Added: 122 W. Crosstimbers Street, Resource One Credit Union, Oak Forest Elementary School, and everything beyond the 6300 block of West 43rd Street (22 entries).
Added (through the Oak Forest Shopping Center section): La Viva (formerly titled as "Berryhill"), Starbucks, Walgreens, Mattress Firm, Oak Forest Neighborhood Library, Village Medical Primary Care, and Kroger.
Updated or Imported via Numbered Exits: HTX Autoplex (formerly titled as "440 W. Crosstimbers Street")
Updated: 120 West Crosstimbers Street (not on Numbered Exits version), Dollar General, Mobil (minor), Iglesia Emanuel Houston, and PetCare Express (minor)
Removed (old order): 508-512 W. Crosstimbers Road (removed for re-doing), Barbecue Inn, Independence Heights Apartments (removed due to Crosstimbers removal), Church's Chicken (removed due to Crosstimbers removal), 1331 Crosstimbers Street (removed due to Crosstimbers removal), and 1332 Crosstimbers Street (removed due to Crosstimbers removal).
Barbecue Inn isn't on this page as it is on The Houston Files, nor what is now Modera Garden Oaks (also covered on The Houston Files).
120 West Crosstimbers Street
From 1975 to 2016 this was Aquarius Awning Corporation (signage still exists), but was also home to the older Jim Miller Industries Real Estate & Investments (~1950-1975), which also had signage. The main building (disguised with newer siding) dates back to circa 1920 as a single family house.
This was a really interesting building, the sort of thing the late Arch-ive would've covered, unfortunately, it got flattened in 2019 with the property next door.
122 West Crosstimbers Street
This was last used as Azteca de Oro (#2), a tire shop that operated from 2003 to 2014. It was demolished in 2019, and while I can't build a full tenant history it appears that this building originally served as a small drive-in restaurant in the 1960s and early 1970s.
MP Instrument Company / 125 W. Crosstimbers Street
Electronic and engineering repair for large companies, as well as a distribution center for those parts. The company website says it was founded in 1962 at the "request of" Southwestern Bell and officially incorporated in 1964. It's hard to say if it was ever officially part of Southwestern Bell/old AT&T but it certainly isn't today. (Southwestern Bell spun off as an independent company in the mid-1980s, and eventually bought AT&T, taking its name).
Gatlin's Fins & Feathers / 302 West Crosstimbers Street
For years, from about 1957 to 1997, this restaurant, Mexicatessen (also known as Mexicatessen Herreras, operated at this small building off of West Crosstimbers. It finally closed around 2007, and remained vacant for about 7 years before becoming Texas Enchilada House in 2014, but less than a year later became Landa Café (which also appears as Landa Cafe', or even "Landa Caf'" in many sources). It closed in fall 2018 but the signage remained up. Around June 2019, it reopened as Arturo's Mexican Cafe (even making it in a local piece about new restaurants) but by September 2019 it was already closed (per Yelp).
After sitting vacant for a few years, it was announced to be the location of Gatlin's Fins & Feathers, a soul food restaurant with other ethnic influences. It opened in July 2022.
The Wealth / 422 West Crosstimbers Street
From 1999 to 2016 this was the home of Direct Air Compressor Rebuilds, also known as Direct A/C. After it closed, the sign stayed up for a few years before it was renovated in 2018 into "The Wealth" (events space, open 2019). It appears that "The Wealth" was always just an events space, despite tax records indicating it was supposed to be "The Wealth Bar & Lounge". Records prior to 1980 can't be found.
Flying Saucer Pie Company / 436 West Crosstimbers Street
Flying Saucer Pie Company has been here since at least 1975. 1967 is the first year in business, it's very likely the building is the same.
HTX Autoplex / 440 West Crosstimbers Street
ABC Automatic Transmission was here for years, since at least 1990, probably further back. Around 2021 it closed and was replaced by Heights Upholstery (auto upholstery) and repainted the building with some ugly murals on the garage doors, but it seems like as of September 2022 it already moved out ("For Lease" signs up, et cetera). HTX Autoplex filled it in within a few years (car sales).
Residence at Garden Oaks / 500 West Crosstimbers Street
Unremarkable 98-unit apartment complex unit built in 1972. It has gone under a few names, including "West Crosstimbers Apartments" to just "Crosstimbers Apartments" by 2011. In 2014/2015, it was repainted and rebadged as "Residence at Garden Oaks Apartments". Originally the parking lot spilled out onto Truman Street and Fenn Street; however, these were later fenced off and is now controlled by an electronic gate.
Mister Car Wash / 640 W. Crosstimbers Street
Mister Car Wash dates back to 1973 (one of the earliest locations), though has obviously upgraded its appearance several times since.
La Viva / 1201 West 43rd Street
As we move into the stretch between Ella Boulevard and Oak Forest Drive (jumping past several blocks of single-family residential homes), there are two main shopping centers with a lot of other properties on the site, which are partially disconnected. I'll do my best to cover these. 1201 in particular was the home of a early 1970s-era Mobil station before it was torn down for Berryhill Baja Grill. Berryhill opened in 2014 (the "Baja Grill" portion never appeared on the signage and I believe was dropped chain-wide within a few years) but in the early 2020s it closed and was replaced with its current tenant. (This was part of a larger chain implosion, going from 15 stores to just one within the course of about five years).
Starbucks / 1206 West 43rd Street
Starbucks opened in May 2008 as part of a major re-do of the shopping center that started back ten years prior when the other half of the shopping center got wrecked for an expanded Kroger store. It's difficult to explain the changes here but I have a PDF of both centers (which are not divided by 43rd Street, but rather east and west).
Collectively, the two shopping centers here have one owner for both sides save for the section at the northwest corner of Ella Boulevard and West 43rd, along with some separate parcels that aren't owned by either. To demonstrate what I'm talking about, I have the "main" shopping centers at this PDF (archived from here) with the Ella side here (archived from this link).
Walgreens / 1215 West 43rd Street
The Walgreens at 1215 West 43rd Street also chopped off the east end of the southern end of the shopping center when it was built in 2002. The drug store has had a presence in the area since 1984 (originally located across the street).
Mattress Firm / 1347 West 43rd Street
This retail space dates back to 1960. It was originally Gordon Baines Tire & Appliance, then Northwest Hardware (changed hands between 1966 and 1969 and operated until at least through 1977). This in turn became The Avenue (c. 1986-2011, plus-sized clothing) and briefly a Verizon Wireless store (for a few years) before Mattress Firm Oak Forest opened in 2016.
Oak Forest Neighborhood Library / 1349 West 43rd Street
This small city library branch was built in 1960 with a renovation and expansion completed in 2012.
Village Medical Primary Care / 1351 West 43rd Street
The earliest record I could find for this was a Fantastic Sam's haircut shop in 1986 but by 1990 had become a bank (United Savings), with Washington Mutual in the spot in 2004 (it became a Chase after the late 2000s collapse of WaMu). Between September 2016 and May 2017, Chase relocated about a block away (to 4320 Ella).
Kroger / 1352 West 43rd Street
Kroger was actually my "main" grocery store for about a year. It was branded as a Signature store upon its opening in 1998 to the late 2010s. The construction of the Kroger was a significant change to the north shopping center strip. Before the Kroger construction in the late 1990s, there were two small strips and one larger strip with Kroger (which bought the store from AppleTree, formerly Safeway, in 1994). The redevelopment expanded the first building, tore down the second building, and half of the third. The "third" building was later redeveloped into the "Ella at 43rd" plaza.
Resource One Credit Union / 1400 West 43rd Street
This credit union replaced a small strip mall and opened around 2009, give or take a year. I looked into this for a different site but the property was once the home of an abandoned gas station pad and a run-down strip mall, the latter of which was home to a community theater called Theatre Suburbia. Theatre Suburbia re-located in fall 2008 to 4106 Way Out West Drive and construction on the credit union began soon afterward.
Oak Forest Elementary School / 1401 W. 43rd Street
This school originally opened in fall 1948. The original school and later expansions were rebuilt around 2003.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Premier Properties / 1803 West 43rd Street
This is housed in a very obvious former Taco Bell building, which operated from 1973 to around 1990. Even imagining it as a Taco Bell, it feels a bit isolated from other fast food restaurants and traffic.
Dollar General / 1804 West 43rd Street
Family Dollar was replaced Dollar General between 2016 and 2018. This was almost certainly one of the Dollar Express-owned stores that was spun off by Dollar Tree in 2015 and operated as Family Dollar until Dollar General bought the spin-off company and converted the stores. An October 2017 photo shows Family Dollar closed and a banner announcing a Dollar General coming soon. Around the time the store converted, Manna Thrift Store, located to the left of the store at 1806 West 43rd Street, closed. Family Dollar had been here since only 2001.
Mobil / 1807 West 43rd Street
The main store here was built as a 7-Eleven in the mid-1980s but sold to Stop N Go, which was converted to Corner Store in the late 2000s. It seems to have suffered an identical fate to the former Corner Store at Valley Mills and Memorial in Waco, where the Corner Store got Circle K promotional signage but in the end removed both the Corner Store sign (no CIrcle K branding) and the Circle K promotional material. Like the Waco store it also got a new ExxonMobil brand name.
As of April 2022, there's a vacancy (L&M Cleaners at 1805 W. 43rd) to the left of the convenience store, and to the right is Nails By Katherina at 1809 W. 43rd Street.
Iglesia Emanuel Houston / 1845 West 43rd Street
This hasn't been a retail store in years. It opened as Henke & Pillot (later converted to Kroger), which closed in 1975 (see HHR, talking about the OTHER former Kroger).
T & T Washateria / 1859 West 43rd Street
T&T Washateria has been here since at least 2005 (as that name). There were formerly some palm trees between the laundromat and the street, but these perished in 2021.
MytiBurger / 2211 West 43rd Street
The original MytiBurger location opened in 1967 and is one of only two in Houston (others were opened in the 1970s but failed in the 1980s). The other location at Kempwood appears to be semi-independent. (For example, they serve breakfast, the 43rd location does not).
PetCare Express / 6220 West 43rd Street
The numbering jumps up around the bayou to the 4000s (guessing it's compacted due to the way the numbers are laid out) and has several blocks of more residential, but numbering continues west. This early 1970s-style building most recently had "Donalds Donuts" (not related to the Bryan-College Station chain of the 2010s). PCE opened in January of 2014. Prior to this, it was Mary Lee Donuts since 1977 then Donald Donuts starting around 2000. While it was originally a Texaco station (and has not been one for many years), the pumps were visible up until around 2007.
Valero / 6450 West 43rd Street
This Valero/Circle K was a former Valero/Corner Store (it was a Stop N Go before that). The Circle K conversion in the late 2010s made the Circle K more prominent. (Some Circle K stores have dropped the gas brand entirely but it's still a Valero as of summer 2025).
The Toddler House / 6606 West 43rd Street
The Spring Branch branch of The Toddler House has been around for years, but sparse newspaper records only can find mention of it in 1992, where it received less than stellar reviews from the Texas Department of Human Services. Whatever the case, changes they've made still allow the center to keep operating, it seems whatever the latest changes they made according to Google reviews keep parents happy.
7170 West 43rd Street
According to a sign out front as of June 2025, this warehouse houses Tazmanian Freight in suite 100, Kroger Company in suite 100 and 350 (local delivery, it appears), Colony Hardware in 200, Serendipity Wines in 250A, and Thermory in 300.
7250 West 43rd Street
This warehouse, according to Google Maps, has Fommy, Soflowtx, and Crate Warehouse.
U-Haul Neighborhood Dealer / 8805 Clay Road
This isn't a "full" U-Haul facility, it's a converted Texaco gas station, which it still was in the late 2000s. It had a garage component behindit instead of a larger convenience store and appears to have operated as an independent briefly, however, I can't really tell when exactly the gas component (to the public) shut down completely. The pumps seem still to work be there, presumably for their own vehicles.
Clay Road Baptist Church / 9151 Clay Road
This church's parking lot shares a stoplight with South Pinemont Road, the continuation of Pinemont Road, another east-west road in the area that bends south after Hempstead Road.
Super K / 9235 Clay Road
This gas station is now self-branded (as Super K) and formerly branded as Coastal until 2021 (the Coastal name dated back to at least 2007). Originally a Sigmor Shamrock and converted to Diamond Shamrock by 1992, the convenience was a Super K Food Mart since at least January 2002 (store #1, in fact...while there was still Super Kmart in Houston).
Jack in the Box / 9310 Clay Road
This Jack in the Box dates back to 1997.
ABM Tire Service / 9455 Clay Road
This former gas station (the name is not on the actual building, and has changed business names a few times since the late 2000s) hasn't been a typical "food and fuel" stop since the mid-1990s, and dates back to the 1970s.
InTime / 9801 Clay Road
This self-branded gas station and convenience store was built in the mid-2020s. It used to be a small building housing the old location of PPLCARS, which moved to FM 1960 West in the early 2020s. The old gas station there became a car dealership (see the FM 1960 West page while the old car dealership here became a gas station.
Star Stop / 10231 Clay Road
Midwestern chain Bucky's (not to be confused with Buc-ee's) opened several Houston stores in the late 2010s. This was one of them, but in the end, the Houston stores were sold to Star Stop (shortly after Bucky's was purchased by Casey's) just a few years later, and this one was no exception.
Four Points by Sheraton / 11191 Clay Road
"Four Points by Sheraton Houston West" opened as Sheraton Houston West in 2008. Around 2020 it closed and reopened as the lower-cost Four Points by Sheraton brand in 2022.
Taco Cabana / 11305 Clay Road
The Taco Cabana at the southwest corner of Clay Road and Beltway 8 has been here since 2004. Despite being next to the freeway, the sign has always been at street level, not easily visible from the highway.
Shell / Church's Texas Chicken / 11778 Clay Road
This Shell gas station and Church's Chicken (Church's Texas Chicken, but as of 2025 still has the older name and logo) has been here since at least 2007. Not too far from this (the Brittmoore intersection) it descends into the Addicks Reservoir area, which is basically a big retention pond.
Los Cucos Mexican Cafe / 16216 Clay Road
After another jump in the block numbering, Los Cucos Mexican Cafe just west of Highway 6 North has the big arch over the parking lot like the 249 location does (not "just like", but these features are rare).
Ashton Gardens / 18002 Clay Road
Wedding venue and events hall. A small chapel is on the site.
Randalls / 18322 Clay Road
Former Albertsons (#2762, opened 1999) later sold to Randalls a few years later. It does pretty well despite (or because of) the isolated location. (I thought Houston Historic Retail had a post dedicated to this store, but I guess not).
Chevron / 18324 Clay Road
Built as a Chevron/Stripes in the 2000s (with Laredo Taco Company), this was sold to Ice Box around 2013-2015, so it never got a chance to be a 7-Eleven.
Sunoco / 21751 Clay Road
Going down a bit further, however, this Stripes/Chevron later got Sunoco gas branding when Sunoco bought Stripes, then became a 7-Eleven (for the convenience store part—gas is still Sunoco) when Sunoco sold the chain to 7-Eleven. It still has Laredo Taco Company.
Tim Hortons / 21811 Clay Road
The first Tim Hortons in Texas opened here in September 2022 as a stand-alone, new-build store.
Amazon HOU5/HOU9 / 22525 Clay Road
This large Amazon facility opened around late 2020 or very early 2021, right at the time Amazon was taking advantage of the situation going on that crippled traditional retail.
Kiddie Academy of Sunterra / 27878 Clay Road
We skipped around a lot but this is the last non-residential Clay Road address, shortly after it ends at Schlipf Road.