Welcome to the West Houston Roads page! This takes inspiration from West Houston Archives, which sadly doesn't really exist anymore. This page took a little while to really start up and was planned over a year ago. It adds Highway 6, Westheimer Road (west of Beltway 8), the western Beltway 8, and other roads. Version 1.0 is what you see here.
10839 Bellaire Boulevard CubeSmart Self Storage / 13340 FM 1960 West Extended Stay InTown Suites / 9155 Highway 6 North Charleys Cheesesteaks / 8491 Highway 6 North Dog Haus Biergarten / 8422 Highway 6 North Fuddruckers / 7250 Hwy. 6 North Black Rifle Coffee Company / 7086 Highway 6 North JCI Grill / 6614 Highway 6 North Shipley Do-Nuts / 6400 Hwy. 6 North Houston Garden Centers / 6072 Highway 6 North Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers / 6015 Highway 6 North Captain D's / 5854 Hwy. 6 North Louisiana Famous Fried Chicken & Seafood / 5436 Hwy. 6 N. Little Caesars / 4998 Highway 6 North Texaco / 4974 Highway 6 North 4330 Highway 6 North Bear Creek Inn / 4202 Highway 6 North Waffle House / 1015 Hwy. 6 Sewell Mercedes-Benz of West Houston / 1025 Highway 6 South Joe V's Smart Shop / 6100 W. Fuqua Street Chick-fil-A / 2267 West Sam Houston Parkway North Palace Inn Blue / 1307 West Sam Houston Pkwy. N. The Phillips 66 Company / 2331 CityWest Boulevard The Fusion at Rye 3030 / 3030 W. Sam Houston Pkwy. S. Alief Center for Talent Development / 14411 Westheimer Road
BELLAIRE BOULEVARD
Bellaire Boulevard is a long road from its genesis at the western border of Southside Place (where it becomes Holcombe Boulevard, but keeps the numbering system) and continuing to Grand Parkway, its disparate segments finally connecting. This page will cover Bellaire Blvd. west of the Southwest Freeway, but there was only one entry completed by press time.
This was built in 2000 as an Eckerd (on the site of an old Shell station dating back to the mid-1970s) but CVS wasn't interested in the site, converting it briefly but closing it by fall 2004.
From 2005 to around 2009 this was Advance Auto Parts, which, unusually, featured Chinese characters on the signage! Around late 2014, Isingtec (moved from 11360 Bellaire) opened as "Super Isingtec". Super Isingtec, which apparently, was not a pun on "surprising tech", operated here until around 2020. The place certainly looked interesting, with a color scheme of lime green and orange), featuring "FURNITURE • APPLIANCES • MATTRESS • KARAOKE" (one of these is not like the others)...but the reality was mostly just a furniture store (nothing "super-ising"). Isingtec still has two locations in Garland and Duluth, GA.
In 2021, it was renovated into a new strip center building ("Bellaire Crest"), with "The Hotpot Ice Cream" being one of the first tenants.
FM 1960 ROAD WEST (WEST OF HIGHWAY 290)
This small section covers FM 1960 Road West from Northwest Freeway to Hempstead Highway. Not covered are the items already mentioned in the Northwest Freeway page, namely the Shell station, the Travelodge (and the defunct pad in front of it), IHOP, Texas Roadhouse, or any other restaurants/hotels on the south side of FM 1960...which really leaves only CubeSmart. The rest of the road heading east can be seen here.
Trying to put the pieces together has been a bit of a challenge. The largest building (13328) opened in 1980 as a Woolco and shut down less than three years later when F.W. Woolworth closed the chain.
In 1984, it reopened as Home-Pro Warehouse, which was soon rebranded as Builder's Square (following the purchase of the chain by Kmart Corporation). In 1994, Builder's Square closed and was replaced by a store closer to Willowbrook Mall (see the FM 1960 West page).
The smaller store space was 13330 FM 1960 West and was J. Brannam, an off-price clothing store also owned by the company. This would become Academy sporting goods from 1983 to 1995.
The modern self-storage center takes its address the office—a former Grandy's that did operate in the 1980s but it's unknown when it closed (possibly early 1990s). In 1997, it became Devon Self Storage, later In & Out Self Storage (c. 2003), U-Store-It (2006), and finally CubeSmart (2013).
HIGHWAY 6
I do not have the personal connection to Highway 6 as depicted here; I have never even driven on the section of the road with the exception of a short excursion to visit an El Pollo Loco back in 2015. I had intended to make a full page on Highway 6 between Beltway 8 and Northwest Freeway, revisiting one of the site's inspirations, "West Houston Archives" (the site still exists but lacks a domain name and links within the website don't work). What I wanted to do was a total re-invisioning of the page, adding my own personal touch, while still holding true to its original vision. A few entries were completed as such with most of the photos are his, not mine--and are indicated as such. The italics indicate original text from WHA. In the end, I decided not to pursue a complete "re-do", but I didn't throw out what I had. That's why a few entries are different.
The March 2009 picture from John seen here has this InTown Suites in a slightly different light (hilly and grassy) that makes it seem more like a motel in a New England seaboard town or perhaps Galveston. The Houston Highway 6 InTown Suites was opened in 1998.
This former Carl's Jr. opened in January 2011 as the first Carl's Jr. restaurant in Houston (at least, not in decades), and initially set record-breaking sales when it opened. Ultimately its success was fleeting and closed sometime in late 2019. Charleys Cheesesteaks (of mall food court fame) replaced it by fall 2022.
This Fazoli's restaurant operated from 2000 to somewhere around 2009-2010 and operated as El Rey from 2011 to around 2019. Dog Haus opened in 2020.
The Copperfield Fuddruckers, shown here in 2007 (John's picture) originally opened in 1996. Sometime between 2008 and 2009 it was painted burgundy from what is depicted in the photo. While it placed a bit back from the road, the parking lot to Fuddruckers and others in the strip can be accessed from the signaled intersection connecting to Sugar Ridge Drive. There was another picture on WHA where you could see both the Copperfield McDonald's and Fuddruckers restaurants from the road.
Black Rifle Coffee Company opened its first Houston-area location in this former Boston Market store in March 2022. The original picture can be seen below.
Copperfield Boston Market, built in the mid 1990's, shown here in 2009.
Better known as James Coney Island, the Copperfield location of this dying hot dog chain is still in business. This location opened in 2000.
The chronology as told by John below is a little off. Toddle House seems to have gone into 1997 before it closed, and the business that opened in 1999 was "Rosie's" (probably remembering "Roses" wrong). In 2003 Rosie's closed, with "Koffee & Stuf'd Biscuit Company" operating from 2006 to 2010.
The Toddle House was a restaurant chain that originally began in the pre-war days of the 20th century, as sort of a coffee and breakfast diner. In the 1980's, the franchise was reborn as a chain of small diners that followed an architectural design similar to the originals. A few were built in the Houston area around 1984, and this building at the corner of SH-6 and Kingfield used to be one of them.
My family used to eat here on weekends sometimes when I was a kid, but despite their great food menu, even as a child I remember their service being incredibly slow. My dad got quite impatient on more than one occasion, and finally, we stopped going to Toddle House. However, the diner remained open until the early 1990's, and then closed down. It sat vacant for a few years, and then became a flower shop simply labeled with a sign on the roof that read "ROSES" in bright red letters. A patio cover was also installed that was not part of the original restaurant.
By 2001, the flower shop was vacant, and the building began to deteriorate, suffering from broken windows and rust bleeding down the roof edges. Around 2006, it was rented out to become a small coffee and biscuit shop. This venture failed, and so did the one after that, and by 2011, the building had been renovated to become the new home of Shipley Do-Nuts, who moved from their original location across Kingfield Dr.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 04 Pic 14.jpg: The abandoned Toddle House, as it looked in March 2005. Notice the non-original patio covering over the front of the building.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 04 Pic 15.jpg: The Toddle House from the side, with patio covering, March 2005.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 04 Pic 19.jpg: Looking inside from one of the broken windows, March 2005.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 04 Pic 20.jpg: Another inside shot, March 2005. Notice the flower shop's wall decor.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 04 Pic 22.jpg: Early 2006 photo after a construction crew removed the patio covering.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 04 Pic 25.jpg: March 2009, the building operating again, as The Coffee & Biscuit Co. (or, rather, "Koffee & Stuf'd Biscuit Company").
At the southeast corner of SH-6 and West Little York, there used to be a small apartment complex. I can't recall the exact name, but it was built in the late 1970's or very early 1980's, and only consisted of a few buildings. The apartments suffered at least two major fires that I remember just from growing up in the area, and in the mid 1990's, they were torn down. This garden center was established shortly after, and has remained Houston Garden Centers since the mid to late 1990's. If you visit this store, you can still see plenty of evidence of the old apartments. There are entrance driveways and curbs marking the parking areas, and remnants of old power boxes and meters staked into the ground.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 05 Pic 02.jpg: Houston Garden Centers at the southeast corner of SH-6 and West Little York, March 2005.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 05 Pic 03.jpg: The curb of the old apartment complex parking lot, March 2005.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 05 Pic 04.jpg: Another view of the old curbs inside Houston Garden Centers, March 2005.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 05 Pic 05.jpg: Houston Garden Centers, Jan. 2012.
Raising Cane's #99 opened in February 2012 (the website used to have opening dates but they no longer do). Quite impressive considering the state of the building in (presumably) early January.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 05 Pic 13.jpg: Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers under construction on the west side of SH-6, Jan. 2012.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 05 Pic 14.jpg: Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers under construction, Jan. 2012.
The Church's Chicken [pictured] on the left started off as a Dairy Queen in the early 1990's, then the name changed to Dairy Country, a similar venture. It became a Church's Chicken/Weinerschnitzel around 1999 or 2000, and several years later, the Weinerschnitzel menu was eliminated. I remember buying a good amount of chili cheeseburgers here in my first months on my own.
The same view of Highway 6 and Timber Creek Place Drive from October 2010 can be seen here.
From what I can tell, it really did open as a Church's Chicken/Weinerschnitzel combo in 1999 (the two chains did not share ownership), and after dropping the Weinerschnitzel menu fairly early on, closed around 2016 and reopened as Captain D's in January 2018. I can't find much on the store pre-Church's though.
This restaurant was originally a Whataburger that operated from the late 1980s to around 2016-2017. The current restaurant opened in 2018.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 06 Pic 01.JPG: This photo is from October 2010.
Long John Silver's opened c. 1980 and closed sometime around 2005. El Pupusodromo (#4) operated from 2007 to 2008. Little Caesars has been here since around August 2009.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 06 Pic 28.jpg: Bear Creek Long John Silver's, March 2005. This was one of the first fast food restaurants in the Bear Creek area, dating back to the 1970's. My family ate here a lot when I was a child, and the place closed down shortly after I took these photos.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 06 Pic 29a.jpg: Long John Silver's, March 2005.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 06 Pic 30a.jpg: Long John Silver's, March 2005.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 06 Pic 21.jpg: Long John Silver's, closed in this early 2006 photo.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 06 Pic 34a.jpg: Long John Silver's, April 2009.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 06 Pic 35a.jpg: Long John Silver's, April 2009.
https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 06 Pic 36a.JPG: Long John Silver's, October 2010, now a Little Caesar's pizza takeout.
This was photographed as a Valero in March 2009 (see here) with Corner Store, and was stated to be a former Diamond Shamrock, presumably with Stop N Go, and indeed, it does have the same Stop N Go architecture. After 2014, it lost the Corner Store name. According to Google, the legal name of the convenience store is "Shree Food Mart".
Fiesta Mart #56 opened here in 2001 as the anchor of the shopping center at the northeast corner of Highway 6 North and Clay Road, but was basically underwater during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and the Fiesta (heavily damaged by flooding) was not reopened. From 1978 to 2001 this was Gerland's Food Fair.
John writes that "this motor lodge used to be Travelodge, which was built over 30 years ago. It is now the Bear Creek Inn [as seen] in this April 2009 photo". The next entry below is Waffle House. Where it becomes Highway 6 (not North or South) is between Addicks Dam and Buffalo Bayou.
Waffle House opened in 1996 as an outlot of the Sam's Club parking lot. The late-2000s construction of the Highway 6 overpass over Katy Freeway made access to it and Sam's Club difficult, and the conversion of the Sam's Club into a car dealership practically cut the Waffle House out except for a narrow driveway near the front.
It's understandable why Waffle House didn't have access to the freeway frontage directly when it was built (still a railroad) but no excuse when the freeway was built.
The Sam's Club here relocated to 13331 Westheimer Road in September 2013 (this store closed in January 2018). In 2016, Sewell Mercedes-Benz opened at the site. The building was substantially modified (including a large new addition in front of it, and a removal of some loading docks).
WEST FUQUA STREET
This entry was supposed to be part of South Sam Houston Parkway West, but other entries as such did not make into Version 1.0.
This was actually planned as an H-E-B since the mid-2000s and dirt work was done so you could actually see the footprint of the store from the air. Not only did not actually open on the footprint that was previously graded, it didn't open as an H-E-B at all, rather, Joe V's Smart Shop, H-E-B's discount grocer concept in 2015.
WEST SAM HOUSTON PARKWAY NORTH (SOUTH OF US-290)
The page where this road is described north of US-290 can be seen here. It becomes West Sam Houston Parkway South at Buffalo Bayou, not Katy Freeway.
This Chick-fil-A restaurant opened around July 2018 and largely replaced the Flamingo Gardens plant center. Flamingo Gardens moved here in early 2000 from its old location at 9600 Katy Freeway (9600 Old Katy Road) and was between 2121 W. Sam Houston Parkway N. and Hammerly Boulevard (except for a small portion where Jack in the Box was). By early 2015, they scaled back their operation to the "back" part of the property and it appears that they closed after the 2016 season.
The former Flamingo Gardens was completely replatted. The front part of the property became a Chick-fil-A, but required shaving off part of the parking lot from 2121 W. Sam Houston Pkwy. N. (Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America, now known as Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas Incorporated). In exchange, Mitsubishi built a new section of parking lot in the back part of the property, while leaving part of the property undeveloped for drainage reasons. Flamingo Gardens still operates a location in Galveston.
This replaced a small shop (Man's Best Friend) at 10727 Clarborough Place, a dog grooming, training, and boarding center, which was evicted and demolished in January 2014. Within a few months, construction was underway for Palace Inn Blue (Palace Inn Blue CityCentre), the more "upscale" version of the notorious local motel chain (opening in 2015).
WEST SAM HOUSTON PARKWAY SOUTH
The road becomes West Sam Houston Parkway North north of the Buffalo Bayou.
Technically, it has a non-Beltway 8 address, but Phillips 66 moved here from the location listed from four separate offices in July 2016. The move happened four years after ConocoPhillips (which was formed with a merger between Conoco and Phillips 66 in 2002) spun off "The Phillips 66 Company" to handle their downstream assets (as ConocoPhillips continued to focus on the upstream side of the business).
Like its twin off Northwest Freeway, this started out as Homestead Village in 1994, a chain of extended-stay efficiency apartment hotels and in 2001 it was sold to Accor, the parent company of Motel 6, which coverted them to Studio 6. While Studio 6 as a chain is very much alive, both of the former Homestead Village locations were sold in the early 2020s to become studio apartments. As an apartment complex with studio apartments, The Fusion at Rye 3030 opened in 2022.
WESTHEIMER ROAD (WEST OF BELTWAY 8)
Our lone Westheimer Road entry (more were planned, but this was the only one done in time)
In July 1993, Venture (#122) opened a new discount department store here. Kmart (under the "Big Kmart" brand) replaced it and all but three Houston stores bought the stores in 1997 and closed it in summer 1997, reopening it in November 1997 under its own name. In April 2003 it closed and reopened in September 2004 as Burlington Coat Factory. Burlington (as it was later known) closed in 2018 and the building was sold to Alief ISD in 2019, with a renovated structure opening in 2021.
West Oaks Mall is across the street at the southwest corner of Highway 6 and Westheimer. It's unfortunately a dead mall (the 2010s were not kind to it) and its anchors when it started out were Foley's, Mervyn's, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Lord & Taylor.
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![the Bear Creek Inn [as seen] in this April 2009 photo](https://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/Album 07 Pic 12a.jpg){kind=link}