and present
development as depicted in over 300 vintage postcards, plus archival
and modern images, most in color. Text will be largely anecdotal based
on Mel's memories of growing up in the historic Alamo City and will
also feature a price guide for the many postcards featured. He also
can be seen in the recent PBS/KLRN production titled "Wings Over
the Alamo" which is a history of aviation in San Antonio that
features a number of his aviation paintings and an interview. |
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