The Veggie Garden

Advertisement for The Veggie Garden shortly after opening. (The Eagle).
The rapid clip of updates (at least once a week) of 2025 came to a screeching halt after the former Roy Rogers and I figured it was a good place to stop as I had been feeling burnout, in the meantime I continued on with updates when relevant.

One of the "hidden" pages of the site, the Comm. Building Permits College Station in the Late 1980s, mentions a business called "Veggie Garden". While I've long wondered where and what this was, it was the original tenant of 3122 Texas Avenue South, a garden center/specialty food store, with produce, meats, cheeses, gifts, and other plants. It unfortunately had a short life, opening in March 1987, turning into a full restaurant in September 1987 (salad bar and deli, though kept the produce sales) but closing in the fall of 1988. While it would never be a restaurant again, in 1990, it became the new home of Valley Cyclery, before moving in 2001 to 107 Walton, then became the third home of Petal Patch, a long-running local floral shop.

The former "The Veggie Garden" building has gone through tenants over the years. (Picture by author, June 2025).
I haven't talked much about Petal Patch but its relatively recent demise without much press and its long history deserves a mention. It opened as Petal Pushers in late 1975 but renamed to Petal Patch a year later at 707 Texas Avenue (it appears to have been because it was sold to a new owner, Pat Humphries). In 1992 it moved to 1919 Texas Avenue South (while the old location was reopened as another flower shop under the name "A Flower Cottage"). 1919 was where it would remain until until the early 2000s when it moved to this location. Around 2011, it moved out to Bryan where it would be for over a decade before winding down business in the early 2020s (at some point ownership had changed again).

Back at 3122 Texas Avenue South, since around 2012 it has been the home of Ashley & Company. Ashley & Company keeps a low profile these days—it's appointment only (and this seems to have happened before 2020, with the removal of the overhead sign around 2017). For what it's worth, an ad from 2011 (when it was empty) mentions the building had two floors.

Editor's Note: The Century Square article received a big update. Pooh's Park received a smaller one.

Past Lives of Harvey Washbanger's

Better days at Mazzio's. Note the College Station location didn't offer delivery.
Located at 1802 Texas Avenue South, Harvey Washbanger's has only changed out the machines and its logo (the food, however, is less consistent) has been here since 1998.

At this point, 1998 is a long time ago; there's not too many restaurants (or stores for that matter) that have been around for that long. None of the grocery stores that were here in 1998 are here anymore (all closed or relocated) and many other restaurants have come and gone in that period. Like any long-running restaurant, it has a good gimmick. La Tour d'Argent has its "duck cards" since 1890 (now at a number approaching 1.2 million) while The Big Texan Steak Ranch has its "72 ounce steak challenge" (with a bread roll, a baked potato, shrimp cocktail, and a side salad) that has taken on many challengers over the years...while Harvey Washbangers has a laundromat.

Harvey Washbanger's was not the first restaurant here, however (as is often the case). Before even Mazzio's, we need to go back to 1975 with the opening of the Kashim Club, which might have been College Station's first black-owned business by Bennie Smedley. While initially a bar and meeting place, by late 1976 it had lunch every weekday with table service. A 1978 blurb mentioned Kashim featured "sandwiches, mixed drinks, and disco music".

In the early 1980s, Kashim closed and soon gave way to a redevelopment of the lot, which affected adjacent spot 1800 Texas Avenue South (former spot of Pepper's, a hamburger restaurant concept by the Ken Martin group...more on that another time) as well. 1802 Texas Avenue South would remain a restaurant, with Mazzio's Pizza opening in 1987. Mazzio's would bow out by the end of 1997, and in 1998, Harvey Washbanger's opened, a restaurant that featured wings, hamburgers, and other bar food-type items while also a being a full-service laundromat. With a system of lighted indicators visible from the main restaurant area ("Drink 'till your lights go out" was a common joke there), Harvey Washbanger's turned out to be a surprising success and stayed around for a very long time. The menu has changed due to various changes in kitchen management, sometimes big menus, sometimes smaller ones. In 2018, the restaurant celebrated twenty years in business, a feat that few local restaurants could brag. A few years later their logo/signage changed. While it has more distinction than their old one, it's just a backlit sign rather than neon-outlined signage.

Editor's Note: I've been going through and reworking the [defunct] and [demolished] tags. [demolished] indicates that the subject of the post was torn down at some point even if it something has been rebuilt and is a permanent addition, [defunct] indicates that the space is currently unused for anything.

UPDATE 03-10-2025: Tragedy has struck. [demolished] added (the latter for Kashim but unfortunately it will be torn down either way) due to extensive damage. Currently the fate of the restaurant is unknown.

UPDATE 03-26-2025: Harvey Washbanger's has announced it will not reopen.

Western National Bank of Bryan

When the bank at Villa Maria and Forestwood opened in 1982, there was not only a full page ad here but a full section of advertisement articles and other stuff. From The Eagle, I just cleaned it up a bit. Western National Bank (not to be confused with others sharing the name—there was another one in Abbeville, Louisiana) was established in 1981 as a bank based out of Bryan, funded by local investors with the office and only branch to be at Forestwood Drive and West Villa Maria Road in Bryan (1001 W. Villa Maria Road), and opening in November 1982. However, by 1987, with banks failing across the state (in part due to the oil crash, in part the S&L crisis), Western, now in deep financial trouble, proposed merging with United Citizens Bank, a local bank operation that was formed after local bank UnitedBank bought the insolvent Citizens Bank of Bryan.

The combined bank would be headquartered at the Western National Bank site, with the site anticipated to be a more happening part of town with the construction of what would be State Highway 47. In October 1987, however, Western National Bank was declared insolvent by the FDIC but quickly reopened a day later as "Villa Maria Bank", a branch of First State Bank of Caldwell (which paid the FDIC $5000 to acquire the accounts) and in November 1987 Villa Maria Bank officially opened after its soft reopening a few weeks prior, just five years after Western National Bank opened. By 1990, First State Bank also had a branch off Harvey Road under its own name (at 701 Harvey Road) and Villa Maria Bank soon changed names to be more like its parent company. While the bank always had a metal roof from day one, at some point during First State Bank's ownership (by 1995), the bank received a small addition to the right side of the building (on the western part).

In 1996, First State Bank was acquired by First American Bank, which used to be called UnitedBank (guess that merger came through after all). Like other First American Bank branches (which we have previously covered) it was converted to Citibank in 2005 after another merger, sold to BB&T in 2014, and converted to Truist after BB&T after they merged in 2022. Except, they didn't, as BB&T closed this branch sometime around 2018. Prior to or during renovations into office space, in late May 2019, a fire burned through the building, creating visible damage on the outside and causing a partial roof collapse. As a result, the building was simply torn down (along with its parking lots) and not replaced.

A "gas station/deli" has been promised per the sign out front but nothing yet, and who knows what that entails (the lot's big enough for a decent gas station, maybe TXB or perhaps we may be lucky and get a QuikTrip...or just a decent fast food co-brand). In any case, one of the things that stuck out to me was how UnitedBank believed that the western part of Bryan would be a bigger thing than it was. Even though State Highway 47 was complete by the late 1990s it still took a long time for that to get anywhere off the ground. Even in much of the 2000s that was still largely open territory and mostly industrial, even when Traditions was starting to build up. (Then again, a lot of the Traditions stuff never really panned out either).

The Sandstone Center

Initially this was out in the sticks, now it's just north of the Costco. (Ad from 1989 phone book) This site rarely covers churches, and when it happens it's usually an extenuating circumstance, like it wasn't always a church. This is one such instance. Sandstone Psychiatry (at 4201 Highway 6 South, though the ad says differently) opened in the mid-to-late 1980s with inpatient and outpatient care. It was a hospital/long-term care in some form and even featured a swimming pool. In the early 1990s, The Sandstone Center changed hands to become the Desert Hills Center (see update below), but at some point in the 1990s closed. In the late 1990s, the space in front of the former clinic was purchased by Christ United Methodist Church and a new facility was built (likely around 1999, the old address according to a 1998 phone book revealed that the church body existed but had no permanent space, listed as 4719 Shoal Creek Drive). By 2004, a second building was built as the main building while the old Sandstone building was used as auxiliary classroom space. In 2008, a third building was built between them, while integrating the parking lots better and adding another entrance off of Highway 6. The three buildings were connected with covered walkways. This would remain the configuration for the next decade. By the late 2010s, new roads were developed around the church. The main south entrance was removed for the construction of a segment of Pebble Creek Parkway, which was (presumably) to extend to the main road off of Highway 40. A few spaces in the back were removed for access to the Lakeway Drive extension. A driveway built on the north side of the property was developed as Carroll Fancher Way. Within a year of the expansion, the orphaned segment of Pebble Creek Parkway was renamed as Corporate Parkway, and Lakeway Drive's extension (including the segment of Lakeway that had opened in 2010) as Midtown Drive.

The old drive-up of Sandstone/the church following the 2020s renovation.
Around 2021-2022, the "Sandstone" building was completely renovated, removing the pool and expanding the building to integrate with the 2008 building, as well as removing the concrete beneath the concrete drive-up. All during this time, it was renamed as Christ Church (disconnect from the Methodist church over theology). The circa '99 building does not connect to the main combined building and still retains its covered walkways.

Desert Hills facility, 1995

Two buildings as of 2004.

Three buildings as of 2011.

Two buildings as of 2022.

UPDATE 01-26-2025: A bit more on Desert Hills. It was a youth facility explicitly for troubled students (not those words). According to another article, "almost all of the students have abuse and/or neglect in their histories, officials said, and their behavior problems range from at-risk delinquent youths to moderately emotionally disturbed". Desert Hills was definitely still operational in 1996 (one caption was amended to account for this) as per this newspaper ad.

A 1998 article (when it was discussed of closing in September) mentions that placement was dictated by government entities (CPS and Juvenile Services). It worked closely with CSISD though it did receive an official charter to open as its own charter school before closing permanently. All this came down to money and politics. (Still, [school] has been added here).

CUMC bought the property in front of it in 1999 and built a small church with the address of 4203, the purchase of the former Desert Hills facility was in 2000, and that's when it adopted its current address.

Truck Stop Cafe

The drawing of the crazed cook (it's all in the eyes) seems to be stock art, notice the copyright symbol. Around four years ago I embarked on an ambitious plan to do a series on Texas Avenue with a bunch of all-new content. I put the kibosh on that fairly early (nothing to do with COVID, just some poor choices of what I actually had. As far as COVID went, it was a productive year otherwise, over 40 entries were added, and while many were on Texas Avenue these were coincidental (it is very popular, you could spend at least an hour reading all 70+ posts—do it!).

Anyway, Truck Stop Cafe! This long-forgotten restaurant operated officially from 1970 (phone book scan from c. 1970) to 1973 as a 24/7 restaurant and what appears to be the first tenant in the spot of 2609 North Texas Avenue, and according to records, the building hasn't seen use as a restaurant (or commercial establishment, for that matter) since. However, a one-off crime report indicates Truck Stop Cafe was still open in 1976, and a phone book shows the restaurant was active since at least 1963.

Since then, although the building hasn't been used as a restaurant in years and has been modified since, the current tenant is Royal Priesthood Christian Fellowship, which it has been since at least the early 2010s.

Former Tokyo Steak House

1984 phone book

We're back with a post from the archives which had been mothballed at least for the last few years. From what my current resources have, this building was built in 1966 and the 1969 directory lists "Bank of A & M" (certainly unassociated with the university, as many businesses used the "A&M" name until the early 1990s). From 1977 to 1980, it was "The Last National Bank", which from what I can tell was a chain of bank-themed restaurants back in the 1970s and 1980s.

From 1980 to 1984, it was Tokyo Steak House, which moved from Townshire. Fast forwarding to 1998 (resources are sparse), this was Coldwell Banker (as it is today) but the head realtor was Richard Smith. Cherry Ruffino was associated with Coldwell Banker at an office off of Tarrow, at some point these merged and the Coldwell Banker at 411 Texas Avenue became Cherry Ruffino's.

Barry Pool Company

Advertisement from 1999 phone book
As the weather gets chilly, I think of trips I've taken in the past for Christmas and Thanksgiving, which usually involved going down south from Texas Avenue (starting at Wal-Mart) and jumping down toward Highway 6, then off to 105. A good part of Carbon-izer is built around those memories. I've covered Veronica's here and there's one more defunct gas station that I'm still trying to collect information on, alluded to in that post over a year ago but I have yet to get around to it.

But first, Barry Pool Company. The address, 3114 Texas Avenue South, has been operational since 1986. They sold out around 2008 to what is now known as Brazos Valley Pool & Spas, but one of what made Barry's memorable was its sign, featuring a backlit slightly stylized drawing of a woman in a bikini (you can barely see it here but you can't really see it all that well). Nothing obscene but it was still interesting and memorable enough, especially back in the time when I was rarely going down this stretch of road with my family. After all, what was beyond Wal-Mart? Not much. No grocery stores (not until Kroger opening in 2000), very few gas stations, and beyond Rock Prairie Road, no hotels or restaurants. As you can see on Carbon-izer that's not the case anymore and hasn't been for a while.

UPDATE 04-08-2025: Barry Pool Co. was previously located in Bryan in 1983 at 3806 South Texas Avenue (Midtown Center) before relocating to (then) south College Station around 1986.
UPDATE 06-10-2025: Brazos Valley Pools & Spas has pulled up the stakes to 4160 State Highway 6 South, a few months ago EcoPools & Spas has replaced it.

Under the Water Tower

From John Ellisor comes this picture of Bud Ward Volkswagen. I think I see the old Holiday Inn in the background.
The pad site where Hancock Whitney bank (at 1912 Texas Avenue South) is today has its own history that's set apart from the large H-E-B store behind it. The water tower that stands guard over the H-E-B replaced a smaller water tower almost directly at the corner of the intersection, where the H-E-B gas station is today.

Originally, it was a car dealership. Richard Barton Mazda-Volvo was here from around 1975 to 1976 for sure, and from 1977 to 1988, it was Bud Ward Volkswagen, pictured above. A 1978 article from The Eagle mentions that Ward added Porsche and Audi lines (but did not stock top-of-the-line Porsche cars) when the facility expanded.

From 1989 to 1992 it was University Mitsubishi, and after that, car dealership use of the space ended (I was previously told Allen Honda was once located here but that seems to be incorrect). After that, it very briefly became Charlie's ("Charlie's Under the Water Tower") in 1993. I'm not sure if Charlie's built a new building (later used for El Chico) or used the same building. I was previously told Allen Honda was once located here but that seems to be incorrect.

In 1994, it opened as what I remember the corner being, El Chico opened in 1994. El Chico is still around in some form and despite a logo and image update, there's only 7 locations left in Texas from what was once dozens.

El Chico survived the construction of H-E-B, and continued with the chunk of the old parking lot they once shared with 1801 Holleman now connected to H-E-B's parking lot. Unfortunately, El Chico ended up closing in late 2005, largely citing popularity and access reasons (by that time, construction on widening Texas Avenue had begun).

A few years later, the pad site was demolished entirely (including the old parking lot) for MidSouth Bank, which was rebranded as Hancock Whitney in late 2019.

Cattlemen's Inn & Steak House

It's a rare color picture specifically advertising the restaurant, but that's about all we'll get from this elusive place.

24 hour establishments are a lot more rare these days thanks to you-know-what from last year, but one even rarer is a place without much 24 hour traffic, like North Texas Avenue, 1805 North Texas Avenue to be exact, north of Highway 21, just beyond the Old Hearne Road intersection.

The above photo is from a 1999 phone book, but nothing of remains of the motel and restaurant today. This is the current view of the property, the sign is still around but it's been gutted and used as an equipment lot.

As BCAD listings for the motel no longer exist (at least no longer publicly accessible), it appears that the lobby/restaurant building predates 1960, while the hotel was added on sometime in the late 1960s or very early 1970s ([1960s] is given as the address tag here). In fact, as late as 1978, the restaurant was called Buona Sera Restaurant (and was still open 24 hours, even back then), and a 1973 article refers to Buona Sera Motel & Steak House (but not does not give the address). It appears that the Cattlemen's Inn name for both appeared around the late 1970s.

The motel itself appeared to be very low end even in 1999, which probably contributed to its ultimate demise, and the poor location meant it was unable to be rehabilitated like others I've covered before, like the Villa Capri Motel in Waco. Villa Capri at least had a modest location at the corner of Franklin Avenue and Valley Mills, not near freeways, but near well-trafficked roads and a healthy commercial base. Not so much here, it was located across from Producers Co-Op.

Much like "Buona Sera Restaurant" and "Buona Sera Steak House" were used interchangeably, it looks the "Steak House" and "Diner" are one and the same, and it appears that the motel closed around the mid-2000s and was torn down in 2009.

Olive Garden's Original Location

In real life Italy, unlimited breadsticks are not a thing.
Besides marketing its food products in all the area grocery stores, General Mills brought two restaurants to the Bryan-College Station through its General Mills Restaurant Group subsidiary, Red Lobster in 1983 and Olive Garden a decade later. (The other two significant concepts at the time, Good Earth, and China Coast, never made it to the area, though the latter briefly saw Waco and Houston).

Neither my articles on Hastings or H-E-B Pantry mention Olive Garden, which sat at the corner of Texas Avenue and Holleman Drive from 1993 to 2004. The old Olive Garden met its fate when it burned down in a fire, and what was left of the building was declared a total loss.

In January or February 2005, a new Olive Garden opened at University Drive East and Earl Rudder Freeway, and by October 2005, two new buildings rose at the former Olive Garden site, a Chase bank (replacing the 2000 Texas Avenue South address), and a second building (2002 Texas Avenue South) holding Jimmy John's and Men's Wearhouse (Google Street View link). The Jimmy John's closed in late summer 2019 for reasons unknown but by that time, a Jimmy John's was operating at Rock Prairie Crossing and near Texas and University Drive East. Of course, Jimmy John's at the latter location has a somewhat interesting backstory, and that will be covered soon enough...

The ad is from the mid-1990s, before it introduced its newer logo (dropping "The" and adding what appeared to be a bunch of grapes to the logo) around 1999 (replaced in 2014 but still seen on many restaurants).

Humpty Dumpty Children's Center

Requested by reader Jon Stewart (no, not that one) comes an ad for the late Humpty Dumpty Children's Center from 1980 (sourced from my GTE phone book from that year). Located at 3406 South College Avenue, I can't exactly tell when it went under, but it appears to have been sometime around 1986 (see later in the article). The plot of land it was on is shared with 3408 and 3404, the latter being in front of the store and serving as "The Guitar Studio" though is clearly a former gas station from a bygone era (this appears to date back to 1930 per county records). Additionally, some further reading indicates the Jones family lived at the site, with "3404A" being the address of one Larry Jones in 1980. Ms. Jones passed away in 2003 (combined with "since 1961" and "25 years", one can assume Humpty Dumpty closed in 1986) with Larry's death in 2009. For a brief time in the late 2000s and early 2010s, 3408 served as Brazos Valley Montessori, and presumably used 3406 as space. Interestingly, when the plot was sold in 2014 from the Jones family, the grantee (a shell company) was listed as "Humpty 3406 LLC", despite the fact that Humpty Dumpty had been gone for nearly 30 years. (current Street View)

Grins at 4410 College Main

Find the error with the times of operation!

Grins (opened 1978) was another quasi-Northgate establishment further up College Main in Bryan, 4410 College Main to be precise, and reportedly hosted some great live entertainment acts in its day. I've heard that the only "drinking" opportunities they had was Coors Light, so I'm guessing the food wasn't too fantastic either. The above advertisement came from November 1979. In 1983 George and Pasty Graham opened Dr. G.'s¹ and while it was an "artistic success" it closed in June 1985 among financial problems and Patsy Graham's divorce, though Patsy relaunched it as Morganstern's soon after. In May 1988, Morganstern's closed. In 1989, Patsy (now Patsy Fry) and another partner, Hugh Stearns, reopened as Texas Star Tavern, which was the renamed, relocated version of Brazos Landing². Texas Star Tavern was never able to acquire a liquor license thanks to a combination of a technicality on TABC (an old law on the books taking issue with Fry's husband working at Messina Hof) and while that was cleared up, a nearby apartment landlord's complaint still stifled the license. By March 1990 Fry was out of the business, Stearns had renamed it again to Front Porch Cafe, and the TABC finally granted the license. Front Porch Cafe was short-lived. Around spring of 1992 it became Junction Five-o-Five, which despite its name, isn't a bar or other entertainment establishment...and that's what it has been ever since.

A picture of the current building was taken in June 2014 by me, and current Street View.

Interestingly, I can't find what it originally was, I assumed converted residential use but the earliest reference for the address is "Sturdi-Craft Company" in 1947, a local furniture manufacturer (which also offered "The Workshop" at 4404 College Main briefly, a DIY operation where you could build and paint your own furniture and rent equipment there). But by 1950 that seems to have disappeared and the next reference is 1957's "A&M Smoke House", a restaurant with barbecue and hamburgers, followed by similar operation "The Smoke House" in 1959. There was "Mrs. Richard's Dining Hall", a restaurant served family-style in 1961, "Webb's Trading Post" in 1966. A 1970 article mentions that there were three commercial buildings on site, and in 1971 the three buildings were demolished through Bryan's Dangerous Buildings Ordinance. The current building has a distinctly different roofline.

1. No relation to Mr. G's Pizza. In addition to live music, Dr. G's ("The Remedy", it advertised) offered soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches, and Mexican food (likely beer, too, though the ad didn't mention that)
2. A 1989 ad for Brazos Landing listed seafood, salads, and burgers for food options, specifically mentioning swordfish, hamburgers, grilled shrimp, blackened chicken, salads, "and more". Notably, it had the old name of the restaurant (Brazos Landing) but the new address (4410 College Main).
UPDATE 08-03-2021: Complete rewrite with new information.
UPDATE 06-14-2025: Substantial reworking of existing article.

Fajita Rita's, The Building of Which Eventually Burned Down

One of the phone books I have shows it has simply "Fajita Rita", then was reverted later.

Located on 4501 Texas Avenue South, Fajita Rita's opened in a building near the intersection of Rosemary and Texas Avenue in 1984 (some sources say 1983, but a 1984 The Eagle mentions their grand opening was in November 1984), right on the College Station-Bryan border (but on the Bryan side). It wasn't the first restaurant in the spot. First, Chelsea Street Pub was here in the late 1970s and early 1980s (it later reopened in the mall), but by 1983 it was a place called Rebels Restaurant & Bar (sounded like "student food", the phone book mentions it had steaks, burgers, nachos, happy hour), then briefly Fari's Restaurant & Bar. (It's important to note that sometime in the early 1980s, the address changed from 4425 to 4501).

Fajita Rita's did well but faltered in the 1990s as more chains and restaurants began popping up. Fajita Rita's closed sometime in the early 2000s (2003, likely) and was replaced with Fredriko's (moved to Northgate in 2005). It soon became a restaurant called "Las Fuentes" for a few years (and it's entirely possible I'm missing one more), then ultimately Las Lomas Mexican Grill. Las Lomas did last for a while: it did offer more of the same from FR (margaritas, decent but average Mexican food), but the building started to fall into disrepair. Its popularity was never very high, and apparently never even turned on its roadside sign for most of its existence from 2008 to its closure in late 2011. A few months later, in February 2012, lightning struck an air conditioning unit and burned the restaurant to the ground in a spectacular fire. That same night, the YMCA Building flooded (it was quite a storm). What was left of the building (Las Lomas, not YMCA) was razed a few months later.

In 2014, a new somewhat non-descript building was built on the site, and in 2016 gained both First Watch (the first in Texas, and a very popular breakfast spot) and a second Hungry Howie's (first one in ten years since Southwest Crossing. One thing remains from the Fajita Rita's days...the signage predates the building.

UPDATE 10-27-2020: Hungry Howie's closed earlier this year (2020) with reports that First Watch will expand into their former spot.

UPDATE 05-10-2024: Updated the post to reflect that it was the same Fredriko's as the one at 303 Boyett. The original link ("In brief", 4/25/2004) misspells it as "Fredricko's".