AkzoNobel - Houston Plant / 6001 Antoine Drive
This facility was built in the late 1960s as an annex to Matcote Co. Inc., a Houston-based protective coatings company which had a small facility at 5810 North Houston Rosslyn Road, which soon moved to this location (it is unknown when they closed the North Houston Rosslyn Road facility) and expanded again in the early 1970s.
A 1979 article goes a bit more into detail what Matcote did, which was not make paint but rather protective coatings for industrial use. In 1980, Matcote was purchased by UK-based Courtaulds d/b/a International Paint, but expanded the facility, adding another warehouse in 1982 and in 1985 opening a powder coating facility. During this time the Matcote name disappeared and was replaced with the Courtaulds Coatings name through the 1990s (following a reorganization at Courtaulds that spun off its textile business). In 1998, Courtaulds merged with Dutch-based AkzoNobel and the plant reverted to the International Paint name again, though the plant has been branded as AkzoNobel since at least 2007.
Nearby is De Soto Street, which has two blank spaces where apartments used to be. At 5626 DeSoto Street was Candlelight Trails Condominiums, built in 1979. In 2007, the city evicted these condominiums due to "substandard living conditions" but they weren't demolished until late 2008. Nothing has replaced them, and it remains an empty lot with blank outlines where the buildings used to be. Further down the street is another housing complex that was later demolished, Oakbrook Apartments was built in 1980 and abandoned by city decree in December 2008 but they weren't demolished until July 2016, almost a decade later!
Harris County Annex 38 / 5815 Antoine Drive
This was built as an H-E-B Pantry Foods in 1992 and operated as such until 2003. A few years after it closed it was expanded and reopened as "Harris County Annex 38", a government building with a variety of services and offices inside.
5153 Antoine Drive
This was a Kroger ("Superstore" model, store 160) from 1975 to around the mid-2000s (Fallas Paredes leased part of the store in February 2007, so it was closed by then). By April 2008 this was divided between Fallas Paredes and 99 Cent Only Stores (with a "Watermill Express" water kiosk in the parking lot). By 2015, this was now a vacancy on the south end of the store, YouFit Health Clubs, and King Dollar on the north end. This arrangement would be kept until 2020, and by 2022 the entire building was vacant again before Value Village opened a store in the former King Dollar later that year.
It should be noted that Fallas Paredes and YouFit used the 5151 Antoine name, while 99 Cent/King Dollar/Value Village, despite having the smaller store space, used the numbering from Kroger.
5130 Bellaire Boulevard
Originally opened as a Weingarten supermarket in 1959 and serving as three other supermarkets (particularly Randalls, which it operated as since 1994) before its permanent closure in 2021, I've written more about this defunct supermarket here, where I not only talk about the store's history, but my brief career there.
Dunkin' / 5406 Bellaire Blvd.
Dunkin' opened as Dunkin' Donuts way back in June 1966 as the first Dunkin' Donuts in Houston (the "Donuts" was dropped by 2020, though this store still has the Dunkin' Donuts name).
Pollo Campero / 5616 Bellaire Blvd.
The first Pollo Campero in the U.S. was in Los Angeles and beat it to the market by several months (opening in April), but this was the first Pollo Campero restaurant in Texas and opened in December 2002. This building started out as a Sizzler Steak House in the late 1960s and closed in 1979, reopening as New Peking (Chinese restaurant) soon after. This finally closed around 2001.
Fiesta Mart / 6200 Bellaire Blvd.
Fiesta Mart #7 faces Hillcroft and opened as Globe Discount City back in 1961 as the second Globe discount store in the Houston area. In 1978, the store closed, though the former food store, now branded as Rice (which operated them) continued to operate until it too closed shortly afterward. From 1979 to 1981 it served as FedMart, and in 1982 became Fiesta.
99 Ranch Market / 1005 Blalock Road
Built as a large, suburban (and semi-upscale) Fiesta Mart in January 1990, this store closed in December 2007. The official reason was the construction cutting off a substantial part of parking but there were other circumstances believed to have been involved. In November 2009, it reopened as 99 Ranch Market, which looks to have reconfigured the floorplan by incorporating an Asian supermarket-style food court.
Sonic Drive-In / 1100 Blalock Road
This Sonic restaurant has been here since late 1994.
11Eleven Apartments / 1111 Blalock Road
Blalock Woods Apartments (initially "Blalock Woods Home Apartments", with the novelty of house features, like real garages, washer/dryer connections, fireplaces, and other touches) was originally built in 1972. In the late 2010s it was renamed to "11Eleven Apartments".
Cedar Branch Apartment Homes / 1207 Blalock Road
After being known as simply Blalock Apartments from its opening in 1970, around 2018 it assumed its current name.
H Mart / 1302 Blalock Road
Operating as "Super H Mart" (the largest H Mart in Houston, but the one in Austin is far larger and not branded as "Super" anything), this opened in 2008 and features a number of smaller food court tenants and Asian-French bakery Tous Les Jours. From 1987 to 2005 it was store #38 of Randalls.
In the same shopping center, Bradley's Art & Frame (1306 Blalock) has been there since 1988 and features two 1980s-era typefaces on the sign that I can recognize but can't place. You can see some of the other tenants in here (archived from this link).
1400 Blalock Road
This strip mall was formerly anchored by a 24 Hour Fitness which appears to have closed around 2020, and from 1972 to 2000 was Ye Seekers, an organic/health food store. These days most of the tenants are Korean tenants. One recently departed store found in the research of this was one called "Apple Tree Luxury House", with the technical address of 9336 Westview Drive Suite H (9336 Westview was the address of the tenants facing south, like 24 Hour Fitness). It was an accessories shop of some sort, though the Korean characters above the sign, - 사과나무 - only spelled out "Apple Tree". Speaking of AppleTree, its corporate headquarters were on Blalock near here from the 1990s to its final demise in the late 2000s.
The two-story section of the strip center was originally a small office building demolished in the late 2000s.
Bella Springs Townhomes / 1550 Blalock Road
This apartment complex has gone under several names under the years. It opened in 1973 as Blalock Manor Apartments, was known as Cinnamon Trace by 1977, and then Walnut Hill Apartments by 1983. It remained under that name and adopted the current name in late 2015 or early 2016.
There's one tenant that appears to be specifically designed for commercial space (A-208), with Blalock Grocery operating since 1991.
Our Lady of Czestochowa Roman Catholic Church / 1731 Blalock Road
This church was designed for Polish immigrants, and despite the demographic changes in the area most of the site is still in Polish. Once a year, they host a Polish festival on the grounds. It appears it was established in 1979.
1780 Blalock Road
Since 2010, 1780 Blalock Road has been home to Polish Food Store, but the adjacent Polonia Restaurant has been shuttered since 2020. The address has been used for "Uniques Beveled Glass Inc." (1984-1991) and Helweg Safe & Lock/Atlas Alarms (1991-2007) in the past.
Phillips 66 / 1860 Blalock Road
This gas station (built 2009 as a Texaco) features both a full automotive garage and convenience store. In 2022, it was converted to a Phillips 66.
In many ways the Philips 66 is a full circle for the store, in 1982, it was a Philips 66 station as well, shortly before it ceased being a gas station (it was a Ryder dealership by 1985). The last tenant before demolition was Costa Sol Auto Sales & Service.
4580 Blalock Road
This warehouse used to be the home of soda/juice concentrate company Sunny Sky Products until April 2016.
Clampitt Paper Company / 4707 Blalock Road
Clampitt Paper Company makes customized paper products, and has been here since 1984.
11035 East Freeway
Kroger operated at this location from 1979 to 2014 and was scheduled to become a Bravo Ranch. At some point later, Fiesta bought the chain and continued remodels, but it was scrapped after Hurricane Harvey, and the vacant supermarket continues to sit to this day.
Blue Bayou Cafe / 12008 East Freeway
This was Bennigan's from 1980 to 2008. By the end of 2009 it was operating as Chula's Sports Cantina, and within a couple of years (by 2014) had become Crazy Alan's Swamp Shack, a seafood restaurant specializing in the bounties of the Gulf Coast and parts surrounding it. This included "mudbugs" (crawfish) when in season. Sometime around 2018 it was retooled into Blue Bayou Cafe, same owners.
12001 East Freeway
This started out as Target (T-66) and operated from September 1978 to 1999. From 2001 to 2004 it was Garden Ridge (the short timespan being a victim of its 2004 bankruptcy). Burlington (formerly Burlington Coat Factory) takes up most of the space today (opened 2007, though probably oversized for the format Burlington has today) with Family Thrift Center (opened 2011) taking up the remainder of the space. In 2019, a BreWingz restaurant was constructed in the parking lot and uses the same address.
12010 East Freeway
This opened as a Jojo's restaurant in 1979 but by 1983 became Pappas Seafood House & Oyster Bar (later just Pappas Seafood House), which operated for the next thirty years. In 2014, it was converted into a new concept, Pappas Meat Company, but in September 2016 they pulled the plug on it. It was converted into Dot Coffee Shop, another Pappas concept, but by February 2021 it closed as well.
12201 East Freeway
Fiesta Mart #10 opened in 1984 but has been closed since Hurricane Harvey in 2017. A report from 2021 says that the store was to reopen but that was not the case.
China Star Buffet & Grill / 12621 East Freeway
Golden Corral originally operated here from 1991 to 2011 (moved to 14010 East Fwy.), while China Star has been here since 2012. In 2017 Jason's Deli was built in a portion of the oversized parking lot.
I-10 Royal Inn / 12860 East Freeway
While it has received its share of repaints over the years, this small motel was originally known as Bayou Motel, was built in the early 1960s, and has just about 16 units.
Studio 6 / 13213 East Freeway
This sits under a massive "MOTEL" sign advertising $39 single rooms (long obsolete, it hasn't changed since at least 2008). Originally built as Northshore Motor Lodge (with a club and restaurant) when it was built in 1960, it was later Interstate Motor Lodge from at least 1994 to the late 2010s and has been Studio 6 since the late 2010s.
Academy Sports + Outdoors / 13400 East Fwy.
This was a Wal-Mart from 1988 to 1995 and Academy relocated here in 2002 (its low store number, 9, suggests it jumped around quite a bit before landing here). It's not clear if anything was here in the interim.
Walmart / 13750 East Fwy.
Built in 1995 to replace the store at 13400 East Freeway, until a 2011-2012 renovation, this was a regular non-Supercenter location badged as "Wal-Mart". This changed with a renovation, which added the Supercenter grocery section, though the square footage of the store wasn't significantly expanded.
Golden Corral / 14010 East Fwy.
This Golden Corral buffet restaurant was built here in 2011 and relocated from 12621 East Freeway.
3008 Ella Boulevard
This was built as Prudential Insurance's North District Office in the mid-1960s and from the late 1970s to 1980 was Gent's, a men's clothing store. It seems to have been a few other smaller tenants in the interim, including ABC Personnel and The Travel Booth, but EZPAWN operated here from 1992 to 2019. Like other EZPAWN stores, it had a loan service adjacent (this one badged as "EZ Money") but was shut down in 2015 due to its predatory loan practices. By late 2020 the building was renovated and The Halal Guys had taken up residence in one half of the building. Layne's Chicken Fingers opened in early 2023 (not quite open at press time).
Dunkin' / 3011 Ella Boulevard
Currently this is the home of a Dunkin' but the 3011 address was once twice the size and occupied by Ella Square apartments. Ella Square opened in 1964 as a 64-unit apartment complex spread across six two-story buildings at 3011 Ella Boulevard with a swimming pool in the middle of the courtyard. They were originally known as Sekai Ichi Apartments with "Oriental modern" architecture for the first year but I'm guessing the name changed because despite the meaning ("world's number one") it may have just been too foreign for mid-1960s Houston.
After years of decline, the apartments were eventually shut down and demolished in Decemeber 2010 . The Raising Cane's at 3007 Ella (subdivided from the original 3011 Ella) opened in June 2012, with the 3011 Ella address being taken by a Carl's Jr. next to it opened the same year. Between the two restaurants were two tall palm trees, spared from the demolition of Ella Square. In 2020, Carl's Jr. closed, and an ice storm killed the palm trees in early 2021. While the Carl's Jr. was replaced by a Dunkin' (with a Baskin-Robbins inside), the now-dead palm trees were simply removed, ending the last legacy of Ella Square.
McDonald's / 3025 Ella Boulevard
The McDonald's here was one of the first, if not the first, McDonald's restaurants in Houston, opening in the summer of 1972. It has, of course, been rebuilt (at least twice) and features a taller sign visible from the freeway.
Taco Bell / 3034 Ella Boulevard
This opened in 1994 as a redevelopment of a Long John Silver's (1973 to 1994). At the time of the redevelopment, they were not under common ownership.
Shipley Do-Nuts / 3410 Ella Boulevard
This donut shop has original signage ("Shipley's Do·Nuts) and has been here since at least 1970.
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.
Spec's Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods / 2020 Fountain View Drive
Houston's 27th Safeway store opened in May 1974. In 1989, it was rebranded as AppleTree as the Safeway Houston Division was sold. In late 1993, AppleTree sold off most of its stores, and this one reopened in Rice Epicurean in January 1994. In 2012, Rice closed four of its five remaining stores and leased to The Fresh Market, a chain that would ultimately end up leaving the Houston market in 2016. In 2022, 2020 Fountain View finally closed for good and was sold to Spec's, though it kept some of Rice Epicurean's features, like a See's Candies inside. Ironically, the Spec's lacks "Finer Foods" on the facade, which most stores do have.
Guzman Law Firm / 8225 Gulf Freeway
This was built as Randall's Restaurant & Club back in 1973 (not related to the supermarket chain, this one was owned by one Randall Hunt), of which some more information can be found here). In 1988, an EPA agent by the name of David Delitta was killed in a robbery. Drug addict and serial killer Anibal Garcia Rosseau was named as a suspect and was ultimately sentenced to death before dying in prison in 2006. New evidence indicates that Rosseau wasn't the killer. In any case, Randall's closed in 1993 and was replaced by Holbrooks Bar & Grill which operated until 1997, with a third restaurant (Emery's on the Green) opening in 1998 but I can't find what happened to it. Guzman Law Firm was operating in the site within a decade.
V Star / 8440 Gulf Fwy.
From 1974 to around 2010 this was a Luby's Cafeteria (dropping the "Cafeteria" part by the late 1990s/early 2000s) but by 2012 was renovated and reopened as V Star Chinese buffet. The building looks very different compared to its days as a Luby's.
Starbucks / 8515 Gulf Fwy.
I actually have been to this Starbucks before with my sister and the first thing I noticed was that the signage used was recycled from a gas station (while StarbucksEverywhere, which I have used quite frequently with this site, indicates that this coffeeshop opened in October 2007, it does not show the signage. A Shell station previously operated here from 1979 to around 2002.
Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott / 8730 Gulf Freeway
This opened as a Holiday Inn Express in 2003 (Holiday Inn Express Houston-Hobby Airport). It was closed and renovated around late 2013/early 2014 (with an exterior update) when it became its current branding (Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Houston Hobby Airport).
8926 Gulf Freeway
Before it was stripped to foundation itself, this was a restaurant-turned-strip club. It started out as Young's Chinese Restaurant in the early 1980s (circa 1983), briefly became a Chinese buffet in the mid-1990s called Ginger & Spice and in August 1996 it opened as Lucky Dragon Restaurant before it closed in 2006 and put up for sale in January 2007. At this point it became a strip club, though kept the Chinese restaurant architecture. It was initially called Diamond Club South when it opened in 2007 but under the same ownership reformatted twice, first to "Sinfully Young" in 2011, and in fall 2014 became The Landing Strip (closed by September 2016). The last known club was Erotic City.
Almeda Mall / 12200 Gulf Fwy.
A favorite subject of Tori Mask's South Belt Houston Digital History Archive, Almeda Mall has been operating since 1968 and was built as a "twin" to Northwest Mall (including an almost-identical tenant roster). It is currently anchored by a Macy's and Burlington (the latter likely to move out due to it being oversized).
Palm Harbor Homes / 13030 Gulf Freeway
A small location of Palm Harbor Homes is wedged in this small lot, having opened in March 2013 and relocating from 15121 Gulf Freeway.
It's actually off the ramp to go to the westbound Beltway 8 frontage road and impossible to get back on the southbound Gulf Freeway frontage road. Luckily the turnaround at Sabo Road/Hughes Road is not too far away. To see more of Gulf Freeway, see the new South Houston page.
14715 Hempstead Road
Originally appearing on early versions of the Gessner page (removed in Version 3), this was a restaurant located between Hempstead and the railroad, making it one of the only
It's not directly off of Gessner, but it is very visible coming from the north, which is when I first saw this in 2006. The building was built in 1957 and the earliest reference I can find is 1963 with Carl's Bar-B-Que (which eventually moved to Northwest Freeway) and by 1981 it was a restuarant called Buffalo Bill's (which did in fact serve real buffalo meat by 1987, a fact that they advertised). Buffalo Bill's remained into 1990 and sometime between 1991 and 1993 it became Railroad Crossing Restaurant (later Railroad Crossing BBQ). Maybe it actually was the same with the addition of railroad cars placed for dining. In any case, ownership changed and eventually the restaurant closed in 2018 due to owners retiring. There's a Yelp review here too. In 2020 the restaurant was demolished but as of January 2023 one of the rail cars is still there.
Mad Bull / 14114 Hempstead Road
Formerly signed as Mad Bull Club until the latter half of the 2010s, records say that this was an ice cream/hamburger stand back in the mid-1960s and "Lit'l General Drive Inn Grocery" in 1972. It has been Mad Bull since at least 2000. (Full details on the history of this site have proved to be elusive).
Eats Mesquite Grill / 13918 Hempstead Road
This restaurant ("Home of the Famous Mesquite Grilled Ribeye Sandwich") has been here since 2001; it was previously located at 14004 Hempstead Road.
Motts Motel / 13902 Hempstead Road
Motts Motel, also known as Mott's Motel has been around here since circa 1979, though HCAD says 1976.
Jack in the Box / 11630 Hempstead Road
This Jack in the Box has been open since 1997, despite its less-than-stellar location.
Neon Boots Dancehall & Saloon / 11410 Hempstead Road
Same building as the now-defunct 1955 Esquire Ballroom (a country venue in its own right where many country singers once played for the next forty years), this opened as Texas' largest country LGBT bar in 2013, though it seems that they've remarketed it to be simply more "diverse". In 2004, El Fiesta Nite Club opened. By 2009 a successor nightclub, Planeta Rojo, opened, though by 2012 this had closed.
10454 Hempstead Road
According to West Houston Archives this operated as "Regency Car Wash" from 1975 to 2004. Despite crumbling, it retains its original architecture.
10444 Hempstead Road
Formerly the home of Live Oak Bar & Grill, which was described on Yelp as a "mom-and-pop Chili's", operating between 2000 and 2022 (abruptly closed in May 2022).
O'Reilly Auto Parts / 10420 Hempstead Road
Hi-Lo Auto Supply moved here in 1985 from 10106 Hempstead. In the late 1990s it was rebranded as its current name.
Exxon / 9998 Hempstead Road
This Exxon, now sporting a Star Stop convenience store, has been rebuilt twice since 1973. The recent rebuild is from 2019-2020.
9552-9572 Hempstead Road
This entry and the next one was restored from my 290 blog that I operated for a few years and had yet to restore it to the site.
Anchoring one end of a small shopping center facing Northwest Mall (which has a Hempstead address but is covered in the Northwest Freeway page) was Demeri's Bar-B-Q, though the tiny building at the corner of Hempstead Road and Loop 610 was nearly invisible from the freeway. Googling helped find these, but it appears that not all of them were actually active (must have switched addresses). A * means that I've confirmed they were active or recently departed at the time the center was evicted (all had the address of Hempstead Road). You can see some pictures of this strip mall and 9550 Hempstead Road at this page (same place with the Taco Bell/Wendy's/McDonald's/Jack's Carpet pictures). Based on some preliminary Googling from late 2019, here's what was there. More information to come in the future.
9552 - Demeri's Bar-B-Q*
9554 - Space City Tattoo Parlor & Body Piercing*
9556 - MP Healthcare Medical Supply [looked long abandoned by the time center was torn down]
9558 - [unknown, looks like there was a for lease sign]
9560 - Soundwaves [store #8]
9562 - King Street Patriots
9564 - Southern Apache Museum
9566 - Barber Shop & Beauty
9568 - Americana Insurance*
9570 - Smoke Toys*
9572 - The Security Store [address is also Townsley Baugh Design]
9550 Hempstead Road
Before it was demolished in the early 2010s, this was American Wheel & Tire, a stand-alone shop, which was also torn down. Historically (1974-1989) it was a Wolfe Nursery location. During most of the 1990s it was "The Executive" (some sort of strip club, "private nude modeling", "Playmates appearing") but by 2003 it had assumed its last tenant.
8125 Jones Road
This was originally built as a Burger King which operated from 1982 to 2001. In 2004 or 2005 (conflicting reports) it became Snapper Jack's Seafood & Grill which closed in 2016 and briefly becoming a location of Mannie's Seafood before it became BreWingz in 2018. BreWingz shut down by 2021, and it is vacant once more.
Palace Inn / 8135 Jones Road
This opened spring 2016 on the former site of US Auto Center, a small residential house-turned-auto dealer from the early 1990s that fronted Jones Road until around the early 2010s (it also rented U-Haul trucks).
8200 Jones Road
This was built in the mid-1980s as Village Green National Bank but in May 1991 the bank was declared insolvent. However, it quickly reopened as the first Bank of America branch in Texas. The branch closed between February 2022 and February 2023.
The Foundry / 8350 Jones Road
Foundry United Methodist Church was built here in 1982 (though much smaller in its original form), today it is one of two "The Foundry" campuses and still associated with the United Methodist church.
CVS/pharmacy / 8620 Jones Road
This free-standing CVS drug store opened in late 2005, after the Eckerd takeover.
B!G Mart / 9096 Jones Road
The conversion to this gas station brand happened extremely recently within this writing (appears to be maybe 1/23 or around that time). It was previously Circle K (which by February 2022 had taken over the gas brand completely from Valero), Valero/Circle K since 2019, Valero/Corner Store since around 2006, and Diamond Shamrock/Stop-N-Go before that (it originally opened in 1984 as a Stop-N-Go with fuel, though it's unclear if it was self-branded or not). Tax records also indicate it spent time as "Handi Stop" around 1997 but even if it did it reverted to Stop-N-Go by the late 1990s anyway.
ALDI / 9251 Jones Road
At the intersection of West Road and Jones Road, there's a supermarket at every corner, starting with ALDI, which opened in the spring of 2014.
Kroger / 9330 Jones Road
This was one of Kroger's first Kroger Signature stores when it opened in 1994, but by the late 2010s it would drop that branding.
Take 5 Oil Change / 9460 Jones Road
At the direct southeast corner of the intersection is an outparcel that once held Boston Market (Take 5 bought them in early 2021 and tore the entire pad down for a new building and parking lot). Boston Market originally opened in 1997. Records indicate it moved from a store catty-corner.
H-E-B / 9503 Jones Road
This H-E-B opened in fall 2012, replacing a Randalls (#35, later 1035) that operated from August 1985 to January 2010. H-E-B altered the building significantly, such as building out and altering the front (in general, H-E-B is allergic to facades that are attractive and not tacky), and tearing down a strip of stores to the south for additional parking and a drive through pharmacy.
Food Town / 9520 Jones Road
We round out our four corners with Food Town, with a Food Lion being in the spot from 1992 to 1997 when the Texas stores were closed. Food Town quickly reopened it in early 1998.
10535 Jones Road
This was built as Albertsons (#2708) as one of the first locations in Houston (not THE first, but the first wave opening in 1995) but was also one of the first to close, closing around 2000 to relocate to FM 1960 West and Eldridge. After idling for about a decade, this was later sub-divided into smaller tenants.
As of January 2023 these include (left to right) Melange 2 Salon Gallery, Triple Crown Bingo, Dominion International Center Church, and On the Rox Sports Bar & Grill, as well as a few spaces for lease.
10951 Jones Road
This former CapitalOne bank on the south side of FM 1960 was a Blockbuster during most of the 1990s and early 2000s until its demolition around 2004 but it started out as JJ Muggs restaurant until it closed in the mid-1980s. It sits in the parking lot of a center once anchored by Target. For over 24 years Target (T-161) operated at the center (1983-2006) to anchor Steeplechase Plaza until it moved to the corner of FM 1960 and Eldridge. This is also where Jones Road crosses FM 1960 West.
It's Ribs! / 11035 Jones Road
This served as Whataburger from 1982 to around 1994 when it moved to FM 1960 West and Windfern (a more visible location off of FM 1960). Afterward, it served as Schlotzsky's Deli until around 2010-2011, when it moved out. "It's Ribs!" has been here since at least around early 2012.
Sunoco / 11350 Jones Road
Opened as a self-branded Stripes convenience store (which featured "Laredo Taco Company" inside) in early 2014. Later, the gas brand became Sunoco, and by early 2021, Stripes was rebranded as 7-Eleven (LTC is still there).
Habitat for Humanity ReStore / 13350 Jones Road
This opened in 1983 as a Randalls (#25, later 1025) and closed in 2005 during a major store purge by then-parent company Safeway Incorporated. Habitat for Humanity ReStore opened several years later (2011-2012, roughly) but it wasn't until fall 2014 when it expanded to all of the space.
Sesame Hut / 6615 Long Point Road
This narrow warehouse/strip center building has a restaurant in the front of it, formerly from the early 1980s to 2017 it was Sandwich King, but Sesame Hut moved here in the late 2010s with the closure of Northwest Mall. The Chinese fast food restaurant used to have other mall locations and has the original Northwest Mall signage inside the store. It is mentioned on my other blog as part of "Post Oak Mall Stores, 1982-1992", though it's been gone from Post Oak Mall since the early 1990s.
7710 Long Point Road
Originally built as Mytiburger #7 back in 1970, Otilia's Restaurant, a "true-Mex" restaurant operated here from 1992 to 2016, and in August 2017, "The Branch" (a brewpub) opened but closed five years later.
7960 Long Point Road
This opened as Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market (#3578) in summer 2002 and remodeled in 2009 into a new concept store aimed at Hispanic customers, "Supermercado de Walmart". However, it was not a success and closed in 2014. As of early 2016, it has been sub-divided into smaller stores including a Dollar Tree and a Goodwill.
8315 Long Point Road
This opened as a Kmart (#4017) in November 1962 as one of the first Kmart stores in Texas and lasted up until 1995 when it closed along with two others in favor of a new Super Kmart on Westheimer Road. Later home to a flea market ("New Flea Market") it was demolished around 2014 along with some adjacent retail space and redeveloped into the "The Village at Spring Branch" luxury townhome development. Only a small part of the parking lot remains today.
7taco / 9101A Long Point Road
Originally a Church's Chicken (dating back to 1968!) and converted to Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1982, this was Buffalo Bill's Outpost by 1989, a scaled-down version of the restaurant found at 14715 Hempstead and 1391 West Gulf Bank at the time. By the end of 1994, this was gone. By 1997, it was Old Smokey's BBQ (later Smokey's BBQ). By 2012 it was Tornado Burger, which quickly streamlined as Tornado Taco, and in fall 2020, management changes changed the name to Taco 7, or rather, 7Taco.
It's an extremely vintage-style fast food restaurant (at least on a visit back in the early 2010s) where the dining room and the place where you ordered were two separate areas entirely. It was very strange...
Southern Garden Apartments / 9310 Long Point Road
Also known as Southern Gardens, this apartment complex hasn't changed names or much of itself on the outside since its construction in the early 1970s.
Mobil / 9393 Long Point Road
This Mobil opened in 2020 with a 7-Eleven (ft. Laredo Taco Company) and was a Gulf station back in 1970 (Spring Branch Gulf). In the mid-1970s, it was redeveloped as Turn-Key Auto Parts & Service, and became Dob's Tire & Auto Centers by 1980, which would remain until around 1997. From 1997 to 2009 it was Discount Tire, then became Autos-Mobiles, a used car dealership. Finally, in the late 2010s it was demolished for what it is today.
Seoul Garden Restaurant / 9446 Long Point Road
This long-standing Korean restaurant has been here since 1993. It occcupies half of the former Randall's #4, which was here at 9448 Long Point Road from 1970 to 1987, when it moved south to Blalock and Westview.
Mambo Seafood / 10002 Long Point Road
Mambo Seafood has been here since early 2007, and opened as Youngblood's fried chicken back in 1966. After its closure in 1969, it reopened as Mickey Mantle's Country Cookin' in late September 1969, a restaurant sponsored by baseball star Mickey Mantle but the whole chain quickly failed. Within a year it had become Pryor's Steaks & Seafood (1970-1972), with the successor restaurant (fourth restaurant in the spot in less than a decade), Hoi Toy Restaurant, becoming successful enough to last until 1991, which in turn was followed up by Lucky Garden Chinese Restaurant (1991-1998). It appears that for the next decade, it was vacant, however.
Pizza Inn / 1801 Mangum Road
Pizza Inn features a very tall sign that was meant to be visible to Hempstead Road travelers in the mid-1970s when it was built as a Burger King back in 1974. (The sign is still there, but it's not quite as visible from Northwest Freeway). Burger King closed around 2004 and was replaced with a Pizza Inn in 2005, one of the few stand-alone Pizza Inn restaurants in the Houston area.
1815 Mangum Road
This was built as a Sonic Drive-In in 1993. After it closed around 2014, Checkers renovated it and reopened it in 2015, adding a connection to Pizza Inn's parking lot. It closed around 2019, and reopened as Smokey Cheeks ("BBQ Butt Tex-Mex") which operated from 2020 to 2021. It was renovated yet again as Piper's Cantina, though from what I can tell it never opened after some $80,000 worth of restaurant equipment was stolen around late May 2022.
Prior to Sonic, this was Gibraltar Savings (later First Gibraltar) bank (1976-1990).
Frank's Grill / 1915 Mangum Road
Opened as one of the first Del Taco restaurants in Houston in 1978. In 1988 it sold out to Hartz Chicken Buffet (closed in 1995) and in 1996, Frank's Grill opened.
2005 Mangum Road
This is a recognizable former Red Lobster which operated from 1974 to the mid-1990s. Yank Sing Chinese Buffet, was here from 1996 to 2020.
2009 Mangum Road
This now-defunct Long John Silver's closed 2019 after having operated since at least the 1980s.
2049 Mangum Road
This was an "old school" architecture Taco Bell even into 2008 (with the circa-1985 logo, though it appears it actually opened in 1984) but it closed soon after and became a Subway, which destroyed or covered up most of the original architecture. In late 2022 it closed and was demolished within a few months.
Jackie's Kitchen / 2210 Mangum Road
This former IHOP (dating back to 1977), according to my notes, went independent between 2010 and 2011 and kept the menu (sans IHOP's trademarks) and staff.
2214 Mangum Road
It appears the last tenant, Barney's Billiard Saloon (#3) shut down in 2020 after being open since 2018. Other previous tenants include Barry's Pizza (#4, aka Barry's Italian Diner) from 1990 to 1992, Hooters (1993 to 2004), and Sizzler Family Steakhouse (1976-1988), one of the last Sizzler restaurants to close in Houston (the other was on 1703 Old Spanish Trail).
Sunset Strip / 2425 Mangum Road
This strip club was once a Steak & Ale restaurant, opened in 1972 but closed in 2008 with the rest of the chain. The club appears to have opened in 2012.
Walmart / 4412 North Freeway
This Walmart (#4526, opened October 2010) anchors Northline Commons, a sprawling strip center where Northline Mall used to be. In its heyday, it had Joske's and Montgomery Ward. The latter closed when the chain went bankrupt in early 2001, and the former closed in the late 1980s (notably, it was not converted into Dillard's as the rest of the chain was and instead served as a clearance center of sorts for merchandise Dillard's wasn't going to carry). More on Northline Mall will hopefully be explored, or at least linked to, in a future update.
Fiesta Mart / 4711 Airline Drive
This has an Airline Drive address but it's basically parallel to North Freeway and connected to North Freeway so it will be covered here anyway. In 1973 Gemco opened a 105,000 square feet store here and its peak the chain had five Houston locations before its parent company Lucky Stores announced in December 1983 that they would all close as well as a Beaumont store that opened in 1975. The normal Eagle Discount Centers, Lucky's main grocery operation in Houston, closed a few years later. In 1984, Fiesta Mart opened store #11 in the former Gemco and has been operating since.
EZPAWN / 4714 North Freeway
EZPAWN has been here since 1994 though it was a Sizzler restaurant from 1980 to 1990.
Ventana Gardens Apartments / 5135 North Freeway
One of the first references for this apartment complex comes back in 1965 with the name of "Northline Manor Apartments", which it kept at least up to the mid-1970s with the purchase of the apartments (later references to "Northline Manor" by the 1980s referred to a nursing home elsewhere in the area). It is not known when it adopted its current name.
Gallery Furniture / 6006 North Freeway
The formal opening of Statewide Homes, a lot full of model homes, was in November 1967 and by the late 1970s it was selling furniture…but by 1980 it was closed, reopening in 1981 under the new name of Gallery Model Home Furniture, owned by Jim McIngvale, a then-newcomer to Houston. It appears that by the 1980s the model houses were renovated into a single building, with the "Mattress Mack" persona born when McIngvale, taking over a commercial and shrieking that Gallery Furniture will "save you money!" and a star was born. In 2000, the store was completely rebuilt with a new 190,000 square foot warehouse and showroom. The same year a (substantially smaller) Gallery Furniture store opened closer to the Galleria, the rear building storage was burned down in a spectacular arson fire in the summer of 2009. In 2010, the store reopened.
Cash America Pawn / 8223 North Freeway
This is about where North Shepherd merges in with North Freeway and continues the numbering system. In the early 1980s, this pawn shop was a Wolfe Nursery (listed as "Wolfe Garden-Land"). The pawn shop still uses the main building.
8711 North Freeway
Facing north towards Little York, this was most recently, from early 2009 to early 2014, Más Club. Más Club was a one-off food-oriented Sam's Club spin-off aimed at Hispanic audiences and had its own membership card ("Sam" spelled backwards is "Mas", see?). Walmart still uses the building for warehouse space.
The lot where the former Más Club sits was developed two pieces. The first was the old 8935 North Freeway (aka 8935 N. Shepherd) at Little York and North Freeway. Facing North Freeway, this operated from 1971 to 1983 as a Safeway. In 1983, it was converted to Drugs for Less, a deep-discount drugstore concept owned by Safeway before it was closed in 1986. It was later absorbed by 8711 to the south, Archer AMC/Jeep, which operated from 1971 to 2004.
10241 North Freeway
This location used to be a Builder's Square, a home improvement store operated by Kmart. It was developed as part of a larger power center with other Kmart concepts at the time (including a regular Kmart). In 1999, the store closed just shy of its 8th anniversary. The conversion to Fry's Electronics in 2000, its better-known successor, involved rebuilding the garden center as retail space, with the expansions taking it to just shy of a 140,000 square feet space. Sadly, in early 2021, it closed with the rest of the Fry's Electronics chain. Some photos and thoughts of this Fry's can be seen at the Fry's Electronics page on this website.
Express Inn / 9025 North Freeway
This tortured motel has gone under several names. In 1982 (when it opened) it was a Travelodge, in mid-1990 had become "Houston North End" and in 1991 had become a Days Inn. From what I can tell, based on the evidence I have, it looks like it closed in 2006 but reopened in spring 2007 with "brand new rooms", before closing by February 2008.
Between 2008 and 2011 the hotel had already reopened as a Super 8 (which made the sign much smaller), then switched to Knights Inn, and by January 2015, had closed again. By late 2016, it had reopened as "Select Inn & Suites". In March 2021, the hotel was branded as "Express Inn - Gulf Bank".
Walmart / 10411 North Freeway
According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, this store opened in spring '89 (May 1989, as it turns out) as a 120k square feet Wal-Mart.
Aldine Ninth Grade School / 10650 North Freeway
This AISD campus opened in fall 1998 with six other new campuses (three pre-K centers, another 9th grade campus, an elementary school, and a magnet school).
I remember seeing this way back when I was in high school myself (a bit more than a decade after the opening of Aldine NGS) and thought it was brilliant to segregate the freshmen since we were having capacity issues at the time with more incoming ninth-graders than ever...though in this school's case it does share some facilities with the actual high school.
10718 North Freeway
The most recent tenant here, China Border, seems to have shut down between 2021 and 2022. Steak & Ale was here from 1975 to 1998 (approximately), with China Border taking over soon after.
Mambo Seafood / 10810 North Freeway
This was Champ's restaurant (#3) since 1977, and has been Mambo Seafood since early 2002. I'm not sure when Champ's shut down but it was sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Indications are it wasn't vacant for that long. Also nearby was a theme restaurant in the late 1970s and early 1980s at 10822 North Freeway called "Bobby McGee's Conglomeration". The space was at the end of the strip center behind it and was until recently a CiCi's Pizza.
Monk JCB / 11211 North Freeway
In January 1967, Field Inn opened as the first location of a new motel chain that was intended to go nationwide much like other motel chains starting to take off at this time. By October, Field Inn North (aka Field Inn #1) was a "motor inn" with full services (including a "private air-conditioned bus" for large events), with banquet and meeting rooms, as well as a club and restaurant. Unusually for these types of developments, a third of the property was apartments owned and operated by the hotel (with a notably different architectural style). The apartment portion (completed later that year) featured a washateria on the premises and a children's playground and in 1967 had the name of Aldine Field Apartments. By January 1976 the hotel was flying under the banner of Rodeway Inn (Rodeway Inn Greensgate) with the name later that year Greenspoint Inn (and Greenspoint Apartments, also known as Greenspoint International Apts.). The actual Greenspoint Mall was a mile to the north and the area was a trendy spot for new apartment construction.
By 1985, the hotel portion was Best Western - Greenspoint Inn (aka Best Western Greenspoint) and kept the name into the name into the mid-1990s. By the late 1990s, the hotel was known as the Greenspoint Plaza Inn. By this time, the motel's best years was behind it. The club was leased as a swingers' club at the hotel operated from 1999 to 2003 as Club Connections. Around the time Club Connections closed, the entire property closed and was demolished circa 2004. For many years the property was dormant, but with Gillespie Road (which ran just south of the property) getting upgraded and connecting in with the new Pinto Business Park behind the property. In late 2019, Monk JCB, a construction equipment dealership, began groundbreaking, and in December 2021 it opened, bringing the 11211 North Freeway address back into service. The back half of the property remains vacant (some of the hotel buildings and all of the apartment buildings), but it will be probably be redeveloped soon enough.
Behind the 11211 North Freeway address is 300 1/2 Gillespie Road, which was developed in 2015 as a Harris County MUD "Water Repressurization Plant".
Golf Cars of Houston Superstore / 11219 North Fwy.
This building has seen multiple tenants over the years. It was built in 1979 as a location of Fun City Toys (later branded as Lionel Playworld Fun City before going out of business in 1982 with the rest of the Houston locations) and in spring 1986 became a Federated electronics store by spring 1986 before being liquidated at the end of 1989. In late 1991, Best Buy opened, one of four new stores in the Houston area when the chain entered the city. Best Buy vacated around the mid-2000s (still open in early 2005) and was replaced by its current tenant in the year 2008.
5005 Richmond Avenue
This former Chick-fil-A (closed due to ROW issues) has gotten a dedicated page at this very site a while back, in the "Marie Callender's" update. Before it was Chick-fil-A (which I ate at in November 2016, for what it's worth), before it was Marie Callender's (which was torn down for aforementioned Chick-fil-A), it was an apartment complex before it was redeveloped with the Best Buy.
Best Buy / 5133 Richmond Avenue
This Best Buy opened in 1995 but in 2012 the store was sub-divided to add Best Buy-owned store-within-a-store (I believe it is connected interior-wise), Pacific Kitchen & Home.
Chateaux Dijon Apartments / 5331 Beverly Hill Street
One of the first mentions of this apartments (432 units, but not all built at once) was in the Houston Post with the new apartments being "rich in 19th Century French tradition" with "the distinctive charm of an early French country home". It also listed the address as 53-5400 Beverly Hill Lane, explaining why it wasn't easy to find in previous versions of this page. There's at least one article about how it was a bit of a "party" apartment complex (mentioned in this 1999 article about George W. Bush) but it wasn't marketed as a "singles complex" like so many others in this era. Complicating matters was another "Chateaux Dijon" in Clear Lake City (16201 El Camino Real) that opened around 1968 (likely as a sister property). This was named as such until some point in the 2000s when it was renamed The Presidio at Clear Lake, which may or may not have been related to an arson that killed a mother and her two children in 2002.
Post Oak Ice House / 5610 Richmond Avenue
Post Oak Ice House opened in spring 2019 on the site of a previous building that existed from 1978 to 2009.
The old building was originally built as Shiro of Japan, a Japanese steakhouse, back in 1978. In 1984 it closed and reopened in 1986 as Cascades Cabaret, and was briefly shut down for violating the city's topless bars ordinance (though a court reversed this). It closed anyway by 1987. In February 1991, The Shogun opened, restoring much of the features that Shiro of Japan had, including a waterfall-style fountain inside the restaurant, but lasted less than a year before closing, and would lead to a revolving door of restaurants.
1992 brought Mao-Tai, an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet, 1993 brought The Show Boat in 1993, a seafood buffet with live entertainment. 1994 brought Imperial Boat, another Chinese restaurant. 1998 brought the upscale Saké sushi & seafood buffet. The chronology for the last ten years seem to be blurry. Saké is mentioned in newspaper into 2003, but also concurrently mentioned a restaurant called "Asiana" in the spot, as well as a nightclub called Club Typhoon. By the time the building was torn down in 2009 it was known as The Palace, yet that also seems to have been operating officially since 2000.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen / 5625 Richmond Ave.
This was built as a Del Taco back in 1979; when the local Del Taco restaurants closed around 1989 it was converted to a Popeyes. (The "Louisiana Kitchen" name, of course, came much later).
5888 Richmond Avenue
This was a McDonald's from around 1984 until late summer 2013. It received a renovation and from early 2015 to January 2018 it was Chinese Cafe. Since then, the restaurant has remained shuttered and is fenced off as of fall 2021.
Houston Camera Exchange / 5900 Richmond Avenue
This place has been operating since 1995 and not only has new and used cameras but film and accessories. It wasn't particularly unique when it opened but as traditional film cameras have dwindled in market share and cell phones became viable cameras, it maintains its place as a place for photography aficionados.
5920 Richmond Avenue
"Ground Pat'i Restaurant" opened its third local location here in 1978. In 1986, this was Chinatown Restaurant, with another Chinese restaurant, The Richmond, opening in 1987. Richmond Arms Pub moved here in 1989. After a long run, the pub closed in early 2023 following a long decline with new ownership.
McDonald's / 6000 Richmond Avenue
McDonald's moved here in late summer 2013 (around August) from 5888 Richmond. From 1980 to 2010, this was the site of Magnolia Bar & Grill (the building was demolished for McDonald's).
Parma Pizza Restaurant & Lounge / 6003 Richmond Avenue
Barry's Pizza, also known as Barry's Pizza & Italian Diner, closed here in 2020, with Parma Pizza taking it over the next year.
Carlos'n Charlies opened here in 1983, though perhaps due to issues with the parent company became Carlos'n Lefties within a year, likely taking inspiration from the country song. After it closed in 1985, Crocodile opened in 1987, and was described in a restaurant review as "Bennigan's meets Banana Republic" and "everything about it [was] derivative of one restaurant theme or another". By 1990, it was just the "Pappas Party Room", with the defunct restaurant now being rented out as event space, and in early 1992 became the new home of Barry's Pizza.
6010 Richmond Avenue
This was a purpose-built Dave & Buster's arcade and restaurant (opened 1991), which closed during early 2020 (COVID) and never reopened.
RockHouse Southern Kitchen / 6025 Richmond Avenue
This building goes back to 1993 with the opening of "Billy Blue's Barbecue, Bar & Grill", with an unusual feature, the SmokeSax, a 70-foot tall saxophone made of old car parts. Billy Blue's closed in January 2001 and became Cabo's Mix-Mex Grill until 2004. Cabo's still had the distinct sculpture outside, and in 2009, The Horn Bar & Grill opened, taking advantage of the horn, which restored and repainted the saxophone blue (it was originally red). In the last few months of 2012 it became "Club 40", and in early 2013, it was replaced with Diablo Loco. Diablo Loco, a sports bar, had the saxophone moved to the Orange Show at 2401 Munger Street. Diablo Loco closed around 2022, with the current tenant, RockHouse Southern Kitchen, opening in March 2023.
6101 Richmond Avenue
The sign for "Wild West" is still up but the parking lot is fenced off with the main building demolished. This opened as Trail Dust Steakhouse in late 1994 (a few other Trail Dust restaurants opened around this time under the same ownership, one in the Dallas area at 2300 East Lamar Blvd. opened around the same time). An opening ad can be seen here--he's holding a tie. According to Purpledevil of the HAIF (who has sadly been MIA since 2017), "they'd cut off your tie and nail it to the wall if you wore one inside"...but hopefully with permission!
It closed just over three years later and in the fall of 1998 became Wild West, a country-western club, which moved to that location. It shuttered permanently in July 2020 and was demolished soon after.
6213 Richmond Avenue
As of this writing, 6213 Richmond is vacant. I wrote about this back in 2018 on the Houston Files where it was Ruth's Chris Steak House, a chain (yes) but one with some of the best steaks in any given city (dry-aged, well seasoned, with a pat of butter added to the steak just moments after being pulled off the grill). Ruth's has since moved to Westheimer and has been a few other nightclubs since (see The Houston Files link) and was here since 1977. (The previous restaurant, originally known as PTI Restaurant and then Zachary's, was gone after about two years).
Atomic Bottle / 6218 Richmond Avenue
This opened in 2010. It was the first location of Joe's Crab Shack, operating here from 1991 to 2006.
6234 Richmond Avenue
6234 Richmond, most recently (and known for) home of LaBare, was constructed as an office building in the early 1970s (announced 1972) for Jetero Corporation, which was one of the biggest developers of apartment complexes in Houston. The offices had all suite 2xx numbers, as the first level was parking.
In the mid-1980s the building was sold and to be converted into a sexually-oriented business, and was almost foiled by a case of bribery and corruption, delaying construction, with a club called Glitter open by 1989. The address also gained a very different tenant--in November 1990, it was announced it would also be the home of a Social Security office, which stayed until 1997. Meanwhile, the nightclub was but by 1991 Club 6234 by 1992. It did not appear that this was a strip club. By 1993 it was "Club Diamonds and Pearls" and "Showtime" by 1995. In 1999 it became the new home of LaBare Houston, a strip club with male strippers and dancers, relocating from a previous location. I believe LaBare took over the space used by Social Security office.
After over twenty years in business, LaBare closed after October 30, 2021.
6367 Richmond Avenue
This opened as the Rusty Scupper in 1981 and had a variety of nightclubs and dance halls until its demolition in the mid-2000s. Check out the article I wrote here.
Stereo Live / 6400 Richmond Avenue
The first reference to 6400 Richmond appears in 1974 as the Railhead, a steakhouse themed to the golden era of American railroads. It seems like by the early 1980s, that had mostly been lost. It still served a menu of prime rib and seafood but was angling more toward live shows. A January 1983 show with Dan Berry of Jan & Dean invited women to come in a bikini (and get their first drink free). Later that year Railhead would close and Fizz, a new nightclub, opened in the spot in spring 1984. Fizz closed in October 1986 with a new theme and name, Hippo, opening in December. Hippo featured "a pseudo-artsy decor" where "abstract acrylics, animal murals and bad Picasso-esque paintings line the walls". (Yes, and for those keeping track, for a brief time you had "Hippo" down the street from "Crocodile"). By June 1988, however, the location had transitioned into a new concept, simply called "6400 Richmond" with alternative music (the new slogan - "Top 40 - We Ain't Playing It!"). This was done slowly, with some nights as Hippo and some as 6400 Richmond with black plastic covering the walls. "6400 Club" as it was known by late 1988, was destroyed in a fire in January 1989 and appears to not have reopened. The building was repaired and reopened as Back Alley in August 1991. Just over a year later, the club was closed and reopened around December 1992 as Texas Live, a new country western club, but it closed after four months, citing an oversaturated C&W nightclub scene.
In mid-1993 it reopened as Rockefeller's West, a spin-off of Rockefeller's in the Rice Military area and designed to be primarily a performance hall rather than a dance club. Operations changed hands and eventually the "original" Rockefeller's managed to get exclusivity rights to the name back and Rockefeller's West was changed to Bayou City Theater (aka Bayou City Theatre) in December 1993.
In July 1994, Peter's Wildlife opened, turning it back into a nightclub. In November, the club faced some bad publicity with "Slash 'N Dash", to feature "was to feature a straw poll on [O.J.] Simpson's guilt or innocence; free valet parking for customers driving white Ford Broncos; free Simpson masks and a gift certificate for a hunting knife as a grand prize". Not only was the grand prize a knife but the winner was to "win an O.J. Simpson 'Slash N' Dash' night on the town to include dinner at McDonald's, a black stocking cap, a gift certificate for a hunting knife, a pair of sunglasses and a limousine ride to the airport". After there was an outcry from local womens' shelters about this, the club announced that the party would instead be "An Evening of Extremely Poor Taste" and "did not mention prizes". At some point around this time, there was a club-within-a-club, Florida Keys. Peter's Wildlife closed in mid-1997 shortly after a lawsuit was filed by a woman claiming she "almost choked to death" in a hot dog eating contest Peter's Wildlife had hosted in 1995. T-Town 2000, a Latino-themed nightclub opened in September 1998, not long after 6400 Sports Cafe made a brief appearance in the building. T-Town 2000 was successful enough to last seven years (something that every club, dating back to Fizz, couldn't manage) before closing/changing to Planeta Bar-Rio around 2005 (probably because "2000" anything became quickly dated after the year 2000). Around 2010 it was reformatted once more to Stereo Live, a live performance venue, which has remained since.
The billboard-esque sign for the club dates back at least as far as the days as Fizz.
Turtle Pointe Apartments / 8162 Richmond Avenue
This was built as Richmond Chase in 1977, but the builders of the property, Jetero Management, let it slip into absolute decay (it had a second address used, 8165 Richmond, also known as Richmond Chase South as opposed to Richmond Chase North). At some point in the mid-1980s, the apartments were extremely rough. According to Walter Eeds of Greystone Group, at Richmond Chase "roofs were falling in. There were machine gunnings. People were killed on the property. And things were so bad that the place was fenced and shut down on our advice." Even if Eeds overstated the decline of Richmond Chase, the apartments were closed in the summer 1987 and reopened as Galleria Club starting in 1988 with renovated facilities and units. By 1997 it was known as Turtle Pointe Apartments. Just north of it was AMC Studio 30 located at 2949 Dunvale Road, a large movie theater with 30 screens, originally opened in December 1997. It was located just south of an existing Sam's Club (but did not share parking with it, at least initially). It 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.
It should be noted that around 2005, the parking lot was reconfigured to allow access to the adjacent Sam's Club (and by extension, Walmart and Westheimer Road); however, the ultimate closure and redevelopment of the building meant that in 2015, the entrance was sealed permanently, cutting off access to the Walmart.
See the Westheimer Road page (search 2827 Dunvale Road) for information on Walmart and the now-defunct Sam's Club.
5617 Southwest Freeway
This aging building used to be the home of Holder's Pest Control and "Bubba" the neon cockroach. Bubba was taken down in 2004 after being up there for 42 years and scrapped in 2012. The building is rather run-down today. Stickers from Star Auto Accessories still cover the windows on the first floor (including the pre-merger Sirius Radio). A psychic takes up residence on the second floor.
Don Carlos Mexican Restaurant / 6501 Southwest Freeway
The third location of the multi-location Tex-Mex Mexican restaurant chain from the Houston area. This location opened in 2001 in a location that was Bennigan's from 1979 to early 2000.
6767 Southwest Freeway
This was the site of Zuma Fun Center, formerly known as Celebration Station (HHR's link says 2018 as the closure, it actually closed in October 2017. It had some features, mostly go-karts and mini-golf sitting on less than five acres (including parking).
6800 Southwest Freeway
This was Golden Corral from 1995 to 2002. Following the demise of Golden Corral, it was "Steak of Texas" (2003-2005), China Panda (2005, though signage persisted into 2008). Around 2008 part of the parking lot was subleased to SW Auto (6802, accessible from Dale Carnegie Lane), with the building subdivided as well. It appears that from 2008 to 2011 part of it was Tradição Brazilian Steakhouse. eventually giving way to "Afghan Restaurant Dastarkhwan" (also known as Afghan's Dastarkhwan), which closed by the end of 2015. Southwest African Tavern gave way to Lucy Ethopian Restaurant & Lounge, though that doesn't occupy all the space (apparently).
3 Men Movers & Storage / 6853 Southwest Fwy.
This facility features a sign shaped like a truck. Just to the south of here is the "Romana" and the former Southwest Inn...a disaster that took the lives of four firefighters (five if you count Captain William Dowling, who lost both of his legs and later died in 2017 from complications related to his fire injuries). The former Ramada will be covered in a future update.
CarMax / 6909 Southwest Freeway
This was originally (back circa 1965) was Mandrel Industries Inc., a subsidiary of Ampex Corporation. Geosource International purchased it from Ampex in 1973 (apparently, it was founded with the purchase of Mandrel), and in 1978 Mandrel Products moved to 5880 Ranchester while Geosource used it for other departments, including the Petty-Ray Geophysical Division. Halliburton ultimately acquired Geosource and in the early 1990s moved out of the building. Around 1996 the building was torn down and CarMax opened in December 1997 as its third Houston location. (This is where one of our family cars came from! - Ed.)
Pappas Bar-B-Q / 7007 Southwest Freeway
This opened as Pappas Brisket House (also known as simply Brisket House) in 1992, an early Pappas BBQ concept. It converted to the more familiar name around 1997.
Texas Jasmine Wholesale / 7051 Southwest Freeway
The Sharpstown Target (T-16) operated from February 1970 to January 2006. Like other early Target stores, it had "Target Foods" operated by a third party (here, it was Weingarten until 1984). Today, the store is used by a convenience store wholesaler.
This is about where Southwest Freeway intersects Bellaire Boulevard (see above), with PlazAmericas at the northwest corner (formerly Sharpstown Center).
Burger King / 7406 Fondren Road
Along with a nearby building housing Pep Boys and a vacant Circuit City, Burger King was the few tenants to survive a makeover of the Fondren Square shopping area at Fondren and Southwest Freeway. Behind it was a Woolco (1970-1983) and later subdivided between Mervyn's (closed 1998) and Weiner's. By the mid-2010s it was "Nothing Over $1 Store" and Fallas Paredes, respectively.
8115 Southwest Freeway
This lot has since been divided into two lots, an office building at 8111 Southwest Freeway (actually two buildings close together but not quite attached) with the signage of U.S. Pain & Spine Institute (though it seems they closed unexpectedly in 2019) and a former Long John Silver's (8107 Southwest Freeway). These two might be covered later but I wanted to focus on was there before--Manor House Inn.
Manor House Inn opened in spring 1966 at 8115 Southwest Freeway. The motel closed in mid-1985, though it was known as the Beechnut Motor Inn in its last year or two of life. The chain itself lived on. In the late 1980s they had motels in Austin, College Station, and Houston, with Houston's location now being at 14833 Katy Freeway. By the early 1990s, however, the Manor House name would disappear from the Houston area for good.
Mi Tienda / 1630 Spencer Highway
This store was built as an Albertsons (#2742), opened in January 1998. It closed in 2002 and reopened as H-E-B later that year. In 2005, H-E-B closed the store for a renovation into a new concept that would join H-E-B and Central Market as core brands, "Mi Tienda". This opened in 2006.
Denny's / 4125 Spencer Hwy.
Kettle Restaurant opened here in 1982. In summer 1996 the franchisee decided to turn it into a Denny's instead.
4061 Spencer Highway
This opened as the fourth "revival" Krispy Kreme store in the Houston area, opening June 2017 in a new building but ended up closing in January 2021, less than four years later.
Best Storage / 7430 Spencer Hwy.
Also known as Pasadena's Best Storage, this facility opened around 2016 in a long-vacant Albertsons (the signage was still up!). Albertsons opened in fall 1995 (a gas station/convenience store was later installed in front of the store) but closed in April 2002 when the chain left the area.
Wendy's / 7444 Spencer Highway
This Wendy's restaurant opened in July 1974—the first Wendy's in the Houston area. The exterior was updated in the early 2010s.
YES Prep Public Schools White Oak Secondary / 5620 West Tidwell Road
Opened as an Albertsons (#2768) in one of their more abysmal locations (the railroad presented some challenges) in 1999, this closed in 2002 without a buyer. In 2003 it reopened as a Kroger, which tried to make a go of it (branded as Kroger Signature) but it closed in the early 2010s. YES Prep, a charter school, converted the former "Krogertsons" into a school, along with the adjacent strip center, soon after.
The Albertsons Express at Tidwell and Antoine on the other side of the tracks had the same address; today this is a Fuel Depot.
7500 W. Tidwell Road
This opened as a Sonic Drive-In in 1994 and was operational as late as of November 2014, closing sometime at the end of the year or the beginning of the next. In 2016, it was demolished and rebuilt (despite the rebuilt building looking very similar) as a Twistee Treat walk-up ice cream shop but it closed in 2019 along with three others in the Houston area.
Northern Tool & Equipment / 7994 Bellfort Street
Northern Tool & Equipment (stylized as Northern Tool + Equipment) opened in November 2003 in a building built for H-E-B Pantry Foods (which operated from May 1999 to May 2002.
5610 Gulfton Street
This former Kroger store was always a bit unusual in that it was built in 1987 as a 60,000 square feet "Greenhouse" store (larger than other stores of the "Greenhouse" variety). In 2003 it was remodeled into a new Hispanic-oriented prototype (see picture here) with its facade altered to read "Bienvenidos a Kroger su Supermercado" on the facade ("Welcome to your Kroger Supermarket", a common sentiment but it was as large on the facade as the Kroger name). Unfortunately for Kroger, the store was a big money-loser, and it shuttered in early 2011. The building was subsequently sold to the adjacent SER-Niños Charter School for an expansion of their facilities.
Residence Inn by Marriott / 2500 McCue Road
Behind 5100 Westheimer is "Residence Inn by Marriott Houston by The Galleria" with a very peculiar history. It actually opened in 1960 as Pyne Hall apartments with 60 units (and with the address of 2450 McCue), and featured an unusual first for apartment complexes, a concrete fallout shelter. By 1980, the apartments had become "Galleria Gardens" and was advertising furnished apartments for executive lodging (rooms equipped with everything, including basic cookware), with daily, weekly, and monthly rates. By 1982, it had adopted the 2500 McCue address, but even as of 1984 still featured yearly leases. At some point in the late 1980s it was seized by the FDIC. (It was still apartments after the seizure in 1988, but ads don't list a name).
In 1994, Residence Inn took over the property (92 suites at the time), and has made improvements since, notably by rebuilding the structures on the perimeter of the the property in the early 2000s (the website now boasts 146 suites).
Walmart / 9555 S. Post Oak Road
This Walmart, one of the only(?) non-Supercenter stores in Houston (though has been modified to add some more grocery items, likely) and October 27, 1999.
Walmart / 1107 South Shaver Street
Wal-Mart Supercenter #2754 opened in September 1999 to replace a 1956 stand-alone Sears store, which moved to Pasadena Town Square in 1997.
Whole Foods Market / 1407 South Voss Road
This opened in 2015 (moving from its original 1993 location at 6401 Woodway Drive) and replaced a Handy Andy-turned-Randalls Flagship. See the article previously written here, although its a bit out of date.
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 an ad for the business. "The Penthouse Club" (another Penthouse connection!) was here from 2002 to 2012, and Vivid has been here since 2012.
