March 14, 2008
Year 12. Issue 306
Community Enrichment Organization (C.E.O.) Photo by Mary Craft
Apostolos “Paul” Stamatakis now sells fresh fruit from the Valley.
by Mary Craft
Paul’s Seafood has interesting history
If you live on the Island you have driven past Paul’s Seafood van parked near the carwash on SPID. But you may not be aware of how Paul came to be in the seafood business. It all started with Paul’s father. Apostolos Stamatakis was a merchant marine from Greece who jumped ship in Corpus Christi in 1969 when he was 17 years old. He lived on the streets for a couple of months before finding work at restaurants bussing tables and washing dishes. People had difficulty pronouncing his name so he Americanized it and became Paul. In 1972, he met Alicia Bazadula. They met at Hollywood Restaurant on Morgan where he worked. Paul saved his money and bought a shrimp boat and sold his shrimp at the T-Head and to local restaurants. Hurricane Celia wiped out his boat so he started buying from shrimpers and selling out of the back of his car. Later he bought a Butterkrust van which he parked at Paul Jones and SPID. When they built the bridge to Flour Bluff he parked the van by the Car Wash on SPID between Waldron Road and Flour Bluff Drive. In 1991 they built the bridge over Flour Bluff to the Causeway so he moved to the current location next to the Car Wash on the Island. This spot has been rented from Doc Blankenship ever since. In 1996 at age 48 Paul was in a tragic car accident when he fell asleep at the wheel driving seafood to the Island from Rockport. The car flipped over, no other vehicles were involved. Paul Jr. was sixteen years old at the time and took over the business. Paul had worked with his father since he was 12 years old and he turned out to be as industrious as his Dad and bought his first home when he was twenty. In 2003 Paul Jr. bought a Corpus Christi City B bus and took two years to convert it to what it is today. He removed the seats and automatic doors and put in insulated display cases and a sink. The
bus is driven once a year to get permits. About six months ago Paul Jr. gave his old van to his 21year old brother Chris who had been working with him. “Chris has a family now so I gave him my old van so he can start his own business. That’s what my Dad would have done.” Chris has his seafood business in Driscoll. Last year Paul’s Seafood Market was opened at 5433 S. Staples Suite 3 in Boardwalk Shopping Center between Williams and Holly. It is run by Paul Jr.’s wife Melissa who he met when he was in junior high. They have three children Daniel 10, Anastasia 7 and 2 year old Apostolos Stamatakis III. “The baby will carry on the family name and hopefully build something even better.” The seafood currently being offered includes drum, amberjack, tuna, mahi-mahi, grouper, oysters, scallops, lobster tail, and stuffed crab. A month ago he started selling fruit from the Valley. Bags of grapefruit, oranges and seedless watermelons are each five dollars. The hours are 9am-6pm seven days a week. For any inquiries call 929-2493. Photo by Mary Craft
C.E.O. Supports and Promotes another Community Event The Flour Bluff Business Association (FBBA) is holding it’s “Third Annual April Fool’s BBQ Cook-off “on March 28th and 29th, at the corner of SPID and Flour Bluff Dr., This location has been graciously donated by Floyd’s Restaurant in Flour Bluff and provides the perfect BBQ Cook off location. The event faces SPID between Floyd’s and the Navy Army Federal Credit Union. For detailed map please visit our website www.ceobythebay. com. All proceeds from this event will directly benefit the FBBA’s Scholarship Program for the students of FBISD. Each year the FBBA grants scholarship monies to FBISD students and with C.E.O.’s support, the community’s help and business involvement we expect to raise at least three times more this year than the last. The event will kick off on Friday at 6pm with the well known, local group, “The John Eric Band”. Saturday morning will feature great BBQ, lots of fun, entertainment and two more local bands, “Riptide” and “Same Affliction”. This is a great opportunity for our community and businesses to get together for a great cause, and have fun doing it. Businesses who are interested in supporting our community can do so by becoming a sponsor. There are different “levels” of sponsorship available. You can also sign up for a vendor’s spot or join in on the fun by entering a BBQ team. We openly invite the community to come out and join
us for great BBQ, fun and entertainment. Join C.E.O. in supporting another community event by becoming a sponsor, competing in the BBQ Cook-Off or volunteering. For more information, please call Ray Herrera at 361.816.1424/ Steve Fivecoat at 361.533.0458 or e-mail us at info@ceobythebay.com. For additional information about this event, maps or entry forms visit us at www.ceobythebay.com. BBQ entries will be judged on Saturday, March 29, 2008 from 1pm to 5 pm. Registration is $50.00 per team and includes a 20’ X 20’ lot and entry into all categories. A total of $1,500.00 in Cash prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd places for Fajitas, Beef / Pork Spare Ribs and Brisket. Plaques for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places will be awarded for the best: Beans, Potato Salad and Chop BBQ entries. Vendor’s lots are $30.00 for a 20’ X 20’ lot. Additional space for BBQ teams or vendors is $30.00 per lot. Sponsorships are available at $100.00, $200.00 and $300.00 levels. C.E.O.’s mission is to help our community improve the quality of life and standard of living by advocating and promoting “synergy” between business, community leaders, organizations and concerned citizens. C.E.O. has chosen to help promote this Flour Bluff Business Association event because the FBBA serves a vital function in promoting and supporting our businesses and community.
Photo by Pat Lewis
Musings of an Old Bluffer, no bluffing Seafood Paul inside his converted city B-Line bus.
New store spreads 15,000 feet of Goodwill by Mary Carft Goodwill of South Texas opened their newest location in Flour Bluff. It is 15,000 square feet and replaces the old store that had been across the highway for twenty years. Vice President of Operations for the eleven stores from Victoria to the Valley Dan Owen said, “We expect the Flour Bluff store to be the one with the largest volume. Our new business models are larger and more contemporary with a wider variety and larger selection for our customers who know a good deal when they see it.” Judging by the parking lot the first week it probably will be the busiest. “We chose this location because we are trying to cater to a younger demographics and hope to attract the Texas A&M students as well as those from Flour Bluff High School.” There is Edgar’s Coffee Bar with free wireless in the store. The new television commercial shows a young woman shopping for fashionable clothes and shoes. Their customers are loyal and they are hoping to build on that. They are open Monday-Saturday 9a.m. – 8 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call 939-7088 for more info. Photo by Mary Craft
Editor’s note: We found this story on the corpusfishing.com website. It is from an unknown author but if he/she reads this please send us more. We loved it. I’ve been a lurker for a while (as soon as I stumbled on this website) and greatly enjoy reading the posts and keeping up to date on the Bluff. Every so often, an old timer comes on and speaks of the old days. That always brings a tear and takes me back to some of the best times of my life. No, I’m not a Bluff resident, but the family has owned a house there since the 50’s (still do) and for 20 years or so, we spent our entire summers, every summer in the Bluff. Everyone else we knew went off on exotic trips for summer. When we were given the choice, the Bluff is where we wanted to be. I remember much of it like it was yesterday. Do you remember…........ …the floating drawbridges over the Humble channel and the Intracoastal waterway. Waiting in the long lines to get to the Island because some tourist boater didn’t want to lower his ship-to-shore antenna. And looking back over your shoulder as you got to the “Red Dot” bait stand and seeing the pilings for the old wooden causeway leading back to the Bluff. …all the folks named “Red”. “Red” Tyler, who owned what is now Bluff Marina at the end of Laguna Shores Rd. “Red” Coburn, who many times had to do emergency repairs to our slightly used, snow white Mercury 700 outboard so we could make it back out for the evening’s trout run.. Coburn’s place was just a few hundred yards from what became the “Lagunatic Lounge”. I always loved that name. … getting burgers for a buck at the grill ($1.05 if you wanted cheese) and playing pinball all evening at Allen’s channel, which became Jerry’s Place,
which is now what I believe is called the “Porch”. I spent many hours there on that pinball machine for my $.25. …dodging hundreds of trot lines as we rounded Pita Island and ran along the King Ranch coastline to the Pure Oil Channel at what was then Marker 45. And ducking quickly to avoid the hooks on the ones we didn’t see. Anchoring along the shore to wade for Reds....always under the watchful eye of some ranch foreman in an International Scout or jeep on a far away high spot studying us with binoculars. … pushing up shrimp on the point off Whitley’s channel and selling them to “Red” Tyler for a penny each to get some spending money. … black drum runs where every fish was a 4045 pounder and there were dozens of them. And everyone in the neighborhood knew they were running! …limits on Specks were 10” or 12” (I’m a little fuzzy on this one) and we would fill up three or four 48qt Igloo (made by “Pearl” and “Lone Star”) ice chests with them. Literally took hours to clean and filet them all. …the closest grocery store, a little wood frame house on Laguna Shores Rd (about a mile north of the current Circle K). The whole store must have been about 20’x20’. If she didn’t have what you needed, the next closest place was the Bluff Safeway on SPID. Imagine life BEFORE H.E.B. …. The big painting/print of the naked lady on the wall of the A&H that said “Stick em up”. This always embarrassed the heck out of my Mom when we went in to buy fishing supplies. … actually being able to take the boat out to the surf through what was then the Packery Fish Pass immediately after Hurricane Carla and being one of the first on the scene digging up the Spanish ship that was uncovered in the sand after the storm. Bluffer cont. page B6