McDonald's at Northgate, The Area's First

From The Eagle, courtesy John Ellisor

Almost anything is interesting when you find enough to it, and today, we're looking at the original Northgate McDonald's (and its replacement).

Opening in December 1973 at the northeast corner of Spence Street and University Drive (801 University Drive) built by Philip Springer, the original McDonald's in Northgate was in many ways one of a kind with the only McDonald's in the area until 1977 when the Manor East Mall location was built. The Northgate location actually won a landscaping award (local only) when it opened when a 1976 article described that the McDonald's cleans up all the trash in and around the area, with "small pines, evergreens and grass [comprising the landscape]". It's a far cry from the island it is today surrounded by concrete.

In 1985, it added a little curved "solarium" window much like a Wendy's would have was added in the front (enclosing some additional outdoor seating), which McDonald's did as well for a time.

This I remember being demolished and rebuilt in the very early 2000s, though I can't remember if it was rebuilt with the new "front" or not. I think it was. I vaguely remember the little "ATM" flags flying over it (as Wikimapia reports), which were after the rebuilding but before a renovation. I can't tell what that thing is in the pictures post-demo pre-remodel (which happened around 2007, as it points out). Looking from a side-view aerial looks like it's some sort of covered playground area, which must have a post-rebuild touch, but it doesn't matter because it was demolished for an expansion of the eating area (and featuring a study area). Actually, a MyBCS thread reveals it was to be used for live music, which, unsurprisingly, turned out to be a failure, so it just became outdoor seating.


From a University Square lease plan

Two things that also made this a bit cooler than the average McDonald's, both of which are gone:

#1: This McDonald's did delivery. Yes, I know that a select number of markets did it in the 1980s (featuring a commercial which has unfortunately been removed from YouTube for some reason or another), it's being done in other countries, and they want to do it again (newspaper articles from April 29-30 2013 too numerous to link to). From what I could tell, it was a franchise-specific thing, and of those, only this location. This ad was from 1992.

#2: This McDonald's did tours as well. Here's a bit from a "Things for Children to See & Do in the Bryan-College Station" guide from the mid-1970s. This was back when it and the Villa Maria location were the only McDonald's locations in town. They definitely don't do this today anymore.

#3: This comment: I was in College Station from 94-99 and always thought this was a weird McD's location. When I first moved to CS, there was a weird game room/arcade in the back of the building that couldn't be accessed from the inside--you had to go outside and around back. I remember when they redid it and added the "live music" area in the front--I only remember ever seeing one band play there, right after they reopened. It seems like it was within weeks of opening that they reconfigured it to just be outdoor seating. I believe I read this was part of a basement area (which early McDonald's had, but rare in Texas).

Additionally, since this was last updated in 2014, it's not at the "northeast corner of Spence Street" anymore when the stoplight was removed and a median built between the entrance to University Square and Spence Street. In 2018, the McDonald's updated its exterior to a modern prototype.

Updated in August 2014 and June 2019

Grins at 4410 College Main

Find the error with the times of operation!

Grins 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. From 1983-1985, it was Dr. G's, unrelated to the later Mr. G's, Dr. G's ("The Remedy", it advertised) offered live music, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches, and Mexican food (likely beer, too, though the ad didn't mention that). Morganstern's was in the spot from 1986 to 1988. Still later (1989) it became Brazos Landing Seafood Grill & Bar (seafood, salads, and burgers--the ad mentioned swordfish, hamburgers, grilled shrimp, blackened chicken, salads, "and more"). That same year it was listed simultaneously as Texas Star Tavern. (Hmm.)


Since 1992, however, it has been Junction Five-o-Five, which despite its name, isn't a bar or other entertainment establishment. A picture of the current building was taken in June 2014 by me, and current Street View.

Other tenants that I could find and confirm included: Venetian Blind Hospital (or Sturdi-Craft Co.) (1947). I haven't found anything else yet or when it became a bar (or when it stopped becoming residential, as it presumably originally was).

UPDATE 08-03-2021: Complete rewrite with new information.

Former Taco Cabana

Picture from May 2019 by author when Taco Cabana was still operational.
701 Texas Avenue South was originally developed around 1957 as the Saber Inn, a modest 36-room motel with a pool and restaurant. The restaurant space, however, was run by a series of third party-operators, all of which tried to make a go out of it. In 1976, it became home to the The Grapevine, moving from its old location at 315 Texas Avenue, and in 1981 the restaurant relocated to its own space (covered at that article). Afterwards, the former Grapevine space became Baker Street Bar & Restaurant (no relation to Houston's Baker St. Pub & Grill), featuring a menu from steak to fondue, as well as first appearance of spiked milkshakes and fruit smoothies in town. The article also mentioned the jazzy song of the same name was used in advertising.

By summer 1984 the space was vacant, though there was reference of another restaurant of the same name opening in the same spot (presumably under new ownership) but that seems to have gone nowhere. In January 1987, The Upper Room Club opened, a Christian nightclub (for lack of a better word—it was definitely dry, and was short-lived). In 1988 the Saber Inn was closed and demolished, and replaced with Taco Cabana by the end of the year, a 24-hour restaurant.

Taco Cabana would stand guard at the corner of Live Oak and Texas Avenue for over thirty years, though the logo and exterior updated as the chain changed its image, with the last incarnation being tan with pink accents, and a pink sign with white lettering. This would come to an end in January 2020 when the store and 18 other Taco Cabana restaurants closed with parent company Fiesta Restaurant Group citing underperformance. (I'm not sure if Taco Cabana dropped 24 hour operations before 2020).

In March 2021, Las Palapas (also from San Antonio, like Taco Cabana) opened. "Las Palapas Aggieland" as the sign says, featured a color scheme in terms of lighting that resembled a bit of how Taco Cabana used to be and even made a valiant attempt to be open all night on most days, but tragically couldn't hack it, cutting back hours before closing in mid-2023.

UPDATE 01-15-2025: Major rewrite done (resetting updates).
UPDATE 01-31-2025: In addition to the La Quinta auxiliary buildings this and the nearby defunct La Barroneña Ranch Steakhouse / College Station Seafood / Oceans Bar & Grill / Vy's Kitchen Asian Cuisine / Rice Garden have received demolition permits as well.

The Grapevine

A bit off the beaten path, but the fence wasn't here when it was a restaurant.
201 Live Oak Street was built in 1981 as the new location of The Grapevine, a restaurant that had jumped around in recent years in the area. The first incarnation of The Grapevine was a wine shop and delicatessen located at 315 Texas Avenue owned by Bill & Patsy Perry¹, a long-gone address that will soon be covered on this site. In 1976 it was moved to the Saber Inn as the restaurant lease before moving out in 1981 to a purpose-built building.²

Patsy Perry (later Zabel) operated the restaurant for another twenty years before she retired in April 2001 and closed the restaurant. She was unable to lease it as another restaurant due to its out-of-the-way location but anticipated it might end up becoming office space.

In late 2004, the dream of it becoming a new restaurant became a reality when The Grapevine reopened under new ownership and featured many of the same recipes. Unfortunately, the restaurant closed around summer 2005, this time for good.

Normally we would just put up an ad (as seen above) but today, we're presenting (and this is something I've worked out) real recipes from The Grapevine. The dressing, the potatoes, and the cheesecake have all been released on a Facebook group, and they're here now. (Yes, I got permission and yes, the link does in fact work!)

I also acquired a partial menu from late 2000 (with the last price increases in place--a typical entree held a cost of about $8.50) but I decided against putting it up except on request.

This blog reports it was "Lighthouse Christian Church" for a while after the closing of the Grapevine. The blog talked about said baked potatoes in great length, which I have reproduced here. I was going to leave a comment, but comments are closed on that post. Their loss, I suppose. I don't know how long Lighthouse was there, the blog was published in June 2007, but June 2007 happened to be when the current tenant, the Rohr Chabad Jewish Center, opened its doors for the first time.

Nearby: Fuego Tortilla Grill, La Quinta next to Denny's, and Rice Garden

<sup>1. At some point early on, Bill and Patsy divorced. Her name remained Patsy Perry in 1981 but Bill was not mentioned, by 1996 it had become Patsy Zabel.
2. Per this article</sup>

UPDATE 03-11-2025: Rewrote post with new information later learned.