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Sav-On Cleaners


sevfiv

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I'm looking for what these series of buildings were originally - all were built in about 1965 and all designed about the same. Does anyone know what these were? Or have access to a 1965/1966 city directory? There are additional locations at 1636 Gessner, 4615 Bell Park, and 12760 Memorial.

TIA!

9803 Stella Link:

stellalink9803_001.jpg

 

1007 Edgebrook:

edgebrook1007_001.jpg

 

14615 Hiram Clarke:

hiramclarke14615_002.jpg

 

8631 Martin Luther King:

mlk8631_001.jpg

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They were dry cleaners.  If memory serves, the name was Oriental Cleaners.  The one on Memorial is still a cleaners; the Baskin Robbins across the parking lot has also been in the same place since the mid 60s. 

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There was an Oriental Laundry and Cleaners incorporated in 1960, so the timing is right.  I can see where they probably thought that the roof design was vaguely Asian, so Mollusk's guess seems very reasonable.  Remember there was that tiki thing going on at the time.

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12 minutes ago, ArchMemoH said:

the bellaire @ belle park location is remodeled, someone on the alief facebook group page told me

Yeah, just a remnant of the roof line at that location..

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I saw a similar cleaner building on Cullen south of 610 this morning.  Roofline was similar in angle and scale but the Oriental detailing, such as it is, was absent.  Could be coincidence; not sure.

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3 hours ago, brucesw said:

North Braeswood @ Stella Link - similar but just a coincidence?

This one was a bike shop for a while but before that, 10 years ago or so, it was a Pilgrim.  It would make sense if it was another dry cleaning establishment before that.

 

Interesting - I have seen that place for the past 20+ years and didn't think about it, but I can totally see it.
Edit -- just looked it up - in 1970 it was a Dobb's House restaurant. 

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32 minutes ago, sevfiv said:

Interesting - I have seen that place for the past 20+ years and didn't think about it, but I can totally see it.
Edit -- just looked it up - in 1970 it was a Dobb's House restaurant. 

That probably was the original incarnation then.  I've been making occasional visits to Three Brothers across the bayou since the early 70s, driving down Stella Link from visiting relatives in West U, but I'm drawing a blank on it as a Toddle House.

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On Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 3:39 PM, Ross said:

The one on Shepherd is at 5210 North Shepherd and is owned by the Fingers. It looks like it used to be a Pilgrim.

For many years it WAS a Pilgrim Cleaners, which I assumed is what it originally was built as. After Pilgrim closed up shop there, it took on the more generic "North Shepherd Cleaners" name and continued operating for another couple of years. It is currently vacant and the last business that occupied it, I believe, was a low end used car lot. 5210 North Shepherd was still a fully functioning Pilgrim within the last 10 to 15 years. I pass that building just about every day...and it's still appalling to me that Chirp's greasy fried rice goodness is no longer available right down the street.

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On March 7, 2016 at 11:32 AM, sevfiv said:

I'm looking for what these series of buildings were originally - all were built in about 1965 and all designed about the same. Does anyone know what these were? Or have access to a 1965/1966 city directory? There are additional locations at 1636 Gessner, 4615 Bell Park, and 12760 Memorial.

TIA!

9803 Stella Link:

stellalink9803_001.jpg

 

1007 Edgebrook:

edgebrook1007_001.jpg

 

14615 Hiram Clarke:

hiramclarke14615_002.jpg

 

8631 Martin Luther King:

mlk8631_001.jpg

I asked about these buildings a few years back here. I wondered if they were from a chain of chinese restaurants at one time. Looks like that thread is long gone

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Have you received a pic of 5210 N. Shepherd yet, sevfiv? If not, I live right down the road from it. I'll pull over and snap one for you when I pass by it tomorrow. I've got to make a trip down to O'Reilly for an oil pressure switch on my truck. 

 

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10 hours ago, Purpledevil said:

Have you received a pic of 5210 N. Shepherd yet, sevfiv? If not, I live right down the road from it. I'll pull over and snap one for you when I pass by it tomorrow. I've got to make a trip down to O'Reilly for an oil pressure switch on my truck. 

 

It is on my list but haven't made it there yet - that would be great! Thanks!

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Please use them as you wish, and you're most certainly welcome. I don't really care about being personally credited, sev. Make them your own. To me, it's just a small token of my appreciation for the website and my fellow HAIFers. :)

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  • 2 months later...

Regency Auto Repair and Body Shop at 6935 Almeda Road looks similar with the roofline and the rock corners.  But it might just be a coincidence.  The "Oriental" detailing is conspicuously absent.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7008952,-95.3863702,3a,37.5y,105h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sIzCuAzpB1-ZjNaDVIxm3Ew!2e0!5s20151001T000000!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

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^Thanks! Looks like that place is a little older than the rest and was Select Beauty products originally. It would be interesting to see what it looked like pre-garages..

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16 hours ago, marmer said:

Regency Auto Repair and Body Shop at 6935 Almeda Road looks similar with the roofline and the rock corners.  But it might just be a coincidence.  The "Oriental" detailing is conspicuously absent.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7008952,-95.3863702,3a,37.5y,105h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sIzCuAzpB1-ZjNaDVIxm3Ew!2e0!5s20151001T000000!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

 

The stone walls are a nice period touch.

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  • 2 months later...

Hi all - it looks like the Memorial Sav-On (most recently A-1 Cleaners; 12748 Memorial Dr.) has been or will be torn down very soon. If anyone has any pictures or can get one in time, I'd be forever grateful!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/22/2016 at 8:30 PM, sevfiv said:

Hi all - it looks like the Memorial Sav-On (most recently A-1 Cleaners; 12748 Memorial Dr.) has been or will be torn down very soon. If anyone has any pictures or can get one in time, I'd be forever grateful!

 

I made it by last week and it was long gone. Salvaging Street View images instead :(

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  • 3 months later...
  • The title was changed to Sav-On Cleaners

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