Texaco at Highway 6 and Highway 21

Today, a Texaco store stands proudly here. This picture and the others below are from the author, September 2016 (except for the Circle K Truxtop picture).
Funny story--I originally had wanted to do this post back in September 2016 (the rewritten version of course, as the "date posted" is from well before that) when Alimentation Couche-Tard announced it would buy CST Brands. In layman's terms, Corner Store, the convenience store commonly associated with Valero (though independent since 2013) would be turned into Circle K (which unfortunately recently did away with its classic or at least classic-inspired logo for a new, worse one). With that in mind, I felt it was high time to cover one of the Circle K stores that did grace our fair city before a wave of new Circle K stores come in adjacent to the Valero stores (if not taking them over entirely). This is of course a "rebranded" post originally posted as "Two TETCO Stores" many years ago.

But not to be outdone, there was news some months later that Sunoco, which had bought Stripes a few years back (resulting in new Sunoco gas canopies), was selling its convenience stores out to 7-Eleven, which would ultimately be the boost that put real 7-Eleven stores back in College Station-Bryan.

There is one other TETCO store that used to be covered on this blog, and that would be the one at Harvey Road and Texas Avenue, which has difficult access (parking was never accessible from Culpepper Plaza) and has been operating for years as an Exxon. That one has been operating for years as an Exxon (since the 1980s, though unfortunately I don't have a lot of info on it, it seems like there was more of an emphasis on auto parts), and would eventually go under the Speedy Stop name (but still an Exxon). I believe the SS name has been in place since 2000, as evidence seems to point that the original Exxon was auto repair-oriented but the rebuilt Exxon was not. I don't remember the old Exxon, personally, but I did take two pictures when it was Speedy Stop.

To begin, who remembers UtoteM? It was a small convenience store chain that once had locations all over the area, and we've covered a number of them in this blog before. My records indicate that there was one at the current site of Jin's Asian Cafe (though I currently lack the phone book records for it), one at 301 Patricia, one at the current site of Northpoint Crossing, one at what is now the current site of Checkers there at Holleman and Welsh, one at 105 Walton (that link goes to the main Eastgate page, I've been wanting to separate those into different pages), and one that later became a bus station, and those are the ones actually covered here. (An extant example can be found at the corner of Old College Road and College Main, unless that has closed and I just haven't been aware of that fact yet)

As mentioned on this page regarding the gas station at Longmire and Harvey Mitchell, Circle K bought these stores and shut most of the original UtoteM stores down almost immediately afterward. They weren't all bad, though, because UtoteM did construct a few modern stores with pumps just a few years before it sold out. 3401 East Highway 21 was one of them, and by the early 1990s, this would be branded as a Circle K "Truxtop".

OK, I cheated: this isn't actually from the Bryan store, it's from Skyline Products but I still imagine the Texaco sign looking sort of like this
As part of a sale in mid-1999, Circle K sold its stores in town to Duke & Long as part of a 142 store deal, which rebranded the stores to Everyday and gave all the stores Conoco gas pumps, but a few years later, Duke & Long filed bankruptcy, and from there, the stores went their separate ways. Many of the stores went to Speedy Stop, which in turn sold a few, like Villa Maria/Cavitt and Longmire/Harvey Mitchell Parkway sold to Handi Stop in the mid-2000s, becoming Diamond Shamrock briefly before switching to Texaco as Valero began to consume the Diamond Shamrock name. Others, like 1600 South College Avenue, went independent (it still holds a Conoco-shaped sign).

Note the oval-shaped sign, that's from Conoco
However, 3401 Texas 21 held onto its Speedy Stop name until it was the only one in town left (along with a second Speedy Stop not related to the Circle K lineage). I don't know if 3401 Texas 21 had a Diamond Shamrock branding in the mid-2000s, I'm 95% sure it did, but it did have Texaco gas by 2007 like the Handi Stop stores (and by that time, the Diamond Shamrock stores were well on their way to being replaced by Valero completely). Despite promises, the TETCO stores have yet to receive full 7-Eleven branding, perhaps when the Stripes deal is closed they will get the leverage to finally push it, as it will expand their holdings to 10 stores (in theory--I can imagine the Holleman Rattlers sold off for being too close and the former Chicks sold off for being too big). It would also put well above Circle K, which would only gain four stores in their deal, all of them east of Texas Avenue and none of them too impressive.

Hopefully this will receive proper 7-Eleven branding soon enough!
As of October 2019, the gas station now has Chevron as the name with the Chevron logo on the highway, but still with TETCO branding.

UPDATE 06-23-2021: New title (from "Circle K Truxtop"), new captions. [Diamond Shamrock] also added. Also some updates were made reflecting Circle K and 7-Eleven and their changes here.
UPDATE 04-18-2021: Somewhere around December 2021 the convenience store was officially rebranded as 7-Eleven. (The Conoco oval is now gone).
UPDATE 06-16-2023: Unfortunately, the Highbeam article no longer works. We'll continue to search for a replacement.
UPDATE 12-13-2024: Try this link instead (source) instead. Google is reporting 7-Eleven is "temporarily closed". We'll confirm this soon.
UPDATE 01-11-2025: A return trip to this 7-Eleven about two weeks ago confirms that it is indeed no longer a 7-Eleven, yet a new 7-Eleven canopy has appeared for the truck/diesel portion. Very strange...

Circle Drive-In and The Things That Replaced It

I'd probably be facing the screen at this point (if a long way away). Picture by author, August 2019.
In the planning process of the blog's current layout, I had considered deleting this post in favor of the dedicated Circle Drive-In post I had written in 2012. However, I noticed that even though it was a later post, this page (originally on Newport Condominiums) had far more views, and thus better SEO.

The Circle Drive-In of College Station, Texas, was located near the corner of modern-day College Avenue and University Drive. Still whispered about on the Internet and unrelated to the Circle Drive-In in Waco, mostly intact but now a flea market, the Circle Drive-In was so named because (like its unrelated Waco cousin) a traffic circle was nearby (which is now gone). In the old Circle Drive-In page of the blog, I added three pictures from Mapping Historic Aggieland from 1964, 1979, and 1983. The address is officially unknown, some say 402 Nagle but I can't find a proof of that. More accurate is the opening from 1952, but even Cinema Treasures, which often lists the first movie(s) shown at a new theater, does not have much information on it.
1964
1979
1983
Picture credit: Historic Aggieland
It disappeared entirely between 1979 and 1983 (probably closed soon after the time University Square came into existence, which had a movie theater of its own) and was quickly forgotten.

Both North Ramparts (400 Nagle) and Newport Condominiums (402 Nagle) were built in 1981. Newport met its end in 2013, either because St. Mary's bought it or because of questionable structural integrity (note in Street View, the siding is missing). Despite that, they were still leasing as "The Lodge at Northgate" a few months before demolition. The apartments were built on a modified pier and beam layout where the parking was below the building about half a floor down, which is admittedly somewhat unique for College Station, but buildings aren't worth saving on being unique alone. One comment I received (in August 2016) had some rather unkind words to say about the building, even back in the late 1990s: I lived in Newport Condominiums in 1998-99 [in] a three bedroom unit. The rooms were very small and narrow. The management didn't seem to clean the units for new residents. And it seemed like the management also did not like to repair things, paint either the interior or exterior, etc. The place was going downhill fast. I do remember it was cheap and the location couldn't be beat, as far as proximity to campus.

Some of the Street View pictures that were in the original version of this post can be seen below.

Most of the theater ended up becoming the "Mud Lot", a cheap dirt parking lot owned by St. Mary's, though when most of it was converted to actual parking for the church, the other half closed (and some of the land was never even used as parking). This would remain untouched for well over a decade until construction started on "The Stack at Legacy Point" (711 Church Avenue) which was in conjunction with redeveloping University Square (a project that is stillborn as of this writing), which seems to be relatively decent for those who actually lived there. The apartments have only one ground-level tenant, a MedPlus medical clinic branch ("MedPlus at the Stack") which opened in February 2014.

Updated August 2019.

UPDATE 01-21-2022: One more story--about where The Stack is today and stretching into the adjacent "The Field at the Stack" (site of the former Albertsons and adjacent stores), was supposed to be a 10-story Marriott hotel and convention center proposed by the city in 2005, but plans fell through.
UPDATE 06-12-2025: MedPlus at the Stack is closed, has been closed since at least April 2021. [cinema] repalces [theater] in label re-do. Also a long-broken picture has been fixed.

Luther's Bar-B-Q

The sky really wasn't that overcast, I had to make some changes to make the actual subject lighter. Picture by author, May 2019.


The current BCS Tires & Lifts looks quite a bit different than its incarnation as a restaurant. While it didn't last long in its original incarnation, it was the home of Luther's Bar-B-Q, a chain out of Houston which at the time of its construction in late 1984 (may have actually opened in 1985) was operated by a company named Diversifoods, which owned a number of Burger King franchises and a few other chains. In 1985, Diversifoods accepted a buyout from Burger King's parent company Pillsbury (effectively ending a feud that Diversifoods and its predecessor company Chart House had with Burger King franchises) but it had the unfortunate side effect of halting Luther's expansion and closing a number of stores soon after. The Luther's in College Station may have actually been only in business for as little as a year.

In any case, Pop's Barbecue was the successor tenant here, serving a similar menu, though the different phone number suggests an entirely new restaurant and not just a disconnection from Luther's. Pop's had a more successful run until around 1995-1997 when it closed and became the new location of Epicures Catering. Pictures of when Epicures was here can be seen on Yelp since I lack pictures of my own. Epicures existed prior to moving here but located somewhere else (unfortunately, the phone books don't list the address of where it was) and over time, Epicures lost its luster (it used to be a big advertiser in local dining guides) and fell into disrepair until moving out to rural Brazos County. The original green overhang was replaced with a gold-colored one in the mid-2000s after the old one was too tattered.

After Epicures stopped operating in the spot, the building was extensively renovated and expanded to become a franchise of Conroe-based TireMax, opening in 2011. However, not too long after TireMax opened, the parent company went bust and it had to change its name to "BCS Tires & Lifts", so the sign didn't look quite as good after that.

One more important piece of information, as Luther's address was 2321 Texas Avenue South, and subsequent businesses used 2319, while Discount Tire (built in 1986) used the 2321 address. This made research of the building's original use confusing.

UPDATE 04-17-2022: While this post last received an update in 2020, another change is that BCS Tires & Lifts (also known as "BCS Tire Pros") had either been bought out or otherwise replaced in early 2022 by Big O Tires.

The Exxon on Boonville

Stover Boys still had remnants in 2014, long after the restaurant closed.
The Exxon at the corner of FM 1179 and Boonville, which I have only recently seen, as shown here in a picture I took this February. It has been open since 1995 and has had several restaurants in it (a bit unusual for something not off of a major thoroughfare), since it has a kitchen and an eat-in area. "Fratello's Pizza Company" is the only one I've found at this address (3200 Boonville Road) but they also have their location as at the old Daylight Donuts space a bit west of here.

In late 2007, it became the home of Stover Boys, a hamburger-and-fries outlet that kind of had a "rural outlet, specials written on a chalkboard" feel to it that opened to much local acclaim. It was where Bryan-College Station was acquainted with Charles Stover and his restaurants.

Stover's restaurant was an instant success, and people would come out to this little gas station and fill up every available parking space. When it turned out that people would pass it by rather than fight for parking, it was clear that Stover's had outgrown itself and Stover Boys moved into an old restaurant pad in Westgate Shopping Center, clear on the other side of town. This was in 2008, and although it opened around early 2009, the Stover Boys signage still hangs at this Exxon, which also suggests how rarely new restaurants come in.

As of 2018, "Taqueria Poblano" operates in the space.

UPDATE 06-17-2023: I know I previously updated this to account for Taqueria Poblano but I wanted to clarify that beyond Fratello's (which was here and did move to the other Boonville address), Stover Boys, and Taqueria Poblano, the other place I found was "Deli Depot". The gas station opened in 1994.

Post Oak Mall Stores, 1982-1992

This page, formerly known as "Post Oak Mall Part 3 - The 1980s and 1990s" before a December 2019 revamp, attempts to cover the interior mall shops (sans the six department stores) as they existed from 1982 to 1992. Prior to around the early 2000s, the mall directories used an arbitrary numbering system, starting from 1 near Wilson's (originally at one of the mall's corners) and continuing up to 137 (later 155 as the JCPenney wing was built). This later switched to suite numbers. To keep things consistent, both will be used.
For reference, please use this map from the early 1980s (but not 1982, likely 1984), claiming the mall was "99% Leased".



1 / 9002. Card America - Seems to have come and gone by late 1984.

2 / 9000. Oriental Treasures
This is from my 1984 phone book, cleaned up and reproduced here. One comment I got from the old version (from Jennifer Kling) of this page did have to do with Oriental Treasures: "I have a fancy jewelry box from Oriental Treasures. They also had gorgeous geisha dolls that I was fascinated with." This was still in the mall as of the 1989 phone book.

3 / 4044. The Rainbow Store
This ad is also from the 1984 phone book (same page). Unlike Oriental Treasures, it was closed by 1989.

4/4042. Originally, this was a store called Duck Soup (likely some sort of gourmet/imported foods shop, consistent with its classification as "Food Services") and later D'Guiche Bed & Bath Shop in 1984. Very little is known about either one. The lease plan says this was supposed to be "Kitchen Stove", why they changed to a wackier name by opening is a question.

5/4040. Originally, this was Salad Bartique, a salad bar shop (yes, the food court expanded all the way into the corridor!) but it was Accessories by Taz in 1984. Very little is known about it, but it was still listed in the early 1990s phone book, implying it survived the remaining first 10 years of the mall.


6/4038.

Corn Dog 7 was one of those places that sprouted up exclusively in malls in the South during the 1980s and while I've yet to locate one in the wild since 2008 (Mall of the Mainland, since closed), it was here until the around the mid-2000s.

7/4034. Chick-fil-A, a charter tenant to the mall survived to almost 30 years of the mall, closing December 24, 2011 due to high rents. There were other issues too, like the mall not doing renovations (by the time they did, it was too late). It was a bit unique in that it had a small dine-in area with some Aggie memorabilia on the wall, and was a full-featured Chick-fil-A (no "Express" here). It was also the first in town, long before the one at Briarcrest was built, or before the campus CFA Express locations, or before Chick-fil-A started to sprout up with ever-more convenient locations even if those locations are consistently packed. This was my first Chick-fil-A, and I had a lot of ice cream here over the years and some chicken nuggets, but no sandwiches.

8/4032. By 1984, this was Emilio's. I don't know much about Emilio's or its products besides that it was a sandwich shop, intact in 1989 but gone in 1993. More info would be appreciated. It's modern-day counterpart is Manchu Wok.

9/4030. Sesame Hut was one of those stores, like Corn Dog 7, that was located exclusively in malls. Curiously, the one in Northwest Mall lasted to the very end, and then relocated to Long Point Road complete with the original logo! Like with Emilio's, it didn't last too long into the 1990s, and is now Roman Delight Pizza.

10/4028. The Great American Hot Dog Experience (later just The Great Hot Dog Experience) was originally supposed to be Carousel Snack Bar (according to a lease plan).

11/4026. Ken Martin's Famous Chicken Fried Steak. You can see a picture of this one, along with The Great Hot Dog Experience and Pepe's Mexican Cafe here. I presume it was a limited-menu version of Ken Martin's Steakhouse, and perhaps the only place in the mall to get "real" food. (Someone mentioned that they worked in "The French Fry Place" in the early 1980s, perhaps since Ken Martin's CFS wasn't listed in the 1983 phone book, this might have been the place).

12/4024. Pepe's Mexican Food was here originally along with two other locations (the original on College Avenue, still in operation, and the one on Dominik, later Gumby's). By the late 1980s, the Ken Martin restaurant empire pulled up the stakes on both Ken Martin's Chicken Fried Steak and Pepe's and the space became a McDonald's walk-up restaurant by 1989.


13/4022.
Orange Julius was another charter tenant (again, not opening at the same time, could've opened 1983 or 1984), but while it lasted most of the 1980s, it was eventually reconfigured so that the entrance to the restrooms now is where Orange Julius used to be. Orange Julius had hot dogs and french fries as well as its flagship drink (which reportedly tasted better than what Dairy Queen offers today).

14. Mall offices. This was not a leased space.

15 / 6018. Jumping over to the other side of the food court, in late 1984 this was Subway Sandwiches & Salads, back when they were better but still owned by the same company that made it a local empire. It replaced a charter tenant, Seafood Shoppe.


16 / 6016. Sugar Daddy's Fudge Factory was here, open by 1984. The mall's first candy shop wasn't a part of the food court, but it was close to it.


17 / 6020. The Wagon Wheel was a barbecue restaurant, originally located between Subway/Seafood Shoppe and Potatoes Etc.

18 / 6014. Merle Norman was in this spot for years since at least 1984 (they were not an original February 1982 charter tenant). At some point in the 2000s, they moved out to Post Oak Square, but it didn't last too long after that.

19 / 6013. David Alan's Mens Shoes (by 1984)

20 / 6010. Sweeney's - Jewelry store. This later became Babbage's by 1993 (likely since early 1990s), and still exists under a different name (GameStop, but that's for another list).

21 / 6023. Potatoes Etc.

22 / 6022. Giovanni's Pizza. By 1989, this was Villa Italian Specialties, which it would be into the 1990s.

23 / 6008. Cutlery World


24 / 6006. Wicks 'N Sticks - A candle store chain, which was common in malls at the time. This would be here in 1982 and survive into the 2000s, even expanding before going out of business.

25 / 6004. Lewis Shoe Gallery

26 / 6002. Carlyle Jewelers

27 / 6000. Swensen's - Ice cream and other foods. A location in Culpepper Plaza lasted for years longer, though it appears Swensen's was here for the first decade in its entirety.

28 / 4020. Time Out Family Amusement Center - This video arcade was in the mall for many years, I believe into the early 2000s.

29 / 4019. Funnel Cakery was the original tenant here, then became Taste of the Tropics a few years later. The locally owned smoothie stand did move to a different location in the mid-2000s.

30 / 4018. Peanut Shack - Peanut Shack survived at least into the early 1990s. It was more of a snack booth than a food court place. Some years ago the folks at the now-defunct Labelscar snapped a pic of a Peanut Shack at a small-town Oklahoma mall. It was obviously closed for the evening, but that's what it was. Interestingly, it's still open (but probably dropped its 1980s flair) and has its own website, as it's the very last one left. The one at Post Oak Mall likely looked very similar to that one. There's no #31 either.

32 / 4016. The Wild Pair

33 / 4014. Jeans West - Like The Wild Pair, both were big chains of the time and both charter tenants.

34 / 4012. Brooks Fashions (women's clothing) in 1982, with some references online to knitted sweaters. The parent company went bankrupt, and by the 1990s Casual Corner was in the spot. However, it's not clear if Casual Corner moved here early on--Casual Corner was originally in a different place.

35 / 4010. County Seat from day one, which lasted into the 1990s. Wikipedia mentions it was owned by Chicago department store Carson Pirie Scott for a time, before the latter was bought by Bergner's and spun off again.

36 / 4008. Butler Shoes in 1982.

37 / 4006. Thom McAn - In 1982, this was a shoe store. Thom McAn was another big chain store in the 1960s and 1970s, and today Sears owns the brand.

38 / 4004. Open Country - This was listed under shoes, so I'm guessing something like hiking boots. Payless later reconfigured the space, but I'm not sure when they moved in.

39 / 4003. Corrigan's was originally here, owned by Zales. At some point later, Zales rebranded it. Likely, Corrigan's takes the place where #40 would've been.

41 / 4002 and 42/4000, were combined into Rox-Z (by 1984), a nightclub (unknown to opening to the inside or not). I don't know when EyeMasters opened, but it appears (and not Rox-Z) as early as 1989. EyeMasters (now Visionworks) DOES have an interior entrance which suggests Rox-Z did too.

The next few are also a bit confusing.

3007 was supposed to be "Touch of Class" (space 43) but by 1984, it was Armed Forces Recruiting (listed as a combined tenant, even though are three suites--3005, 3007, and 3009). An early 1980s directory (around 1984) listed as 44 (as Casa Olé had been opened and taken the original 44) because they labeled 43 on a space that was actually the electrical/riser room, which has been there since day one and not leasable space.

44/3026. Originally, this space was Italian Village Restaurant, which only lasted for about a year at most. Later on, it combined with space 45 (as per the 1982 map) for its replacement, Casa Olé. Casa Olé opened the exact same day as the College Station Weingarten did in late 1983. One of these remains dead and all but forgotten while the other one still remains alive. Guess which one? That's right, and Casa Olé still remains in the mall, despite middling reviews and a parade of new Mexican restaurants that opened in the years since November 1983. Better Mexican places had fallen since and Casa Olé remains open. It's strangely a bit comforting to have that link to the past, but still...better Mexican food out there.

46. Pet Emporium, alternately "Ripley's Pet Emporium", originally a chain out of Austin. On a previous version of this page, a commenter known as "CINDY" wrote this: I worked at Pet Emporium in the mid 80's. It started as a chain store out of Austin. Laurie Rogers managed and eventually bought it and changed the name to Post Oak Pets. It was odd being next to Casa Ole when occasionally a rodent would escape a cage and wander over. I also recall trying to catch escaped birds in the mall. Great times. Sometime after I left, the location moved over by Penney's.

48. Peck & Peck - This was originally a private-label women's clothing shop from New York's Fifth Avenue, but by the time it reached Post Oak Mall, it was being driven into the ground by a new owner (and from what I saw, prices weren't particularly pricey). It looks like P&P's incompetent owners shut down this store in the mid-1980s. However, the 1993 directory still has Peck & Peck, which means it was probably one of the last ones around (cross referencing with a 2/93 phone book proves this true). There's no 47 in any of the old maps.

49 / 3018. Originally known as "Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Company" (now Great American Cookies). In malls in the 1980s, you could get broken pieces of cookies for fairly cheap, but they don't do that sort of thing anymore. A second location has opened in town, but this location is still here, meaning it survived the 1992-2002 era, and 2002-2012.

50 / 3016. General Nutrition Center - GNC survived at least to the early 2010s.

51 / 3014. Originally "The Game Peddler" and later Scripture Haven by 1984.

52 / 3012. Camelot Music

54 / 3010. Worth's, a women's clothing store (since 1982). There isn't a #53 either.

55 / 3008. The original home to J. Riggings. The pre-opening lease plan shows that "Ranch House Meat" was supposed to be here.

56 / 3006. Kid's Kasuals. It later became Scripture Haven but that may have come in after 1992.

57 / 3004. Radio Shack - This lasted up until the early 2010s.

58 / 3002. Originally "Courts Western Wear" (related to Courts Saddlery?)

60 / 3000. Team Electronics (as of 1984). At this point, the corridor hits Dillard's and continues to work clock-wise toward Sears.

61 / 1022. Coach House Cards & Gifts (since 1982)

62 / 1020. Open by 1984, this was Hit or Miss, an off-price women's clothing shop. It closed sometime in the early 1990s after parent company Zayre (later TJX Companies) spun it off.

63 / 1018. Originally, this was MJ Lighting, then became Petite Shoppe by 1984.

65 / 1016. Athlete's Foot originally, no #64.

66 / 1014. T-Shirts Plus

67 / 1012. Zales (original location)

68 / 1010. Royal Optical. This remained into the 1990s.

69 / 1008. Gallenkamp Shoes in the early 1980s. This was unoccupied in my undated 1990s directory.

70 / 1006. Jo-Ann Fabrics/Singer in the early 1980s. The 1990s map has this vacant.

72 / 1002. This was a large store that held Town & Country Furniture. By 1989 this was Oshman's Sporting Goods, which would remain in the 1990s. Oshman's was a big sporting goods store found in malls and strip centers all over the Southern U.S. area and based out of Houston. To get a good idea of what a typical mall Oshman's looked like, watch Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure in which Genghis Kahn trashes one (it makes sense in context). I'm assuming it was 1002 since 72 lines up with 1002 and absorbed 71 (1004) and 73 (1000).

76 / 2002. The Home Front - Much like Bed Bath & Beyond, this offered soft goods and other furnishings (silverware and others). It had some stores in Houston, too (it absorbed space 77). Here's an ad from 1984.

78 / 2006. Waterbed Gallery in the 1980s directories. The 1990s directory has this as a vacancy.

80 / 2008. In the early 1980s this was Command Performance, a salon that would jump around several places until finally closing a few years back. No #79.

81 / 2010. Despite being planned as "Giving Tree" this space did apparently not have a space in the early years of the mall.

82 / 2012. Keyboard Center (as in the musical instrument, not what you probably have in front of you)

83 / 2014. Motherhood Maternity

84 / 2016. Upstage Shoes

85 / 2018. Walden Books (original location)

87 / 2020. Lerners - Likely the same business that eventually became New York & Co., but wouldn't assume the name until years later (and in a different location). No #86.

89 / 2022. Regan's - Women's clothing. No #88.

90 / 2024. Kinney Shoes (charter tenant) was here into the mid-1990s.

91 / 2026. Chess King. Likely lasted to the early 1990s.

92 / 2028. Foxmoor - women's clothing chain found in many malls in the 1980s and early 1990s.

93 / 2030. Gateway Cards

94 / 2032. Gordon's Jewelry

95 / 2034. Quick as a Flash operated here from September 1982 to 1987 when it moved to a former Kentucky Fried Chicken off Texas Avenue.

97 / 2038. This was Cinema 3 prior to 1998 (Plitt originally, then Carmike). The Wikipedia article for Post Oak Mall (which I will NOT list) had that it closed for 2000 for years (unchangeable due to a particularly aggressive user who, based on edit history, was on Wikipedia 22 hours a day), based on an SEC filing that mentioned the cinema was closed by 2000. I still don't know when it actually closed.

98 / 5000. The Stadium - In previous directories, I was confused between this restaurant and it successor, Jubilation (another restaurant). Remarkably, one of the "Fun Maps" has a logo of it, suggesting it might have been a sports bar. By late 1984, it was Jublilation (which may have been the same ownership). This I have little knowledge of other than "it existed". A 1984 newspaper article mentioned it was open 24 hours a day.

99 / 5002. The original space 99 was listed as MPACT, but the 1981 lease plan shows it supposed to be First Bank & Trust.

100 / 5004. Casual Corner in 1982 (original location)

101 / 5006. Bookland, though the 1981 lease plan shows it was supposed to be named Gateway Books.

102 / 5008. Walgreens - The first Walgreens in College Station-Bryan, though the merchandise line-up was slightly different (more drug store, less pharmacy). It departed in the early 1990s (my 11/89 phonebook lists it) and it wouldn't be seen in the area for a decade. When it did return to the trade area, it was in a different format (box type stores with drive through pharmacies). By the 1990s, the space had shifted around slightly, covering a slightly different space. It became a large Express store.

103 / 5010. Stay N Play. Exterior facing store, no access from the inside. Phone book from 1984 confirms it to be a drop-in daycare.

104 / 5012. "Fashion Conspiracy" in 1982.

105 / 5014. Foot Locker

107 / 5016. Record Bar. No 106.

108 / 5018. Kay-Bee Toy & Hobby. It would survive well into the 1990s but close a number of years before the chain disappeared.

110 / 5020. Baker's Shoes

111 / 5022. Classic cheese and meat store Hickory Farms. HF only operates seasonal kiosks these days but they used to do full stores. Most "mall memory" sites involve kids stuffing their faces with the samples here. From 5022 to around 7004 was originally largely vacant in the first year of the mall or so due to the dead-end from the unbuilt Joske's/Foley's.

112 / 5024. Parklane Hosiery was one of the charter tenants.

113 / 5026. KG Men's Store

116 / 5030. By 1984 this was Pat Magee's (No 114 or 115). Based on what I could find, Pat Magee's was a Texas-based "surf shop" that apparently still has about one location left.

117 / 7000. Marvin John's Big & Tall by 1984.

118 / 7002. Shoe Designs by 1984. My 1989 phone book lists this as "The Shoe Box" (one of the rare entries with the suite numbers) but it isn't clear if it is the same business.

120 / 7004. Woman's World in 1984.

121 / 7006. Mission Jewelers/Mission Jewelry (exact nomenclature unknown) was here at least into 1996.

123 / 7008. Champs Sporting Goods was here in the 1980s. Interestingly, it later left for a number of years before returning later. No 122.

125 / 7012. The largest non-anchor store in the mall (at the time) at 15,000 square foot, Woolworth occupied a huge space here for over 10 years. It later went out of business in the early 1990s (still there in '93 and the only one left in town at that point). No 124.

126 / 7016. Tinder Box (smoke shop?) was here in '82.

127 / 7018. Deck the Walls, a home décor store.

128 / 7020. Regis Hairstylist, which lasted into the new millennium.

129 / 7022. Aggie Unlimited

130 / 8000. Herold's (or Herald's), shoe store.

135 / 8006. Video Concepts (aka VideoConcepts) by 1984. (No 131-135). The store sold televisions and things to hook up to them (video recorders and Atari systems), such as this ad shows. It was later bought by Radio Shack in 1985 and operated as a separate chain. For another good look at Video Concepts, Mallwalkers has some good shots, though they're from 1991.

136 / 8008. Texas State Optical in the 1980s.

137 / 8010. Playland Toys. This is the last store listed before the JCPenney wing, which wasn't built in 1985.

I have access to another undated map but I don't know if it is from the late 1980s or the early 1990s, so I can't give the remaining stores in the JCPenney wing in this update.

As of 1984, there were also kiosks operating. K-1 was Gold Post, K-2 was Piercing Pagoda, K-3 was Sunglass Hut, K-4 was MPACT again, K-5 was Just Video.

[Return to Post Oak Mall's page]

Fuego Tortilla Grill

Fuego after a recent repaint. Picture taken by me in July 2014.

Fuego Tortilla Grill (108 Poplar Street) is a small chain in Texas selling tacos. The San Marcos location used to be a KFC while the Waco location (on Interstate 35) replaced a motorcycle shop (and a new-build). The Fuego in College Station replaced something far darker.

For years, a brown brick building at the corner of Poplar and Texas Avenue was the home of "Adult Video" at 603 Texas Avenue. The building faced Texas Avenue (the entrance was off Poplar) on a lot that was vacant prior to the early 1980s (construction took one smaller house). Legally operating as "Dolar Video Inc." (as that what's it was officially) and operating out of Irving, apparently, Adult Video had its name in large, red block letters shining out to the Texas Avenue side (the building was where Fuego's dirt parking lot is now). It was a huge NIMBY for years from its opening in the early 1980s, and in 1994, a clerk was shot in the head in a robbery. According to the company profile listed above, it eventually shuttered due to tax reasons (this is backed up by other sources) but I seem to remember that in the final days, the "ADULT" part was removed, with only "VIDEO" showing, possibly (though I can't say for sure) an attempt to go legitimate (as College Station had essentially banned businesses like it operating within city limits in the early 2000s). It shuttered in 2004 for tax evasion.

Around 2009, the now-vacant building was finally removed, and along with another house razed around the same time, a restaurant initially filing under the name "Al Carbon Street Taco Grill" appeared. During this time, an article that described the extremely janky operations of the previous Adult Video can be found here, though the date is wrong, it was originally published two years earlier. When ACSTG finally opened later that year in 2010, now Fuego Tortilla Grill, it quickly zoomed to be extremely popular. Despite the poor location and access, Fuego Tortilla Grill became wildly successful, even in light of new competitors on the horizon and a salmonella outbreak in 2014, closing the restaurant for the first time since its opening. Finally, in September 2015, it ceased its previous 24/7 operation to be closed on Mondays.

Before Adult Video, there was a Texaco (Alford Texaco) on the site (c. 1969).

UPDATE 10-27-2020: Changed some wording and added mention of Texaco.

Heep Center

Historic picture looking west. Until 2011, this is very similar to what it was. Then they made Olsen go through there. (Mapping Historic Aggieland)
More photos, mine, in glorious color. Taken 2/2014.
Facing east. This is my best picture
Approaching east.
The skywalks within.
Looking west from inside.
Hi there!

Besides its impressive five-story atrium, this building is also one of my favorites because it's incredibly solidly built. The walls are a foot or so of reinforced concrete, and the whole thing (sans skylights of course) would likely survive a nuclear strike. Heep Center was built in 1977 according to Historic Aggieland.

EDIT 2019: The two halves are named for Herman Heep and Minnie Belle Heep, but they were built at the same time (although it would've been interesting if they were built as two separate buildings and then adjoined later). Here's another link for it...

110-112 Nagle

Despite looking bad, this is about the extent of it.
This building, built in 1963, has seen a lot, including the after-effects of a fire in June 2014, which despite looking worse for the wear, was only quite limited to what to you see here, with Lippman's opening the next day and Jin's the following week.

The Jin's side (110 Nagle) was originally (by the early 1970s, so presumably as opening in 1963) one of the many UtoteM convenience stores in town though it appears that it ceased being UtoteM by 1975. In 1979 it reopened to become the Universal Grocery & Snack Bar, which morphed into Universal Restaurant & Asian Grocery before closing in 1998. From 1999 to early 2002 it was Blimpie (which lost its franchisee because of a second menu serving Indian food). It appears that they changed names before closure, a 2002 listing for "Hungry Hut" does list Indian, Chinese, and sandwiches as its menu options. (Another source lists the restaurant name as "Hungry Hop"; the actual name is unknown at this time). This closed in 2003, with Jin's opening in 2005. I don't have any pictures for Jin's unfortunately, partially because it's fairly common elsewhere (see Yelp, for instance). A friend claims that the Blimpie served an Indian food menu that may have contributed to its eventual closure.

Lippman's side (112 Nagle) opened as Lippman Music in 1994 (guitars and such, not albums) after moving from Culpepper Plaza (where it opened in the 1980s) but according to Brian Lippman served as a bus station in the distant past (the double doors that don't open was a freight entrance). From 1987 to 1994 it was the original location of Notes-N-Quotes before it moved to the old Exxon next door.

In May 2017, Lippman Music closed permanently when Brian Lippman retired, with Jin's closing soon after, fueling speculation the building would be redeveloped. The building was repainted (but not otherwise touched), and by mid-2018 two new tenants were operating, BonAppeTea (112) and Nam Cafe (110).

UPDATE 08-06-2021: The fifth update to this post adds some new dates and a link to the Notes-N-Quotes article. Also thanks to "J.M." for the information on Blimpie posted a few updates back.

Park Place Plaza

The most activity here in a long time. These and others are the author's photos from 2014.
2501 Texas Avenue South

Appearing shortly after Parkway Square and built in 1986 catty-corner to that shopping center, the center appeared to be the counterpart to the shopping center in many ways. While Parkway Square had its Kroger, Park Place Plaza had its Winn-Dixie Marketplace. While Parkway Square had McDonald's, Park Place had Kentucky Fried Chicken. Both had stores that faced Texas Avenue, and both had stores that faced Southwest Parkway.

The center is divided into four sections. Section A is the side that faces toward Southwest Parkway. Section B is the former grocery store anchor. C begins east of the former grocery store anchor and toward the back. D is the section of the stores in a separate building not attached to the grocery store anchor that face toward the parking lot (direction towards campus), but not all suite numbers are available.

Here's a map (from Holland Retail Advisors that shows the shopping center as it was in 2014.

Click for full size.
The largest tenant was a Winn-Dixie Marketplace supermarket at 45,500 square foot, comparable to the nearby Kroger. WDM was the company's attempt to build bigger, more modern stores for the 1980s, but unfortunately, the company had expanded too far and built too few Marketplace (or larger) stores, contributing to the chain's Texas pull-out in 2002 and bankruptcy in 2005, and the chain continues to retreat. The College Station store closed well before that. As Victoria-based Lack's Furniture opened in February 1997, Winn-Dixie closed in 1996 (the Bryan store continued to operate until 2002). It closed in late 2010 along with the rest of the locations (interestingly, an unrelated furniture chain closer to the border called Lacks Valley Stores ended up buying the domain name, and later, some of the old locations). The sign hung around (literally) for a little while longer but in 2014 the space was finally filled with two new tenants. The left side, keeping the address, became College Depot (which moved from Parkway Square), but after the spring 2017 season, College Depot went out of business. Legacy Ace Hardware & Gifts opened in August 2018, which replaced The Bear Mountain closer to Barnes & Noble. The store (operated by the same owners of Bear Mountain) includes a Bear Mountain outdoors store inside the hardware store. Here's a picture of the co-branded former anchor from May 2014 when College Depot moved in.

Next to Planet Fitness is Lupa's Coffee. This was a Quizno's that lasted far longer than it should have (2012 closing after a long deterioration). It reopened briefly as "Big Johnson Deli", which some local press for the suggestive name, but it closed within a year or two afterwards. I believe Quizno's Subs (as it was known originally before the apostrophe was dropped) replaced a Schlotzsky's Deli (as it was also known as back then).

Linh's Nails is next to it at C101, this used to be Premiere Dance Academy in the early 2010s, then A+ Foot Massage at C102 (listed as available in 2014), then Weight Watchers (also listed as available), then Laila's Beauty Studio (replacing Young Life), then Aggieland Pregnancy Outreach (not "Aggie PC" as the chart says, this was here prior to 2014, and takes up C105 and C106). Going toward the back, there's Lit Cafe Hookah Lounge & Smoke Shop (C107), Studio Noir (C108). Studio Noir used to be the home of Gun Corps, a consignment store that specialized in guns. It closed after year end 2016 but there was a catch: their inventory was still locked up, and those guns were all collateral for loans and the bank seized everything during the bankruptcy. Many customers ended up getting their firearms back through the system but some customers ended up getting stiffed. Previously it was a short-lived restaurant called Aloha BBQ Hut. C109 is/was Gabrielle Baby & Maternity (old listings, can't verify). C110 is Vapegeek, C111 is Fusion Peru restaurant, and C112 is Sour Apple Repair. There's 555 Grill at D104 (formerly the home of Cali Chic Salon as of 2014, USA Nails before that), then at D105, the current home of Kumon Math & Reading Center (formerly the home of 4.0 & Go), then Ohana Korean Grill. This used to be a Spice Bowl, an Indian restaurant that predated Taz. I had heard it wasn't very good (this is supported by Yelp).

Prospector's Grill & Saloon (more nightclub than restaurant) opened in the spring of 2014 with a custom wooden facade (this used to be another restaurant called Kebab & Curry). After about a year, it closed when the owners stopped paying rent and skipped town, and it stood vacant for another two years before it was reopened as Rockies Night Club, their third location (originally in the mall, later in the former Weingarten in Bryan). In August 2018, a 16-hour standoff damaged the nightclub when law enforcement was forced to drive a vehicle into the restaurant, and although the nightclub reopened, it ended up closing for good in May 2019. A Hertz auto rental facility anchors the far south end (opened 2014).

I'm going to largely neglect the north side stores on Southwest Parkway, but since at least the late 1980s there was a Little Caesars here, which held fond memories for me through all of its renovations and continued to be the "go-to" pizza spot for my family until the Rock Prairie Road location opened around 2013. Originally, Little Caesars had blonde, 80s looking, wood paneling on the walls, this was removed in a 2000s renovation and replaced with black and white tiles. Eventually, a further renovation changed that, including removing a doorway to the kitchen with a traditional entrance to make the restaurant feel more open. There was also a gumball machine, and for many years had a promotion where if you got a black (grape) gumball, you'd get a free small pizza. I know I won at least once. It was great fun, but probably a bit of a money-loser and it was eventually discontinued (another discontinued item--I last saw the Baby Pan!Pan! around 2005, and even then, the packaging was dated). Prices went up and down for the Hot N Ready, sometimes $5, sometimes $6. Next door to that was a martial arts studio that closed in the early 2000s, became a sketchy video/DVD store for a few years, and then became a martial arts studio again (Academy of Modern Martial Arts). What's even more interesting is I've had people tell me that this was another video store before the first martial arts studio, called Paramount Theatre. An expansion to include music resulted in the larger space the martial arts studio has now. (Questions if the author ever practiced tae kwon do here in the mid-2000s will go without comment).

Lupa's Coffee can be seen, this filled the old Big Johnson Deli/Quizno's. I read that this used to be a Schlotzsky's Deli back in the 1990s before they moved to near Wal-Mart.
Prospector's Grill & Saloon with its new custom facade.
A Planet Fitness and College Depot now fill the former Lacks/Winn-Dixie.

The Kentucky Fried Chicken in the parking lot moved in the mid-1980s as well from Dominik Drive and renovated in the mid-2000s (exterior and interior).

UPDATE 08-10-2024: I know I haven't touched this in a while (last update June 2019) but a few notes. In October 2020, Lupa's Coffee was closed and converted to a new location of Gogh Gogh Coffee Company but it closed its location in February 2024.

Additionally, Winn-Dixie closed in fall 1995 (not 1996), along with a small handful of stores in the Texas Division.
UPDATE 01-20-2025: A newspaper article indicates that Winn-Dixie opened 1985, not 1986 as stated in the article.

Marion Pugh Drive

Officially, this post has been removed from the site, but remains up for posterity purposes. Please visit the Index for current features.

I am well aware of Marion Pugh being a real person, but the story of how Marion Pugh Drive started to become a real road started not so much with the first tenant on the stretch (Marion Pugh Lumber Co. at 101 Jersey Street West, which dated to the 1940s) but rather Tree House Apartments at 205 Jersey Street West. This would turn part of an abandoned railroad right of way (International & Great Northern, from the 1960s) into a paved alleyway with parking for the apartments. These apartments were one of the first apartments (and remain so) catering to off-campus "non-regs", which started in the 1960s.

Treehouse is the ONLY thing that hasn't changed much since this time (Courtesy Henry Mayo)
Marion Pugh Lumber Co. would eventually give way to J. Arnold Construction Co., as Marion Pugh (a former football player and class of '41) would pass away in 1976 at the age of 57. J. Arnold actually had a small railroad crossing just to the south of Jersey, which you can still see today (venture a bit south of the McDonald's and around that area)

Just to the south of that was 102 Luther, Brazos Valley Concrete, and although the concrete plant and the construction company were right next to each other, neither of them had rail access of any sort nor was Marion Pugh even connected between them: only the unpaved right of way (undoubtedly driven on) connected Luther to Marion Pugh.

At 101 Luther Street West was Schaffhauser Distributing Co. (dealing primarily in liquor). Apparently, 102 Luther was once home to the National Guard building, as Fugate's comment is replicated here (seen here).

1 comment:
Grover Fugate said...
Yes Luther extended over the railroad. That road led to the dump. Right across the railroad was a beer distributor on the left. On the right was a National Guard building.
Right past the NG bldg was a place that made charcoal for a while. Maybe two hundred yards back was a pond that we played around as kids. You can get in touch with me via Anne Boykin. I would rather answer your questions via phone or a personal meeting. Ed Hrdlicka was my Grandfater. I lived in his house with my Mom and Dad. The house was right in front of the railroad crossing.
June 19, 2011 3:46 PM

In the early 1980s, the area was officially named Marion Pugh Drive but only extended to about Luther Street West, with Treehouse adopting the new address of 200 Marion Pugh. Treehouse II (400 Marion Pugh, but originally also 205 Jersey Street West into the 1980s) would build soon after next to it, with Treehouse Village (800 Marion Pugh) soon behind, building in 1985. This put a lot of cars crossing at Luther Street West's railroad crossing, which was steep and unsignaled and was even worse after Wellborn Road (until very recently at this time, "Old College Road") was widened in the early 1980s.

At first, this doesn't seem like a big deal--after all, the 1985 map shows how Holleman can be used instead of Luther Street West, until you remember that most of those connections didn't exist in 1985. Marion Pugh didn't extend to Holleman for nearly another two decades, and never did extend to FM 2818 (unless, of course, they used the old ROW as a dirt road like they did for what is now I&GN Road, but I don't have any proof of that).

So the crossing remained with signals but no road for several months until it was finally built in early 1986, and Luther would keep their crossing open until it too was closed off (at which time, I presume, traffic was finally restored between Luther and Marion Pugh).

Sometime during the 1980s, J. Arnold would shut down, but something else would take its place: Amtrak! Amtrak came into town with the Texas Eagle in 1988 and a new station. This train connected Dallas to Houston with only two stations between: College Station (restoring a train stop) and Corsicana. Unfortunately, the train only ran until 1995, when the line was cut. The mural in the train station was moved to A&M Consolidated High School, which unfortunately, I don't have a picture of.


Amtrak didn't last too long. (from an old calendar)

After the demise of Amtrak, the concrete plant (now abandoned) had a few buildings leftover: "Traditions Night Club" wanted to open in 1997, but the city reacted to the word "nightclub" even though by the prospective owners' words it was to be less "bar" and more "normal restaurant that serves beer and wine". It didn't even have a dance hall. Probably for the better as the location was still bad (only way in was George Bush Drive or way out from 2818 via Luther). The restaurant was doomed anyway by harsh criticism from area residents, including the Marion Pugh's widow Helen Pugh. Among the arguments was that "noise, trash, and traffic would be too close to College Station's historical district", never mind that places like the dumpy Piknik Pantry and Varsity II apartments were far closer, and furthermore, around that same time, a McDonald's would build at George Bush Drive (Jersey Drive's new name) and Marion Pugh.

I initially thought this McDonald's near Marion Pugh was a rather strange and ugly specimen. In a misguided effort to fit in with campus, the McDonald's (which was built in the mid-1990s, I'd say) featured a maroon-on-white mansard roof instead of a stock yellow-on-red mansard roof. It would've looked great if the colors were flipped, but they weren't, so McDonald's truly looked like the Aggies on an away team game. Around 2003 it renovated to what it is today. In summer 2011 it suffered a bout of bad publicity when a man ate a meal there and stabbed a little girl on the way out (her father was an employee). The restaurant was also robbed that same day, and said employee later sued because these weren't the only major incidents that happened during that time frame. Yikes. It seems to be doing better now, though. I wish I had a picture of that original McDonald's, though.

At around the same time all this was happening, a "five-story women's dorm" was proposed, this would turn out to be the co-ed upscale "Callaway House", which featured its own parking garage and was the first "upscale" student apartment complex. A few years later, Callaway Villas would build and destroy Luther Street West (or what remained of it) in the process and also extending Marion Pugh to Holleman. The road now featured Treehouse Apartments (in the late 1990s briefly named College Park - Treehouse), Stadium View Apartments (formerly Tree House II), Meadows Point (formerly Treehouse Village and the pre-2005 limits of Marion Pugh), Callaway House, and others. Finally, in 2011, U-Club Townhomes were built, which opened by 2012.

Marion Pugh Drive had been expected to extend all the way to Dowling, which is why another old I-GN segment between FM 2818 (Harvey Mitchell Pkwy.) and Dowling Road was named Marion Pugh Drive for a few years, before it was renamed Jones-Butler Road in 2005 to match the new 2004 Jones-Butler Road, and was ultimately closed after the Jones-Butler segment became Holleman.

Econo Lodge, Texas Avenue

Taken in December 2015 by author.
An Econo Lodge today with an unremarkable stucco exterior, though I believe the hotel originally looked closer to what the former Waco Texian Inn looked like, it is, shall we say, one of College Station's less glamorous hotels (to put it nicely).

For many years the hotel at 104 Texas Avenue South had a bit of charm with its non-native evergreen trees, but the reviews indicate that it's a dark, dank, nasty place that's rarely cleaned (or cleaned poorly), and in a bad neighborhood. This wasn't an entirely unfounded accusation for that last one, because of its proximity to the scruffy apartments behind it, it put up a row of chain link fence blocking access from Meadowland Street (thankfully, aforementioned scruffy "Meadowlands Apartments" seem to be mostly cleared out...mostly). In the early 2000s (up to 2005, looks like), it was Kiva Inn and before that, a Comfort Inn (note that the name had been there before they built the Comfort Suites further down University), and before that, the Texian Inn. Texian Inn opened in 1984 according to both Brazos CAD and phone books.

To better explain it (taken from the "City Directories" page of my main website, Carbon-izer, which itself is from old directories and phone books), here is what the hotel has been over the years.

1984: Texian Inn (according to phone book, "open fall 1984 in Bryan")

1989: Comfort Inn

1993: Comfort Inn

1999: Comfort Inn

2005: Kiva Inn

2007: Knights Inn

2014: Knights Inn

2015: Econo Lodge (rebranded early this year?) 

When it became a Econo Lodge in early 2015, trees were removed and the reviews ended up becoming even worse. But there is a bit of history behind this one, of course. Where the motel now operates operates was once a mini-golf course (and a decent one at that, from what I heard, including the near-ubiquitous windmill). This was the Turf Green Miniature Golf Course (120 Texas Avenue). Turf Green (built in the early 1960s) that sadly I don't have a lot of information on but west of that (behind it) was an even more obscure "Western theme park" behind it, Jubilee Junction, opened by Marion Pugh himself. This opened in 1967 but it closed just about one year later in 1968, briefly home to a campaign rally for Texas governor hopeful Paul Eggers in 1970 and a few other events. Jubilee Junction had some 21 structures and featured a variety of displays (including live birds and animals), places to buy food & drink (such as soft drinks at a salvaged saloon bar) and some authentic pieces scattered around the village (Keeny TX's old post office). You could get a souvenir artisan horseshoe from the blacksmith, ride in a covered wagon around the village, or watch a mock gunfight, staged twice a day.

While it certainly sounded unique and interesting, it does sound like the model was flawed, and not enough a big enough trade area to keep it going year after year. That's not an uncommon fate among these types of things, and bigger failures have happened since (like AutoWorld in Michigan). Anyway, Jubilee Junction ultimately turned out to be a bust. By the end of the 1970s, it was completely gone.

Picture courtesy John Ellisor. Used with permission.


UPDATE 10-27-2020: Added new list of hotels over the years to make a bit easier to understand.
UPDATE 05-10-2024: Between 2021 and 2022 the motel went back to being a Knights Inn but with its new logo and corporate ownership. Removed Editor's Note that mentioned that it was an old post that was redone in 2019.
UPDATE 06-12-2025: Added [mini-golf] and [1960s] to account for Turf Green.