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Articles and Images (Including Vintage Photos): 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 GroceryKathy
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
11-16-07The
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 9-27-06Humble
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
4-18-07Hochheim
General Store -
photo 2-25-08 |
Biography
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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