Del Taco Old Locations

[sevfiv]

It looks like the Lake Jackson Shipley's on Dixie Dr. was converted (built in 1965).

[Margo Mitchell]

Sad that is closed.   I was laid off from my full time job last year and when going to Worksource on Westheimer, I would stop there for lunch. 

[Dave1959]

ChannelTwoNews, thank you for posting that listing.  I worked at the Rosenberg Del Taco as an assistant manager for a few months in 1980, but I did not remember the exact location.  I wondered whatever became of that store.  Looks like it is now a payday load store.

[djrage]

On May 21, 2015 at 4:17 PM, SpaceGhost said:

So with the closing of our only Del Taco location this week, and the apparent abandonment of ambitious plan of opening 40 stores in the Houston area, I got to thinking about the original locations that Del Taco had in Houston. I believe they closed in 1984? I'm not 100% sure on the date though. I know that Goode Co. Taqueria at Kirby and Westpark started life as a Del Taco but am unsure of any other locations, does anyone have a listing?

They were still around in 86. Had a friend in high school that worked there. Didn't know which location though

[djrage]

On May 21, 2015 at 4:46 PM, IronTiger said:

 

I think the guy obsessed the television station numbers may have one.

 

The only ones I'm pretty sure of (or at least, have heard):

 

Shipley's Donuts at US 59 and Richmond

 

...uh, that's about it

S Braeswood & Hillcroft (became a Shipleys)

Edgebrook near Theta (closed for a long time, now a Mexican restaurant)

 

[SpaceGhost]

12 hours ago, djrage said:

S Braeswood & Hillcroft (became a Shipleys)

Edgebrook near Theta (closed for a long time, now a Mexican restaurant)

 

 

While the Edgebrook location may have started as a Del Taco in terms of chain restaurants it was definitely most recently a KFC. They could have knocked down the whole building, but the layout and size doesn't really look like a Del Taco to me.

[djrage]

could be looking at the wrong building but I know it was around there, it sat abandoned for quite a few years

Edited June 15, 2016 by djrage

[djrage]

Another post here had it listed at 917 Edgebrook

Not sure if this is the original building with altered facade but here it it

https://goo.gl/maps/tb2iKzZJ8qF2

[Hethnchris]

The Edgebrook Del Taco has never been a KFC. KFC was down the street next to Taco Bell. It did sit empty for a while and about 3 yrs ago was renovated and is now a Mexican seafood place. Taco Bell is a dentist office, KFC is a Taconmadre food truck (but they use the kitchen for food prep. The old Monterey House has been Casarez for almost 20 years and the old Burger Mountain Soda Fountain has been the Longhorn Cafe, Prarie Dogs, an Italian restaurant that I can't remember the name and is now a Mexican food restaurant. I'm a lifetime resident of the neighborhood (43 yrs & my parents before that) so I've seen them all come and go!

[iliketurtles]

Here's an article about Goode, which was previously Del Taco. http://offcite.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/1989/06/DriveThruMargartiaville_Kaplan_Cite22.pdf

[iliketurtles]

On 5/21/2015 at 4:17 PM, SpaceGhost said:

and the apparent abandonment of ambitious plan of opening 40 stores in the Houston area,

When was that supposed to happen?

[SpaceGhost]

16 hours ago, iliketurtles said:

When was that supposed to happen?

I don't think dates were ever revealed other than the first store. IIRC they were supposed to be open within 5 years? Maybe less..

 

Loved that article by the way! I unfortunately wasn't around the first time Del Taco was, and was only around for the tail end of Two Pesos. I had always wondered why they looked like they had a dual drive-thru setup, now I know!

 

Edit: Found the article I was quoting.

Quote

Del Taco had fast-food restaurants throughout Texas in the early 1980s but pulled out of the state later that decade. Paul Murphy, CEO of the Lake Forest, Calif.-based chain, said he has updated the Del Taco concept.

In March, Del Taco opened at 8910 Westheimer. Murphy plans to open more than 40 restaurants in Houston.

Kaplan, David. "Economy - Familiar brands stage revivals." Houston Chronicle (TX) 13 Aug. 2012, 3 STAR, A: 1. NewsBank. Web. 29 Jul. 2016.

 

Edited July 29, 2016 by SpaceGhost

[mkultra25]

On 7/29/2016 at 9:53 PM, iliketurtles said:

Here's an article about Goode, which was previously Del Taco. http://offcite.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/1989/06/DriveThruMargartiaville_Kaplan_Cite22.pdf

 

Quote

The Houston-based, turquoise-and-pink Two Pesos restaurants are sprouting up like psilocybin mushrooms.

 

Now there's a lede you just don't see very often anymore. Perhaps today's crop of fresh-faced young writers are lacking in life experience when it comes to wandering around rural fields at night and poking around in cow patties. Too bad, as such activities would go a long way to prepare them for the reality of 21st century journalism. 

[sevfiv]

From the Wednesday, April 3, 1985 issue of the Bellaire Texan:

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark%3A/67531/metapth638271/

 

 

[IronTiger]

19 hours ago, sevfiv said:

From the Wednesday, April 3, 1985 issue of the Bellaire Texan:

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark%3A/67531/metapth638271/

 

 

 

 

5625 Richmond and 9120 S. Main are now Popeyes restaurants. 401 Richmond is now a Shipley Do-Nuts (I believe this been discussed). 5919 S. Braeswood is now a lube center, though it looks like the lot was reconfigured, originally it was a Del Taco with a large parking lot with a gas station on the corner, and at some point in the past, both lots were demolished for a much smaller 5919 (where the lube center is) and a larger lot at the corner for a McDonald's (at 5911). The McDonald's itself was torn down and rebuilt a few years ago.

[IronTiger]

Question on the Kirby location: it's named Goode Co. Taqueria today  (since 2011 at least), but a lot of references have it as "Goode Co. Hamburgers & Taqueria". Did it change names at some point twice to transition to the current name it is now?

[sevfiv]

19 minutes ago, IronTiger said:

Question on the Kirby location: it's named Goode Co. Taqueria today  (since 2011 at least), but a lot of references have it as "Goode Co. Hamburgers & Taqueria". Did it change names at some point twice to transition to the current name it is now?

 

From what I can tell it was originally titled hamburgers, then added taqueria to that, then dropped hamburgers...

[SpaceGhost]

4 hours ago, IronTiger said:

Question on the Kirby location: it's named Goode Co. Taqueria today  (since 2011 at least), but a lot of references have it as "Goode Co. Hamburgers & Taqueria". Did it change names at some point twice to transition to the current name it is now?

 

It was Hamburgers and Taqueria by 1989, I'll try to research it a bit more later tonight to see what I can find, but I suspect it may have always been Hamburgers and Taqueria. FYI They do still sell Hamburgers (very good ones), but their main focus is definitely Tex-Mex.

[SpaceGhost]

On 9/3/2016 at 2:33 PM, IronTiger said:

Question on the Kirby location: it's named Goode Co. Taqueria today  (since 2011 at least), but a lot of references have it as "Goode Co. Hamburgers & Taqueria". Did it change names at some point twice to transition to the current name it is now?

 

Okay that took longer than I expected... anyways, it seems to me that it was probably always Hamburgers and Taqueria. Maybe someone with an old phonebook can verify. The earliest mention I found in the Chronicle was 1986, its referred to just "Goode Co. Hamburgers" in the article, but only receives a one line mention. In an article published less than a month later it's called "Goode Co. Hamburgers and Taqueria". However the author notes that the Goodes just called it "burgers" for simplicity's sake. So I wonder if the author of the first article was misinformed/or trying to seem more hip.

 

Also an interesting side note, the old railroad car used at Goode Co. Seafood was brought by a locomotive from Dallas, and hoisted right off the rails onto the lot. I wonder if the spur that ran South of Westpark towards the Coca-Cola bottling plant (right next to the current home of Goode Co. Seafood) was still active at this point?

[IronTiger]

7 hours ago, SpaceGhost said:

 

Okay that took longer than I expected... anyways, it seems to me that it was probably always Hamburgers and Taqueria. Maybe someone with an old phonebook can verify. The earliest mention I found in the Chronicle was 1986, its referred to just "Goode Co. Hamburgers" in the article, but only receives a one line mention. In an article published less than a month later it's called "Goode Co. Hamburgers and Taqueria". However the author notes that the Goodes just called it "burgers" for simplicity's sake. So I wonder if the author of the first article was misinformed/or trying to seem more hip.

 

Also an interesting side note, the old railroad car used at Goode Co. Seafood was brought by a locomotive from Dallas, and hoisted right off the rails onto the lot. I wonder if the spur that ran South of Westpark towards the Coca-Cola bottling plant (right next to the current home of Goode Co. Seafood) was still active at this point?

I would've looked it up on the Chron archives but my library card expired.

 

Anyway, it looks like the spur was used. The railroad spur has been townhomes since 1985 (possibly address with 2628 North, but that just appears to be one "block" of them), but in 1978, the spur was still active, and it looks like Goode Seafood is being built (as per Google Earth), and indeed, HCAD says it was built in 1978!

[mkultra25]

5 hours ago, IronTiger said:

I would've looked it up on the Chron archives but my library card expired.

 

Anyway, it looks like the spur was used. The railroad spur has been townhomes since 1985 (possibly address with 2628 North, but that just appears to be one "block" of them), but in 1978, the spur was still active, and it looks like Goode Seafood is being built (as per Google Earth), and indeed, HCAD says it was built in 1978!

 

Jim Goode didn't open Goode Co. Seafood until 1986. The original BBQ restaurant opened in 1977 but it took several years before it was successful enough for him to open a second restaurant (the taqueria) in 1983:

 

Jim Goode obit from Houston Press

 

That HCAD record lists three different buildings on the site, constructed in 1978, 1986, and 1998. The 1986 one would be Goode Co. Seafood, not the 1978 one. 

[IronTiger]

37 minutes ago, mkultra25 said:

 

Jim Goode didn't open Goode Co. Seafood until 1986. The original BBQ restaurant opened in 1977 but it took several years before it was successful enough for him to open a second restaurant (the taqueria) in 1983:

 

Jim Goode obit from Houston Press

 

That HCAD record lists three different buildings on the site, constructed in 1978, 1986, and 1998. The 1986 one would be Goode Co. Seafood, not the 1978 one. 

The HCAD listings for buildings I assume are still extant buildings, because that's what I've gotten the impression of when browsing around HCAD. For example, looking at the current 1407 South Voss Road listing only mentions 2014 buildings, you would have to look at the listing a few years ago for the original 1973 structure that was the home of Randalls Flagship.

 

However, a far better piece of evidence against 1978 construction was that it's an old Amtrak car, but if it was added in the late 1970s, that car would still be in commission. In 1982, however, another aerial (from historicaerials.com) has no restaurant, and in 1989, the restaurant is there that clearly is the outline of Goode Seafood Company. However, if we take 1986 to be the opening of the restaurant, that rules out the "spur delivery" because the townhomes were built in 1985. That said, it would still be a clear distance of less than 300 feet from the mainline because that would've been likely a blank lot in 1986 (it was in 1989), and of course, by that time, the rail was being increasingly shortened (the railroad would've cut off at about Wakeforest if my HAIFistory is correct) and serving less and less businesses along the line.

[IronTiger]

Going back to Del Taco, it looks like 5919 S. Braeswood wasn't demolished for the lube center. The Del Taco is actually the Congregation Torah Vachesed next door, which aerially looks like a Del Taco. Doing a block search on the 5900 block of S BRAESWOOD BLVD turns up this listing for 5929 Braeswood. Not only does it check out in terms of the lot, but ownership history reveals it was built in 1979 for Del Taco. I don't know why the addresses got mixed up or what was the original tenant for the lube center lot (the one that was cut down to size when the McDonald's was built), but yes, the Del Taco building DOES exist!

[ChannelTwoNews]

On 6/5/2016 at 9:51 PM, Dave1959 said:

ChannelTwoNews, thank you for posting that listing.  I worked at the Rosenberg Del Taco as an assistant manager for a few months in 1980, but I did not remember the exact location.  I wondered whatever became of that store.  Looks like it is now a payday load store.

I'm not normally in the habit of responding to posts that go so far back - but I grew up in Rosenberg in the 80s-2000s and for pretty much all of my life it was a Whataburger. They only closed it in the 2000s after the one at 36 and the Southwest Freeway had opened and Richmond had one open at 2218 & 1640 in front of the WalMart. I think it became that LoanStar Title Loan location around 2009 or 2010. I always liked that they landscaped their property with palm trees which were fairly well kept until the check cashing place took over.

Edited September 15, 2022 by ChannelTwoNews
edit text

[TheGreenMeanie]

I recently discovered there was a Del Taco at 802 N Loop 336 W in Conroe. The location is now a Whataburger.