Good Bull BBQ

You can see the remnants of where an awning once hung, last seen in the "Cocina" days. (Picture by author, 8/21)
When I did the post on the late Southgate Subway that closed after nearly 30 years, you could see the doors to Good Bull BBQ to the right of it. Unlike Subway, this spot (326 George Bush Drive, née 326 Jersey) has been a revolving door of restaurants over the years, but going back further hasn't always been restaurants.

The oldest record I can find is 1969 with the location being the Southside Barber Shop "under new management", with a legacy of hair cutting continuing into the early 1980s.

In 1978, it was the Mop Shop, and mentioned in the paper because someone had stolen their barber pole. It was here until the very early 1980s.

"How About Lurl's" was here in 1982-1983 according to tax records (a second location of a hair styling shop in Bryan). This is the last known hair cutting place at the spot before it transitioned to restaurant space.

In the spring of 1984, a new pizzeria called DoubleDave's Pizzaworks opened. A second location on Northgate soon followed. By the time DoubleDave's closed this particular location around 2000 (presumably relocating to Rock Prairie Road), DoubleDave's wasn't quite a small one-location operation anymore. DoubleDave's long stay at this storefront was the longest time that any single restaurant operated here and survived the 1990s name change to George Bush Drive.

Mi Cocina Restaurant (also known as Mi Cocina II, as their first restaurant was located in Bryan) opened in 2000 and was very popular for a time; by 2006 it had opened two additional locations in College Station. Unfortunately, at some point, it was sued by a similarly-named restaurant (which had no locations in College Station) and the restaurants became Polly's Cocina (except the original Bryan location, which went to different ownership). After the spring 2011 semester, the now-named Polly's Cocina Restaurant closed.

Coco Loco, which opened in summer 2011, I never actually went to, but I do remember my dad bringing home some leftover breakfast items including bacon and tortillas due to some work-related early morning meetings there, but in 2013 beef contaminated with the rare E. coli strain O157:H7 was undercooked and sent two young boys to the hospital. The restaurant was shut down by the health department for investigation and clean-up (and of course, the local news media followed it closely). During this saga, a health department official ate a taco at a televised press conference to demonstrate that the restaurant was safe to eat at, but that put off friends and families of the victims (especially as the family in question was facing a huge financial burden in hospital bills), and was forced to apologize. It would not have made much of a difference; the idea was to not throw Coco Loco under the bus, but it ended up closing in 2014.

La Botana moved in after Coco Loco's demise. This second location of a Bryan-based restaurant (still in operation as of this writing) opened in early 2015 but closed in 2017.

Good Bull BBQ opened in fall 2017 and closed in May 2021. Both TexAgs and Yelp attribute management issues to its closure. However, as of this writing, new management has reopened the restaurant.

Brazos CAD groups it with the same lot where Subway is, and therefore, like that building, I'll put that this building was built in the 1940s until new proof shows otherwise.

UPDATE 11-09-2021: The Good Bull BBQ revival ended up lasting just less than two months. Not too long after Good Bull BBQ reopened, their walk-in cooler failed, and the new owner did not fix it (allegedly believing it was the landlord's duty), leaving town soon after. Have the days of restaurants at 326 George Bush come to an end?
UPDATE 02-10-2024: In 2022 it became part of "FNL Nutrition", which didn't long and occupied the address of the former Subway next door.

Exxon at University Drive East and University Drive

This intersection used to have three gas stations, now just one. (Picture by author, 8/21)
Once last look at this certain corridor, here's what many web-based maps consider to be the epicenter of the College Station: University and Texas Avenue. At this prominent corner (425 Texas Avenue South) is an Exxon station, built in 1994.

The previous gas station was a Shell, likely built in the late 1970s, which replaced an even older gas station on the site (we'll have to find that one later). In the post for the Plaza Hotel, a video is linked that shows the intersection as it looked in the early 1980s, you can see a shot of the smaller Shell (logo) sign here (annotated version by "AggiePhil") as well as a black and white night picture of the sign from the Daily Texan (thanks to "Aggie Network" from TexAgs for tipping me off to this).

One Shell of a time. The picture headlining the Plaza Hotel post also shows a better view of the Shell station. By 1993, it had been abandoned but not yet torn down (the convenience store is under the canopy). Can't say much for the modern Exxon here but for a brief time it was a Rattlers, though I can't confirm or deny it had the logo on the outside, and if it was, only a very brief time in the 2004-2005 range before it was sold off. It was already owned by Kolkhorst Petroleum prior to this, and actually was given the Rattlers #1 designation but they sold it off soon after.

In the picture above, you can see the Jimmy John's and the former Pizza Hut, both of which have been previously covered.

UPDATE 05-19-2023: I have finally (by myself, no one sent it) acquired a picture of what was previously only described (the date by the way is July 7, 1989). Minor other edits have been made.

Hampton Inn on Texas Avenue

I think this one came out surprisingly well. (Picture from author; 8/21)
Hampton Inn is the second generation hotel here, the first being the Sands Motel, built at 324 Texas Avenue South in the 1950s. In the early 1980s, Sands Motel was torn down for a new concept that Holiday Corporation (Holiday Inn) was marketing, a budget-oriented chain called Hampton Inn. (Holiday would break apart less than five years later; under new owners Bass plc, they later developed Holiday Inn Express after Hampton Inn and others were spun off into a new company, ultimately bought by Hilton).

A postcard I found on eBay (but didn't buy). Another, albeit black and white photo I've found, better shows that this was a "Best Western", back when that was a designation, not a brand.
In any case, while the Hampton Inn has been updated (official site) and College Station has gained a second Hampton Inn (a Hampton Inn & Suites, technically) on Earl Rudder Freeway, it retains its original exterior (though in the last few years work has been done to flatten the roof). It has 133 rooms, more than twice than its predecessor.

"The Sands offers 52 rooms, completely air-conditioned, room phones, cable TV, extra large swimming pool." Yes, cable TV did exist in 1960!
Today Hampton Inn has the address of 320 Texas Avenue. When this post was part of a larger post, I included an official picture, seen here. Notice the Applebee's in the background.

Fairfield Inn Bryan

Fairfield Inn in August 2021 (by author)
Fairfield Inn opened in 1994 (early plats read "Heritage Inn #1", there's no way to prove that it actually opened as such), which is a budget/economy chain launched by Marriott in the late 1980s to compete with lower-end motels and hotels like Days Inn and Hampton Inn, and has remained since. The hotel, at 4613 S. Texas Avenue, is the furthest south business on Texas Avenue in Bryan (even across the street is College Station).

Of course, the site it sites on has its own history, with two lots originally on the site, 4613 and 4611. 4613 was the first building on the site, opened in 1957 as "U-Pak-M", a small locally-based convenience store. Following a new schedule set forth by a Dallas based convenience store that made the schedule its own gimmick, the store was open from 7 am to 11pm, and had one other location, at 3800 S. College Avenue, which is now Mini Mart (or "Mini Mini Mini Mart"). In the mid-1960s, U-Pak-M closed and became a new restaurant in 1967, the Barbecue Barn. Barbecue Barn would soon become Arnold's Barbecue, and by 1971, was owned by Thomas Beltrand. In 1976, Beltrand changed the name to his own, despite advertising "New Name in New Location", Tom's Barbecue (no "Steakhouse" yet) was the new name of the restaurant. (It would move to 3610 South College Avenue in 1985...and later, open a College Station location).

In 1965, an A&W drive-in restaurant opened at 4611 South Texas Avenue. According to the Facebook group Bryan-College Station, Texas: Now and Then (friend of the blog), the last reference to A&W found in newspapers was November 1975 that mentioned the restaurant needed a new owner. Well, given what was happening to A&W's parent company United Brands at the time, it's no surprise that A&W closed up shop locally!

Wow, it had an eat-in area? That's better than Sonic ever had.
The good news was by that time, United Brands had started a subsidiary to sell bottles and cans of A&W root beer in stores (today owned by Keurig Dr Pepper after it changed hands several times) but the A&W restaurant (separated from the bottling side) would not return to the area until the late 1990s, and then, only briefly.

Unfortunately, at this time, information on what happened to the addresses after the departure of their respective tenants is unknown. This may be explored by a future update.

UPDATE 12-19-2023: In 2023, the hotel was converted to "SureStay by Best Western" (SureStay by Best Western Bryan College Station). No other changes have been made to the post other than removing the link to Marriott's website, which no longer works.
UPDATE 09-20-2024: As of this writing, Best Western converted it to a regular Best Western hotel (no sub-name).