Archie's Taco Bell

Half-page advertisement from opening in 1976 (The Eagle). Taco Bell needs no introduction¹ and has thrived in the Bryan-College Station with seven locations, the most recent one (as of this writing) opened in Jones Crossing as mentioned earlier this month. However, we haven't covered Taco Bell that much because other than the short-lived Blinn location and at Northgate (built as a James Coney Island)², we haven't done much discussion of them, partially because once they're there, they haven't closed.

The exception to that (besides the Blinn one) was the first Taco Bell in the area was 3901 South Texas Avenue, Taco Bell #1261. This operated from September 1976 to 1996 and was colloquially known as Archie's Taco Bell (even in advertising, though not on the building).³ Archie's Taco Bell had a unique (and annoying) quirk—for whatever reason (allegedly due to traffic flow), the drive-through window was on the passenger side. The 1996 closure date lines up with the opening of the Taco Bell at 3501 East 29th Street (which has the drive-through window built correctly, but like Northgate's it wasn't built as a Taco Bell), so it might have moved at that point⁴. In 2003, the abandoned building was expanded and heavily modified to be Frittella Italian Cafe, operated by the sons of the owner of the original Pino's in Houston. Frittella closed at the end of March 2022, but reopened in June 2023. (I'm not sure of the reason.)

1. In the 1970s, which this entry covers, most Taco Bell food was prepared fresh, not overly processed like it is today. This 1970s commercial may seem like propaganda, but in those days they really did do stuff like make beans from dry.
2. Updated as of this writing. It doesn't change much but confirms the dates and adds a bit on the Texaco it replaced.
3. Archambault built a few more local Taco Bell stores before he retired, the Harvey Road Taco Bell was "Archie's Taco Bell" as well.
4. Indeed, in 1998, even after Archambault had divested his share in Taco Bell, 3501 E. 29th Street is listed as "store number one" for local purposes.

Updates to Jones Crossing

From the page linked below. It's been watermarked precisely because of reposting purposes. Something a bit different today—among the casualties in the most recent Carbon-izer rework was the FM 2154 page. It wasn't that well developed anyway, but it also included a fairly comprehensive look at Jones Crossing that I just can't recreate elsewhere. And with several places at Jones Crossing having gone out of business, I would need to cover that, wouldn't I?!

Based on the current analysis the page appears to date from 2021.

- I Heart Mac and Cheese closed both locations in February 2022 (which is mentioned on the Century Square page. The Jones Crossing store reopened in April of that year. The restaurant operated a few months more (it was open in August of that year) but it folded and was replaced with an AT&T store.
- In spring 2023, Urban Bird Hot Chicken opened to replace Zero Degrees.
- Just south of Chick-fil-A (instead of the strip mall depicted), a Taco Bell opened at 1696 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy. South on December 27th, 2024.
- Suite 800 at 11667 FM 2154 opened as Lucky Goat Coffee in May 2025. It is adjacent to a playground, which is owned and operated by the landlord, not the restaurant. At least kids don't have to play next to boarded-up windows now.
- In April 2021, Caprock Health System sold its two Urgent Care centers to Integrity Urgent Care (one of which being at Jones Crossing, the other at Century Square). In November 2024 Caprock went under entirely.

The website for Jones Crossing has gone under as of this writing, so please check back for updates.

Taco Bell on University

The restaurant began renovations in July 2013. It doesn't look like this anymore. (Picture by author, 2013)

731 University Drive was built as James Coney Island, a hot dog restaurant out of Houston (sadly dwindling in numbers these days) in 1992 as their first out of town location and intending to franchise to other college towns. Unfortunately, that never happened as it closed in 1994 and was operational as Taco Bell by year-end.

I don't have a picture of the building when it was a James Coney Island, but I can surmise it looks similar (if not identical) to this picture, right down to the door placement, the black and white checkered part, and, just out of view in my Taco Bell shot, a circular window. Before the James Coney Island, it was a Texaco (built circa 1969 if advertisements line up with building), with custom maroon roof tiles instead of the stock red though I believe I read in a yearbook they were re-painted green in the 1980s.

UPDATE 06-16-2025: Updated from previous March 2019 update though mostly confirmed dates.