This week in 2005 Houston's playground AstroWorld closed its gates for good Warm memories of the park live on...



While he was raising funds for what would become the park he traveled around the country with a miniature, briefcase-sized mock-up of what it was to look like. less Former Houston Mayor Roy Hofheinz opened AstroWorld in 1968 a few years after unleashing the Astrodome upon the world.

While he was raising funds for what would become the park he traveled around the country ... more Former Houston Mayor Roy Hofheinz opened AstroWorld in 1968 a few years after unleashing the Astrodome upon the world. Photo: Craig Hlavaty Photo: Craig Hlavaty Image 1 of / 87 Caption Close This week in 2005 Houston's playground AstroWorld closed its gates for good 1 / 87 Back to Gallery

This week in 2005 since Six Flags AstroWorld closed for good in Houston and to this day any mention of the park elicits a Pavlovian nostalgic response on native Houstonians that is hard to shake off.

It was on October 30, 2005, the final day of Fright Fest, that AstroWorld took its final bow. It left the South Loop after 37 years of offering up fun and the pleasure of avoiding responsibility.

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In the years leading up to the closure, the park was an underperformer for Six Flags, which owned 30 amusement parks at the time. The company was also more than $2 billion in debt. AstroWorld's real estate was much more valuable than the park. The land’s value was estimated to be as much as $145 million at the time.

Photo: Gulf Photo Astroworld and Astrodome - January 1968.

In January 2006, a three-day auction was held to sell off furnishings and decorations from the park before demolition crews moved in. Former employees came back to see what was left. Those former workers – some of whom just worked a season or two at the park – still reminisce on social media about their time working for the man at AstroWorld.

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The Houston Chronicle reported that the park's closure didn't hurt the city's economy because many of the seasonal jobs paid little more than minimum wage and only 120 higher-paying, permanent jobs were lost when the park closed.

The site is now a large patch of land across from NRG Stadium that is used for extra RodeoHouston parking and storage when it’s needed. You’d never know anything of note was there were it not for the small overpass over the South Loop, which incidentally was the first privately owned bridge to go across a federal highway.

NOW AND THEN: See what the Astroworld site looks like 50 years after the park opened

Former Houston Mayor Roy Hofheinz opened AstroWorld on June 1, 1968 a few years after unleashing the Astrodome just across the street.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle Melynda Massey, 17, receives tickets in the entrance of AstroWorld...

Hofheinz had wanted to build nine hotels that would tie the complex together, but that never came to fruition. While he was raising funds for the park he traveled around the country with a miniature, briefcase-sized mock-up of what it was to look like.

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Two thousand tons of central air conditioning were pumped into the park, making it the most extensive-outdoor cooling project in the world. Rides like the Serpent, Excalibur, the Texas Cyclone, and Greezed Lightnin’ packed in patrons the first decade along with other attractions like the Astroneedle, Astrowheel, the Bamboo Shoot, and those antique taxis.

Six Flags leased the park in 1975, purchasing it the next year. The park changed a lot in the decade after.

A $15 million, 10-acre water park, WaterWorld, was added in June 1983. It was the city’s first water park and had a large wave pool, children’s play area, slides, and other interactive attractions. The Wipe-Out, a 60-foot slide, sometimes pushed patrons to speeds of nearly 40 miles an hour as they slid down.

RELATED: Fright Fest at AstroWorld scared and amused a generation of Houstonians

Then, 1985 saw the debut of the 20,000-capacity Southern Star Amphitheater, an attraction that was a part of other Six Flags theme parks. Acts as diverse as Bryan Adams, Grateful Dead, Selena, AC/DC, Al Jarreau, The Monkees, and the Dire Straits all played the venue. The opening of Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands in April 1990 somewhat eclipsed the amphitheater.

Photo: Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle Six Flags AstroWorld used to occupy this area across the south of...

For the park’s 20th anniversary in June 1988, Mayor Kathy Whitmire and a handful of AstroWorld employees released 2,000 balloons filled with AstroWorld tickets.

Time Warner bought the Six Flags chain around 1990.

In 1992, the park was transformed into a holiday wonderland for the annual Holiday in the Park and it became an annual tradition. Even when Houston's weather was less than wintry, the park was decorated with millions of twinkling lights and offered winter-themed attractions such as snow hills for sledding, carolers and visits with reindeer.

In 1993, the $8 million Batman The Escape attraction opened to patrons. Taz's Texas Tornado debuted in 1998 to celebrate the park’s first 30 years.Did

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Since its closure, there have been sporadic rumblings of a theme park of its scope returning to the Houston area, but so far nothing has opened that could rival the grasp that the park had, and still has, on native Houstonians.

Nothing has replaced the wonder of AstroWorld and its likely nothing ever will.

Craig Hlavaty covers Houston history and pop-culture. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | craig.hlavaty@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message