Texan Restaurant

This closed-up convenience store is all that remains of what was one of the nicer restaurants in town.

In February 1948, H.G. Burgh and his wife, a couple that had recently moved from Seattle, opened a drive-in restaurant called "The Ice Burgh" at 3204 South College Avenue, serving the usual drive-in fare of hamburgers, sandwiches, chicken, and ice cream. By 1952, the restaurant was known as (and possibly under the same ownership), as "The Texan Drive-In", which a 1952 ad claimed it was "already famous for delicious foods". However, due to poor records, it's not known if the Ice Burgh became the Texan, or the Ice Burgh closed and was replaced with in the Texan.

1971 Phone Book, an image oft "borrowed": this is what prompted me to use watermarks.
In any case, by 1967 the restaurant was somewhat run-down, and sold to Robert Tapley and his wife Diana. The Tapleys slowly reworked the menu into a gourmet experience, renaming the Texan Drive-In into the Texan Restaurant and we have the 1971 ad above. Known for its chef-prepared food and delicious salads, the restaurant entertained and fed a loyal clientele for years (One of the comments I received on the Texan on this website was an A&M grad student who worked tables part-time in 1980 and saw Gene Hackman at a table, but he probably wasn't a regular). As chains infiltrated the markets, and changes were made to remain competitive, such as cutting prices and making the salads in the kitchen instead of tableside. The final blow was Christopher's World Grille (opened 1999), which although wasn't trying to kill the Texan, ended up doing in the restaurant. By that time, they were open only 3 days a week, and Diana, now in her early 70s, saw no other choice but to close the restaurant permanently in early 2000.

By 2003, it reopened as Tobacco & More, a discount cigarette/convenience store, but it closed down by late 2016 before the construction of South College Avenue, which ended up closing off the main driveway. The only access into the business is through Fairway Drive.

Thanks to the Carnegie Center for assistance in this article, which was updated in September 2019. Additionally, InSite Magazine (5/00) was of assistance in the making of this article.

Holiday Inn College Station / Four Points by Sheraton

To replace the stock picture that used to be here, here's one from 2015 taken from the Jack in the Box across the street.

The building at 1503 Texas Avenue South was originally a Holiday Inn, opened circa 1973 (it was under construction in 1972). Why Holiday Inn didn't build new on the highway, as that was their modus operandi, was because even though the bypass did exist at that point, there was nothing on there, and Texas Avenue still was where the activity was (even a decade into the "East Bypass"' existence, there were the duplexes on the frontage road in Bryan, the mall, and Plantation Oaks Apartments).

While it hosted guests for the next three decades as a Holiday Inn, the most interesting part of the story of the Holiday Inn was the restaurants. One of the things about Holiday Inn was their restaurants, good enough that it was able to function on its own as a semi-independent component and not just a liability to keep guests in the hotel. The link to Pleasant Family Shopping above talks about this in great detail, and given that the Holiday Inn restaurants (among others) attracted guests even in cities with more dining choices, I'm guessing that the idea of advertising a hotel restaurant as an independent restaurant has largely gone out of style, though the restaurants with Holiday Inn seemed unique enough into the 1990s to stand alone.

From what I could tell, the first restaurant (at least as of 1980) was the Brazos Room Restaurant & Lounge. It wasn't especially well-publicized, but the newspaper did still have advertisements of what they'd be serving that day (1983 papers seemed to mention only what they'd be serving, Mexican, etc.) That all changed in 1984, when the restaurant became Mongolian House, a Chinese buffet and Mongolian grill.

"American menu also available"

Garfield's was a higher class establishment than the more family-oriented Mongolian House. Open 6 am to 11 pm, Garfield's marketed toward more than the hotel crowd, and offered a menu that included prime rib, steaks, seafood, burgers, and sandwiches, as well as "54 beers of the world", which was rather good considering that craft beer was not the market it was today, and between Garfield's and Mongolian House, there was "Daddy O's" according to a city directory, and by the mid-1990s it was "Bronco's - The Texas Café", and in 2001, Beckendorf's. Naturally, there are going to be some I missed.

Holiday Inn's got your goat...and your fajitas, too!

A new Holiday Inn opened off the freeway around late 2005/early 2006 (which we have profiled here) and while that was in the works according to a 2005 directory...

Seems like a simple case of moving... ...the actual deal looks like the original hotel dissolved its franchise agreement before the new Holiday Inn was built. The same owners since 1994 (phone book advertising also indicate that they owned the Ramada Inn practically across the street during this time) renamed the hotel to Clarion Hotel by September 2005 (restaurant report cards from The Eagle) but by October 2005 the new Holiday Inn was still under construction (Google Earth imagery).

From a source that I forgot when I originally posted it, here's what the Four Points/Holiday Inn looked like as a Clarion .


By February 2009, Clarion had been converted to "College Station Inn" (which changed the Clarion sign at the top of the hotel), and sometime in late 2010 the hotel closed. After a major renovation inside and out that took place in 2011, Four Seasons by Sheraton opened, a mid-range brand owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts, in April 2012. Four Points had a small in-house eatery, the Century Café, which was one of the first clients of New Republic Brewing Company, even before they started making cans.

In September 2020 the hotel closed during a downturn in the restaurant and hospitality industry (do I even need to explain it?) and was removed from Marriott's website (Marriott had bought Starwood during this time).

This time, there was no second chance at the hotel. After over two years of abandonment, it was announced that it was to be Melrose College Station (not to be confused with the clothing store in the mall), an assisted living facility, which opened late 2023. I'll leave you with one last look at the hotel as a Holiday Inn when it was still doing well, advertising in a local tourist guide.

Notice the text below the sign has been added in after the photo was taken. UPDATE 10-01-2020: The hotel closed around September 2020 permanently for unclear reasons, and has been removed from Marriott's website. The rest of the article is unchanged, however, and will probably update again when it inevitably reopens under a new name...or gets demolished.

UPDATE 10-12-2020: A recently uncovered picture to be used in a future version of the article shows that the "square" was on the top level was never there as a Holiday Inn, only getting branded with Clarion after the hotel swapped names. That line has been removed from the article. A full rewrite of this article will arrive when the property changes hands again.

UPDATE 10-15-2020: Clarion picture restored as part of "featured post" upgrades.

UPDATE 04-01-2023: Full rewrite done following announcement of the hotel becoming Melrose with a new picture, new mention of the Brazos Room, and a new picture.

UPDATE 12-19-2023: A few minor touch-ups including mentioning opening.

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

Pelican's Wharf / Pasghetti's / Royers' College Station Café / NailSpa

The former restaurant today. Notice the cedar trees, and the Kettle sign. The large "Manor House" sign was above that.

Today, 2500 Texas Avenue South is only a nail salon, but an aerial shows that this building predated the entire shopping center across the street as well as many other buildings along that stretch. It opened in 1977 as Pelican's Wharf, an upscale-leaning steak-and-seafood eatery with restaurants in other Texas cities (the last location ,in Victoria, closed in 2010) not unlike a nicer chain restaurant (but still cheap enough so that college students could afford to eat there). Another detail I picked up from TexAgs, was that although it was waitservice, there was no set waiter/waitress assigned to a table and they shared their tips.

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Pasghetti's was the second restaurant in the space, though it's not clear when Pelican's Wharf closed and Pasghetti's opened (possibly as early as 1990), which could build a sauce-and-pasta bowl presumably with a drink and a breadstick) for around $4.95. Refills were a dollar. (For comparison, at the time, one of my favorite places to eat in 2012, the Commons food court featured a stand where you could essentially get the same thing for about $6.50-$7 (though no refills).

Contemporary view from Google Maps Street View, Texas Avenue side

In 1997, "Royers' College Station Café" opened here. Often erroneously written and recorded as "Royder's", it was a spin-off of Royers' Round Top Cafe, an eatery with pies and unique menu offerings has gotten the attention of food TV shows and other sources of press for its food, décor, and the fact that Round Top, Texas was (in 1998) less than 100 people. Of course, in a brief time in the late 1990s, you didn't have to go southwest of Brenham to eat here, as there was a sister store right here, in College Station.

By 1999, it was gone and it remained that way for several years before NailSpa moved in, which I believe was 2003, though I can't find first-hand sources for such. It's a shame a vintage restaurant has to be used this way on a prominent corner, but it is what it is.

UPDATE 06-02-2021: The sixth update for this page did a mild rewrite for this article including adding better opening/closing dates. Also it added [southwest parkway] to the labels.

Redtex Center

Picture from author, August 2019

Originally reported as part of the Aggieland Inn article when, according to a CSTX New Development list (no longer available, at least not very easy to find) had lots 317, 319, and 321 Redmond Drive abandon their public right of ways. These used to be the "Travel Kleen" car wash and the Summit station, which were both demolished circa 2007. I thought they were part of the redevelopment, but it wasn't.

In 2013, a strip mall was put up on the site, with the area's first Sleep Number by Select Comfort and Aspen Dental, with a location of St. Joseph Express being included a year later (I believe briefly it had the pre-CHI St. Joseph logo) but it closed down by 2018. This had the address of 1530 Texas Avenue, along with the name Redtex Center (REDmond Drive and TEXas Avenue), though I don't believe this was always part of the development.


This is what it used to look like according to Loopnet, though the listing has since removed.
I've stopped at the Summit at least once (it was quite run-down) but never at the Travel Kleen--I wasn't aware there was a car wash even there (probably why they closed). Unknown to when either were built, but in the mid-1990s, this Summit was originally a Shell with a Zip'N convenience store. While a number of the older Shells did not make the conversion in 2003-2004 and had to convert to Summit stores, namely the two rural Shell stations profiled elsewhere on this site, the Shell here converted earlier. I'm not sure when this conversion took place. The Shell was at 321 Redmond (the same as Summit), and it was a Zip'N in 1989 (store #102) though it had been removed by 1993. The Shell signage remained up until at least by 1995.

UPDATE 11-11-2022: "Shawarma Factory" opened in 2022 in suite 100 (former St. Joe's site). [Restaurants] and [Texas Avenue] added to post.

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.

Blackwater Draw Brewing Company, College Station

I liked Blackwater Draw's food, despite its shortcomings.

Back in the days prior to the 1950s, professors lived in houses on campus, from the place of the modern-day Memorial Student Center and parts south. Most of these buildings were not demolished, however--they were literally partially disassembled and placed in other parts of town. The house on 303 Boyett at Church Avenue is one of them. Of course, a lot of them still have been demolished, but the one at Church and Boyett hasn't. I'm not sure of the house's history since being moved off-campus, but it has served as restaurants in recent years.

By the early 2000s, it was "Satchel's BBQ & Steaks". According to Restaurant Row, it was "a casual family style restaurant with a rustic ambiance, a fireplace, cozy booths and knickknacks placed throughout. The cuisine is traditional American fare with beef, turkey, pork, chicken, steaks, and seafood entrées. The bar serves domestic and imported beers, wines and mixed drinks. They offer a kid's menu, take out and catering."


From LoopNet, back when it was Fredriko's
By 2007 Satchel's was gone and it had become a Mexican restaurant called Fredriko's, which I ate at once (it was forgettable, and is now gone). Apparently it used to be another restaurant, as well, but I don't know of it. By 2011 (roughly) the building was "DC, Inc.": the headquarters for Dixie Chicken and other related restaurants (Dry Bean Saloon, Dudd's, Chicken Oil Co.), but by 2013 it moved again (former location of Alfred T. Hornback's) and started to renovate as restaurant space again: the Blackwater Draw Brewing Company, a brewpub owned by the same owners as O'Bannon's. Given the generally positive response to brewpubs I visited in Michigan, I had high hopes but was tempered by the lousy reputation of Northgate (Chimy's, I remember, was a huge disappointment). Reviews looked great though, and upon trying it (in November 2013, if I recall) I found the food to be very good, a decent value (more expensive than a typical campus lunch option) with good beer. One downside was limited burger toppings without an extra charge (even things like tomato). The menu was a bit limited as was the seating. I always wished that they expand and open a larger location, taking the example of The Chimes in Baton Rouge, a popular bar/restaurant near campus, which ended up opening a larger, two-story location called The Chimes East away from campus with a ton of parking (for a restaurant, that is).

In December 2015, they did open a second location in downtown Bryan, but it was only to focus on beer production, and did not serve food. The Northgate location ended up closing in May 2018 due to rising rents in the Northgate area, replaced with another restaurant by fall, "The Spot on Northgate" which was more of the same in terms of Northgate food variety (burgers, beer).

During the Dixie Chicken Inc. days, a banner outside said "Come And Drink It" in the form of "Come And Take It" of Texas Revolution lore.

UPDATE 03-26-2022: Following the last update in 2019, it appears that Satchel's operated from 1998 to 2004 and may have been officially recorded in tax documents as "Savannahs", and also the first restaurant in the spot. Fredriko's was here from 2005 to 2009.

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

Before, During, and After Texadelphia

From Jennifer Cowley/University of Ohio (used with permission).

This is another one of the many articles here that involve a revolving door of tenants, with some interest paid that it went from being fairly run down (but at least useful) to fairly run down again. The point of this story focuses on the single most important tenant that was ever in this spot, even if didn't last very long at all.

For what it's worth, I did manage to go to the Texadelphia in Rice Village twice in the late 2000s and from what I remember, it had its own brand of cheesesteaks (not just roast beef and cheese, it was steak) and served with chips and salsa, complete with a mustard-based sauce that would put Layne's to shame.

Going back in time, the Promenade was not there, only Patricia Street, which instead of dead-ending near Freebirds, continued all the way to Boyett. A small building contained a UtoteM convenience store and other stores by the late 1960s.

All of the buildings at the corner at Patricia and College Main dated back to the 1940s. The buildings included 201 College Main was home to the (by 1995, at least, though it hadn't departed that long ago) former Northgate Athletic Club (though it had been Kinko's for many years, dating back to at least 1980, FabricCare Cleaners before that, which was another laundry establishment, "A&M Laundry & Dry Cleaning"). Also, in the 1970s briefly, it was also the home of Victor Caudillo's "Victor's Boot & Shoe Repair", but because I don't have any resources prior to 1980 (that's a drive to Bryan).

About the same perspective in that Texadelphia / Logans' post as well.

The other two buildings (317-319 Patricia) were eventually combined into one building, the tenant being Chicken Basket by the late 1990s, a fried chicken (and ice cream, looks like) outlet owned by the Sopasakis (as my research on 301 Patricia showed), was owned by George Sopasakis as well and was not given compensation for relocation. No wonder the Sopasakis disliked the city so much.

If this was still around when I was in college, this would've definitely been a lunch option for me.
317 Patricia was originally A&M General Life Insurance Company back in '62, McLaughlin's of Corpus Christi in 1975 (hair salon) and 319 Patricia was home to "Custom House" in 1973 (a women's clothing & gift shop, inc. jewelry and macrame) and Pizza Express in 1983 (pizza in Northgate was plentiful in the 1980s). The buildings may have been combined as early as 1984, as 317 Patricia was Emilio's Pizza, which documents listed as being in the same spot as Pizza Express, even though they had different addresses.

Of course, the existence of the restaurant was always a source of controversy, as the short version is they bought some property from an elderly couple for far less than it was worth and sold to Texadelphia at a good profit.

For whatever reason, Texadelphia Sports & Sandwiches as it was then known, did not open in 1998 with the rest of the Northgate Promenade, instead opening in summer 2000. This was likely because of the renovations to the building. It looks like that the original 1940s buildings may still be partially intact...Loopnet said it was renovated in 2000, and a College Station document discussed "facade renovations" to 317-319 Patricia, and compounding this is the second arched area toward the back of Texadelphia, hiding the differences between the roof heights (on Google Maps you can see that this is indeed correct).

In 2003, facing a combination of problems, citing high rent and parking-related problems, Texadelphia owner Willie Madden abruptly decided to close, moving the store to The Woodlands area, as the Houston area was where the owner had more stores.

It became a bar ("Logan's On Campus", despite being a block north of the boundaries) soon after, saying goodbye to a rather neat restaurant designed to make Northgate trendier and instead, arguably, making it worse overall. Now, it could be also argued that College Station wanted to make Northgate into its own version of Austin's Sixth Street, and Logan's did have a sister bar in Austin...Logan's On Sixth.

In 2012 it was sued by a certain steakhouse chain--and then a week or so later the restaurant closed for reasons supposedly unrelated to the suit, but it never reopened.

I tried to make it the same angle, as this clearly shows I am not a professional photographer.
Here's a picture of what the building looks like now. Logan's has done some minor changes to the building, those trees grew up, and a stop sign has been placed abruptly in the shot because part of College Main was closed off and became a pedestrian mall (and they still placed a brand-new, full-sized stop sign there). Over the Christmas 2013 break, it changed its name to "Logie's On Campus", likely because of that same lawsuit. In the summer of 2018, Logie's filed plans with the city to renovate the exterior, which involves the removal of the awnings above the entrance that Texadelphia had built.

One more thing: the pictures from 1995 aren't very good. Better prints (but in black and white) can be seen at Project HOLD here (Chicken Basket is linked, navigate back to find 201 College Main).

This was originally two separate articles, one published in May 2013 and a second article created in September 2013 to further elaborate on it. In late 2015, these were combined back into the original post, which was almost completely rewritten, including upgrading links. In August 2018, this post was updated to account for the fact that Texadelphia has returned to the Houston area and that Logie's is renovating.

Taco Bell on University

The restaurant began renovations in July 2013. It doesn't look like this anymore.

731 University Drive

This was built as a James Coney Island (out of Houston) in 1992, and deed evidence indicates it became a Taco Bell in 1994. 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 an old-style Texaco, built with custom maroon roof tiles instead of the stock red.

(Updated March 2019)

Rolling Ridge Grocery

Not what it used to be. (Picture by author, 9/19)
The now-defunct stoplight at North Graham Road growing up was another mythical "beyond the border" point, described previously in the Foxhole Lounge post, with the usual play being that the only reason I would go beyond it was en route to a bigger, out of town trip. In this case, there was a reason to go beyond. A stoplight resided at the corner of North Graham Road and Wellborn Road in the mid-1990s, and there was even a turning lane. To the left was an access road directly toward Victoria Avenue and Rock Prairie Road (Rock Prairie Road did not actually extend to Wellborn), to the schools and hospital beyond it. To the right was a road that went across the railroad and up and down several hills back to North Dowling Road. It should be noted that despite living at the time in the same cluster of rural homes south of FM 2818 and west of Wellborn Road, it was impractical to go home without going back on Wellborn Road, as what is now Holleman Drive South did not exist, and North Dowling was unpaved beyond Hopes Creek Road.

This was where Rolling Ridge Grocery & Barbecue was, a cluster of double-wide trailer homes near the intersection of (what was strictly) I&GN and North Graham Road. The trailer park had fairly well-kept for a number of years, with double-wides and even a small community pool (which as of at least 2017, still appeared to be operational).




The barbecue was worth going out for, being sold into the early 2000s (though by 2002, the barbecue was not the same as it was in the mid-1990s due to an ownership change). It was also a Shell station. One of the reasons it was a Shell station and sold barbecue is a bit of information gleaned from TexAgs. The "several years" must have only been two as Rolling Ridge was built in 1984.

Interesting that the "Country Grocery" on Dowling Rd. and Rolling Ridge Grocery on North Graham were mentioned in the same post. Interesting, because they were related to each other. Country 4 Grocery was actually the name on Dowling, the "4" representing two husbands and wives, Gene Patterson and wife and Charlie Canatella and wife. Country 4 Grocery was opened in 1982. Several years later, the Canatellas supposedly had a disagreement with their partners and opened Rolling Ridge Grocery to operate by themselves. The BBQ was great at both places, probably because it was cooked similarly.


Back in the Shell days, there was an old poster from the 1980s about a sleeping child not buckled up. This was removed after the Summit branding took over. Regrettably, I did not get a photo. The last time I went inside (around 2011), it was (and still is) relatively rustic. I even remember a few baskets of fresh fruit near the exits (inside, of course). It became a Summit about the time Shell went through a major upgrade: everyone had to update to the new Shell logo or lose the license (sometime in 2003 or 2004), which is interesting as it's the only Summit in College Station now (both the one on Dowling and the one near J.J.'s shut down a while back).


Regrettably, I couldn't get great photos of the Shell/Summit (I didn't want to attract attention), and I don't believe they sell barbecue anymore (smoker was sold, despite the presence of "BBQ plates" in the picture above), which is a shame.

Updated in September 2019.

Sparks Building

From College Station's 2004 Annual Report
401-05 University Drive

When I went to college at Texas A&M, there were five tenants at the Sparks Building, which was not even called that anymore. The way I would describe it at the time was at the bottom level, there were four storefronts. The first one was The Corner at 401 University, the second one was also part of The Corner (windows only, you could see where a door had been removed), then Pita Pit at 403 University, then for the fourth section, two doors, one into Northgate Vintage and one into Potato Shack. If you went into Northgate Vintage, there was a tiny, ladder-like spiral staircase that led to an attic-like area above Pita Pit. (It used to be actual vintage clothing, but by the time I went to A&M it had mostly evolved into an "eclectic styles" boutique).

To access the fifth business, Aggieland Barber Shop, there was a staircase on the outside, with a landing for the second level of Aggieland Barber Shop (accessed out of a side entrance), then the rest of the way up to The Corner roof. On The Corner side of the building, the side of the building facing College Main on the upper level had been gutted, I remember a staircase going up to the roof and passing a door that had nothing connected to it, just a door on the wall with no floor (it was quite strange).

After I went to A&M, The Corner took over the rest of the building, and Potato Shack, Pita Pit, and Northgate Vintage all closed (Northgate Vintage closed September 2015). However, while Pita Pit's space was gutted, Northgate Vintage and Potato Shack's weren't, probably because they were a victim of higher rents. Aggieland Barber Shop continued to operate. Here's a cell phone photo I took of the rooftop part after a football game around 2012, you can see it's packed as people are enjoying food and beer on a warm afternoon.



The building got its stucco front and rooftop seating after 2005 shortly after that picture (the old "Camera" sign was removed), and the 2004-era Sparks Building was the best it looked, as the early 1990s version was pretty grody-looking.

But at one time, the building was pretty grody-looking.



As the building has had a variety of tenants over the years and has been reconfigured over time, I can't tell what replaced what. Northgate Vintage was 403 University Drive Suite D, Pita Pit was 403 University Drive (no suite), Potato Shack was 405A, and Aggieland Barber Shop is 403A.

Other tenants this building has had over the years:

Barker Photography (405) - 1972 listing.

Campus Photo Center Inc. (401) - Flagship tenant of building, ad from late 1980s (from InSite Magazine's archives), which will conclude today's blogposts.

CD Warehouse (unknown) - See photo above, existed in the early 1990s.

City Surplus (403) - Likely in the place where Northgate Vintage was, former name of Military Depot before it moved to Eastgate.

Haight-Ashbury Co. (403c) - Listed in 1993 directory. Possible "BEADS" store.

L-T L & Associates (403e) - Listed in 1993 directory, tax filing.

Mario & Son's Pizzeria (405a) - Replaced by Nipa Hot?

Nipa Hot (405) - Thai restaurant in the 1990s and early 2000s. Succumbed to high rent.

Quantum Cow (403) - "Tutoring" in the form of test answers. Closed around late 2000s, replaced by Northgate Vintage if my addresses are right.

Right Angle Calculators (401a) - Replaced by Pita Pit? In 1989 directory.

Star of the Sea Catholic Bookstore (403d) - Listed in 1993 directory.

Starships & Dragons (404) - Mentioned in 1989 directory. Comic book store that also had a location in Culpepper Plaza. Not in corresponding phone book.

Steve 5 (unknown) - Mentioned in Northgate Historical Resources.

This picture is more recent (2013), but I have no idea when it was from, because it sure wasn't erected anytime in the last three years. It obviously seems to not count the lower level tenants.




UPDATE 07-22-23: Since the last update in June 2019, the last non-Corner business, Aggieland Barber Shop, closed in December 2022 when long-time barber Jesse Medina retired.

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.

Updated April 1, 2020, including new title
UPDATE 03-26-2021: New address and more accurate dates found! Also Golden Chick had closed by that time.

Former Ace of Aggieland

Picture from November 2019. That "NOW OPEN!" has been up there for over three years.
Navarro Drive was originally a road in the part of the Southwood Valley subdivision that had duplexes. It ran from Rio Grande to Welsh, with stop signs at Welsh and Pedernales Drive, neither of which had stopped cross traffic. It ended abruptly on the west edge of town, with no cul-de-sac. Meanwhile, over on Wellborn Road, there was a small private road called Elbrich Road, which was a dirt road that led to a small self-storage facility. It was a lonely little property with a few sodium-vapor lights (or mercury-vapor), and lacked a formal name. Just further up from the storage unit was a private dwelling, but it wasn't able to be seen from Wellborn. On the other side of Wellborn was Cain Road. But circa 2000, Elbrich and the house were destroyed and replaced with a large extension of Navarro, which included a very wide stretch with more duplexes. Still, while Navarro now connected to Wellborn, it felt lonely and empty at that corner.

Fast forward to 2007, when a sign announced that a small strip mall, anchored by Ace Hardware, would open. Over 2008, I saw it go from a foundation (March 2008, en route to Houston for Spring Break) to a full plaza. "Wellborn Shopping Center" opened in 2009 (I think the Ace may have opened in late 2008), though it originally opened as "Navarro West Plaza", which I think is a better name. Note that the tenants for the PDF have several errors.

It seemed so cool that "Ace of Aggieland" (at 11907 FM 2154) was a "small" hardware store so close to home -- it came in years after Doug's, Furrow, and Paint & More all closed. Ace was the place for my family, as it was the closest hardware store, and actually was a place where you could walk in and explore. Unfortunately, it didn't have the same feel as Furrow's, which I sorely missed: it had a lot of home decor and random kitchen junk, and was smaller. It did have a lot of the things that Lowe's and Home Depot had, which made it convenient for getting small but common components. And although it didn't have candy, it had free coffee and popcorn, which most (all?) Ace hardware stores had.

However, Ace did not ultimately last long. Not too long after it opened, Wellborn Road began a widening process that made access difficult, furthermore, Lowe's opened a superstore at William D. Fitch and Highway 6 in fall of 2010. Despite being about four miles away, it sapped Ace's customer base, and between these two factors, Ace folded in late January 2011, without even a going out of business sale. Liquidation came in March, whereupon it officially stopped being Ace Hardware.

The store remained largely vacant even as Wellborn Road concluded construction, though it saw a few interim uses before an Ashley HomeStore Clearance (later Ashley HomeStore Outlet) store opened in May 2016. Current stores (besides Ashley) are as follows:
Caminos Mexican Cafe - From 2009 to 2020, this restaurant was Fat Burger Grill and basically the same thing as Fat Burger in Bryan (and the former Northgate one). Despite having a near identical menu—even the old "Bevo Burger" was still there with a full pound of meat, I believe the restaurant was a franchise of the other locations. In late 2020 it was sold and reopened as Caminos Mexican Cafe (aka Caminos De Michoacan Mexican Cafe).

Note that the PDF above confuses Fat Burger Grill with the West Coast chain Fatburger.

Fatty's Smoke Shop - Fatty's Smoke Shop opened in August 2020 and for a few months following, had an inflatable Darth Vader on the roof.

Caminos replaced Fat Burger Grill, as mentioned above, and Fatty's replaced Mak's Liquor. Mak's Liquor was next to Fat Burger Grill and survived for over 10 years. It pulled out around the time not long after the new Twin Liquors opened at Jones Crossing (larger and easier access) and went to that shopping center between Rock Prairie and Graham (next to the Chicken Express). During that time they painted their signage blue but now that has mostly flaked off after a matter of months (back to red again). The PDF calls this "Max's Liquor" for some reason. Then there was "All Phone Toys" (opened in 2009, closed around 2013, vacant since) and finally Mpower Physical Fitness (operated from 2015 to around 2019). Some old PDFs mentioned "Shoe Bar" in this place (never opened, or maybe it was storage). After a while it got a real tenant (long after APT closed down), but it has also since closed (signage remains).

Another view of the shopping center.

UPDATE 01-24-2021: Updated Fat Burger's space and also changed something in relation to an unmarked summer 2020 update.

UPDATE 09-18-2021: After over five years, Ashley HomeStore Outlet (renamd from Clearance) FINALLY has permanent signage. Also made some changes to separate former and current tenants. Also, at some point in early 2021, the center received a repaint to white and a dark blue-green color.

Northgate Grey Building

It's not even a grey building! (Picture by author)

This little building "officially" has the build date of 1997 but it's older than that. When I did the research for what would be Battle for Promenade - 301 Patricia, it mentioned it was a "converted garage". Ownership data mostly bounces around with banks, but prior to 1990 it was owned by "Meiller Research" which is listed as "The Meiller Co." in the phone book in 1989 at 315 Church Avenue. When Burger Boy moved in, two other addresses, 317 and 311 were created. The name of this post is taken from the ownership company of the building.

At 311 (facing 2nd Street), Burger Boy continued its legacy. It was their fourth location, starting with 300 North Texas Avenue in Bryan (La Familia Taqueria's current location), later where Fat Burger is now (in Bryan), and finally 301 Patricia before moving there.

While I never went there myself there is a menu and other photos from the second Northgate location. After over a decade of continuing to run Burger Boy in the new location, in early 2010, George and Tara sold the restaurant to Ken Simmons, who moved the restaurant to Westgate Center where it shuttered for good. Meanwhile, at Northgate, it was replaced with Front Porch Grill, which would've been forgotten if not for Internet users and Yelp!. It closed after some four months. It later became Daily Ruckus, which was around in 2012-2013. I rarely ate there since the operating hours were so strange, and when I did, I wasn't terribly impressed with their "batter something and throw it in the deep fat fryer" fare (it's more than that). The odd operating hours and rinky-dink operations led the place to be closed after about two semesters. They had a lot of random 1990s stuff drilled to the wall, including a Super Metroid cartridge. In fall of 2013, Joy Luck Fusion "opened", boasting what would be a second location of Joy Luck Chinese & Sushi, but it never really opened for more than a test run (if at all, as the review on Yelp is highly suspect). This non-starter was replaced with a sushi bar called "Aggie Time 2 Go". This took over in spring 2014 (others included VHS tapes and a Goosebumps book), the Super Metroid cartridge was gone. AT2G never lasted long either (never ate there), and by summer 2014, it was already replaced completely with a bar called Soho, offering "wine, beer, wings, and music" (the picture is from May 2014). Soho DID update the décor (mostly just painting the walls black), but soon it was gone and replaced by Potato Shack, which moved from the Sparks Building and closed in November 2017. It was soon replaced with a similar business, Baked or Fried.

Over on the Church Avenue side, is Rough Draught Whiskey Bar, since August 2015. During my time at A&M it was the home of MaroonBikes, at 313 Church Avenue. Hawking their (rental) "airless, chainless bicycles", the tires are solid and chainless because the pedals are directly connected with the wheel, but it's not cheap to rent (better off getting a cheap bike from Walmart, Target, or Academy). MaroonBikes moved into their spot on August 1, 2012 though I don't know where they were prior, or when they moved out, or where they moved out (last update on Twitter was January 2014, probably going out of business). Before that it was MacResource Computers @ Northgate. As for MacResource, it did not do repairs on site, and mostly had some software, a few display computers/iPads/iPods/iPhones, but no on-site repair, meaning that you could drop off your computer here but they'd take up to Bryan and back, so it was only of use to customers if they actually lived within walking distance. In May 2012, this was cemented when they moved into the MSC, which helped the "walking" part but hurt Northgate-area customers and anyone with a car. My records show that it opened in October 2009. Before MacResource, it was "Finders Keepers", an apartment locator service. This may have been the oldest tenant here.

Finally, there was Jin's Chinese Restaurant (315 Church Avenue), related to the now-defunct "other Jin's" at Nagle but not the T. Jin restaurants. I'm not sure when it opened (it was open in 2005, for sure) but while fairly popular, it burned down in the early morning hours of December 1, 2008 and never reopened. I've actually heard nice things about this place, including having "real" Chinese food...spices instead of sauces, and healthy foods instead of deep-fried meat so typical of your garden-variety food court Chinese.



It never reopened became instead Happy Yogurt. Happy Yogurt was supposed to be a trendy spot with boba tea, frozen yogurt (but not by weight), American & Asian food, and a trendy place to hang out. It had blue and white tiles, and certainly looked the part. Unfortunately, it was an overpriced place that served primarily reheated frozen food that you could buy at the supermarket (except with jacked-up prices) and served on paper plates. This was not even properly prepared--it's not like they deep-fried potstickers instead of microwaving them, or added special ingredients to make the food more worth it...it ended up being a drunk-food hangout (most of their business was after dark). They reduced hours and eventually quietly folded when the ruse of a "trendy place" wore off and people realized that their food was terrible. Here's a picture of the now-closed Happy Yogurt, here. That said, the décor inside isn't bad, and it's a shame that the space isn't something that can utilize it, like a good hole-in-the-wall ethnic food place. The Happy Yogurt signage eventually disappeared, and since 2016 it has been "BBQ 13-0".

UPDATE 03-25-2022: Disaster struck in October 2020 when the building was affected by arson, with two fires started in the building from arson. BBQ 13-0 got the worst of it (link) but all three businesses were affected. Only Rough Draught reopened.

UPDATE 09-04-2022: It appears that Baked or Fried did not reopen after the fire. Smoken Joe's opened in late 2021, ending the 20+ year streak of restaurants in the spot. Also, the 315 Church Avenue is to open as "Rough Draught Brick Oven Pizza Bar" but does not seem to be open yet.