Jesus Cantu Medel still remembers the quirky cast of characters who lived on Cosmos Street in the 1970s, when he and his wife moved into the leafy neighborhood near Little White Oak Bayou in Near Northside.
At one end of the block was a musician who played in a local conjunto outfit. On the other end lived a blind man who used to make brooms in his garage. And a few houses down was his “compadre” Joe Cavazos, whose band has been practicing out of their garage for decades, since Cavazos was a teenager.
Most of them were Mexican American, or “raza,” as Medel calls them, and all except Cavazos are gone, either dead or moved to the suburbs. Many of the well-worn bungalows that once lined Cosmos Street have disappeared too, replaced in some cases with imposing two-story mansions selling for around a million dollars.
“Every Chicano that moves out, an Anglo moves in, and they’re well-to-do people, they’re professionals,” Medel, 77, said. “I’m kind of glad they’re here but kind of sad also, because I don’t see ‘raza’ moving in.”…