Baytown Historical Preservation Association History Lecture Series

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Baytown Historical Preservation Association History Lecture Series Guest Speaker Jeff Lindemann, English Professor “The Grand Opening of the Shamrock Hotel” Saturday, March 17, 2018, at 10 a.m. (Social 9:30 a.m.) Republic of Texas Plaza Barn, 5117 North Main Street, Baytown, Texas Join us on St. Patrick’s Day when Jeff Lindemann will take us back 69 years to another St. Patrick’s Day when the Shamrock Hotel, built by Texas wildcatter Glenn McCarthy, held its grand opening on March 17, 1949. The soiree with many Hollywood stars including Hedda Hopper, Dorothy Lamour, Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Errol Flynn, Pat O’Brien, and Robert Preston is still considered by many as the “grandest and wildest event ever held in Houston.” After a 43-year teaching career, Jeff recently retired from Houston Community College (“HCC”) where he had taught English since 1978. While at HCC, he also served as Department Chair of Freshman Composition and later as Department Chair of the Literature, Humanities, Philosophy, and Languages. He received the HCC Outstanding Teaching Award in 1985 and the Bedichek Outstanding Teaching Award in 1993. Jeff is the co-author of the college textbook Reading and Responding to Literature. Jeff grew up in the hotel and restaurant industry. His father was the chief engineer of the Warwick Hotel and later the Westin International in the Galleria. His father also taught hotel and restaurant engineering at the Hilton School at the University of Houston. Jeff’s father often dropped him off at The Shamrock Hilton where he would have a great time at the famous Shamrock swimming pool. Jeff is currently on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Texas Room and is editor of the Friends of the Texas Room newsletter "The Dispatch." When not working as a part-time English tutor in the Houston Community College Tutoring Center, Jeff works on his book The Shamrock: America's Magnificent Hotel. The lecture is offered free of charge; however, seating is limited and RSVPs are encouraged. To RSVP please call 281.421.2099 (leave message with your name, telephone number, and number attending) or email [email protected]. .

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