SpaceGhost

I recently checked out the Genealogy Department at George Memorial Library, which happens to be where they store all the old copies of Newspapers on Microfiche. I scanned some old ads most are from May of 1992 however I also grabbed a few from February of 1998. I'm going to have to upload them one by one due to file size restrictions. We start off with An ad for Bealls which is located in the same spot that Burkes Outlet is today. According to Wikipedia the change in names was due to another company called Bealls already holding a trademark in this part of Texas. We also have an ad for Cinema 8 which was at the time owned by Cinemark. It is noted as being in the "Randalls Shopping Center" which would later of course become the Kroger Shopping Center.

Yup it replaced a Romano's Macaroni Grill. The building was truly tiny in comparison to the old location. If you check out Streetview you can get a sense for how small it was. The black and white striped sign, was brought over from the old location. That location closed around 2014 along with a few other locations (Westheimer, and Katy). The building is supposed to be torn down for a Plucker's location. No idea what the progress on that is though. As an interesting side note the Tomball Location was highly influenced style wise by the original Katy Freeway location.

I hope they go through with this! A line could easily be built all the way to Damon, as grading already exists between there an Rosenberg. Then you're only a short distance from Freeport, and that' the only area you'd need new grading for.

It closed long before it was torn down. The 610 location was one of many. Here's what the sign looked like. 2121 West Loop S Houston, Texas 77027 - Streetview 6486 Fm 1960 Rd W Houston, Texas 77069 - Streetview 5865 Westheimer Rd Houston, Texas 77057 - Streetview 10901 Katy Fwy. Houston, Texas 77079 - Streetview

I had no idea Gaido's ever operated in Houston! My family preferred the formerly cheaper Casey's however. Trying to look up info on the Houston location proves to be confusing. It seems that a bunch of different family members operated restaurants under the Gaido's name across Houston and Galveston. Some info seems to support the idea that, the original Gaido's (as we all know it now) opened in the 40's on South Main, and after a few years, one of the partners sold their shares and opened the Galveston location. No idea when the S. Main location closed however, pictures that look like they're from the 80's or 90's exist. Interesting side note: A copy-cat version of the Cowboy Shrimp stood out in Richmond, next to some giant, often abandoned seafood restaurant for years. http://americathroughrickseyes.com/shrimp1.jpg

While this is very much true, I would think that the company bought the land with the intent to sell. Maybe build a hotel/motel there, something along those lines.

Something tells me they're much more likely to sell off the land, rather than expand the park. The ticket price is already very high for a park of that size. The only thing they've got over Schliterbahn at this point is convenience. What's the draw to expand if you can't raise your price to justify it...

This thing is looking much smaller than initial renderings made it look. Two major complaints would be the tiny lazy river, and tiny parking lot! So far it's not looking worth $45/day..

The Andrau Airpark extended from Richmond down to Westpark. It was sold and demolished in 1998. A tiny piece of road from the airpark still exists. It was the roadway that led from Westheimer to the runways. It was eventually bisected by Richmond Ave. It's possible that the road might of been signed as S. Kirkwood due to the close proximity. (Just a guess though) As for Phoenicia, it indeed was originally across the street. It was in the corner of the brown brick shopping center. The original store was bought by a ballroom called "The Bougainvilleas" The inside was completely redone and is unrecognizable except for the general shape which was a distinctive L. My family gave, and continues to give tons of business to Phoenicia. According to my dad who has shopped there as long as I can remember, the owner put in tall shelves to take advantage of the small store space. This was carried over to the new store, which sort of gave it a warehouse store feel, without truly being a warehouse store. There was a spot called "Phoenicia Cafe" located in the strip center to the right of the main store. The cafe lasted in its original spot longer than Phoenicia. It stayed there for I think, around a year after the store moved. It was moved and renamed as Arpi's. Got Banh Mi & Pho? moved into the old spot, and kept the same layout.

Appears to be an 80's KFC sans cupola. Referencing this image. HCAD says the building was built in 1968. No idea if it was a KFC that was remodeled, or an error on HCAD's part. Streetview shows that 2011 and prior it was Smokey's BBQ. The building has been modified, but the original roof line looks intact. Also, are they using a Chick-Fil-A Drive thru menu board/cover?

Wow I had no idea Taco Bueno operated in the Houston area.. does anyone know how/why the chain failed down here? Can't find anything in The Chron about it..

The first result is just a guy reusing We Ain't Playin' by Lil' Flip with the words swapped out. I think you're looking a bit too much into this. It's probably just something some kids started doing around HS and gave up on later in life.

I can confirm this is correct. Builder's Sqaure was demo'd and the Hobby Lobby building was a Pace Membership Warehouse (both stores were owned by Kmart and later leased by them) Hobby Lobby moved into the building after it was vacated by Pace. Here's an except from The Chronicle from June 6, 1996 on the subject. The Kmart location was across the street, where Target now stands. It was a former Venture Department Store.

A bit of research on the topic says that the reason they used these gigantic vents was that the air handlers were directly connected to a single vent. This allowed them to use single vents and not have to install duct work, and multiple vents. The downside was that all the nasty dirt that built up around one single point.

If you check out the 45 degree angle view on Google Maps you can see where another tenant (seem to remember Jack in the Box moved in) expanded the building. They kept the right half of the slanted roof but filled in the left half to accommodate the drive-thru. https://goo.gl/maps/mfrUcrh511t

While not Houston specific.. I know the exact ones you're talking about. They are indeed huge and round. They look slightly like the Target logo. Also they sat slightly outside of the ceiling and overlapped the tiles. They tended to get dusty quickly. A bunch of former Kmarts still have them. A good Houston example is the go-kart track "Track 21" You can check it out here.

Yeah 10201 Katy Fwy, Houston, TX 77024 for anyone else looking for it.

So I'm doing another article for the website on Flakey Jake's (basically a Fuddruckers ripoff) supposedly we had 2 locations in Houston. I was able to find an address for the Katy Freeway location, but can't find the other. Does anyone know where it was, or have any info about the chain? Pics etc..

Is the street still called Briar Forest? I tried looking it up on GE but could only find the Briar Forest over by Highway 6.

It's likely that the tracks were torn out many years ago. The most likely explanation is that the tracks were torn out during either the beginning of the Great Depression for the scrap value, or during the start of WW2 to help the war effort. It's most likely that it was a combination of the two. It's possible that some small sections of track still exist, but highly unlikely.

Dang.. too bad. Some locations exist with modified box architecture. Like this one. Dunno if any other true box styles exist.

I noticed that. I wonder if the local franchisee swapped the profitable locations and sold the rest. Or if the stores were company owned and a franchisee bought the successful stores and swapped them.

Now that's something I had no idea about.. I figured the actual Rose-Rich area would of still been too far out in the boonies at that point to get something as "specialized" as a Del Taco. Although I guess I'm remembering the town as smaller than it actually was. I might just make the drive out to George Memorial Library to check on that. By the way do you need an active Fort Bend Library card to get at the phone books?

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?

IronTiger may already have them, but I'd like to see the list!