SpaceGhost

Check out this link:

http://www.cg-publishing.com/railroads.jpg

I lived in Uptown Dallas for a while and loved the McKinney street line. I was told that the reason that they were able to bring the McKinney line back was the discovery that the original tracks were still under the asphalt.

Looking at the streetcar Map, I wonder if the tracks are still under Washington Ave? Has anyone heard if this has ever been checked? I wonder who would know?

Greg

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.

I forgot all about that red sign that said Pasadena Plaza. I wonder where it went to. Probably a trash heap. Anyway, I'm having trouble orienting myself to that picture. Are the cars parked on the Plaza parking lot which would now be the Mi Tienda parking lot?

Yeah the photographer was standing Southeast-ish in what's now the middle of Mi Tienda's parking lot. The white building all the way to the right was Montgomery Wards and still stands today. The street between Wards and the parking lot is Shaver St. The buildings to the left of Wards and everything underneath the sign are all gone. The building all the way to the left of the picture (with the steepled roof) is still there. The one to the right of it was torn down early 2008 but can still be seen on historical imagery for streetview. Those buildings are on Spencer Hwy.

Thought of another one Fresh Market on Westheimer at Weslayan. The one which took over the old Rice and is now occupied by Walgreens. I think a couple of other locations closed at the same time which was around a year after opening.

Anyone been by yet? I've stopped a couple of times and it's pretty much the same as the last time I had it in Ohio. Everything is a bit overcooked (especially the chicken) but the fries are really good.

Oh also Food Lion was here only about a year. Dec. of 92 to early 94.

Yeah if you check out the historical imagery, the parking lot was completely empty from 2005-2006. It looks like the gas station may have stayed open but other than that it's empty. Also the renovations were obviously slowed down by Hurricane Rita. Outside of that though the renovations obviously took a while because the store was completely gutted. If you ever get a chance to visit that Mi Tienda give it a go. It's really interesting as they try to make it have a street market feel with fake building fronts, lights hanging between the buildings, benches, etc..

I take this back, after looking a bit further into it the store was not totally gutted. The GM section still maintains its original drop ceiling.

Let's mot forget (or maybe we have) the huge Incredible Universe store located on the West Loop. I'm sure Tandy would like to forget it, or wish they could. Big Flop if remember right. Probably stayed open 2-3 years, maybe longer.  

Tandy isn't around anymore to remember anything! They lasted from 1995-1997. I wish they would of stuck around, I remember it as being awesome!

Tiger direct on I10 do not think it was open 2 full yrs

It was originally opened under the CompUSA name and swapped to Tiger Direct right before closing. It only lasted as Tiger Direct for a few months IIRC.

Oh the Circuit City in Katy Mills didn't last long. The grand opening was on March 30th, 2008 and closed with all the other stores sometime in early 2009. Also the Sharpstown Circuit City was the only location closed in the first round of closings (late 2008). The building was the newer format so it couldn't of been that old.

There was a Supreme Sandwhiches location on 290 near W. 34th. The Streetview in 2011 shows it as under construction (retrofitting an old Denny's which moved in '06 across 290 to an old Ryan's). It finally opened in early 2012. They offered a pretty good deal (sandwich, chips, and drink for $2.50) and were frequented by HostGator employees from across the street. Supreme Sandwiches was evicted sometime in late 2012. The building sat vacant for a few months before it was torn down. Supreme Sandwiches put up a sign that indicated their intentions to return, the sign was torn down eventually as the 290 expansion encroached onto the former restaurant. As of 2015 the fence that was put up between the Days Inn and former Supreme Sandwiches location has had an ad painted on it for Supreme Sandwiches. So in total this place lasted only a few months.

Also how long was Just For Feet in Houston, 5 or so years?

I checked out a Value Village location located at 9500 Jensen which after some research I found was a former Finger Furniture location. Does anyone have any pictures of information about when the building was occupied by Finger Furniture. Fingers still owns the building so I have no idea when they moved out. It seems that most of what Finger built is still left. So whatcha got HAIF?

Just noticed last week that this JITB has closed - signage has been removed and leasing contact info posted. It had been in operation for over 40 years, and was the last one I'm aware of locally that still retained the appearance of the old-style "boxy" stores despite the updates over the years. My wife commented that she'd heard that it was one of the poorest-performing locations in the chain, which I found surprising given its close proximity to Waltrip.

 

Not the same one, but the building resembled this one:

 

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

Wow, so that must make it perhaps the shortest lived H-E-B ever at just maybe 3 years.

Yeah if you check out the historical imagery, the parking lot was completely empty from 2005-2006. It looks like the gas station may have stayed open but other than that it's empty. Also the renovations were obviously slowed down by Hurricane Rita. Outside of that though the renovations obviously took a while because the store was completely gutted. If you ever get a chance to visit that Mi Tienda give it a go. It's really interesting as they try to make it have a street market feel with fake building fronts, lights hanging between the buildings, benches, etc..

Mi Tienda has far and long been the longest grocery store to survive there, but records indicate that it was built as an Albertsons, and one of a handful of Albertsons stores in Houston sold to H-E-B (Chron says it opened in summer 2002). Mi Tienda opened in 2006 after a year of construction, though it's unclear if H-E-B remained open during that time or not.

IIRC H-E-B closed the store prior to construction.

Looks like it might of been part of a land development deal called "Northwoods Business Park". You can find some more info here. Basically though looks like the road was added to provide better access to the larger properties.

Wow - a lot were taken over by Popeye's..

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.

Photon had only one location in Houston. They originally opened in Dallas, and then expanded at a rate of one location per city. The Chronicle gives and address of 6025 Chimney Rock. Although I'm not sure this is accurate as that was definitely a Safeway/Apple Tree store from the late 70's - early 90's. The Houston Photon location opened December of 1985 (while that address was still definitely a Safeway) No idea when Photon closed, but the net seems to think it was only open for about a year or so.

http://www.theleadernews.com/index.php/checkers-drive-in-taking-shape-on-mangum/

Link got moved to this URL

http://theleadernews.com/community/checkers-drive-in-taking-shape-on-mangum/

Also in the article the say "Sonic Drive-in will be having more competition in the coming months as the area’s first Checkers restaurant appears to be taking shape." Do they mean this specific location? Because the Sonic on Mangum closed, and was remodeled to be used by Checkers the nearest Sonic is over on 34th I think?

The history that I know of the building is that Oak Farms used it up until the early 90's. It was sometime around 1990 or 91 that they left the facility. It was left vacant I believe, and was occasionally used as a meeting/gala space until 1998 when Public Storage bought it and redeveloped. Public Storage expanded the building quite a bit. Although I don't think the buildings are connected other than doorways (meaning the original walls from the dairy still stand). From this view everything with black on the roof was added by Public Storage along with the light house, and outlying buildings. The only original area is the white. I believe the decision had to do with multiple issues at the plant including an ammonia leak, and leaking petroleum tanks.

I had been using zxq.net for a host and they have had major problems. Apparently my abandoned roads and highways site is gone. Also my high school website and church site as well, so I have to start over. The good news is I have all my abandoned roads and highways and bridges photos and will rebuild. I have 100 plus photos from the Houston area and near Houston/around Texas. So I just need to find a good webhost. Hope to rebuild even better. Marty Blaise

Good luck rebuilding!

So the Prince's at Weslayan and 59 is officially closed. The address is 3899 Southwest Fwy
Houston, TX 77072. It apparently was fully decorated, lights on etc.. but without any people and the doors locked for the past month or so. I drove by today and it had been completely cleaned out. The only things remaining were a built in booth in the corner, and the half of a 40's Dodge pickup above the counter. They've got a hand written sign up on the door that says "Were Closed"

All the info online still looks like they're open eg: Yelp, Prince's Website etc.. Anyone know what happened?

I think that was the first Krispy Kreme to open up in the Houston area. I remember going there when it first opened. Funny how Dairy Ashford and Westheimer seemed so far away to me at that time.

Indeed it was. It was converted into just a bakery with no retail operations after the Jumble's debacle. I go into more detail on my website. (Click on the location on the map).

Doing another article and I'm trying to find info on Food Lion. My understanding is that around 13 locations were opened although plans called for something like 40 of them. I know one location was turned into the Missouri City PD but I'm unsure about any other locations. Searching for info is difficult due to their intro into Houston being overshadowed by the Prime time Live controversy.

So does anyone know where any of these locations were, or have any info on what happened to the buildings?

I have a photo of my parents at Abe and Pappy's Club located at 1106 Rusk in Houston.  I haven't been able to post a picture because it says the file is too big.  It says they have two big floor shows nightly.  Wish I could post the folder.

Upload it to an external image host eg: http://imgur.com/ and provide us with the link.

Last time I was down there, I started to check in some of the 80s era phone books at the George Memorial Library in Richmond. Found there was a Rosenberg location for a few years, but didn't think to check the Houston area books they had for that time. May be back in a month or so and will do some research then...

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?