Saturday, April 18, 2020

Barbecue Inn


116 West Crosstimbers Drive

Barbecue Inn's current building, according to both HCAD and newspaper records, was built in 1965. As of 1961, the 116 West Crosstimbers address was a private residence, with a fire reported in 1961 that damaged the roof.


It appears the "established 1946" was when current ownership took over--much like how what is now Domino's marks its establishment when it was new management that took over Ypsilanti, Michigan's "Domi-Nick's Pizza", but the original address of Barbecue Inn isn't clear, and establishments with that name in Houston have been around since the 1930s. Pictures from author, 3/2019.

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Jack in the Box, The Heights

2001 North Shepherd Drive

Built in 1977 but replacing an older restaurant dating back to at least the mid-1960s, this Jack in the Box closed September 2018. The restaurant was poorly run, with employees actually refusing to serve hamburgers after around 7 pm citing the grill being shut off (likely a reason for its demise, as Jack in the Box stores usually thrive on night traffic). It reopened as Velvet Taco in January 2021 with a exterior major re-do (however, the "box" was kept). [Photo by author, March 2019]

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Houston Inn & Suites

This hotel was built in 1978 as a Days Inn and records indicate it became Houston Inn & Suites in 2003. Like most early Days Inn motels, it featured a gas canopy out front with unbranded gasoline. The canopy is gone but the concrete for the pumps still remain. This picture was taken December 2018 at the nearby taco stand.

This post is considered to be obsolete and no longer "canon" to this website, but still kept up for archival purposes. See this page for the current version of this entry.

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Royal Sonesta


2222 West Loop South

One of the first Crowne Plaza hotels to ever open (known as "Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza" chain-wide until around the mid-1990s), this hotel opened in 1984 (according to my notes--build date recorded as 1983, the first Crowne Plaza opened in 1983, and this hotel was part of the third and fourth in the chain, along with a second location at Park 10 and Highway 6). It stayed a Crowne Plaza for a number of years, but in 1998, Bass plc, the parent group of Holiday Hospitality, bought InterContinental Hotels & Resorts from the Saison Group, and changed the name of Holiday Hospitality to Bass Hotels & Resorts in an effort to diversify away from the Holiday Inn name. There had been an InterContinental in the Galleria area before at 5150 Westheimer, but at the time, there wasn't. In 2001, Six Continents (the name of Bass Hotels & Resorts by that time, and in effect Bass plc itself) began an extensive renovation of the Crowne Plaza in 2001 to convert it to the even more upscale Hotel InterContinental, which would open in 2002 after a complete redevelopment (the "to reopen second quarter 2002" in the directory and the extensive construction seen in Google Earth implies that it was closed for a time), and indeed, the footprint nearly doubled in size with the addition of several conference centers and a second parking garage.

In 2012, the owners of the hotel, Hospitality Properties Trust, which had owned the hotel since 2005, acquired the Sonesta Collection, a group of boutique hotels, and switched over the hotel to it and its management group from InterContinental Hotels Group, and changed the name to Royal Sonesta Hotel - Houston Galleria, doing another renovation in 2013. On the top level is a lounge for guests (featuring TVs and snacks, unmanned) and what I assume is the "five-room Presidential Suite" mentioned in the 2002 directory.

1 - Six Continents Hotel Directory, 2002


This post is considered to be obsolete and no longer "canon" to this website, but still kept up for archival purposes. See this page for the current version of this entry.