Costen's Drug Store On Richmond Ave.

[cindy22]

My mom and I were debating on whether or not the Pappasito's on Richmond was really an old building or just built to look like one.  Obviously the front parking lot was a gas station not too many years ago, and I remember an electronic parts store on Richmond near there, before the days of computers.  My mom said there used to be a Costen's drugstore on the corner many years ago, maybe in the fifties, and my grandfather would have coffee there every morning before they had the Walgreen's on Alabama, in the theater shopping center, of course.  

Just curious about the drugstore and the Pappasito's building.  I thought all the Pappasitos looked old like that, that seems to be their style.  

[brhaltx]

Electrotex was to the east, maybe a block or two away.

 

I used to go to Little Pappasito's a lot, when the gas station was still there.  After the drug store.  The building seemed old 25 years ago.

[cspwal]

Interesting to revive and old thread like this, but my girlfriend and I were having the same discussion about this Pappasito's.  So there was a gas station there on the corner - makes sense.  Looking at Google Earth using the historical pictures, it looks like the building there is a different size and style in 1978 than it was in 1995 when it was recognizably the Pappasito's building.  Same for the gas station there.

[patsy]

I have been trying for years to find someone who remembers Costen's Drugstore.  The location that I remember was at the corner of Shepherd and Westheimer, across from St. Anne's School and Church.  Students were forbidden to go there to buy cokes in the small bottles.  I went with my parents and was scared  to death of old Mr. Costen, a cranky old coot.  He had a neat soda fountain, a creeky screen door at the entrance and the only product I remember on the shelves was Jergen's lotion which is a hint as to why we were not allowed in the store by ourselves.

 

I do not remember what other stores were in that strip.  I'd love to find an aerial photo of all 4 corners.

[patsy]

The era that I'm referring to is the late 1940's and early 1950's.

[brucesw]

When I got to town in Sept 1970 that was a Tenneco station on that corner.  It was the first of that brand I had ever seen and I don't remember there ever being another brand operating there.

 

The Historic Aerial for 1953 shows the intersection has no developments. 

 

http://apps.historicaerials.com/viewer?scale=5&year=1964&lat=29.684508592207&lon=-95.4079221412#

 

 

Many of the Historic Aerials are very indistinct but by 1962 the awning of the Tenneco is there and there is another gas station on the NW corner of the intersection.  There is nothing where the Pappasito's is now but a building is apparent there by 1973.  It does appear to be smaller than the building at that spot in much more recent aerials.

 

I don't remember that building that far back and haven't been able to place it or remember what it was but there's no way it was a Pappasito's that early.  The Pappas brothers had been in the restaurant business for some years (Strawberry Patch, Dot Coffee Shops, Brisket House) before they started working the family name into the names of the restaurants.  I think the Pappas Seafood House on 59 in Sharpstown, ca. 1982, was the first to do that and the Pappasito's came along later.  The Little Pappasito's came after the Pappasito's brand had been established but I don't remember just when that one opened.  I do remember it raised some eyebrows - it was probably the reporter in the Chronicle or Press that noted the restaurant industry was surprised when that one was announced because up until then, Pappas and Ninfas had kept their distance from each other and here not only was Pappas putting it's Tex-Mex brand right across the street from an existing Ninfas but was creating a new, smaller concept in order to do it. 

[brucesw]

I have been trying for years to find someone who remembers Costen's Drugstore.  The location that I remember was at the corner of Shepherd and Westheimer, across from St. Anne's School and Church.  Students were forbidden to go there to buy cokes in the small bottles.  I went with my parents and was scared  to death of old Mr. Costen, a cranky old coot.  He had a neat soda fountain, a creeky screen door at the entrance and the only product I remember on the shelves was Jergen's lotion which is a hint as to why we were not allowed in the store by ourselves.

 

I do not remember what other stores were in that strip.  I'd love to find an aerial photo of all 4 corners.

 

See the Historic Aerials link in the above post and move it over to the Shepherd/Westheimer intersection or use the search feature to get there.

 

[57Tbird]

Since I went to Lanier Jr  High and Lamar High in that time era, and the drugstore was not far from both, I went there many times.  It had a good selection of comic books and milk shakes.

 

I found the attached 1953 aerial view on Google Earth.  It's not real clear but a little better than the Historic Aerial view.  The circle around the intersection was on the view.  It's not mine.  That's the drugstore, I remember, on the northeast corner.

 

 

 

[Subdude]

Since I went to Lanier Jr  High and Lamar High in that time era, and the drugstore was not far from both, I went there many times.  It had a good selection of comic books and milk shakes.

 

I found the attached 1953 aerial view on Google Earth.  It's not real clear but a little better than the Historic Aerial view.  The circle around the intersection was on the view.  It's not mine.  That's the drugstore, I remember, on the northeast corner.

 

WestheimerShepherd-1953.jpg

 

I don't see the Bible Cyclorama on the southeast side so it must have been gone by then.

[patsy]

Thanks for sharing aerial view.  Yes, that's Costen's circled.  We lived behind St. Anne's School just out of north photo range.  The Bible Cyclorama was another fixture on the east side of Shepherd.  We walked to the Alabama theater on the west side of the street to avoid passing too close to that strange wooden building that was supposedly run by "Baptists."  I believe it was a little further south than this photo shows.  There was a DiMaggio's spaghetti restaurant somewhere in there too and then a Chevy dealership.  On the west side was Parmesan's drive up grocery store where I begged my Mom to buy a bottle of "Stopette" deodorant, not having the faintest idea what deodorant was, only that it was advertised on "What's My Line" and it came in a neat squeeze bottle.  I sprayed it all over myself in the car and my arms were stuck like fly paper to my body!  Funny innocent childhood memory.

[57Tbird]

The Cyclorama was still there, just out of view to the south, next to that vacant area.

[roym]

We've been going to Little Pappasitos since the early 90's.  That may have been right around they opened, but not sure.