The Grapevine

A bit off the beaten path, but the fence wasn't here when it was a restaurant.
201 Live Oak Street

To clear up a few rumors that still float around even today, the Grapevine, a defunct restaurant near the intersection of Texas Avenue and University, was not and was never at Saber Inn down the street (EDIT 6/12/2018: actually, that may have been right all along--more later). It was, however, not located at its current place, from 1974 to 1980 it was at 315 Texas Avenue, a long-gone address that was shared with Senter-Piece Flowers.

In 1980, the current restaurant was built and owned by Patsy Perry (Zabel), running up until 2001 when Patsy (now Patsy Zabel) retired retired after nearly three decades [archive]. The restaurant briefly reopened under new owners (as mentioned in the KBTX article) and it did in fact open (in the original 2013 version of this article there was a Battalion article from 2004 entitled "Fresh from the Grapevine", but they removed it and I can't get an archived replacement article), if briefly, probably gone by mid-2005, if that.

Normally we would just put up an ad (as seen above) but today, we're presenting (and this is something I've worked out) real recipes from The Grapevine. The dressing, the potatoes, and the cheesecake have all been released on a Facebook group, and they're here now. (Yes, I got permission and yes, the link does in fact work!)

I also acquired a partial menu from late 2000 (with the last price increases in place--a typical entree held a cost of about $8.50) but I decided against putting it up except on request.

This blog reports it was "Lighthouse Christian Church" for a while after the closing of the Grapevine. The blog talked about said baked potatoes in great length, which I have reproduced here. I was going to leave a comment, but comments are closed on that post. Their loss, I suppose. I don't know how long Lighthouse was there, the blog was published in June 2007, but June 2007 happened to be when the current tenant, the Rohr Chabad Jewish Center, opened its doors for the first time.

Updated July 2017 with new photo taken this month, clarification of when the current restaurant opened, redoing links, further details on chronology, and integrating the October 2013 update.

Tinsley's Chicken 'n Rolls / Kokopelli's / Clay Oven

Chicken done well, chicken well done!
See our updated version of this post here.

College Main Wash & Go

Be honest, have you ever seen a "Grand Opening" ad for a common laundromat? (from The Eagle)
Located just north of Northgate (and colloquially considered part of it), 4405 College Main is completely abandoned, but it wasn't always that way. The building was built in 1985 according to Brazos CAD and was divided into two suites.

4405A was primarily a laundromat. The first one, College Main Wash & Go, only lasted until 1989 but it served as a laundromat sporadically over the years, including Come 'N Wash (2004-2005) and BV Washateria (2005-2009). There might've been something in the during the 1990s but research has been inconclusive at the latest update's press time. By 2014, it was converted into the i-Stop convenience store but by 2015, i-Stop had shriveled up, leaving the center completely empty.

At 4405B, the earliest restaurant I can find is Carrie's Kitchen in 1987, immortalized in the "Camptoons map" (from Carbon-izer) While I don't have phone books for the late 1980s (except 1989) readily available, it appeared that before the more well-known Thai Taste (which occupied B for most of the 1990s), "Carrie's Kitchen" was at 4405B in 1987 (and according to taxpayer records, only lasted a very short time). Thai Taste opened in 1990 and moved out to University Square in 2002. From what I've heard, Thai Taste was well-liked in this location, the University Square location, not so much. Details on Thai Taste are still sketchy, but I seem to remember from reading on forum postings that Thai Taste closed in the mid-2000s on College Main, but the name was bought and it reopened on University Square for a few years. Vietnamese Taste began operations in 2003 (keeping the "Taste" part of the old sign). Vietnamese Taste closed in May 2012 (roughly) and reopened as "Vy's Asian Kitchen Cuisine" just off Texas Avenue a few months later. It lasted another five years in that spot before changing hands; they must have done SOMETHING right.

After that, it was registered as "Bottoms Up" (presumably a bar) but Googling it just shows it as a taxpayer entity and not anywhere as an actual business. Despite "existing" for a year, this was probably just a stillborn business. With Vietnamese Taste having left in 2012 and never reopened, and the short rise and fall of I-Stop, the whole building has been vacant and is for sale. It can be yours for about $860k.

UPDATE 08-03-2021: New name, minor rewrite, new details, removing [2000s], [services], and [northgate], adding [defunct], [service businesses], and [college main].

The Captain's Half Shell Oyster Bar / The Boat / Shipwreck Grill

I don't have a contemporary picture on file, but that shouldn't be too hard to find. Ad from The Eagle, October 1985.
Starting as The Captain's Half Shell Oyster Bar in 1985, which appears to have had other locations and likely as well a spin off of the extant Captain Benny's of Houston, today this 206 East Villa Maria Road is the home of Shipwreck Grill since fall 2009, owned by Wade and Mary Beckman.

The Captain's Half Shell Oyster Bar operated here from 1985 to 2002, and following that was another seafood restaurant, "The Boat", from 2002 to 2006. (Despite the name of Sam's Seafood on the tax record, it was not related to Houston-based Sam's Boat). After that, it sat abandoned for a few years, though according to tax records, just prior to Shipwreck changed hands to become "Melting Pot African-Caribbean Cuisine" (though this may have operated as a home-based catering service briefly). From 2013 to 2024, a second restaurant operated across the street, Amico Nave Ristorante. In March 2024, while the corpse of Amico Nave was still warm, the owners of Shipwreck Grill announced they would renovate the former Amico Nave into the new location of Shipwreck Grill, causing them to "abandon ship".

UPDATE 03-06-2024: Rewrite of existing post for Amico Nave addition.

Wickes Lumber

A full-service hardware store!
This has always been a building I've seen since my youth, operating as a business I can't remember anymore (it had six letters and appeared to be there for a while, given how faded it was) but originally, it was Wickes Lumber, operating since at least 1975 (likely built soon after the completion of the "West Loop"). Given the ad below, it seemed to be a full hardware store, even going with its own functioning railroad spur to bring in lumber directly.


I don't know when Wickes Lumber went out of business...FundingUniverse seems to indicate late 1980s or early 1990s, which makes sense and then somehow later down the line, Wickes was bought and operates in the UK exclusively, but such a thing is out of the scope out of this article.

You aren't missing much in terms of building variety.

After the closure of Wickes in the late 1980s or early 1990s (as mentioned before), about two or three other businesses tried their hand at the building. There was that faded sign with six characters in the early to mid-1990s (as far as I know that was the first tenant after Wickes) and something else as well later (or two), until finally coming to Moore Supply Co. and their "Bath & Kitchen Showplace" (initially with a tiny sign) sometime in the early to mid 2000s. Sometime since this post was last updated (2017?) Bath & Kitchen Showplace renamed to "Facets".

The surrounding buildings that Wickes had were all sold off (they were owned by Wickes--during the right time of day, you can see a Wickes Lumber "labelscar" on the Boral Bricks building). Brazos Valley Turf occupies the building to the right of it (has been there for years), and Boral Bricks was in the back (probably originally something else after Wickes). The addresses are all different...Wickes Lumber had been 101 West Loop, but the current addresses include Moore Supply Co. as 1530 Harvey Mitchell, Brazos Valley Turf as 101 N. Dowling Road (which is strange since the same address is shared with Living Water Pottery), and Boral Bricks ("Boral Bricks Studio"?) is at 95 N. Dowling Road. Brazos CAD was no help in trying to get any information on the confusing addresses of these things, nor any old phone books. The only things that I gleaned from my resources was that Brazos Valley Turf opened in the late 1990s (which makes sense with what I remember), but even before BV Turf opened, the address of Country Grocery was 101 A N. Dowling Road, which suggests that even back in '96, there was a second address for that.

Finally, we have those pictures of railroad spur I mentioned before. It shut down around or before the untimely closure of Wickes Lumber, and a cell phone tower has been built on the site, but some of it remains today. These pictures were taken in June 2010 with my then-new cell phone camera, and I'm excited to show these, even if they are low quality. It had been around since at least 1975, so it was likely built soon after the completion of the "West Loop".

One more story—in the late 1990s or early 2000s, someone had the bright idea of parking their car in the wide right of way area between Harvey Mitchell Parkway and the parking lot, and putting a "For Sale" sign on it. This, in turn, was a success. The car was sold, and other people started to put up their cars in the space to be sold. At one time there was up to five cars, and no less than 3, until TxDOT got fed up with people parking their cars there, and put up a row of "No Parking" signs in the area that remained until construction of the overpass began.

UPDATE 03-20-2021: Added back section that was previously from "Photos of the West Loop". There's some sort of collision center coming to the former Boral Bricks area, but I need to get more information.

UPDATE 01-04-2024: A few corrections and updates.

I did want to make a few corrections. The warehouses behind the store were indeed part of Wickes Lumber, before the construction of Joe Hudson's Collision Center (today at 95 N. Dowling Road and opened around August 2022), you COULD see the faded Wickes Lumber scar on one of the buildings on Wellborn Road, given the right light conditions. Wickes Lumber also opened in 1974.

Some additional information I uncovered that there was a "JST CONCRETE CO INC" (operating from 1995 to 1996) at the address; however I can't confirm or deny it was the first tenant I remember seeing there, as well as Les Investments Inc. from 1990 to 1994 (probably not the actual name on the building) and "SHR ROOFING SUPPLY INC." from 1994 to 1997. Showman Electrical Supply Co. Inc. was here from 2001 to 2002 and used the 1530 Harvey Mitchell address (the first to do so, looks like).

Also, I believe 2017 was when B&K Showplace became Facets, with a repaint coming around that time.

Brazos Blue Ribbon Bakery in Bryan

This is a beautiful full-color ad of the Brazos Blue Ribbon Bakery at Villa Maria and Briarcrest (1136 East Villa Maria Road to be exact) from a late 1980s Texas Aggies football program. Although Brazos Blue Ribbon Bakery dates back to 1988, it wasn't the first business in the 1984-built building, a recently unearthed Eagle article mentions it was originally the home of Green Light Auto Parts (and also mentions that the business was originally supposed to focus on industrial production, with long-range plans to be moved to Bryan Business Park).

In 1998, BBRB moved to Dominik Drive in College Station where it would become the genesis for Blue Baker, and this location became a Must Be Heaven in 2000, which survives today. I was never impressed with MBH (Must Be Purgatory, perhaps) but I admire its willingness to stick out in a difficult location. Even though Must Be Heaven still occupies the space, that smaller sign is gone, it's now just a rusty metal frame.

UPDATE 08-12-2021: Appended new date and link for BBRB. Also in spring 2021 they split with Brenham's Must Be Heaven and renamed the restaurants as Sweet Relish Café.

Junek's Grocery / Wellborn Grocery

My photo. I wish I had taken it when was still, you know, a real sign.

Gas station nostalgia isn't an obscure hobby, but there seems to be less for the recent nostalgia as well. Case in point: the old "gray and solid colors" Chevron stations from the 1980s and 1990s. I first really noticed the difference a few years ago (there was an abandoned Chevron in Conroe, Texas, in 2011 that had the striking difference, and a Chevron near Jersey Village survived with the original color scheme before the tower finally came down this year).

This "gas nostalgia" often goes hand in hand with the growing endangerment of rural gas stations that are often small and out of date but have excellent barbecue, and the former Chevron in Wellborn was an example of this (along with Rolling Ridge Grocery). Junek's Grocery (Junek being pronounced unfortunately similarly to "eunuch") was the name but around 2007, the Chevron here lots its pumps and branding around 2007, about the same time when the new design was starting to roll out chain-wide (probably closer to 2010 was when it saturated) and not when a more modern Chevron was built nearby.

Because of how far away Wellborn was, I never had the barbecue here. About the time the gas station stopped selling gas, Junek's Barbecue moved out to a nearby lot, had a change of ownership, and closed (becoming a revolving door of restaurants and eateries, none of which have survived for more than a few years: Outlaw Jack's Brew N Chew, Country Cafe, Chubby's Meat Wagon, and now a Cajun restaurant. Meanwhile, the former Chevron station renovated (the facade, at least) and became Wellborn Grocery. You can also see what the facade looked like as "Junek's Grocery" right here or what it looks like as "Wellborn Grocery" right here.

The Chevron here was always a fun sight to see, as I never went this way except on rare occasions (such as going on a long trip). Even in the early to mid 2000s, there wasn't much to see past the Exxon at Rock Prairie. The area between Graham Road and Rock Prairie only had a few (brand new) buildings, Highway 40 didn't exist yet, and Wellborn was entirely two-way only, save for a left hand turn lane near Rock Prairie Road and the remains of North Graham Road. Then, after you'd give up on whether you'd see anything until Navasota, you came to Wellborn.

14889 FM 2154

UPDATE 10-16-2023:: This had been partially updated and rewritten in 2015, but I wanted to mention that Google Street View shows the Chevron disappearing between 2008 and 2009, not 2007 as the above article states. A very old (1983) shot of the store can be seen here, as a result I've added [Phillips 66] to the post and changed it to [1980s].

Former Ken Martin's Safari Grille

Apart from being in generally poor shape, notice that the STEAK HOUSE was removed first. Picture by author, 2013.

Although Ken Martin's Steakhouse didn't start here at 3231 East 29th Street (it was originally located at 1803 S. Texas Avenue, an auto dealership now) it did end here. Over the years, the Ken Martin restaurant empire included three Pepe's restaurants all in College Station-Bryan, with one at Post Oak Mall co-branded with steakhouse spinoff "Ken Martin's Chicken Fried Steak", Pepper's (a hamburger shop about where Harvey Washbangers is now), Fort Shiloh Steakhouse, and a few others. This building started out as an upscale restaurant called Pacific Coast Highway (1982-1984, though I suspect the exterior was different), with Ken Martin's Steakhouse moving in around 1985. Sometime around 2005 (correct me if I'm wrong, here), Ken Martin's rebranded to "Ken Martin's Safari Grille", which updated and expanded the menu (though, despite the new theme, did not add exotic meats to the menu).

The menu for the Safari Grill is below.

Because I scanned it from a phone book (still very much intact), some of the letters were blurred. That should be "aged to perfection and hand-cut", "garlic mashed potatoes", "texture and robust taste", prices down the line were 9.99, 12.99, 10.99, 14.99, 3.99, 1.99.

For the seafood, "served with rice pilaf", "served with our homemade", the Breaded Golden Fried Shrimp is 9.99.
For the chicken, "lightly breaded and fried", "topped with pineapple", "served with". Extra shrimp with the chicken is 3.99.

In December 2011, after about four decades of serving chicken fried steaks, Ken and his wife retired from the restaurant business and shuttered Ken Martin's forever.

UPDATE 02-28-2023 : A few things were changed since the last update in 2020, mostly streamlining and correcting dates.

G. Rollie White Coliseum and Read Building

A sight you'll never see again! (from AggieMap, which has since removed this picture)
No pictures are enough to replace G. Rollie White Coliseum or the Read Building (built 1954 and 1985, respectively), but I do have some pictures (about three dozen) that I took with a friend at the end of last semester. It was an odd experience: some offices and rooms were stripped, giving a true "urban exploration" experience, but some weren't (people taking finals, for one).

G. Rollie White Coliseum was two levels (an arena and a smaller upper level), with Read Building being four (second level of Rollie is Read's third). Read is connected to the lower Kyle Field decks. These were demolished for the "new" Kyle Field, with Read gutted for the enclosed west side area (but the area seems to be completely rebuilt with no obvious leftovers from Read). In its heyday, G. Rollie was the Reed Arena of the time, hosting graduations, the A&M basketball team, and some big acts in its day, including REM, Jimmy Buffett, and even Elvis Presley.

You can see the pictures of Read and G. Rollie I took on Flickr.

As a bonus, here's an article from October 1985 detailing renovations to G. Rollie, which was probably done in conjunction with the Read Building expansion.

You can see the pre-renovated arena here.

Read Building wasn't much to look at, as it was cleverly disguised as part of Kyle Field.

You could see into Read in this September 2013 picture.

Minor updates in November 2019

Manor House Motor Inn

From a 1988-1989 Aggie Football guide
I went to Adamson Lagoon many times when I was younger, and seemingly towering over the pool area (certainly if you went up to the large slide) was the larger Manor House sign, a motel that was about a quarter mile away on 2504 Texas Avenue South. I don't remember when the towering sign disappeared (as part of sign ordinances, no doubt, a similar fate befell McDonald's just a ways down the road). It also has renovated completely around the time of its name change to just "Manor Inn" (probably much needed, the Days Inn next door remained in a time warp, and it still is like that today.

The original sign (which you can see in the advertisement) looked like this except it was maroon instead of black, as it was a chain at one time, and even in 2001 a Waco location still existed. (Brazos CAD says it was built in 1982, and by 1983 it was clearly open).

UPDATE 04-17-2022: Sometime around March 2022, the hotel rebranded to Red Roof Inn following new ownership.

Furrow Building Materials

Finally, a picture of it in operation, from Project HOLD. Taken circa 2001.
1501 Earl Rudder Freeway (Hwy 6 S)

Opening in June 1984 (the ad below is from 1985) as perhaps one of the earliest commercial buildings east of the freeway, Furrow (everyone called it "Furrow's", though) was the main go-to hardware store in the 1990s for me. It was the type of store that could be called "your father's hardware store", it was for my dad, and I have fond memories of it, too. The company went out of business in 2001, and was in the last stores to close. I remember one of my last visits was on September 11, 2001. It had tile on the floor and drop ceilings, and was by all definitions a classic hardware store: bulk displays of the basics (like nails) that you could fill your bag and weigh, plumbing equipment, an outdoor lumber yard, and more.

To me, this was the distilled version of the "hardware store". It had plumbing, insulation, and other things for DYI work, but didn't have large bathroom displays, no lawnmowers on display, no various household appliances (no smoke detectors if I recall correctly, but may have stocked lightbulbs), no garden center, no flooring. The employees didn't try to upsell overpriced décor for your house, and it was convenient.

There were also lots of candy in bags near the front, about a pound of the stuff each, like, say peanut candy. I remember I got something near the end of the store's days and it was really stale, indicating that they hadn't moved merchandise in that section very often.

Today, Lock N Roll Storage (Official Photo)
Interestingly, the company name was Payless Cashways, and held a number of different names used in towns.

Years later, I would revisit the "small hardware store" scene with Ace of Aggieland, though sadly it just wasn't the same (for reasons detailed there).


Updated October 2017 with new date from reader mail

J.J. Muggs

From The Eagle, 1985.
The advertisement above is for J.J. Muggs, one of the earliest known restaurants along the Harvey Road stretch, and opening at 1704 Kyle Avenue South (later known as George Bush Drive East). The restaurant, which opened around 1984, did not last all that long (the restaurant, a division of Pillsbury's S&A Restaurants, was "abandoned" in 1986, but the restaurant here and a few other locations lasted into 1987) and by 1988 became another restaurant known as Rita's Eaterie and Cantina, which had a few Houston locations built around the same time.

InSite Magazine, December 1989. The ceiling details are still similar today.

In 1992, after Rita's had been closed for some time, it became Garcia's, a local Mexican restaurant that ended up becoming the most well-known of the restaurants (besides Fuddruckers) that previously operated in this location.

The ad above came from a mid-1990s copy of defunct local magazine "etc." Garcia's briefly closed in January 2002 following the explosion of new restaurants in the area, with Rudy's Barbecue, Johnny Carino's, and the restaurants in the new University Drive East corridor among them. It did reopen within a few weeks but it still was not enough to save it, and ended up closing about a little more than a year later. I seem to remember it having decent food, but also had this cow head hanging from the ceiling (one that appeared to be made from papier-mâché, not a real one, obviously) that as the A/C kept going, revealed a blood red neck. That was my most vivid memory of it (I only went once).

The building has expanded a bit since the JJ Muggs days. 1704 George Bush East (Kyle Ave. South)

Fuddruckers moved in the location in 2003. Fuddruckers (as a chain) was bought by Luby's in 2010, but the venerable cafeteria chain soon began having financial troubles. This finally came to a head when the restaurant closed "temporarily" due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the continuing closures of its now-struggling parent company, Luby's. In mid-July 2020 the closure was made permanent. Following the demise of Fuddruckers, Joe's Italian Restaurant would operate in the space from August 2021 to July 2022. In October 2023, iWon Korean BBQ & Hot Pot opened (with major upgrades to the interior).

UPDATE 08-03-2021: Some touch-ups, updated Fuddruckers' arrival to 2003, added new restaurant to the spot, removed [Defunct] (but not [COVID-19]). (Previous updates to the post were made in 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2020).
UPDATE 01-19-2023: Updated to reflect the next chapter of the restaurant space (Joe's Italian has come and gone).
UPDATE 10-10-2023: Updated to add iWon Korean BBQ & Hot Pot.
UPDATE 01-04-2024: Minor fix to links.

College Station Business Center

Looking east from the west end, where the beer supply store currently is.
Not to be confused with "The Business Center at College Station" off of Lakeway Drive, College Station Business Center (2151 Harvey Mitchell Parkway, originally numbered as 1501 FM 2818) is a cluster of mid-1980s buildings, with a small strip center portion facing Harvey Mitchell Parkway.

To me, the most notable tenant here (besides Paint N More, discussed in a bit), was Acrofit Gymnastics, formerly Linder's Gymnastics, and oriented toward kids and teenagers. I don't know when Linder's opened (between 1989 and 1993) but it was their second location (original on 2603 Rountree), and by 1998 only this location remained, suite 107 at that, now under the name of Acrofit Gymnastics.

My 1998 phone book mentions that it had a Houston location, here's some 1996 forum postings regarding it. It seems to suggest that Acrofit was renamed before new ownership took over in the early 1990s, but it give more information on the Houston location, which you can read toward the bottom of the new Houston - FM 1960 page on Carbon-izer.

About the time the Houston location moved to Kemah (and a new website was launched) in 2004, the facility closed. However, I tend to remember it pretty well, because it was one of those I went to in my youth, though emphasis on fitness never really stuck, I'm more fat and out of shape these days. Acrofit's predecessor, Linder's, had to be one of the original tenants there as it had warehouse ceilings (complete with visible insulation), an upper floor with windows looking out into the main gymnasium area, gymnastics equipment, chalk, a trampoline suspended over a six-foot concrete pit(!), running mats, no adequate air conditioning (just lots of fans). There were some rather dubious-looking paintings of children's cartoon characters (including Barney) and some framed pictures of Olympian gymnasts, and their own "AcroBus" (which was sold to Aerofit after closure with no initial changes in paint).

At the end closest to Longmire was a hardware store called Paint N More in the 1990s. It closed around the year 2000, then it became Franklin Candle Company a few years later (2004-ish), and then Dollar General after that before it closed. And yes, I realize that while there WAS a Dollar General at the old Kmart building, it opened a few years after the other one closed, maybe occupying it from 2005 to 2009. It later became Fastenal, which closed in June 2017 when it consolidated with the Bryan location. After that a fly-by-night rug outlet occupied the space for a while, but it has since departed as well.

There's a few warehouse areas behind it like an iPhone repair place invisible from all angles unless you were heading southbound on Longmire. Some of these include Aggieland Computer Repair and What's the Buzz Coffee Company. There was also a wholesaler's business back there, at least the last time I checked. I took a few pictures of this area, but they're not very good.

But aside from Acrofit and the end anchor, most of the tenants never really stuck out to me, being there and gone in a few years and mostly non-retail. Things may be changing, as a newer tenant, Brew Supply Haus, is expanding its space, and features not only supplies for home brewing but also a few novelty items (like soap made with beer) and gourmet food items (black garlic).

Beyond that, here's some other tenants that have come and gone.

2818 Grooming - This pet grooming place on the west end for much of the 2000s, which I recall the temporary sign being far better than the permanent one (an ugly backlit white-on-red sign, rectangular).

Action Printing - I remember this being roughly where Acrofit was, opening in late 2004/early 2005. It didn't last for more than 3-4 years.

Cycles Etc. - Briefly was here in the former Mom's Meals space before moving a block west. Used to be on Northgate, in a building that has yet to be covered as of this writing.

Dance Centre - A dancing center adjacent to Body Designs, a dancewear store, since 1982 (though it was not there, or that name, during that time). Even in the last twenty years, while the space is the same space (105) it has changed focus entirely...the modern website is exclusively adult dancing, while my 1998 advertisement is toddlers (age 2 1/2) to teens. My sister had gone here a few times when she was much younger.

Glass Doctor - Before its expansion, Brew Supply Haus occupied this space.

Mom's Meals - Early 2010s meal delivery service (suite 109).

Sign Express - Formerly Signs & Wraps by Sergio (and before that, Signs by Sergio), this place (110), as of 2016, had the "Wraps" portion of the Great Wraps that used to be at the Rise (or another defunct Great Wraps sign piece).

Southern Fastening Systems was at suite 107 (same as Acrofit, though Acrofit's space was divided) until early 2017 when it became SouthernCarlson (merger).

Thunder Computer Systems - Another mid-2000s tenant located closer to the Southwood end (might've been signed as "Thunder Computers"). Its website remained longer than the storefront did.

Finally, here's some pictures, some from me a few years back (when I had my old pre-iPhone cell phone, so no later than around early 2013) and an even older one from Loopnet (with Action Printing).





Updated March 2020

College Station Hilton

This was taken in October 2015, and it was actually a lot darker than this, but the flash wasn't on.

The Hilton opened in May 1985 (confirmed), and unlike the Ramada Inn a few miles down, survives today as a Hilton. Plaza Café became Bell Ranch Steakhouse later. Personally, even accounting for inflation (about $109 today), that sounds great, especially in October 1985 (football weekends). And they include alcohol and a gift basket as well? Not bad, not bad at all!



I have no idea what became of Sundance, though. Additional history (renovations, etc.) is always appreciated...though I do believe it renovated at least twice to some extent.

801 University Drive East

updated july 30 2013 to amend opening, updated 2015 to add new photo

Steak & Ale / Oxford Street / Yum Yums Texas Style / Seafood Mama's

From Stalworth Online, during its days between Oxford Street and Yum Yums

The late Steak & Ale chain opened at 1710 Briarcrest Drive at some point in the early to mid-1980s before being sold to new ownership in 1987 and renamed as Oxford Street in October 1988 (as Eagle has reposted recently). The restaurant closed in September 2008, and it's unfortunate that I don't have more information on Oxford Street than I currently do, but it was a moderately-priced steakhouse (not to Republic or Christopher's levels) featuring "candlelight dining featuring steaks and seafood in an Old World setting" according to the 2004 Dining Guide.

Oxford didn't stay shut for long, as it was soon replaced with a restaurant called "Yum Yums Texas Style". Already there's problems with that: if it looked like a four-year-old named it, you'd be right. There used to be an article on The Eagle, dated March 2009 titled "Yum Yums owner gets back to roots with eatery", which a lot of the following is derived from (the link is now dead). The restaurant opened with the goal of "upper-end", homemade-style food, but it wasn't to last. The name had problems and unfortunate connotations which were called out in comments, with few defenders. It closed in less than a year. By all accounts from the brief time Yum Yums was on this earth, there were very few things to say. There's a scathing review on Yelp that blasted the food (the employees were nice, but that couldn't save it). One review from YellowPages.com (a "kelsey27") blasted it with "this place is totally DISGUSTING... FOOD SUCKS, STAFF SUCKS" and also the contractor was never paid for work done to renovate the restaurant (this is supported independently by third parties). Interestingly, on the original The Eagle article, there was a comment, and this is unaltered:

I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW RUDE YOU PEOPLE ARE BEING TO A FAMILY THAT IS BRINGING REVENUE AND OPPURTUNITIES TO OUR TOWN! GET OVER YOURSELVES AND GO EAT SOME GOOD FOOD. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HOW WELL THIS RESTAURANT DOES~

I'm guessing this person was the owner, or at least a close family friend.

Seafood Mama's opened in December 2011, painting the whole building a dark blue color and offering seafood and other items. Never went to Seafood Mama's, as it had very mixed reviews (Yelp's "Greg D." gave it five stars, which may or may not have been faked) but that couldn't be helped, as in late June of 2012, the restaurant was gutted by a fire ([archive]) and it did not reopen. By fall, it was razed. The Seafood Mama's sign still has been up ever since, and as of this writing (July 2020) a Frost Bank is rumored to be built in the spot.

UPDATE 12-13-2021: While the text reflects the last update in July 2020, as of December 2021 the pad has been totally rebuilt with a Frost Bank (opened in July 2021), but construction demolished the sign instead of reusing it. Additionally, it should be noted that Steak and Ale opened in November 1984, meaning its life as a "real" Steak and Ale was extremely short-lived. At least sister store Bennigan's in College Station lived a longer life before it closed in 2008 which did in the remaining Steak and Ale restaurants.

West Villa Maria Shell

The station following "renovations" in 2013. Picture by author.

I snapped a few pictures of this gas station recently (as of 2013). First off, it's old, from 1982, with one of the earliest references with the food mart (at 1439 West Villa Maria Road) being Nash's Food Store in 1984, and by 1989 it was a Zip'N, which it remained until around 2006-2007 when it just became "Villa Express" (which is there in the pre-renovation picture, albeit quite faded). There was a minor upgrade in 2003-2005 as well, where it kept the Shell station designation but upgraded logos to keep the brand.

Also originally, it did not have access to 2818 at all, the west "exit" to the gas station just went onto a power line right of way, which was unpaved and just dumped you on back on Villa Maria. The snow cone/smoothie shack was there as long as I can remember, and the gas station has two other spaces, including 1437 and 1435. From archives, 1437 was Beetle's BBQ (though occupied 1435 as well), and I've hear people tell me that there was a "music/drum shop" at one time as well. In the picture below, you can see Xtreme Hitz, which is at 1435 and according to Facebook, opened March 2012 (but I never saw them going to summer classes at Blinn that summer), so maybe they opened in October. They appear to carry hip-hop related clothing and clubwear. In any case, I don't remember anything in my travels about a clothing store co-habitating with a gas station (mostly banks, restaurants, and aforementioned dry cleaners).

Early 2013 car shot. Because it was taken out the car window, it reflected my shirt. Oops.

For years, the Shell has had for years a billboard near the Exxon at La Brisa announcing the prices. Over the years, I've sadly watched the prices climb (and the sign fade, get repainted, and fade again until vanishing for good).

After a few years running under the "new" facade, the gas station closed up shop for good by 2018. However, the Shell signage still towering over the station. In 2019, it slowly started changing over to a Citgo station and reopened.

UPDATE 03-31-2021: Minor updates. I should mention the new convenience store is "Pit Stop".

Northgate Chevron

She cleans up nicely. There's even a canvas-covered area on the University side for the taco truck that hangs out here.
When I went to college at A&M in the early 2010s, I always had seen this strange pile of bricks on the corner of where a run-down gas station sat at 301 University and wondered what, if any, grander building was once there. Turns out, there wasn't one. There has always been a gas station structure here since the 1970s or 1980s, and before that, it was a residential house with a yard.

Sometime around the late 1960s or early 1970s, the house was torn down and a Philips 66 gas station was built, but after that things got a bit murky. In the very late 1970s it was enclosed to be a bar. Two of the comments from the older version of this page seem at end with each other: "Around 1979-80 the owner enclosed the old service bays, remodeled and turned it into the Thirsty Turtle" and "I bought the Thirsty Turtle and remodeled it and reopened it as the 12th Man & Co. in 1978. The Thirsty Turtle was indeed a bar. It had a small but loyal clientele. Some of them actually blamed me for closing the Turtle and were somewhat threatening at times. But we got opened and survived until Texas changed the drinking age laws."

Others seem to remember 12th Man & Co. came first. Regardless, sometime during the mid-1980s (likely 1986, which would make sense with the "drinking laws" time frame) the building was torn down for a gas station again, a Citgo with a 7-Eleven (as Citgo and 7-Eleven built stores together in that era). In the spring of 1993, the 7-Eleven name vanished from the area as they were sold to E-Z Mart (by this point, the stores in Houston had also since been sold to National Convenience Stores where they obtained the Stop N Go name).

While I'm sure E-Z Mart still had the Slurpee machines (until they all broke like the rest of the former 7-Eleven stores in town), over time, the E-Z Mart just got more and more run-down, with the nickname "Sleazy Mart" as it continued to deteriorate (though to be fair, it was in very close to proximity to the bars). The earliest reference I could find is from this 2004 posting but who knows how far it really goes back.

By the time I got to A&M, the E-Z Mart name had disappeared, having sold their stores to other owners around the mid-2000s (I seem to remember the Citgo at Southwest Parkway and Wellborn became Zip'N around 2004, but don't quote me on that). The store had been renamed to "Aggie Food Mart" but A&M's lawyers don't want private businesses using "Aggie" or "A&M" for anything anymore, so it was just removed. The canopy was literally falling apart, the pumps didn't really work properly, and there was a trash-filled alley in the back where a faded mural was (now painted over), but I imagine that it was probably meant to be used for additional retail adjoining the 7-Eleven. Today that space (space is valuable in Northgate) is just wasted.

Sad thing is, ALL the gas pumps had looked like that.
The Boyett stoplight installed in summer 2012 made the intersection a more prominent "entrance" to Northgate (compared to the east side of Northgate, where large attractive campus buildings co-mingle with fast foods and the Rise at Northgate) just made the eyesore intersection more obvious, sharing it with the ruined Campus Theater across the street.

Sometime around 2016, things started to change. The Citgo branding completely disappeared and the gas station went unbranded for a time as it morphed into a Chevron, and finally, came the "Gig'Em Food Mart" name, complete with a shiny new Chevron canopy and pumps (interestingly, this came right at the time as the Southgate Chevron lost its branding), but I haven't been inside since they redid it since I have no idea if it's just window-dressing or the inside was done as well.

UPDATE 01-13-2023: This post was last updated in April 2020 but as of late 2022 the gas station has permanently closed for redevelopment of the lot.

Northpoint Crossing

One of the coveted corners of this building is taken by a small convenience store, and not even a big name. (Picture by author, 1/20)

This post was originally written as "Other Buildings Demolished for Northpoint Crossing", as I intended to write a full article for the new development, and some of this content originally been part of the Plaza Hotel article a long time ago. Later I did make a Northpoint Crossing article, but at that point it was little more than a picture, as burnout had settled in.

Today, the Northpoint Crossing complex is composed of six large apartment buildings, some of which have retail space. The retail space never really took off, with notable exceptions. World of Beer (opened September 2015) sits on the corner of Texas and University in the 425 Northpoint Crossing building. Minuti Coffee opened at 424 Northpoint Crossing, the next building down, around the same time. The first tenant was actually a location of Toastie's Sub Shops out of Austin opening in spring 2015 but closing a year later (coincidentally, around the same time an Austin location was locked out for lack of lease payment, and by January 2017, the Toastie's chain, was, well, toast. In June 2018 it became Smallcakes Cupcakery & Creamery. Elsewhere in the 424 building but at Northpoint Lane and a road what we can only assume is also "Northpoint Crossing" a Gateway Newstands convenience store opened.

The Clubhouse is for residents only, standard for student apartment complexes. (Picture by author, 1/20)

What about the places before Northpoint Crossing? That's what you came for.

This represents the area circa 2011. Ignore the building marked as "2", it was covered in the main Ramada Inn article.
1. This was originally a Gulf station, opening too long after the Ramada, with a garage. It was kept relatively updated, with the only known change being turned into a Chevron in the late 1980s, which gave it a re-do on the trim from red-orange tiles to the early 1990s-era Chevron blue-and-gray. This was, of course, due to Gulf Oil being bought by Standard Oil of California in 1985. Standard Oil of California changed its name later that year to reflect its flagship brand, Chevron.

This particular Chevron gas station was finally shut down in the mid-2000s and torn down circa 2007. I don't remember the garage specifically, however--it's possible that it was converted into a convenience store in the 1990s (but I have no proof of that). Some older phone books refer to this as "Piper's Gulf (later "Chevron", of course) Service Center". The address of this was 420 Texas Avenue. A decent enough picture of the gas station (Chevron) can be seen at the main Ramada Inn article.



3. This was was built as a UtoteM convenience store, once extremely common across town and the state. It became a Circle K in 1984 with the buy-out of the chain (and was already closed by 1989 following Circle K's massive retraction). Later on by 2007, it became "Ink Dreams", and a few years later, "Oasis Pipes & Tobacco". The address was 1405 University Drive. I don't have the full history of the building, however. In July 2013, I discovered in 1995, it was listed as "Sterling Automotive". Since the lot of the former UtoteM is pretty small, it's likely that this was either just a showroom or the old parking lot behind it (as seen) was used for Sterling, and not for University Tower. Oasis moved to Eastgate after it was evicted. There's a back portion of this, I don't know if the buildings were physically connected or if it was just an additional office space area off of Meadowlands.

4. 1403 University Drive held a Kettle restaurant, dating back to at least 1980. Distinctive because the yellow and black P A N C A K E S sign, it closed sometime in the 1990s (it was open at least into 1998, so that's the date I'm going to go with). While the Kettle signage disappeared several years before its demise, the PANCAKES sign (not unlike the Waffle House logo, which it's often confused with) was very distinctive. Kettle sold the property in 2004 to Leonard Ross (Rossco), which like other properties he owned just deteriorated until it was sold to the Northpoint Crossing developers in 2011.

Regarding these two I have two Google Maps Street View photos, one from 2011 and one from 2007 (it shouldn't be too hard to tell which one is which). It also clearly shows the P A N C A K E S sign, so if you have any doubt that it was a Waffle House, you can dispel them, because we never had one and from the likes of it won't be getting one anytime soon (let's be realistic here).

6. These were some apartment buildings colloquially known as the Meadowland Apartments,
Originally part of another development called North Park (and the building out of the rest of Meadowland Road), the Meadowland Apartments (6) were (likely) built in the 1980s and were owned by the same owners of University Tower at one time. I'm guessing these were closed in 2005-2006, but I don't know for sure. I believed them to be located at 701 University, but later evidence suggested that they had individual addresses per building, which I haven't found yet. Remarkably, a few still stand: I guess that Northpoint Crossing never managed to get all of them. At least one of them was demolished for the "Home2 Suites by Hilton" hotel. The two today are fourplexes with 1402 Northpoint Lane and 1404 Northpoint Lane, but these have been changed. They weren't originally 1402-1404 Meadowland.

5. This was the only remaining house left on the block, 125 Meadowland. This was taken out for the redevelopment. It looks like it had a second structure behind it: possibly additional bedrooms. I had some friends who lived in Eastgate around the time I originally wrote this post, wherein at least two lived in the main house, and at least one lived in a shack behind it. I'm not sure if that was even allowed via ordinances.



7. This was a 1960s-era building has seen a few things come and go. The address was 100 Texas Avenue South.

The mid-mod building started out as the Dutch Kettle Snack Bar (*not* related to the Kettle restaurant on University) there at Hensel and Texas, and probably one of the first (if not the first) 24 hour eateries in College Station. Alas, while other 24 hours eateries benefitted from the Plaza implosion such as Fuego and Denny's, this did not, as had been closed for years (even as the donut shop, which was decidedly NOT 24 hours). In the late 1970s, it became Schlotzsky's (one of the first franchised locations), though a 1976 article suggests that a short-lived location at 808 East Villa Maria Road may have been the first), and remained as such for years, even into the 1990s). By 1980, this store and a Culpepper Plaza store was in place (unknown address for Culpepper Plaza). By the late 1990s up to the mid-2000s, it was "Snowflake Donuts", which closed without much notice well prior to the demolition of the area (presumably after Schlotzsky's moved closer to Northgate . This was, as John Ellisor has mentioned, a chain, and even today, a a sibling store is off of Gulf Freeway in Houston. The Houston location was heavily modified at some point in the past while the College Station one was virtually untouched...but the Houston one still stands with its dual chimneys. Later on, this became the leasing office for Northpoint Crossing where it continued to use the address.


Not mine, originally from a Brazos County history book


Street View of the restaurant shortly before demolition

Updated January 2020 to include actual Northpoint Crossing information along with some other stuff

Heirloom Gardens

12900 Old Wellborn Road

While now a marble countertops place (with the creative name of "Granite & Marble" but later expanded and turned into "Premier Countertop Design" with a much larger building built behind it), this used to be Heirloom Gardens (12900 Old Wellborn Road), which was open at least as far back as 2002 when it was replatted as part of Rock Prairie West Business Park.

The old Heirloom Gardens website, HeirloomGardenExperts.com, was up for years, and for years kept an automatic copyright date with a "Season Ending Sale" and a PDF of the directions, which portrayed Google Maps as it appeared circa 2005, which was full of inaccuracies. Now, however, it appears to be hijacked by some of spammer site which deleted information on the actual location and provides links to other spam-type sites.










In addition to not knowing when it closed (the pictures are from September 2010, when I had longer hair) I don't know when it opened. Obviously it was closed by September 2010 and probably closed after a full season, based on Google Earth aerials was open in fall 2008 so it might have closed that year or fall 2009. The back areas originally had the actual plant areas, and that was demolished in 2011, with a driveway from the nearby businesses connecting back toward North Graham.

According to old phone books, the building once had the address of 2892 North Graham Road and as of 1993 (built in 1985) had Wellborn Road Veterinary Hospital as its tenant. This may or may not be the same as the modern Wellborn Road Veterinary Medical Center down the street built in 1999.





As you may have noticed above, North Graham was sadly truncated from the railroad years ago (references online say 1999). I'm guessing that back when North Graham had a railroad crossing and a stoplight, it was substantially easier to access.



I also found a Google Maps Street View picture of the truncation from the other side of Wellborn. This was demolished when Wellborn was widened.