Thursday, November 29, 2018

Shepherd Square Shopping Center

2075 Westheimer Road

This two-level shopping center has distinct addresses (including South Shepherd addresses) for its tenants. The Randalls opened in December 1989 (possibly January 1990), and there was a commercial on YouTube that showed sketches of the new store including floral, deli, and pizza departments, but it disappeared shortly before writing. This Randalls closed in fall 2018. In May 1990, Churrascos opened at 2005 Westheimer. This restaurant is still in operation as of this writing, and the Starbucks was part of Randalls (it was a very large Starbucks and evidence suggests it was the Flagship Café, which was part of the store). Despite many upper levels of Flagship stores and the two level strip mall, Randalls did not have an upper level.

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Adam's Mark Houston

2900 Briarpark Drive

In early 2004 the Adam's Mark hotel was rebranded as the Houston Marriott Westchase following an announcement in 2003. An alternate version of this 1985 ad (from the Houston Post) using full color photos can be seen at old Texas Monthly ads. The hotel was built in 1980.

Editor's Note: Happy thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 15, 2018

1344 Yale

1344 Yale Street

This building was a former bakery operation (as of the early 1980s directory, listed as "Heights Bakery" though it's possible it was something originally), with a large three-point sign located at the corner that has faded off completely. As of this writing, the building is scheduled to become a wine bar/shop called "La Grande Rue" and a restaurant called "Savoir". Their websites are (also as of this writing) almost identical. According to HCAD, the build date is 1930 but Loopnet says 1950. However, the building does not seem to be on Google Earth's 1944 view but is on 1953, which suggests 1950 is perhaps the actual build date. More information can be seen on the Houston Architecture Forums.

Picture above is from May 2018 (by the author); picture below from Loopnet before renovations began.

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Tommie's Restaurant & Club


5850 Highway 6 North

Advertisement from the Houston Post, June 1985. The 5850 Highway 6 address is no longer in use, but the building adjacent to the modern Captain D's may have been part of Tommie's at one point at time, or even was a larger building before being reduced later. (Aerial photography makes this difficult to determine).

Thursday, November 1, 2018

290 / Beltway 8 Demolition - Taco Bell

15950 Northwest Freeway

This is the third of at least three posts on a small collection of fast food restaurants which the author has taken a personal interest in, to be further explored in a future post on the Northwest Freeway site (this link will be updated soon to reflect that). Along with McDonald's and Wendy's, a Taco Bell was also among the three fast food sites and others on the south side of Highway 290 to be leveled for road widening. According to HCAD, the Taco Bell was built in 1993 and had red, green, and yellow striping outside. Like the other restaurants it closed around fall 2012, and was demolished within months of when these pictures were taken in March 2013 by the author. (The above photo is one of the only ones I have of the building, and the photo below shows the back of the restaurant). Previously, these photos appeared on Carbon-izer and Brazos Buildings & Businesses.


Street View of Taco Bell still in operation