The Lost Buildings of Villa Maria Road and Texas Avenue

The Walgreens replaced a corner of several businesses before. (Picture from 3/30/20)

Most of the things that were torn down in my youth were usually buildings that were not particularly large or old buildings from decades before. Rarely was something that came and went in my youth, particularly a building that was less than a decade old being torn down. It did happen, however.

For a brief time between 1999 and 2005, there was a Texaco station ("Aggieland Texaco"), which became a Shell station a few years later, following an agreement with the merger of Chevron and Texaco which would see the Texaco brand almost vanish from Texas itself. This happened with a number of stations around town. 2907 Texas Avenue was the address based on pre-2005 "restaurant report cards" and 2909 based on tax documents. There were also some other stores in the strip, but I wasn't able to find out what they were, nor do I know what the Texaco station replaced.

From The Eagle, though I remember that they had another aerial with the buildings still intact.

One of the things I do know was that many of the newer Shell stations (including this one) had started offering Krispy Kreme doughnuts, which were shipped in from the Houston locations at the time. Of course, Krispy Kreme donuts aren't all that after they turn cold, and the novelty probably lasted for a year at most before they were removed (the Houston stores closed soon after). It also had brown brick on the outside.

The buildings as they appeared in 2004

I was relieved that when they took out the block, the Golden Chick (blue roof in the picture above, and outside the red outline above) was not torn down, but by that time it was already closed.

Articles at the time mention a furniture store also biting the dust, but (and I assume it's the house-like building, possibly converted, on the Dellwood side) I wasn't able to find any information on it.

Soundwaves (2919 Texas Avenue) was the blue-roofed building: based on what I could find, it moved to Post Oak Mall after demolition before disappearing for good, but it was not part of Soundwaves of Houston, even before it was torn down (Soundwaves existed at that spot as far back as 1980). Other residual information says that Soundwaves did home theater installation, but in 1980, it did car audio installation. I read somewhere that the building was a head shop back in the '70s, but that's for another time (when Carnegie reopens, perhaps).

The building toward the back was China Garden (2901 South Texas Avenue), which had two levels, though the Chinese buffet had closed prior to being demolished. According to MyBCS, the rumor was the woman who owned it committed suicide, but I don't put a lot of stock in that (being a rumor and all). It was previously a Mr. Gatti's location before it closed at an unknown date.

This other new building has a Dellwood address. (Picture from 3/30/20)

What replaced it was a Walgreens and a smaller building that was mostly vacant for years following, with a UPS store coming in first, then Little Caesars about five years later (opened in fall 2010), then a Boost Mobile a few years after that. Even though I did miss the Shell/Texaco station out of nostalgia (and it would be nice to have a modern gas station on that side of the road), the stores that replaced it had more usefulness. The building(s) that the Texaco replaced I also don't have information on. Remember, if you know something I don't, feel free to contact this site at admin@carbon-izer.com.

UPDATE 03-26-2021: New address and more accurate dates found! Also Golden Chick had closed by that time. (The post had previously received a new title and update 4/1/20)
UPDATE 04-20-2025: From 1947 to 1956, the address of 2919 Texas Avenue was for McCormick Sign Company (manufactured neon signs) before being destroyed by arson/vandalism, then replaced by a restaurant called "Dairy Kream" starting in the late 1950s, before becoming a real Dairy Queen franchisee by 1971. The Dairy Queen moved catty-corner in the 1970s where it still exists today, and became El Caribe in 1977, which despite being described as a Caribbean restaurant, was a Venezuelan restaurant, serving more authentic food (arroz con pollo, yucca, plantains, etc.), a far cry from the "Mexican" (Tex-Mex) food that was commonly available in the area. Within a matter of months, the owners closed the restaurant and converted the restaurant to retail, Fantasy World, featuring an eclectic assortment of imported foods, head shop items (mentioned in original post), clothing, incense, and music. Soundwaves opened around 1979.

Additionally, it seems some of the Dellwood businesses are wrong. The UPS Store opened in 2006 (same as the Longmire store), Little Caesars opened in 2011, and Boost Mobile opened sometime around 2017-2018. ([Dairy Queen] added as a post tag).
UPDATE 04-23-2025: I almost forgot—Mr. Gatti's opened in December 1977, sometime around 1986 it became The Pizza Pub, and after closing, in 1987 it reopened as Pizza Inn (the College Station location had closed by that time). This only lasted a few years. China Garden opened in 1991. ([Mr. Gatti's] added).
UPDATE 10-07-2025: [Walgreens], [The UPS Store], [Little Caesars] added.

Confucius Chinese Cuisine

An early 1990s advertisement for one of my favorite defunct eateries
Today a Walgreens, this was the home of one of my family's favorite places to eat in the 1990s, Confucius Chinese Cuisine (2322 Texas Avenue South). In older versions of this page, I provided two links comparing the 1995 aerial to the 2011 aerial. You can see the same thing with Historic Aerials or a copy of Google Earth (just search for the address).

Where Walgreens occupies today replaces two smaller buildings that it redeveloped in the early 2000s (this was before Walgreens pulled an even larger scheme at Villa Maria Road).

The first was a Chinese restaurant. Opening as Jade Garden in 1984 at 2322 Texas Avenue South, but in early 1987 it closed and was replaced with Confucius Chinese Cuisine.¹

My first Chinese food was from Piknik Pantry but it was Confucius Chinese Cuisine that I later loved.

While I sadly do not have a picture for Confucius Chinese Cuisine (and I did look, though buried on Project HOLD you can see the sign, however, I can't find it either), it was housed in a building at the corner of Brentwood and Texas Avenue. I still remember how cool it looked on the inside and out. It had a curved Chinese-style roof, the sign had one word in orange, one in green, and one in red. And those were lit up at night. Inside, to the right you had the restrooms, a mural was toward the front, with what appeared to be a crowd of tiny Buddhas playing, and the décor was mostly red and gold, with the aquarium bubbling in the background (complete with an eel that never became a dish).

It was my family's go-to place for Sunday after-church dinners. The buffet was a single line with some really good egg rolls but I don't know if it was good or if I just thought so because I was young and didn't know what good food tasted like (it was markedly better than the old Chinese buffets in town following its closure, which admittedly isn't saying much). However, there is evidence it really was special, as someone had requested the Hot and Sour Soup the restaurant offered and the owner, Howard Chang, couldn't give a recipe as it was in the way how it was prepared, not following a recipe (or mixing up whatever Sysco, et. al. provided). Regrettably, it closed in 2000.

Next door was Tops: The Office Products Store (1981-1987), and later replaced with College Station Pawn Shop, with its diamond logo. The pawn shop was, for years, wedged between two Chinese restaurants, Confucius Chinese Buffet and the far less elaborate-looking Imperial Chinese Restaurant at Brazos Square. Not too long after Confucius Chinese Cuisine's closure, it and College Station Pawn Shop were torn down for a Walgreens (using Confucius Chinese Cuisine's address). College Station Pawn Shop later moved to a space at Manuel and Texas Avenue for a while but it was later torn down for a bank, and by 2007 it was in Brazos Square, directly next to where it was.

1. Deed changes suggest it was initially leased to Confucius Chinese Cuisine and later buying the building outright before selling it to Walgreens.

UPDATE 11-05-2020: Clarified previous name and date. Previously updated February 2019 to account for more accurate closing date, revisions in writing, and cutting out Brazos Square info.
UPDATE 10-05-2025: Did some rewriting and added information on Tops. This current version doesn't mention the Brentwood signal, I think it was added within a year of Confucius Chinese Cuisine's closure.