West of Uptown is an area known simply as "Mid West", perhaps a leftover name to distinguish the sprawl between the Westgate area closer to Beltway 8 and Uptown closer to Loop 610. Two major roads go through this area, Westheimer Road and Richmond Avenue.

This page is developed from the original Westheimer Road page and features the area between Chimney Rock Road and South Gessner Road, trying to create more of a readable version of older pages, and as a result is not going to be strictly "Westheimer" anymore. It has been slightly reorganized and updated from its original form.

A note: Carbon-izer tries to be family friendly, but due to the nature of Westheimer Road, this page contains frank discussion of some less savory businesses along this stretch. It probably shouldn't be much to worry about (no outbound links are NSFW) but it's only fair to put this as a warning.

CHIMNEY ROCK ROAD to FOUNTAIN VIEW DRIVE

Exxon / 5702 Westheimer Road
This Exxon with a Timewise gas station was built in the mid-2000s, replacing an older gas station. The station was built in the 1950s and was a Humble station in the 1960s, by the mid-1970s it was an Exxon station with a "ValueCenter" car care center (owned and operated by Exxon USA). When it was rebuilt it was still an Exxon with a car wash and an On the Run; however, the convenience store was sold to Timewise. By early 2024 it became Honey Farms convenience store after a deal with licensing Timewise in non-Shell stations began to expire.

IHOP / 5729 Westheimer Road
IHOP (International House of Pancakes, originally) opened here around 1971 (HCAD says 1970, but the hiring notices aren't until 1971 as per newspapers).

5757 Westheimer Road
This strip mall (see lease plan here, archived from here). It has a few tenants, including FLO Paris (the "Bakery & Cafe" mentioned), a Domino's, and Cafe Lili, a Lebanese restaurant. Near the ground is a small message board sign that advertises a psychic reader not in the strip mall. Until around 2021 it had just a smiley face and a number to rent the sign. (I wonder what it originally belonged to.) The strip center would've connected to Westheimer with a stoplight directly that connected with Bering Drive, but for a while this was closed due to the reconstruction of 5745 Westheimer.

Artisans / 5745 Westheimer Road
5745 Westheimer's history of being a commercial establishment dates back to the early 1960s, when it had been the site of "Pine House", a small furniture and antique store (converted house), the modern history begins with the 1977 construction of Steak n Shake (a trailer was on site in 1976, I can't find proof it opened that year). However, Steak n Shake's first attempt in the Houston market didn't go over so well, and it closed in or after 1978, with Grandy's replacing it in June 1980 (and back then, Grandy's was also known as "Grandy's Country Cupboard"). While Grandy's had stores in Houston well into the 1990s, Grandy's bombed hard on Westheimer and by late 1982 became International Auction Galleries for a few years. Soon after it became James Coney Island, and by 1989, was the company's most profitable store.

Eventually, James Coney Island (by this time being called "JCI Grill") closed in October 2022 and it was announced that it would be demolished for the new home of Artisans, a restaurant relocating from Midtown. Artisans opened December 4, 2023 at the new location.

Memorial Lutheran Church and School / 5800 Westheimer Rd.
One of the first references for this church comes in 1968. By 1978, MLC had several other auxiliary buildings behind the church building, but eventually they were all rebuilt/expanded into one other building. It is unknown when the School portion was launched.

Pappas Burger / 5815 Westheimer Road
The building where Pappas Burger is opened as Sizzler Steak House back in 1972 (not 1970, as Arch-ive indicates). Indications are Sizzler closed most of their Houston at end of 1982 (despite having nearly a dozen restaurants in the area), long before their fall from grace nationally (though I have found a few Houston Sizzler restaurants lingered on into the late 1980s). By April 1983, the location was home to Lumber Camp Restaurant & Bar and in 1984, a location of Daddy Did It Fish House (which also had a few locations in the Bear Creek/FM 1960 area). From approximate 1987 to 1989 it was Houston's first and last Original Pancake House as well (which is a shame Houston doesn't have one--their "Dutch Baby" is delightful).

In 1990, Wings 'N More opened a location, one of the two "original" Houston stores. The history of Wings 'N More is a little sticky (pun not intended), from everything I can gather, Wings 'N More was a franchised version of Wings-N-Things until it spun off as its own entity, then the later Wings 'N More locations in Houston (with the exception of The Woodlands location, which remained open up until COVID-19) was a franchise until those spun off as BreWingz.

In 2001 it became Pappas Burger, a new concept from the Pappas Restaurant Group. Pappas Burger has become the longest-run restaurant in the building, more than any other restaurant.

Pappas Bros. Steakhouse / 5839 Westheimer Road
In 1967, this was Village Inn Pizza Parlor (appears to have been opened in 1965). In the 1970s, it broke with the parent company by renaming itself as "Charlie's Village Inn Pizza Parlor", then simply "Charlie's". By February 1976, it had changed hands again and was renamed Dean Scott's Club. The establishment almost since the start prided itself more on the live entertainment than the food, and advertisements showed which entertainer was coming, such as the appearance of Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts (in this case, the double entendre was indeed intended). But by fall 1976, the bar closed and was liquidating its furniture.

In 1977, The Strawberry Patch opened as one of Houston's first fern bar-style restaurants. In late 1994, Strawberry Patch was closed by its owners, Pappas Restaurant Group, and reopened in early 1995 as Pappas Bros. Steakhouse.

Just west of the building was 5849 Westheimer Road. This opened as an A&W drive-in back in 1965 (aka McCalip's A&W Drive In). In 1973 it closed as the chain began to collapse and was replaced by Double Dragon in 1974 (no, not that one). Double Dragon's Hawaiian staff also offered "Hawaiian dishes prepared Chinese-style" and utilized the drive-in component for take-home orders. By the end of the year it closed and was replaced with a new location of Passage East, another Chinese restaurant in town (formerly on Old Spanish Trail), and by 1975 was home to National Lawn & Leisure, featuring outdoor products, from bicycles to lawnmowers (one article mentions Sunbeam, which had a sizeable outdoor products division at the time with Sunbeam-branded lawnmowers). At some point in the 1970s it was closed and eventually demolished, presumably for the new Strawberry Patch restaurant.

Jungman Neighborhood Library / 5830 Westheimer Road
This library has been here since 1975 and was closed in 2014 for an extensive inside-and-out remodel. This meant the loss of many interesting 1970s features inside (undoubtedly) but on the outside, it also meant losing its large, monolithic concrete signage on Westheimer.

To the immediate east of the building was Romano's Macaroni Grill at 5802 Westheimer Road. This was the chain's first location in 1992 and closed sometime around late 2016 or early 2017.

Becks Prime / 2615 Augusta Drive
Becks has an Augusta address with its only Westheimer presence being a sign and a long, narrow driveway (one way) but it has been here since 1989.

Valero / 5838 Westheimer Road
Opened as a Circle K in 1988, this went through a long journey as Stop N Go (after 1994, when the chains traded stores), then Corner Store (when the station converted to a Valero in the mid-2000s, the gas station brand changed from Diamond Shamrock around this time), and then finally in the late 2010s changing back to Circle K again (but keeping the Valero brand).

Interestingly, tax records suggest that Circle K held onto the real estate the whole time.

5884 Westheimer Road
This was Republic of Texas Savings Association from approximately 1981 to 1982 when the struggling S&L bank (along with three others) were sold to Home Savings of America. By the time 1998 rolled around, the local branches were known as Savings of America (the "Home" dropped at some point, though still part of corporate's name) and the bank was rebranded again as Washington Mutual. Following Washington Mutual's demise, became a Chase bank in 2008 and closed in 2019.

The Warwick / 5888 Westheimer Road
This restaurant opened in April 2022. From 1980 (possibly early 1981) to fall 2019, it was the home of "Houston's", a restaurant actually originating out of Nashville. A second Houston's off of Kirby was later converted to Hillstone, a concept by the same parent company.

FOUNTAIN VIEW DRIVE to SOUTH VOSS ROAD / HILLCROFT AVENUE

Minuti Coffee / 5903 Westheimer Road
One of the earlier tenants here I could find was 1989's "Blue Ribbon Motoring Boutique" (also Blue Ribbon Factory Direct Motoring Boutique), selling car seat covers, and in 1994 became one of Houston's very first Starbucks Coffee stores. In August 2015, it closed and moved out, but in less than a year was filled in by Minuti Coffee.

Living Spaces / 2660 Fountain View Drive
California-based furniture store Living Spaces opened June 30, 2023. It was originally built as a H-E-B supermarket in January 2001. The store, rather modest by new-build H-E-B store standards at around 50,000 square feet, was the first "full-line" store in Houston, heralding an end to the "H-E-B Pantry Foods" era. In February 2015 the store closed in favor of the new Fountainview store less than two miles to the north (and it was nearly twice as large). H-E-B kept the store a dark store for years (not that the facade, both somewhat dated and tacky-looking did it any favors). Note that the Loopnet listing has it as "5904 Westheimer Road", it never used that address. 5904 Westheimer seems to have been used by Short Stop hamburgers very briefly (1992-1993) but looked to be already closed and torn down by 1995.

Slick Willie's / 5913 Westheimer Road
Home of a Burger King from 1968 to the early 2000s, this is now the home of Slick Willie's Family Pool Hall since 2004. Slick Willie's re-used the Burger King sign structure (rounded off square).

Service King / 5919 Westheimer Road
Opened in 2010 in an extensively renovated restaurant space, this lot extends back to Winsome Lane with another building built in former parking space. The original building was a residence owned by the Mills family until it became the Mariner Restaurant in the early 1970s (which, based on aerial photos, added a new entranceway but was a converted house).



Scooters was another restaurant in the spot by January 1983 (Mariner closed in the early 1980s), though the 1983 aerial still shows the converted house. In 1984, it was Calabash Restaurant and in 1985 it was Sam's, with Lone Star Cafe in 1986 and Waves Beach Bar & Grill in 1987, but Waves closed a few years after that.

Finally, in 1992, it became Truluck's Steak & Stone Crab (as it was known back then, see Truluck's entry above). At some point prior to this (or perhaps when Truluck's built) the lot was rebuilt into a modern restaurant building before it was renovated into Service King's building. The building doesn't look like it, but you can see that the curved awnings Truluck's had has been hidden behind Service King's facade, and even the pull-in carport has been made from the original building, just with most of the walls removed.

DaVita Dialysis / 5923 Westheimer Road
This building was originally a restaurant. According to tax records, it was "The Nantucket Inn" from 1975 to 1982, Peng's Restaurant from 1983 to 1989, Black-eyed Pea from 1990 to 2005, and Ninfa's from 2006 to 2009.

In late 2011, the building was redone and DaVita Dialysis moved into the building in March of 2012.

Katz's / 5930 Westheimer Road
Katz's New York-style deli is no stranger to Westheimer Road (having been in Montrose for many years), but this was a location of River Oaks Plant House (formerly Houston Flowery), with a somewhat interesting history.

The previous building started out in 1960. All we know about the first tenant is a classified looking for a "hamburger man", "best in town". In 1962 it became The Cellar Door, a third location of a local chain, a steakhouse/barbecue restaurant and remained operational until late 1987 when it was closed and liquidated.

In 1988, The Olive Garden opened as the chain's second Houston location, but the location closed up shop in 1998.

How it became a flower shop was another Westheimer location, ABC Flowers (first appearing in newspapers in 1980) was next to the location. It became Houston Flowery in 1990, and ultimately absorbed the former Olive Garden before renaming to River Oaks Plant House around 2014 or 2015.

Chacho's / 6006 Westheimer Road
Chacho's opened a location here in 2000 (appears to be first Houston location, coming out of San Antonio). The earliest reference for this address is Chesshir Glass Co. (1958), Konetzke Plumbing Co. (1966), then a "drive-in grocery" (1968), which was named in a 1975 human interest column. Klares Drive-In featured "a few groceries in stock, a couple of pool tables, and a 'back room' where thirsty patrons can find a measure of relief". By 1987 the old building was demolished and Two Pesos began to advertise for openings. After Two Pesos was converted to Taco Cabana following a bitter court case that went to the Supreme Court, this location and 1611 Gessner closed in November 1995. Mackmurdo's restaurant opened in the spot in June 1996, though it would close a few years later. Chacho's has since been the longest restaurant to stay here.

It is entirely possible (or likely) that Klares was actually at 6010 Westheimer next door, as it had a history of being a "drive-in" grocery store since at least the mid-1950s. It was D&S Drive Inn, a "drive-in" grocery store in 1954, also known as Bob Farley's Drive-In. Like Klare's described above, it was a hybrid grocery store (convenience store-sized) and bar. However, Klare's has the 6010 address in a 1967 newspaper article, so it's possible that this was where Klare's was, not Chacho's. It became Oak's TV in 1968 (later Oak's Radio & TV before closing in the late 1970s). After a brief stint as Simon for Men (suit store, c. 1980), it later bcame Cash America Diamond Liquidators by the late 1980s and became Cash America Pawn before closing in the mid-1990s with demolition soon after.

Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen / 6015 Westheimer Road
The restaurant's early days began in 1966 as The Hearty Farmer. In 1968 it became Stagecoach Inn, though it appeared that the restaurant remained operational during this time. Stagecoach Inn was named after and owned by the original Stagecoach Inn, Texas' oldest operating restaurant. Unfortunately, Houston's Stagecoach Inn closed just two years later, and the space became a revolving door of several restaurants. Kelley's opened in 1971, a second location of a restaurant that had a location at 3512 South Main. In spring 1973, it closed and became Willie and Mike's Innovation by late 1973. The restaurant turned into a discotheque by night (it was the 1970s, after all), the dining room was decorated with all sorts of knick-knacks that was still considered a novelty, and waitstaff wore costumes. "Russian cossacks, keystone cops, sailors, Indian braves, police, nurses, and hula beauties fit into the cornucopia of fun and frolic", describes one article. The restaurant seemed to have an identity crisis, the daytime restaurant was family-friendly, but the discotheque side probably got weird after dark. After 1975, it closed, and in spring 1976, Danny Boy's (or "Jim Harrigan's Danny Boy's) restaurant opened. In early 1977, Danny Boy's was gone and The Radio Station, a C&W dance hall and restaurant, opened. In summer 1977 The Radio Station closed and Rooster's opened August 1, 1977. A year later, it became Pinks', a discotheque. Circus Restaurant & Bar opened in 1980 and despite not much information on the actual restaurant, was a good deal more successful than anything that had come before it but by September 1985 was closed and liquidating its equipment. In 1987, Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen opened here, the first location of what would be, as of this writing, nearly three dozen locations.

By the early 1990s, Pappadeaux was the longest lasting business in the spot yet, and still operates here today. Essentially, the building's first twenty years was a confused mess of restaurants and bars that never really took off, but Pappadeaux has made it work for the last 30+.

6018 Westheimer Road
This ramshackle little building was last home to Paddy Thai Cuisine from 1990 to the mid-2000s. It has been abandoned since.

6019 Westheimer Road
Former home to Mama's Cafe, this restaurant has been closed for over a decade—since March 2012. The restaurant was built in 1969 with the earliest tenant I can find, "Papa's Pizza Parlor" in business by 1971. It was Loma Linda Restaurant (#2!) from 1972 to around 1981. Mama's Cafe opened in the spot in March 1982.

There was also another restaurant by the same owners, simply known as "Mama's" in Greenway Plaza. Additionally, they owned Cappy's at 11999 Westheimer.

As for the now-defunct Mama's, Pappas owns the building now and had intended to reopen the building as a restaurant, though this did not come to pass.

Smoothie King / 6020 Westheimer Road
This Smoothie King (here since 1999) is an odd little building...there's a second level on top of it! Apparently, it goes back to around 1961 as a Farmers Insurance office. In the late 1980s it was Commerce Savings, and Bank of America as of 1992.

Kamp / 6025 Westheimer Road
Opening in late summer 2020, Kamp (also known as "Kamp Houston", as it has other non-Houston locations) is the latest to occupy this bar & restaurant spot.

The original development on this site was Western Car Wash, which also operated as a Gulf gas station. You can see it here in this ad from December 5, 1968 (the ad is cut off in the newspaper, it was not cropped by me). By 1976 it was Conoco Car Wash (presumably with a change to the Conoco brand), and in the mid to late 1980s was the home of Sno-Biz (I assumed it was a snow cone operation on the site, but some ads refer to the building, too).

The entire site was rebuilt around 1988-1990 (according to HCAD) as a bar and restaurant, but I can't find the original tenant at this time.

In 1992, Bird of Paradise Bar & Grill opened in the spot, featuring a menu featuring Caribbean, Southwest, and Mexican food. The Houston Chronicle shared two recipes from the restaurant, their Margarita Cheesecake and Avocado Tequila Dip. A few years later, Bird of Paradise closed, and in 1994, the site served as a few short-lived bars, including "The Hut" and "Jumping Jimies" (sic), though for both I can only find a classified ad mention each.

In 1995, it became Texadelphia, part of an Austin-based restaurant serving a Texas take on cheesesteak (it was part of a larger chain out of Austin). It was the first and last Houston-area location (though not the only one, as it spawned several stores in the Houston area before they all closed).

In 2015, Texadelphia closed (which for a few years meant the end of the Texadelphia restaurants in Houston), and became a second location of local restaurant Beaver's (known as "Beaver's West", though only a nickname) in January 2017. This included a large beaver statue out front (but a more realistic beaver, as opposed to Buc-ee's statues). Beaver's would close in December 2019, not long after the original location bit the dust.

Christie's Seafood & Steaks / 6029 Westheimer Road
Christie's Seafood & Steaks opened a location here back in 1969 when this part of Westheimer Road was still quite rural.

Briargrove Plaza / 6100 Westheimer Road
A PDF plan (dated 2015) of this shopping center (from 1970) has been archived at this website here. There's also a HAIF thread on the shopping center on HoustonArchitecture.com, too.

From December 1986 to 1993, where The Melting Pot fondue restaurant is now (#146), was a steakhouse called U.R. Cooks. U.R. Cooks was a novelty steakhouse where customers were able to grill their own steaks and other meat products (here's an article on their first Oklahoma location). Check out the opening ad of U.R. Cooks in Houston here or see the review (and another ad) here. I'm not sure such a restaurant would work today (not even pre-COVID), sounds like it would run afoul of food handling ordinances.

Bering's / 6102 Westheimer Road
Also known as Bering's Hardware, this was Bering Lumber Company in 1953 and opened a 6000 square foot "lumber supermarket" in 1957. This is the genesis of the current Bering's building that faces Westheimer today (newer additions were later built around it). A newspaper article mentions both a coffee bar and some of the selections, including how Bering's would be able to "buy a gift for Aunt Rosemary or select a shotgun for Junior's birthday".

You can still get a cup of coffee at Bering's or buy gifts for an aging aunt, not so much firearms for a child though. There are two buildings for Bering's, one that faces Westheimer, and a second one (very long but very shallow) that faces Potomac Drive with most of the parking lot.

Angus Grill / 6106 Westheimer Road
This used to be a location of Pilgrim Cleaners (back then known as Pilgrim Laundry Company) back in 1960. Between 1978 and 1981 it closed and the next tenant was Videoland, a retailer of home video players (Betamax or VCR). From 1987 to 2001 it was General Joe's Chopstix, a Chinese restaurant chain in the Houston area (well, it was a chain at least--down to just one location now). In late 2002, "Rumi Restaurant" (Turkish cuisine) opened in the former spot and in less than a year it was retooled as "Ephesus Grill" under new ownership and eventually the restaurant was locked out for lease non-payment and in January 2005 the contents auctioned off. "Tranquility Restaurant" opened up later in 2005 but it was gone by the end of 2006. The current restaurant opened in 2009 after the vacant Tranquility sat for a few years.

Chili's / 6121 Westheimer Road
Ruby Tuesday opened on a restaurant pad corner of Toys 'R' Us in February 1996. In late 1998, it closed, and reopened as a Chili's in 2000.

Goodwill Select Store / 6135 Westheimer Road
Kids 'R' Us, a childrens' clothing spin-off of Toys 'R' Us opened here in early 1992 after the main store (they may or may not have had an interior connection to each other). The store was in business into 1998 and became OfficeMax in 2004, which closed in 2015. A Goodwill Select store opened not too long after.

Between 1998 and 2001, it looks like Toys 'R' Us might have expanded into the space.

Hobby Lobby / 6145 Westheimer Road
HCAD says this former Toys 'R' Us store was built in 1991. Even before Toys 'R' Us closed for good in June 2018 as we know it, the Westheimer store had some bad reviews about being messy, understocked, and understaffed. In its last days as well, the company introduced a "Babies R Us" department into the store. A Hobby Lobby replaced the vacant store in mid-2020.

House of Pies / 6142 Westheimer Road
This opened around August 1970 as a franchised version of California-based Original House of Pies, but over time, the Houston franchise became more of its own entity, becoming simply House of Pies (more on the Original House of Pies and the Houston connection can be seen here at Houston Historic Retail). For years, like its more famous Kirby location, House of Pies rocked out on Westheimer 24 hours a day. COVID reduced it to 7am-11pm daily, but now it's open until midnight (not much of an improvement).

BB's Tex-Orleans / 6154 Westheimer Road
Sharing the parking lot with House of Pies is BB's Tex-Orleans. This restaurant opened in 2014. Previously it was occupied by El Taco Tote (2009-2013) and Ninfa's before that (1976-2006). Going back even further it was Charlie Brown's Coffee Shop in 1970 (it had a few other Houston locations at the time, and no, it had nothing to do with that Charlie Brown), with Jones' Apothecary (not a restaurant) from 1961 to 1970. The restaurant shape is unusual, with what appears to be a large area stretching back along Briar Ridge Drive.

Lambo Chinese Buffet / 6159 Westheimer Road
While it doesn't take up the whole space (part of the space is the Lambo Ballroom, accounting for part of its massive 17k square feet footprint), this large Chinese buffet (also known as Lam Bo), opened as Gadgets Cafe back in August 1984. Gadgets Cafe was actually a new concept by Warner Leisure Inc. (a subsidiary of Warner Communications, a precursor to today's mega-corporation Warner Bros. Discovery), and featured, if this article is to believed, "Sammy Sands", a piano-playing animatronic for adults. Unfortunately, Gadgets Cafe was not too long for this world. An ad appeared in July 1984 for hiring, but at the same time, Warner Leisure was shut down by Warner Communications on the basis that it was unprofitable. Within six months, the restaurant had come and gone, despite sister restaurant Gadgets Restaurant & Bar (with a different logo) opening off of FM 1960 West. By early 1986, a new restaurant was hiring in the spot, Devon Bar & Grill. No doubt it was hard to maintain the space (if it even opened at all). By 1988, it was Landry's Evangeline Cafe & Bar, with Devon's disappearance unknown.

Given that Landry's Evangeline was listed like any other Landry's at the time, it appears that there was a restaurant (Evangeline) that was bought by Landry's sometime later, though all records suggest that it was a Landry's concept the entire time. 1988 is also the first newspaper mention of the events space, known as "The Tarpon Room". Sometime around 1990, Landry's Evangeline closed, and in 1991, Austin-based The County Line opened a location here. (They opened another location at 13850 Cutten Road around the same time).

In fall 1994, Wok Bo Chinese Buffet, with two other locations (10725 W. Bellfort and 12270 Westheimer), opened their first location here. The restaurant became Lambo in 2002.

BRIARHURST DRIVE to SOUTH GESSNER ROAD

Siena on Westheimer Apartment Homes / 6263 Westheimer Road
Formerly The Plaza on Westheimer Apartments, these apartments (643 units as of 2007) have a leasing office on Westheimer (which also hosts other offices, looks like). The apartments were built in 1975 (unfortunately, couldn't find any results before 1979...possibly an address switch) and by the late 1970s were part of the Oakwood Gardens Apartments (as Oakwood Gardens-Westheimer), same as 7979 Westheimer below (going by Oakwood Gardens-Westover Square) at the time. The Oakwood Gardens family offered a variety of amenities including a "free Sunday brunch" in the late 1970s, and like other apartments in that time, did not allow children or pets. In 1992, the apartments became Westheimer Oaks, leaving the Oakwood Apartments name behind for good. When it was sold again in 2007 it was Sendera Briargrove.

Hal Martin's Watch and Jewelry Co. / 6266 Westheimer Road
This was the site of Briargrove Conoco Service Station in the late 1950s and became Frederick Radial Tire Company by 1971. By 1974 it had become American Tire Company, by 1982 Crain Tire Company, and by 1984 Delta Tire & Wheel Centers. By 1986, "Kollision King", Terry's Cleaners by 1988 (ending tire service after a few decades), Flowers Marche by 1989, and Cut Flower Express in 1990, before finally being razed for a Payless ShoeSource in 1991. It closed around 2006 and Hal Martin's re-occupied it by the end of the following year.

Palms on Westheimer / 6425 Westheimer Road
Palms on Westheimer is an interesting apartment complex, it was built as a larger commercial/residential development, consisting of two retail buildings (still with the name of Mariner's Village today, see this 2019 leasing flyer, archived from here. Mariners Village (the apartments) featured "exciting seaside living for discriminating adults"...except for the fact there was no seaside to be found (not even an artificial one), unless you count palm trees near the swimming pool. In 1989, the ~800-unit apartment complex was renovated and renamed as Mariner Point Apartments (though had been planned to be renamed Galleria Pointe Apartments) and received its current name between 1997 and 2008.

Couture Pedi-Spa / 6441 Westheimer Road
While Couture Pedi-Spa is just one of the many businesses in the "west" half of Mariners Village it's for the computer store that used to be here and caught my eye, leading me to create a full tenant story for this location for what I can find. In 1976, it was the home of San Felipe Arts & Crafts but later that year became Clocks Incorporated, selling exactly what it sounds like. The next reference for the site comes several years later in 1984 with Softec Computer Center opened the site as another location, with five other locations in the Houston area already. Around 1986, Softec went out of business and closed all of its locations (it also had locations in Austin and the Dallas-Fort Worth area) but soon after 1987, CompuRite reopened a few of the locations that Softec left behind and in summer 1987, 6441 Westheimer was now CompuRite, which specialized in NEC, Hewlett-Packard, and Apple Computer products and by summer 1990 added Hyundai (computers, not cars) to their authorized dealer lineup. By August 1990 CompuRite had changed its name to CompuRize and in spring of 1992 closed up shop, being replaced with Sports Express by the end of the year. (The other CompuRize stores eventually became Computize and hung on for longer, but that's another story.) By the late 1990s this was the home of Lifestyle Futons and by 2008 had been vacant for a while. Couture Pedi-Spa opened in 2015.

There were a couple of others I found interesting too. Wingstop, the chicken wings chain, has been here since 2003 at 6447 Westheimer. The first store to open here was Royal Clock in 1974 (grandfather clocks, seems clocks for a thing in the 1970s for this center), by late 1976 it was "Mr. Fish" (a tropical fish and accessories store; Royal Clock actually moved down the street to 10001 Westheimer), and in 1985 a brief time as "Wigs-N-You". Alfa Sheepskin Company, selling genuine sheepskin coverings for cars (not coverings, installation needed) opened in 1986 and operated for a few years, then "Lone Star Games & News" (possibly also known as "Video Tron", nothing beyond tax records here), and around 1990-1991, it was "Tux 'N Tails". In 1992, it opened as Condom Sense, "the city's first safe-sex boutique" and had not only what you'd expect to find but free pamphlets, including "facts on venereal diseases, HIV and AIDS". Later renamed as "Condoms Make Sense", it closed in the early 2000s.

There's also a diamond-shaped sign along this stretch as well, which was for "The Diamond Jewelry Factory" (at 6463 Westheimer Road). The Diamond Jewelry Factory closed in the early 2010s and Diamond Jewelry's name was kept on the sign a few years after its closure; today, the signage is used by the current occupant of 6463 Westheimer, adult retailer Adam & Eve. As of this writing, there's also "We're-Dough" ("A Lebanese Bakery") at 6437 Westheimer.

Polekatz Houston Gentlemen's Club / 6340 Westheimer Road
The oldest business for this address (building built in 1968) was a Shakey's Pizza Parlor (aka Shakey's Pizza Parlor & Ye Public House, at least in its later years) from 1970 to 1984 and it appears that it was expanded at some point. In 1985, it became Bogey's, which started its lineage as a strip club. The Bogey's ad below appeared on my old HAIF thread, though the image broke a while back (back when Dropbox had public folders). The dark skin on the model is from the way the ad copied, not actually how she looked.



By January 1993, it was going under the name Baby Dolls (the ad here is from 1993, the ad above is from 1989). Since some ads mention "formerly Bogey's", it probably just changed names at some point (as seen by the ads, has the same phone number too), and in fall 2002 it started as advertise as "The New Baby Dolls". An article in January 2004 mentioned that "a walk through Baby Dolls reveals the owners' intent to upgrade the club from its raunchier atmosphere of a few years ago" with new flooring, walls, and decor. After July 2005, references in classifieds to Baby Dolls disappeared, though "Baby Dolls II" operated from 2005 to around 2007. From 2007 to 2010, it was "All Stars", another strip club (as per Google Earth Street View). A renovation to the exterior to the building preceded the next tenant (in 2012?), Scores Houston. In late 2018, Scores closed and was quickly replaced by Polekatz.

Ruchi's Mexican Grill / 6410 Westheimer Road
Ruchi's Mexican Grill, another formerly 24-hour operation (until around March 2020, now open until just 2am) on Westheimer, aka Ruchi's, aka Ruchi's El Rincon De Mexico Grill.

According to HCAD, the building was built in 1972 but by 1974 it was a new location of Northwest Savings Association, which gave away free jars of Smucker's jelly upon opening as a gimmick.

It's not clear when the location ceased being a bank, but it was a Schlotzsky's Deli from 1991 to 1999, and opening in December 2000 was the Millennium Cafe. "The eclectic fusion menu features sushi, Thai, lettuce wraps, and udon noodle soups", the Houston Chronicle reported, but it didn't last. Ruchi's has been in the spot since around 2002. It shares its parking lot with KFC.

KFC / 6420 Westheimer Road
A Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant has been at this site since at least 1972. The building has been rebuilt since then.

Vivid Gentlemen's Club / 2618 Winrock Blvd.
From 1981 to around 2002, this was Caligula XXI, a strip club, and still holds some architectural features of its original tenant (false embedded columns on the side of the building, originally colored bronze, statues, etc.). The fact that it was endorsed by Penthouse suggests a connection to a film Penthouse founder Bob Guccione produced, Caligula, an erotic film on the eponymous Roman Emperor, notorious for both his unmatched hedonism and cruelty (as well as nearly bankrupting the Roman Empire). An ad for Caligula XXI (also from the same HAIF thread above is here. "The Penthouse Club" (another Penthouse connection!) was here from 2002 to 2012, and Vivid has been here since 2012.

Water Mill Apartments / 6505 Westheimer Road
This apartment complex was built in 1965 as the French Quarter apartments and received its current name in 1987. Read more about it on the separate page made before the current format.

Hawaiian Bros Island Grill / 6522 Westheimer Road
For years (back to the 1970s), the intersection of South Voss and Westheimer had a gas station at the northeast corner, Dennis Mobil Service Center by name. However, in 2008, the gas station and service center was torn down (Mobil Services Center), but in 2014 construction went underway for Pollo Tropical, a Florida-based chain owned by Fiesta Restaurant Group (not related to Fiesta Mart), which opened in December 2014.

Despite offering a good product (in my opinion, although the Texas Pollo Tropical stores were not quite as good as my Pollo Tropical experience in Florida), Fiesta Restaurant Group decided that the chain wasn't working out in Texas and would close the unit in April 2017. Not too long after the Pollo Tropical restaurants were dead in Texas (for more more information, see "Pollo Tropical's Texas Vacation"), Fiesta decided to convert it to one of their better-known brands, Taco Cabana. After being stripped of the blue-and-green décor for something more resembling a Taco Cabana as per the current store prototype, the store opened in early 2019. However, this was an even bigger failure than what Fiesta thought Pollo Tropical was, and it closed in January 2020 with 18 others. The current restaurant opened sometime around December 2021.

6509 Westheimer
The sign says 6509 Westheimer but the tenants here have different addresses. One in particular, Dumpling King, a restaurant at 6515 Westheimer has been here since 1991. Now that's staying power! The lot also has a large, overly tall sign. This used to be a large electronic sign that was grandfathered in due to ordinance changes (as per what I've found via resarch/asking) and was later leased to Select Jewelers. Select Jewelers closed in 2019 and it now belongs to Vivid Gentlemen's Club.

WSS / 6545 Westheimer Road
A branch of this inexpensive shoe store chain (currently owned by Foot Locker) opened in July 2022. This was previously a CVS/pharmacy (operating from around 2005 to 2019), and before that, was a parking lot for Pino's on Hillcroft (just south of it) as well as 2715 Hillcroft (Midas Muffler). Before THAT, the large parking lot at the corner of Hillcroft and Westheimer was Dunkin' Donuts (at 6525 Westheimer) and Taco Bell (6523 Westheimer). Dunkin' Donuts' last appearance in the paper (in ads) was 1987, and Taco Bell lasted until the mid-1990s.

SOUTH VOSS ROAD / HILLCROFT AVENUE to STONEY BROOK DRIVE

In this section, there are two large strip centers. Westheimer Crossing was built around 1995 while Westhill Village on the south side of the road was built in the late 1960s. First we'll take a look at Westheimer Crossing, which was originally anchored by Albertsons (one of the first stores in the main Houston area) and Venture. Obviously, neither of those stores anchor the shopping center anymore.

I extensively modified this slightly-inaccurate PDF (now offline) into one of my own creation that lists the tenants and their addresses, which fills in places the other one doesn't. Some further information on current tenants is below.

• The Taco Bell (7506 Westheimer) has had a Pizza Hut co-brand since at least 2007. Between 2020 and 2021 it was remodeled to its purple-and-white color scheme (the exterior remained the same, just repainted); however, the Pizza Hut co-brand was lost in this process.
• Collector's Firearms (7626 Westheimer) used to be a Barnes & Noble, which opened in 1995 but quietly closed around the end of 2018.
• As the map implies, the Xfinity by Comcast (2616 S. Voss) store used to be Blockbuster. (Still has to do with watching television).
• REI Co-op (branded as REI at last check, as the company was known for years until relatively recently) moved here in 2003, about the time the Katy Freeway location was forced out due to construction. It occupies half of the former 7530 Westheimer building (the other half of the building was taken by Linens N Things, now home to a DSW). The old tenant of 7530 was Albertsons, opening October 1995 as its first Houston (non-suburban) location, and closed in early 2002 (the other major Houston grocers had larger, better stores nearby). The former Albertsons (#2705 and originally #4043) is also known as "Westheimer Crossing II". REI's address is 7538 Westheimer today.
• A 105,000 square foot Venture discount department store opened at 7600 Westheimer in 1995 and closed in 1998 after the parent company went out of business that year. (Kmart bought most of the Texas Venture stores in 1997 but this wasn't one of them). In May of 1999, it reopened as a Expo Design Center, a (now defunct) Home Depot concept based around home decor, and closed in the summer of 2005. In July 2006, a new Academy Sports + Outdoors opened to replace it. Academy doesn't use all the space, though, about 16,000 square feet remains vacant and up for lease.
• Leaders for Life Martial Arts (7560C Westheimer) used to be Mattress One.
• 7606 Westheimer was originally the site of "Daily's Min-Mart" (built c. 1970) which was acquired in 1971 by Baby Giant, a local convenience store chain (though its Montrose branch lingered on for many years). It was the only developed site on that side of Westheimer between Voss and Stoney Brook (excepting a business at Stoney Brook). In 1972 after a short time as Baby Giant it became Sterling Home Electronics. In the late 1970s it would become Circle Pawn Shop which would be until around 1994. McDonald's redeveloped the site soon after, and lost its mansard roof sometime around 2011-2012.
• One of the few Houston Boston Market stores was at 7616 Westheimer Road and opened in 1995 (from what I can tell, as "Boston Market" and not as their old name "Boston Chicken"). Houston Historic Retail has reported the Westheimer location closed in 2023.
• That "Thai Spice Buffet II" (7606 Westheimer) is none other than Rice-born Thai Spice. Their website can be found here. The attached "KungFu Kebab" (since closed) may have been part of Thai Spice after all based on the Yelp reviews.

Westhill Village's side has The Vitamin Shoppe at 7501 Westheimer Road. This opened in 2003 on the site of a Diamond Shamrock (1988-1999). The Diamond Shamrock replaced an even older station (Tenneco Oil according to a 1981 directory). 7519 Westheimer, at the east end of the center, was once home to a Furr's Cafeteria but has been Office Depot since 2002. It also served home as a McDuff Electronics as well from c. 1986 to 1995. Further down is Ross Dress for Less at 7601 Westheimer, the main tenant in the complex.

Originally, this was a Weingarten, opened here in 1967 (store 70, and it still owned the strip center up until its acquisition in 2021 by Kimco). In 1984 the Weingarten grocery store was sold to Safeway (#1126) which was later converted to an AppleTree (1989) before being sold to Gerland's Food Fair (#74) in early 1994. In mid-1996, perhaps because of Albertsons, Gerland's closed in favor of Gerland's Food Fair #75 at 9371 Richmond (which closed a year later). For a few years after that it was an upscale kitchenware store called Kitchen & Company before becoming Ross in 1999. In front of the center is Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers at 7531 Westheimer.

HCAD seems to indicate Raising Cane's merely renovated (and downsized) the old restaurant that was here originally in 1995, but it was opened as Raising Cane's in October 2006. It was only the second Raising Cane's in Houston at the time it opened. It served as Kim Son Restaurant from 1995 to 2005, and Pizzeria Uno from 1986 to 1993. Before that it was a J.J. Mugg's.

AutoZone has been at 7729 Westheimer Road since 2013. It was previously a Guitar Center from 1993 to 2010 (later moved). In the 1980s up until around 1992 it was Oshman's Sporting Goods and appears to have originated as Sage Drugs (a stand-alone drug store owned by Sage and later bought and converted to Walgreens).

Ross Dress for Less / 7601 Westheimer Road
Weingarten opened here in 1967 (store 70, and it still owned the strip center up until its acquisition in 2021 by Kimco). In 1984 the Weingarten grocery store was sold to Safeway (#1126) which was later converted to an AppleTree (1989) before being sold to Gerland's Food Fair (#74) in early 1994. In mid-1996 Gerland's closed in favor of Gerland's Food Fair #75 at 9371 Richmond (which closed a year later). For a few years after that it was an upscale kitchenware store called Kitchen & Company before becoming Ross in 1999. The Ross (and the stores before it) had smaller stores on either end forming a strip center but 7601 is the biggest one there.

STONEY BROOK DRIVE to OLD FARM ROAD

Prime Social Club / 7801 Westheimer Road
The oldest reference for this address was Howard Pool Co. (Howard Pools) from 1964 with another location in town, which by the early 1970s had a display pool model to show to potential customers. By the mid-1970s, Howard was part of the Anthony Pools empire, and by 1978, the Howard name was phased out in favor of Anthony Pools.

Anthony Pools (or, in at least the case of a few ads, "Anthony Spas", an alternate name of the business) continued to operate the shop until it changed hands in the early 1980s and became a series of pool-related shops, including Dolphin Pool Care (1983), Spa Master (1984), and Heartwood Spas (1985) but by 1991 the building was demolished and it was an outdoor lot serving as ABC Flowers, and all indications say this is what it was until the mid to late 2000s when it finally closed.

It took over three years to build the redevelopment, a shiny new upscale sushi bar and nightclub called "Fish & The Knife". The restaurant opened in February 2014 and closed in November 2014, with the nightclub portion lasting slightly lasting longer, but it too closed, ending Fish & The Knife's miserable existence. Churrasca Brazilian Steakhouse out of Lubbock opened in summer 2015 to replace Fish & The Knife, but it too failed, closing in 2017 (still more successful than the sushi bar) and the building finally assumed its current presence—the Prime Social Club, a "membership" poker club which works around Texas gambling laws (money required to sit at the poker tables, and the house can't take profits) to create a sort of Vegas-like experience on Westheimer.

Valero / 7802 Westheimer Road
Originally this was constructed as an Amoco station in 1960 and became Bishop General Tire in 1968. (It's a little hard to tell but this picture looks like it may still have Amoco gas). By the mid-1980s it had become Autotint, an auto window tinting business, and in 1987 it was demolished and rebuilt as Stop-N-Go, becoming Diamond Shamrock/Stop-N-Go by the late 1990s, then Valero/Corner Store by the mid-2000s, then Valero/Circle K by 2019. A 1989 article indicates that this one of the first Houston convenience stores to carry Evian bottled water and whole-grain foods.

Molina's Cantina / 7901 Westheimer Road
7901 Westheimer's first commercial use was back in December 1966 when The Gardens, a landscaping shop, opened. The grand opening special was a free jade plant, but less than a year later, The Gardens went bankrupt and was liquidated. The Godfather Restaurant & Club opened at the site in early 1973 serving Italian food. It too lasted less than a year. In August 1974 Adam's Apple opened.


The logo of Adam's Apple looked a bit like a logo of a more famous company out of Silicon Valley; however, this company was still a few years away from being founded. It also was short-lived (closing around in 1975), with the next restaurant, Boston Sea Party, opening in 1976. Boston Sea Party was part of International Multifoods Corporation, a company that grew out of flour milling, and like its main competition Pillsbury and General Mills, had taken an experiment into restaurants. Boston Sea Party was more successful than anything in the space before, and lasted long after Multifoods announced pulling the plug on it. According to Wikipedia, Houston Business Journal reported the restaurant closed abruptly in December 1994. In 1995 Molina's Mexican Restaurant (now Molina's Cantina) opened at the site, moving from 7933 Westheimer.

7979 Westheimer Apartments / 7979 Westheimer Road
This apartment complex has been going under this name since 1997 and was built in 1971. In this linked article, you'll see the previously-written Carbon-izer article on the apartments and the decline the apartments went through before their current state today.

Old Farm Road's stoplight also is connected to an exit to 7979 Westheimer. The "southbound" lane into the apartment complex suggests it was not always an exit-only road.

8098 Westheimer Road
This former Walgreens opened in 1998 at the same time as the strip center next door, but it's been shuttered since at least 2018.

OLD FARM ROAD to LAZY HOLLOW ROAD

In this section, we'll discuss a bit about Dunvale Road. Approaching the stoplight, on the north side there's Spec's Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods (8102 Westheimer)—this has been Spec's since December 2000 when it opened. Next door is Bank of America (8108 Westheimer), which was vacant land until Bank of America built a branch here in 2009. Next to that is Fogo de Chão (8250 Westheimer Road). Opened in 2000, this upscale Brazilian steakhouse chain features all-you-can meat and spawned a number of imitators. There's also a strip mall with CubeSmart Self Storage behind it. CubeSmart (8252 Westheimer) was constructed as Bullseye Storage in the early 2000s but had adopted the CubeSmart name by January 2014.

On the north side of the road (at the Dunvale stoplight) is now a Home Depot, but this was originally a Super Kmart that faced south. More information about the Super Kmart can be found at Bluepages Wiki, which reads, as of this writing, "Kmart #4973 was a Super Kmart Center discount department store located at 8400 Westheimer Road in Houston, Texas. The store opened on June 26, 1995, with a formal grand opening ceremony on June 29. It was the replacement store for Kmart 4017, Kmart 4236, and Kmart 3153. (...) The store closed on April 13, 2003, and was demolished for The Home Depot 6558 and a strip mall." It notes that it was a 178,158 square feet store. The three Kmarts it mentions (4017, 4236, and 3153) were at 8315 Long Point Road, 8150 Southwest Freeway, and 12151 Katy Freeway, respectively.

After the demise of the store, it was torn down, with the new Home Depot that kept the address and opened in 2005 faced east. As this freed up space in the parking lot, a new redevelopment allowed for a few smaller stores that faced south. PetSmart #1611 (8380 Westheimer Road) was one of them, which opened in fall 2006. Guitar Center (8390) was built in March 2010 in the other space, and despite having a higher address, came before PetSmart in the address order of the street. Close to the stoplight is a closed-down Chase bank branch (8384 Westheimer, closed roughly 2023) and Sonic Drive-In (8404 Westheimer). The Sonic was opened in 2001 on an unused portion of Super Kmart's parking lot, and survived the redevelopment of the store upon its 2003 closure.

The southeast side of the intersection is where it gets a bit more interesting. There's a strip mall here (8383 Westheimer) with a few tenants like Kumar's (Indian food) or Trend Mall, a women's clothing store. To quote one review, "[Trend Mall] is like a mixture of an Instagram boutique, hair store, and fashion nova all in one. Some of the clothes are better quality than others. They offer athletic wear, casual clothes, club wear, underwear, lingerie, denim, and cute comfy lounge wear and plenty of shoes (heels, sandals, cheap off brand sneakers)." Just to the east of that is Workforce Solutions.

Everly Apartments (2827 Dunvale Road) was originally developed as a Sam's Club. It opened in January 1994 (per newspaper ads) alongside the Wal-Mart listed above, and in the mid-2000s the store's parking lot finally connected to the 1997-built AMC Studio 30 to the south of the store.

In 2008, the store was slowly remodeled (and officially opened in August 2008) as "Sam's Club Business Center" (similar to Costco's Costco Business Center). It eliminated several consumer categories (optical, pharmacy, jewelry, apparel, tire and seasonal) in favor of expanded food and business-related options, but less than two years later, Wal-Mart Stores decided it was not in their best interest to continue operating the store, and it closed in January 2010. From 2010 to August 2015, it was a Garden Ridge (renamed to At Home in fall 2014). Within six month's of At Home's closure, the site had been leveled and the construction of the new apartments were well underway.

Just south of it was AMC Studio 30 located at 2949 Dunvale Road, a large movie theater with 30 screens, originally opened in December 1997 (you can also read a bit more here). It was located just south of the Sam's Club, but did not share parking with it--a connection was made in the 2000s but disappeared in the mid-2010s with the construction of Everly Apartments). The movie theater closed for a few months with COVID-19 but the severe damage to the cinema industry had done its toll and as part of AMC's bankruptcy was permanently closed after November 8, 2020. In 2021 it was demolished to create the Dunvale Village gated community.

LAZY HOLLOW ROAD to TANGLEWILDE STREET

Target / 8605 Westheimer Road
For decades, the predecessor address here was a garden center, 8603 Westheimer, and the first one here was Spring Garden Center in 1967, which was renamed Gardenland by the end of the year. By 1973, Gardenland (now stylized as Garden Land) would have five locations (8603 being the original location) and feature an elf mascot. In 1976, it merged with Wolfe's Nursery and became "Wolfe's Gardenland", and featured the elf mascot posing with Wolfe's wolf mascot.

As part of the Wolfe Nursery group, Wolfe's Gardenland was later rebranded as Wolfe Gardenland by 1981 (no word on the actual signage of Westheimer's location) and the elf was gone, and by 1984, it was simply Wolfe Nursery. In the mid-1990s it closed, possibly at the end of the 1994 season, and by 1995, was Rainbow Play Systems (which had three locations in Houston, all of which are now gone, and only a location on Beltway 8 continues to sell the product). The Brookwood Garden Shop (a non-profit disabled adults group) also occupied the space starting around 1999, with Rainbow continuing to operate shortly afterwards. By this time, the vast greenhouses of the original garden center were torn down, leaving much of the space underutilized.

Around 2004, Brookwood stopped operating here and in July 2006, Target (T-2139) opened here. The space where the retail part of the greenhouse was is now restaurants, including the now-defunct Krispy Kreme and Chick-fil-A.

8611 Westheimer Road
The "original" location of 8611 Westheimer Road (Old San Francisco Steakhouse) was just of here at what is now 8571 Westheimer, but this was built as an Arby's, operating from 2008 to around early 2015. It was replaced by a Krispy Kreme that opened in late 2015 but unfortunately closed in September 2022.

8571 Westheimer Road
Despite being a somewhat out-of-order address (it should be in the 8600 block), this small strip center includes Castle Dental, Eskimo Hut, and Nails Life Studio. The latter were vacant for most of the 2010s, though an AT&T store was here in the early days of the strip center, built in 2008. (The AT&T store closed in the early 2010s).

However, from late 1972 all the way to summer 2005 (and demolished within three months), was the original 8611 Westheimer, the home to Old San Francisco Steak House, an 1890s-themed steakhouse. While the chain had its rise and fall, opening and ultimately closing a number of restaurants in other major Texas cities, the original San Antonio-based restaurant still lives on.

Old San Francisco Steak House also gave out Houston tourist maps (similar Dallas maps are known to exist). Some of the (now gone) businesses around the steakhouse are covered in this very document, including BancTEXAS, documented below.

Shell / 8730 Westheimer Road
Splash Hand Car Wash, or Splash Hand Car Wash & Detail as it was known in the late 2010s, operated from around 2004-2005 to 2021. A Shell with a "Dude Stop" sits on the site today. It sits at the entrance to The Preserve Piney Point (8740 Westheimer Road), which will be covered in more detail in a future update to this page.

88twenty Apartments / 8820 Westheimer Road
Originally known as "West & Fondren" when it opened in 2016, this large apartment building replaced two smaller, older buildings. The first of these was a bank. The earliest reference I can find for the "original" 8820 is mention of a bank robbery at Great Southern Bank in 1972, with the bank opening in 1970. By 1983 it was BancTEXAS, which not only expanded the building but survived the oil crash, and in 2000, it became First Bank, which had acquired BancTEXAS. In 2010, First Bank sold the Texas branches to Prosperity Bank. In 2013, Prosperity Bank moved to a new location at 7950 Westheimer, and in 2014, the building was torn down for new construction.

Also torn down for new construction was a restaurant at 8816 Westheimer. Night Hawk Restaurant (also stylized as "Nighthawk") was the first restaurant here in 1972, part of one of Texas' oldest chain restaurants (the last location, later in business as "The Frisco", closed in 2018). Around late summer 1979, Night Hawk closed and the space became "Donovan's" (ad copies mentioned it was a sister restaurant to Harrigan's at 2702 Kirby). By May 1980, it was closed with another restaurant, Cafe Sweetwater (Sweetwater Restaurant) opening in October of that year (a Houston Post article alludes to a "fun sort of hamburger place" after Donovan's, this was likely it). In 1982, it was a second location of Monument Inn (the original location still operates near the San Jacinto Battleground). Owner Richard Tanenbaum then closed the restaurant and reopened it on May 25, 1984 as an original concept, the Atchafalaya River Cafe.

In 1993, RioStar (owner of Atchafalaya) sold the restaurant to Landry's and the restaurant became a Landry's Seafood House. RioStar held onto the 14904 North Freeway location, but it closed anyway.

Landry's Seafood House closed in September 2013 when the lease was lost. It too, was torn down for new construction. The signage was later moved to Sparkle Signs' backlot, where I found it behind a fence in this January 2015 picture. (Its status is unknown today).

As an aside, the thumbnail for our U.S.S. Lexington page is an advertisement for the Corpus Christi location, which still exists.

1st Choice Automotive / 8903 Westheimer Road
Until the early 2000s, this was an Exxon gas station, with it appearing to lose the gas in the early to mid-2000s with Markantonis Automotive (the canopies remained until 2009). It has been 1st Choice Automotive since at least 2007, and in 2009, removed the gas canopies.

Tim Hortons / 8910 Westheimer Road
This is believed to have been built as a Church's Chicken in the mid-1960s and became a Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1982 (many Church's in Houston became KFC for some reason around this time). In the early 1990s it closed and became Window Magic in 1992 (curtains and draperies) before closing in 2011, though the window treatment shop still resembled a former KFC. In March 2012 it reopened as Del Taco, which was supposed to bring dozens of Del Taco stores back to the Houston (and greater Texas) area, but it closed in May 2015, with the Dallas stores going soon after.

The restaurant was renovated and reopened as Golden Chick (the third fried chicken to go in the spot, and arguably the best) in 2016, but it closed in 2019. 2020 brought the opening of 7 Leaves Cafe, a milk tea shop out of the California area, but by the end of 2021, it had also shut down. In October 2023 it reopened as a new location of Tim Hortons but removed the 1980s-style roofing that KFC added but the subsequent restaurants kept in one form or another.

Public Storage / 8989 Westheimer Road
This basic three-story office building from the 1970s was wrecked around 2017 for a large Public Storage facility.

Signature Inn / 9041 Westheimer Road
This motel, tucked behind a strip mall, was built in 1982 and originally went under the name Park West Motor Inn before getting the Comfort Inn branding in 1984. In 1994, it flipped to Days Inn & Suites, but between December 1998 and February 2000 returned to a Choice Hotels banner, this time Quality Inn & Suites, which it still was as of early 2011. By 2013 it became Econo Lodge Inn & Suites, and another stint from fall 2015 to fall 2019 as "Galleria Inn & Suites", the motel rebranded as OYO Hotel in fall 2019. It changed hands again in August 2021 (still branded as OYO, though it might've closed by then). As of late 2021, it was branded as "VUE Hotel" and it appears it opened sometime in 2022. It was rebranded as "Signature Inn" (no relation to the original Signature Inn as documented here) again in spring 2023.

9235 Westheimer Road
This lot holds a Starbucks (opened in March 2014) and Swish Car Wash, the logo of which looks a lot like Cingular Wireless, the predecessor of today AT&T stores. It takes up half of the space (and the address of what used to be Westheimer Park Apartments, demolished in 2009.

Mr. Sticker / 9101 Westheimer Road
This opened as Tune 'R' Up in 1977, but by December 1980, Tune 'R' Up had rebranded to Andy Granatelli's Tuneup Masters. At some point, the name was altered to Tuneup Masters. Sometime in late 2007 it changed hands to Mr. Sticker....though between 2015 and 2016 the name on the garage became "M. Sticker", for some reason.

9292 Westheimer Road
This opened as an Eckerd in spring 2003 (moving from their location at 9523 Westheimer, a strip mall location they had been in since the mid-1970s) and was sold to CVS in 2004. It closed in fall 2022 citing high theft.

H-Town Food Truck Park / 9300 Westheimer Road
This was last used as Mr. Brite Car Wash & Express Lube, with the last advertisement in 1998, and demolished around 2005. It has been rebranded as "H-Town Food Truck Park" though has no facilities and is mostly empty.

Shouha / 9310 Westheimer Road
This restaurant space originally housed an Arby's restaurant back in late 1987. Arby's was a failure at this location (less than two years in operation) and while it had a few unsuccessful runs with other one-offs (Fat Daddy's, Gladstones Grill) it spent several years (1996-2002) as Bell Cleaners, followed by another dry cleaners (Enviro-Clean) until 2006. Pollo Feliz (c. 2007) finally brought it back to restaurant use. In November 2016 it became Agu Ramen (or "Agu: A Ramen Bistro"), but by December 2018 had become Happy Teahouse. By March of 2022 it had moved out to a new location, and about eight months or so later became Dimassi's Shawarma & Grill (not to be confused with the buffet restaurant with the Dimassi's name); however, this closed less than a year later and by September 2023 was "Shouha Mediterranean Cafe & Hookah".

Avis Budget Group / 9330 Westheimer Road
This was branded as Budget Car and Truck Rental until the early 2010s when it gained the Avis co-brand on the store. This wasn't a recent buyout, the two companies had been together since 2002 when Cendant Corporation acquired Budget Group's assets, with the Avis Budget Group having been adopted since 2006 (the same year this facility opened) after Cendant spun off its other businesses to focus on car rental.

Your Storage Place / 9333 Westheimer Road
This self-storage center, known as Your Storage Place since at least 2007, has a large, blue sign shaped like a key.

9350 Westheimer Road
The earliest reference I can find is Pier 1 Imports buying the tract back in 1989 (though it's likely the address got transposed and was never recorded); but either way Louisiana-based seafood restaurant Ralph & Kacoo's opened in February 1991. The restaurant stayed open around until the end of 1996, even as the Riverboat Gamblers played jazz every Sunday at the restaurant.

The next restaurant, Water Street Seafood Co. opened in November 1997, a joint venture between Water Street Seafood of Corpus Christi and Luby's Cafeterias, Inc. of San Antonio. In less than a year it closed and was replaced by El Mirage, a Middle Eastern cuisine restaurant. Between November 2001 and March 2002, El Mirage closed and The Sands opened, a Mediterranean buffet restaurant. The Sands operated at least through to the end of 2004. A reference to "Royal Super Buffet" appears in 2007 while Chuy's opened in the summer of 2009, outlasting every other restaurant that appeared before it. Chuy's was incredibly popular, I remember going to eat there with my cousins in the first month or so and had lines out the door (I don't remember much of the Tex-Mex restaurant that we actually ate that other than there was a large cut-out of then-President Barack Obama in the restaurant).

But all good times to an end...Chuy's quietly closed in fall of 2022 without replacement.

The Diamond Hill Apartments / 9411 Westheimer Road
Compromising of three buildings, three stories each, and 304 units altogether, these opened as Commander's Palace back in late 1968 (though the address was originally 9401 Westheimer before changing within the first year). It is unknown when it changed names but it was still Commander's Palace as of 1989.

These days, Diamond Hill is a problem with crime and maintenance issues, contributing to the skyrocketing crime in the immediate area.

NTB Tire & Service Centers / 9450 Westheimer Road
This opened in 1996 as "National Tire Warehouse", the name of the chain at the time.

Burger King / 9519 Westheimer Road
Burger King has been here since 1989 and has seen many interior and exterior updates, as well as various advertising campaigns over the years.

Diamond Modern Furniture / 9524 Westheimer Road
Pier 1 Imports opened here in 1990 with its distinctive brown-and-blue buildings, but closed in 2009. After a repaint of the front (but not the roof), Mattress 1 One operated here from 2013 to 2019. It is now Diamond Modern Furniture.

ALDI / 9525 Westheimer Road
This ALDI (opened late 2019) replaced an Ace Hardware and shares the address in this shopping center with a Party City. Originally (from 1974 to 1982) this was a Safeway.

Lankamex / 9531 Westheimer Road
The building currently housing Lankamex (aka Lanka-Mex) was built in 1975 as per HCAD but it was a UtoteM in 1970, and the aerial photos show that the "original" building (built sometime around the mid-1960s) is the same shape as the current building.

In 1979, it was the newly opened "Soapsuds Sawdust & Scents", featuring "soaps from around the world, candles, and gifts; largest selection of soap dishes in the city". Sometime around 1980 or 1981, SS&S closed and by September 1981 it was 74 Ranch Beef, a specialty meat market. In 1985, 74 Ranch Beef closed this location and it briefly became Window Tint U.S.A. before ABC Video, an "adult video movie" store (as in, pornos) opened.

Sometime around 2013, ABC Video was replaced with another store, High "N" Dress, which was more of the same, a "smoke shop" selling everything from vaping products to sex toys, as well as body piercings and tattoos.

In 2018, Street View showed the "lingerie" part of the sign was removed, with the store advertising tacos through interior signage, but still with "Smoke Shop" and "Piercing" on the outside, and while the High "N" Dress signage remained, a smaller banner for Lanka-Mex was added near the ground, featuring Mexican and Sri Lankan grocery products.

The banner for Lanka-Mex read that they had the usual convenience store fixings (lotto, beer) while also advertised being a smoke shop, and the facade on the store removed "Lingerie" but left "Smoke Shop" and "Piercing". As recently as when this page was originally made, the store's website advertised "Tatoo (sic) Service". By 2021, all pretenses of it being a "smoke shop" were dropped, and the windows reflected this (check Google Maps Street View).

It's almost as if High "N" Dress was bought and then slowly legitimized later...

9535 Westheimer Road
This building has two tenants currently, Marco's Pizza and ACE Cash Express. The former is located in a Domino's Pizza (#6657, relocating from 9512 Richmond in 2001 and relocated to 9296 Westheimer in 2016), with Marco's arriving in 2017 (and using the Domino's "diamond"). ACE Cash Express came in-line in 2008.

TANGLEWILDE STREET to SOUTH GESSNER ROAD

On the north side is Woodlake Square, so let's take a look at the south side first. From east to west on the south side there's a McDonald's at 9601 1/2 Westheimer Road. Despite the strange "half address" (the main 9601 address is taken up by Taco Bell, which replaced a gas station in the mid-2010s), McDonald's (#3232) has been flipping burgers (figuratively at least, not since they introduced clamshell-style grills) here since 1991, and has been renovated since. Next door is LA Fitness (9603 Westheimer Road). From 1958 to 2008, this address was the home of Westchase United Methodist Church with the first building being built in 1960 and the sanctuary coming in 1964. At the end of 2008, the church was sold to developers, and by early 2011 the building was leveled, with LA Fitness coming in by 2012 in a new building (and integrating the parking lot with the then-former Borders). The "then-former Borders" at 9633 Westheimer started out as Houston Jewelry & Distributing Co.. Despite its name, it was a full catalog showroom with sporting goods, electronics, and camera departments, from 1973 to 1992. In 1994, this became Borders Books & Music (doing a major facade upgrade at the same time), which lasted up until January 2010 (ahead of the chain's demise). It served as "Rug & Decor Outlet" for a while (at least through 2016) before that closed. It finally gained a permanent tenant again in August 2020 with a Tesla service center.

Finally there's Shipley Do-Nuts (9643—has been in this location since 1978), Jack in the Box (9645 and another long runner, here since 1975), and a Chevron gas station at the corner (9655, but I don't have much information on it at the time).

Getting back to Woodlake Square and including some parts from the Gessner page (more on Woodlake Square to come in future updates), the main tenant here is Randalls at 9660 Westheimer Road. Randalls anchors Woodlake Square, a development that was redeveloped in the early 2010s, with the office buildings behind the shopping center torn out and replaced with a new apartment complex. The "original" tenant here was Handy Andy, which opened here in 1973 (it co-developed the center) but sold most of its stores to Randalls to in 1979, when it exited the area. As with other ex-Handy Andy stores, Randalls soon upgraded the store to a "Flagship" Randalls store, and the old logo (where the word "Flagship" was emphasized over Randalls) was here as of 2009.

Sometime in the late 2000s or early 2010s most of the shopping center was torn down for redevelopment, with the buildings in the back replaced for a new apartment building and a new Randalls store. Upon reopening, then-owner Safeway DID brand it as a "Randalls Flagship" when it reopened around 2011 but by that point the name was meaningless (it remains on the building). Since then, this is now the "headquarters" of the Houston-area stores after the main Houston division (which also included the Louisiana Albertsons) consolidated with the Southern (Dallas) division in the late 2010s. Two restaurants to cover in more detail include Rudi Lechner's at 2503 S. Gessner and El Tiempo Cantina at 2605 S. Gessner Road.

Rudi Lechner's started out as "La Quiche" in 1976 (focusing on a variety of quiche dishes) but soon evolved into "Rudi Lechner's La Quiche" and then simply "Rudi Lechner's", a German restaurant. By 2008 Lechner was still working there and in those days you could get a huge $12 lunch special with Wiener schnitzel, Polish sausage, sauerkraut, roasted pork loin, red cabbage, and lots of potatoes (thanks to the Fearless Critics restaurant guide for the tip). Nearby is El Tiempo Cantina. The original restaurant that was here (then 100 Woodlake Square) was a tiki hut-themed location of Don the Beachcomber, opened in the mid-1970s but was closed and torn down within a decade for Flakey Jake's, a hamburger restaurant similar to Fuddruckers, but it closed in September 1986 just after about a year of operation. From 1989 to 1999 was Marco's Mexican Restaurant. From approximately 1999 to 2004 it was Tortuga's Coastal Cantina. In 2004, it became a new location of Amazon Grill and after it closed, became a location of El Tiempo Cantina in August 2014, which it still is.

Both restaurants are some of the few buildings to survive the rebuilding of Woodlake Square. Further up South Gessner is Ventura Lofts (2401 S. Gessner Road) This upscale apartment building built in 2008 was on the site of an office building owned by Exxon. A 1986 article mentions that the building changed hands from Esso Eastern to a newly-formed subsidiary, Exxon Coal and Minerals Company. Esso Eastern had moved to New Jersey as part of a reorganization under Exxon (why they continued to keep the Esso name on some subsidiaries after the big Exxon rebranding in the early 1970s is a mystery). Another article mentions the three-building complex was built around 1972 for Esso Eastern. Pearl Woodlake (2033 S. Gessner Road), a 376-unit apartment complex composed of four 4-story buildings (plus a massive parking garage) and built in 2015, replaced an apartment complex called Quadrangle Townhomes (also known as Quadrangle of Woodlake Apartments) which were demolished in 2013 (the Yelp page is still up). It also changed the address—Quadrangle had the address of 2021 S. Gessner Road. The Quadrangle was built as an office/apartment development in the early 1970s, with the offices having the address of 2055 S. Gessner and formally known as The Tenney Building by the early 2010s (due to its largest tenant, The Tenney School, which relocated out of the building upon demolition). The former space of the office component is still vacant.

Beyond this is the Westchase area, which will be covered in a different page. Be sure to visit the Updates page for updates to this page in particular...

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