Announcement

Effective immediately, The Houston Files will be closed to new content.

This is for several reasons. 

1. The original intention was contingent on me living in Houston, which I no longer do.

2. The single-building setup made it difficult to add related buildings. The whole way the site was categorized was to basically be "another Arch-Ive" which by that time had largely ceased updating regularly. 

3. The Houston Files was built to be more "professional" than what Brazos Buildings & Businesses was, but with the 2024 retool that did change. Either way, the site never gained a following. 

Future Houston-related posts will appear on Numbered Exits though nothing is currently planned at the moment (at least not for a few weeks). Carbon-izer will also publish Houston-specific content as well.

Window Magic

The building's only non-food use. (Street View 2011). I tried to update the fate of 8910 Westheimer in another page I wasn't happy with.

This is believed to have been built as a Church's Chicken in the mid-1960s and became a Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1982 (many Church's in Houston became KFC for some reason around this time). In the early 1990s it closed and became Window Magic in 1992 (curtains and draperies) before closing in 2011, though the window treatment shop still resembled a former KFC. In March 2012 it was renovated and reopened as Del Taco, which was supposed to bring dozens of Del Taco stores back to the Houston (and greater Texas) area (for this previous attempt, please see this link), but it closed in May 2015, with the Dallas (and Austin area) stores going soon after. This was the only Houston-area store they ever opened.

The restaurant was renovated and reopened as Golden Chick (fried chicken once more, but resembling less of the KFC) in 2016, but it closed in 2019. 2020 brought the opening of 7 Leaves Cafe, a milk tea shop out of the California area, but by the end of 2021, it had also shut down. In October 2023 it reopened as a new location of Tim Hortons but removed the 1980s-style roofing that KFC added but the subsequent restaurants kept in one form or another. As you can see it looks quite different than is shown above.

Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza at Park 10

This now-defunct hotel got back its Crowne Plaza name, if briefly. (Street View, 2011)
Located at 14703 Park Row, the 19-floor 349-room Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza at Park 10 was one of the first Crowne Plaza hotels in the chain (then known as "Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza", I believe it was the fourth after the third, at 2222 W. Loop South, with the first being in Maryland) opening in February 1984. A 1986 article mentions the restaurants here were "Park Cafe" and "Le Regale". In late 1987, however, it was converted to a large (regular) Holiday Inn, "Holiday Inn Houston West". It still was a nice hotel and advertised the "Holidome" as a feature. In 1995 it was rebranded again to "Holiday Inn Select" (a now-defunct brand angled toward business travelers) and by 2008 was rebranded back to Crowne Plaza, as InterContinental Hotel Group had decided to eliminate Holiday Inn Select as a brand.

In 2012 it switched hotel groups entirely, switching to a Wyndham and closed in 2020 permanently, mirroring so many other large hotels that closed over thirty years prior.

Around 2023 it reopened as Teak, a luxury apartment building.

My 2002 directory for Holiday Inn mentions that the hotel had "Tavern at the Park" (bar), Park Cafe (buffets for weekday lunch and breakfast, Friday seafood buffet, and champagne brunch for Sunday).

Sherwin-Williams Paint on Northwest Freeway

This Sherwin-Williams paint store at 14640 Northwest Freeway opened here in December 2014 (in a new building). This was taken on Northwest Freeway in January 2018 when traffic ground to a halt on US-290 in the evening, as it often does.

Soapsuds Sawdust & Scents

Soapsuds Sawdust & Scents is the featured tenant of what is now (as of June 2024) Lankamex, at 9531 Westheimer Road.

Piecing together the history of this tenant has been a bit difficult. This was constructed as Stop N Go around the late 1960s (open by 1967) but changed hands to rival UtoteM by 1970. By 1979 it was Soapsuds Sawdust & Scents.

Soapsuds Sawdust & Scents was short-lived, though. Sometime around 1980 or 1981, SS&S closed and by September 1981 it was 74 Ranch Beef, a specialty meat market.

In 1985, 74 Ranch Beef closed this location and it briefly became Window Tint U.S.A. before ABC Video, an "adult video movie" store (as in, pornos) opened.

Sometime around 2013, ABC Video was replaced with another store, High "N" Dress, which was more of the same, a "smoke shop" selling everything from vaping products to sex toys, as well as body piercings and tattoos.

In 2018, Street View showed the "lingerie" part of the sign was removed, with the store advertising tacos through interior signage, but still with "Smoke Shop" and "Piercing" on the outside, and while the High "N" Dress signage remained, a smaller banner for Lanka-Mex was added near the ground, featuring Mexican and Sri Lankan grocery products.

The banner for Lanka-Mex read that they had the usual convenience store fixings (lotto, beer) while also advertised being a smoke shop, and the facade on the store removed "Lingerie" but left "Smoke Shop" and "Piercing". By 2021, all pretenses of it being a "smoke shop" were dropped, and the windows reflected this (check Google Maps Street View). This indicates that High "N" Dress was bought as-is and then slowly legitimized.

  This post is adapted from the Westheimer Road page at Carbon-izer.com.

H-E-B Pantry Foods #309

Not an H-E-B Pantry anymore, unfortunately. In July 1992, the ribbon-cutting for H-E-B Pantry Foods #309 at 5815 Antoine Drive was held and continued on until around 2003 when the store closed (it's possible, but unlikely, that it became branded as a regular H-E-B by this time).

A few years later, it was expanded and reopened as "Harris County Annex 38", a government building with a variety of services and offices inside. (HHR mentions it was "expanded prior to closing", but this is incorrect, it expanded AFTER closing). The above picture is from Google Maps Street View, a crummy-quality picture of the store when operating as an H-E-B can be seen here.

Originally seen on the Other Houston Roads - Outer Loop and H-E-B Stores of Houston, both on Carbon-izer.

Former Sonic on Mangum

A paralyzed restaurant in limbo. (Google Street View).
Originally, 1815 Mangum Road was home to a Gibraltar Savings (later First Gibraltar) bank (1976-1990) and in 1993 Sonic Drive-In was built on the site, joining a number of other restaurants (both fast food and sit down) on Mangum Road, creating a bit of a "restaurant row" near Northwest Mall, joining (at the time) Red Lobster, Steak & Ale, IHOP, Taco Bell, Long John Silver's, and others.

Around 2014 Sonic bowed out of the location after twenty years in the spot, with Checkers renovating and reopening the site in 2015, adding a connection to Pizza Inn's parking lot next door.

It closed around 2019 (when it was clear Checkers failed in Houston, though as a gas station co-brand it lives on), and reopened as Smokey Cheeks ("BBQ Butt Tex-Mex"), which operated from 2020 to 2021. After Smokey Cheeks closed, it was renovated yet again as Piper's Cantina, though it never opened after some $80,000 worth of restaurant equipment was stolen around late May 2022, and since then, nothing.

It's worth noting that there's a bit of a kerfuffle on Google Reviews. To summarize, a post made sometime in mid-2023 by one Shanna Burrell: "No food, no service, no atmosphere. 2 years and still nothing. And after seeing owners response to potential customers, Pipers might want to pipe down or there will never be any of the above." This was responded with: "Let us clarify something for you Shanna. You were not talking to the owners, You were talking to an individual who responded to you. You might want to do some research next time before you decide to blast a small business. You have zero right to review our restaurant as it IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION and was vandalized several times causing the lengthy delay. Go pipe down somewhere else." ...which is pretty odd as there's no reports since 2022 and has no signs of opening or any press (like a Facebook page). Despite (or because of?) the exceptionally rude and unprofessional outburst, the restaurant spot is still abandoned as of July 2024.

This is an expanded version of what was previously posted on Carbon-izer.

Chuy's at 9350 Westheimer

Chuy's in better days (Street View, 2019)
With Chuy's in the news recently for being bought by Darden Restaurants (in process, at least) I wanted to discuss their now-defunct 9350 Westheimer Road location. The earliest reference I can find is Pier 1 Imports buying the tract back in 1989 (though it's likely the address got transposed and was never recorded); but either way Louisiana-based seafood restaurant Ralph & Kacoo's opened in February 1991. The restaurant stayed open around until the end of 1996, even as the Riverboat Gamblers played jazz every Sunday at the restaurant.

The next restaurant, Water Street Seafood Co. opened in August 1997, a joint venture between Water Street Seafood of Corpus Christi and Luby's Cafeterias, Inc. of San Antonio. In less than a year it closed and was replaced by "El Mirage", a Middle Eastern cuisine restaurant. Between November 2001 and March 2002, El Mirage closed and The Sands opened, a Mediterranean buffet restaurant. The Sands operated at least through to the end of 2004. A reference to "Royal Super Buffet" appears in 2007 while Chuy's opened in the summer of 2009.

I remember the Chuy's was incredibly popular, I remember going to eat there with my cousins in the first month or so and had lines out the door. We ended up eating at a different Tex-Mex restaurant (somewhere beyond Woodlake, though I do remember large cut-out of recently-elected President Barack Obama in the restaurant).

Chuy's continued to operate for over a decade, outlasting every other restaurant that appeared before it; however it quietly closed in fall of 2022 without replacement. (This post is an expanded and updated version of the Westheimer Road page).

Georgia's Farm to Market

For years, at the intersection of the Katy Freeway frontage road and Piney Point Road sat two converted gas stations. Tall Plants at 9191 Katy Freeway is still there but the other one at 9201 Katy Freeway, is not.

Georgia's Farm to Market was the last tenant at 9201 Katy Freeway before its demolition for a new location of Rice Box. I first became aware of it back in spring 2016, which looked like an interesting farmer's market-type store, despite its small size. Alas, at the time, I was too poor, too pressed for time, and wasn't even on the right side of the road (Blalock was my exit, but I would have to circle around twice). When I returned in February 2020, the store was clearly closed, yet the parking lot was full of cars, and really nice cars at that. Hoping I wasn't stumbling onto something illegal, I poked my head inside to see a small class of people doing painting lessons in the gutted building. I didn't interact with them, I had completed my purpose, and I don't think they even noticed me. As for Georgia's, it moved and renamed in early 2018.

Georgia's had occupied the spot since 2013, when it was moved from a location at a former Kmart further down Katy Freeway. (It was only supposed to be a temporary move but ended up being permanent). Prior to Georgia's, it was a granite and flooring store (officially Floors & Beyond Trading), and was an Enco station (originally Humble) in 1967. (The station was built between 1957 and 1962). This seems to have continued up until around 1994, when it closed (as an Exxon) and became Robert's Auto Works (mid to late 1990s), then a Just Brakes (2000-2004). The two pictures were taken in February 2021 by myself. In 2021 the canopy was demolished followed by the rest of the building soon after.

(This is an expanded and modified version of what was previously seen on Carbon-izer under the Katy Freeway).

Leo's Coffee Shop

In 1973, Leo Kalantzakis opened a 24-hour coffee shop at the ground floor of 1203 Fannin (below a parking garage), where, according to the Houston Chronicle, "he'll offer platters of seafood, steaks cooked to order, specialty salads, and a magnificent sandwich selection. Two midnight breakfasts, steaks and the traditional ham 'n eggs are ranking high, says manager Jerry Erwin."

The signage looks big and gaudy and probably was outdated even by 1970s standards (certainly with energy requirements coming in soon) but the reason why Leo's can still be talked about today is a rather scathing report by Marvin Zindler's "Rat & Roach Report" from 1982. That's where the pictures in this post come from, the current A dingy downtown diner that never closes has issues, with health inspectors finding two dead mice in a storage area and "roaches crawling on the condiment cooler" (as Zindler relished the alliteration). By 1984 Leo's was gone.

The current site is now home to McCormick & Schmick's Seafood & Steaks; the building was demolished and rebuilt in the late 2000s.

Railhead

Postcard from the early days. (Source unknown).

The first reference to 6400 Richmond appears in 1974 as the Railhead, a steakhouse themed to the golden era of American railroads. From what I've heard it had two portions of the restaurants, one focusing on steakhouse dining (serving a menu of prime rib and seafood) and the other toward live shows, which got increasingly more nightclubby as time went on. A January 1983 show with Dan Berry of Jan & Dean invited women to come in a bikini (and get their first drink free). Later that year it closed and the building received a large expansion to become Fizz, a popular nightclub, opening in spring 1986.

Fizz closed in October 1986 for a renovation, with a new theme and name, Hippo, opening in December. Hippo featured "a pseudo-artsy decor" where "abstract acrylics, animal murals and bad Picasso-esque paintings line the walls". (Yes, and for those keeping track, for a brief time you had "Hippo" down the street from "Crocodile"). By June 1988, however, the location had transitioned into a new concept, simply called "6400 Richmond" with alternative music (the new slogan - "Top 40 - We Ain't Playing It!"). This was done slowly, with some nights as Hippo and some as 6400 Richmond with black plastic covering the walls. You can see some of what was the nightclub in this video. It mentions a private club-within-a-nightclub (Wolfgang) with a quieter, more discreet atmosphere (this was likely the old Railhead portion) and you can see guests dance on the floor (note the very drunk man at five minutes) to Dead Or Alive's "My Heart Goes Bang" (Live in Japan).

"6400 Club" as it was known by late 1988, was destroyed in a fire in January 1989 and appears to not have reopened. The most extensive damage was at the former Railhead building, which was essentially rebuilt as a covered patio. The rest of the building was repaired/rebuilt and reopened as Back Alley in August 1991. Just over a year later, the club was closed and reopened around December 1992 as Texas Live, a new country western club, but it closed after four months, citing an oversaturated C&W nightclub scene. In mid-1993 it reopened as Rockefeller's West, a spin-off of Rockefeller's in the Rice Military area and designed to be primarily a performance hall rather than a dance club. Operations changed hands and eventually the "original" Rockefeller's managed to get exclusivity rights to the name back and Rockefeller's West was changed to Bayou City Theater (aka Bayou City Theatre) in December 1993.

In July 1994, Peter's Wildlife opened, turning it back into a nightclub. In November, the club faced some bad publicity with "Slash 'N Dash", to feature "was to feature a straw poll on [O.J.] Simpson's guilt or innocence; free valet parking for customers driving white Ford Broncos; free Simpson masks and a gift certificate for a hunting knife as a grand prize". Not only was the grand prize a knife but the winner was to "win an O.J. Simpson 'Slash N' Dash' night on the town to include dinner at McDonald's, a black stocking cap, a gift certificate for a hunting knife, a pair of sunglasses and a limousine ride to the airport". After there was an outcry from local womens' shelters about this, the club announced that the party would instead be "An Evening of Extremely Poor Taste" and "did not mention prizes". At some point around this time, there was a club-within-a-club, Florida Keys. Peter's Wildlife closed in mid-1997 shortly after a lawsuit was filed by a woman claiming she "almost choked to death" in a hot dog eating contest Peter's Wildlife had hosted in 1995. T-Town 2000, a Latino-themed nightclub opened in September 1998, not long after 6400 Sports Cafe made a brief appearance in the building. T-Town 2000 was successful enough to last seven years (something that every club, dating back to Fizz, couldn't manage) before closing/changing to Planeta Bar-Rio around 2005 (probably because "2000" anything became quickly dated after the year 2000). Around 2010 it was reformatted once more to Stereo Live, a live performance venue, which has remained since.

The billboard-esque sign for the club dates back to the days of the Railhead.

This post is researched through Houston Chronicle and Houston Post archives and expanded from what originally appeared on Carbon-izer.com at this page.

Studio 6 Northwest Freeway

Street View, 2014 This is an expanded version of what appears on Carbon-izer.

This (14255 Northwest Freeway) opened as Homestead Village in February 1994, a chain of extended-stay efficiency apartment hotels (not to be confused with Homestead Village Apartments at 9700 Homestead). In January 2001, it and others were sold to Accor, which converted them to Studio 6, Motel 6's new extended-stay hotel brand (it's worth noting the Studio 6 logo was much more colorful and interesting than it was prior to the early 2010s; you can see the hotel sign as it looked in 2005 from AARoads here). It changed signage in 2014. While "Studio 6 Houston, TX - Northwest Hwy 290" had a long run, it closed in 2022 and was converted into apartments along with two other Studio 6 properties and a Wyndham hotel.

The interesting thing to note is that at one time in the 2010s Studio 6 did some renovations, updating fixtures like cabinets and the sinks, and these were carried over to the apartment complex.

As an apartment complex, it appears that the main Northwest Freeway access is exit-only and that the main entrance is off of Rothway Street.