Houston In The 1990s

[Victor Del Rio]

 

I remember Wolfe Nursery on Beechnut.  Just west of the nursery was Builder's Square, which was briefly redeveloped into a store called Pace; after that it was torn down to make way for Lowe's.  Next door to Builder's Square was a Toy Store called Children's Palace, which was later redeveloped into a music store.  I think a bike store is there now?

 

A few more memories:

• Sharpstown Mall was still respectable in the early part of the decade, but we stopped shopping there around 1995 because of the increased crime in the parking lot.
• A redeveloped Meyerland Plaza opened ~1996
• Video Central rented VHS tapes and video games.
• The Rockets and the Houston Aeros played their games in the Summit, which later became Compaq Center, which later became Lakewood Church.
• There were large street parties held on the Richmond strip after the Rockets won the Championship two years in a row.
• There was a lot of vacant land along the south side of 59 between S. Shepherd and 610 that was redeveloped towards the end of the decade.
• An outdoor concert venue called "Lone Star Amphitheater" was located on Westpark, just outside of 610.  It was later converted into a church called "Prayer Mountain".  I think it was demolished in the late '90s to make room for the Westpark Tollway.
• Many of the high-rise condo towers around the Galleria were built in the later part of the decade.
• The Houston Chronicle bought the Houston Post in the early part of the decade.
• The Bel-Air Theater on Bellaire Blvd closed, and was converted to an indoor playland for kids called "Discovery Zone".
• "Celebration Station" on 59 and "Fame City" on Beechnut were popular places for kids.
• The Village Arcade shopping center opened in Rice Village (~1994?).  A few years later, The Village Arcade II opened on the next block.
• The Hard Rock Cafe was still on Kirby, and it had a '60s-era Thunderbird mounted on a pole.
• There was a car dealership (Buick or Cadillac?) on the SE corner of S Shepherd and Westheimer in the early part of the decade.  Across the street was an Academy Sporting Goods Store and an Oak Farms Dairy facility.
• Dietrich Coffee House on Westheimer was a great place to hang out and people watch.
• Bookstop on S. Shepherd was an awesome book store.
• There was a movie theater on West Gray (Cineplex Odeon?).
• The Jeff Davis hospital sat abandoned on Allen Parkway as a giant creepy Art Deco monument.
• A blighted Allen Parkway Village sat next door, adding to the creepiness.
• The rice mills were still standing on Studemont in the early part of the decade.
• Washington Avenue and the surrounding area was in pretty rough shape.
• We would roll up the car windows and lock the doors when we drove through the Heights area.
• The long-vacant Rice Hotel downtown was renovated and re-opened as the "Rice Lofts."  "Enron Field" opened about the same time.  There was a lot of hope that these developments would revitialize downtown.  They eventually did, but I think it took much longer than everyone anticipated.
• It snowed in the early part of the decade (~1992 or 1993?)
• There were some big floods around 1995 or 1996 that caused many businesses and schools to close.  I seem to remember there being a lot of damage in the Kingwood area.

 

 

It was a Loews theater

LCE River Oaks Plaza 12

1450 West Gray Street

Gray Street at Waugh Drive

Houston, TX 77019

http://www.bigscreen.com/Marquee.php?theater=2837&view=contact

 

[H-Town Genius]

On 1/5/2014 at 0:57 PM, ChannelTwoNews said:

I distinctly recall a huge warehouse fire near downtown, or at least within the Loop... maybe early 1995 or 96? I think it took a few days to get completely out. I definitely remember that one of the stations (I think it was 2) kept cutting into whatever sports were on during the weekend to show the aerial shots.

 

I also remember a Two Pesos opened in my hometown and closed not too long after the whole court case involving Taco Cabana came to an end. Still waiting for a replacement TC.

 

Also, RABDARGAB

 

 

 

 

 

It was the Houston Distribution Inc. warehouse off of Market St. in June 1995; it was on the northeast side near Loop 610 and I-10, near the Budweiser plant

[Kasper]

Watch Robocop 2, it was pretty much all filmed on location around HTown. I watched a couple of scenes being filmed at that end of Main & they didn't have to do much to make it look like "future dystopian metropolitan Detroit'. 

[Itz_Jai]

It’s so cool reading about all these places and y’all’s memories. I was really young when I lived in Houston and can’t remember much. I do remember going to a pizza place that was right next to a Foodarama on South Post Oak. It was my favorite pizza but it closed down. I wish I could remember the name. I remember going to a YMCA near there. Near the Foodarama they had those aluminum can collection places. I remember crushing cans and putting them in huge garbage bags. I remember going to some parks but have no idea what the names were. There was a huge basketball court with a warehouse roof over it. The playground floors were made up of tiny round pebbles. I remember the dry cleaners that gave you some type of discount when you put the little orange stickers on a card. There was a Long John Silvers and a Taco Cabana nearby. I was born in 1988 and moved away in 2000. It’s so sad that I’ve lost almost all my memories from that time.

Edited October 28, 2020 by Itz_Jai
Add stuff

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

I think the YMCA was on Fondren. My sister was the gymnastics coach there for a while. I vaguely remember a Foodarama on Fuqua between Hiram Clark and S Post Oak. The dry cleaners was probably Pilgrims, they were all over town (might still be, i don't know). There is a Foodarama on S Post Oak at Ridge Creek, it used to be a Rice store. There was also Pyburns a mile or so north of there.

I used to work nights in that area. 

[mkultra25]

11 hours ago, Tumbleweed_Tx said:

The dry cleaners was probably Pilgrims, they were all over town (might still be, i don't know).

 

There are still a bunch of them around, but for the most part they've migrated outside the Beltway. I guess it's no longer technically true that "if you can't find a Pilgrim in ten minutes, you're lost".

[M@tt]

On 4/29/2014 at 9:33 AM, IronTiger said:

I found it! It was the TinselTown 24 at Westpark and Beltway 8, opening in 1997 and closing in 2008 (January of both years, I believe). Looking back at old HAIF posts, the theater was physically run-down and very "ghetto" by the the late 2000s. And I now how quickly these sorts of entertainment venues can get run down.

At Katy Freeway and Witte, there's a Chase call center (if I read correctly) that appears to be (from Google Maps) an old Costco before it moved east, but that's probably not the case. It was a large store of some sort though...

Tinsel Town became a place to get your car stolen or broken into. That movie theater was horrible, but saw several movies there. Kind of cool it faced beltway.   

[M@tt]

On 4/29/2014 at 9:33 AM, IronTiger said:

I found it! It was the TinselTown 24 at Westpark and Beltway 8, opening in 1997 and closing in 2008 (January of both years, I believe). Looking back at old HAIF posts, the theater was physically run-down and very "ghetto" by the the late 2000s. And I now how quickly these sorts of entertainment venues can get run down.

At Katy Freeway and Witte, there's a Chase call center (if I read correctly) that appears to be (from Google Maps) an old Costco before it moved east, but that's probably not the case. It was a large store of some sort though...

 

[H-Town Genius]

On 1/3/2014 at 8:34 PM, 9075 said:

I remember Wolfe Nursery on Beechnut.  Just west of the nursery was Builder's Square, which was briefly redeveloped into a store called Pace; after that it was torn down to make way for Lowe's.  Next door to Builder's Square was a Toy Store called Children's Palace, which was later redeveloped into a music store.  I think a bike store is there now?

 

A few more memories:

• Sharpstown Mall was still respectable in the early part of the decade, but we stopped shopping there around 1995 because of the increased crime in the parking lot.
• A redeveloped Meyerland Plaza opened ~1996
• Video Central rented VHS tapes and video games.
• The Rockets and the Houston Aeros played their games in the Summit, which later became Compaq Center, which later became Lakewood Church.
• There were large street parties held on the Richmond strip after the Rockets won the Championship two years in a row.
• There was a lot of vacant land along the south side of 59 between S. Shepherd and 610 that was redeveloped towards the end of the decade.
• An outdoor concert venue called "Lone Star Amphitheater" was located on Westpark, just outside of 610.  It was later converted into a church called "Prayer Mountain".  I think it was demolished in the late '90s to make room for the Westpark Tollway.
• Many of the high-rise condo towers around the Galleria were built in the later part of the decade.
• The Houston Chronicle bought the Houston Post in the early part of the decade.
• The Bel-Air Theater on Bellaire Blvd closed, and was converted to an indoor playland for kids called "Discovery Zone".
• "Celebration Station" on 59 and "Fame City" on Beechnut were popular places for kids.
• The Village Arcade shopping center opened in Rice Village (~1994?).  A few years later, The Village Arcade II opened on the next block.
• The Hard Rock Cafe was still on Kirby, and it had a '60s-era Thunderbird mounted on a pole.
• There was a car dealership (Buick or Cadillac?) on the SE corner of S Shepherd and Westheimer in the early part of the decade.  Across the street was an Academy Sporting Goods Store and an Oak Farms Dairy facility.
• Dietrich Coffee House on Westheimer was a great place to hang out and people watch.
• Bookstop on S. Shepherd was an awesome book store.
• There was a movie theater on West Gray (Cineplex Odeon?).
• The Jeff Davis hospital sat abandoned on Allen Parkway as a giant creepy Art Deco monument.
• A blighted Allen Parkway Village sat next door, adding to the creepiness.
• The rice mills were still standing on Studemont in the early part of the decade.
• Washington Avenue and the surrounding area was in pretty rough shape.
• We would roll up the car windows and lock the doors when we drove through the Heights area.
• The long-vacant Rice Hotel downtown was renovated and re-opened as the "Rice Lofts."  "Enron Field" opened about the same time.  There was a lot of hope that these developments would revitialize downtown.  They eventually did, but I think it took much longer than everyone anticipated.
• It snowed in the early part of the decade (~1992 or 1993?)
• There were some big floods around 1995 or 1996 that caused many businesses and schools to close.  I seem to remember there being a lot of damage in the Kingwood area.

I've been to that Discovery Zone on Bellaire, for a birthday party in like 1997 or something. The snow was in February 1993, I remember looking out from a medical building on I-10 east (my father was having his back looked at) and seeing the snow falling.

On 1/5/2014 at 7:48 PM, IronTiger said:

Earlier poster said it was Studemont. I believe the only rice mill left in Houston proper is the Gulf Pacific Co. one on 290, which will almost certainly be torn down for the highway redevelopment. Sigh...http://www.emoticons.free.fr/smileys/Emotion-No/no3.gif

It's still standing.

[Triton]

On 9/30/2015 at 4:20 AM, Subdude said:

Here's Lower Main St in the 1990s in all its glory.  Not a great shot of the street itself however.

http://s21.postimg.org/pkpyw4mif/scan0032.jpg

Ugh! Looks like the photo is gone.

[mkultra25]

13 hours ago, Triton said:

Ugh! Looks like the photo is gone.

postimg.org is gone, but fortunately the Internet Archive has a snapshot of that page/image. Probably worth checking the Wayback Machine whenever you run across any other photos that were hosted by postimg and no longer accessible.

 

[Triton]

On 10/23/2023 at 2:10 PM, mkultra25 said:

postimg.org is gone, but fortunately the Internet Archive has a snapshot of that page/image. Probably worth checking the Wayback Machine whenever you run across any other photos that were hosted by postimg and no longer accessible.

 

Great idea and thank you!

Yes, this is the Main St I remember as a kid. I remember there being an incredible amount of potholes and my dad's truck bouncing up and down as we were driving up from the bayou. I don't remember the storefronts looking like this but I guess they were in this bad of a shape. Houston has come so far!