OMG Seafood

I took this picture from the Long John Silver's across the street (September 2024), something we'll be covering soon. I originally what would be this page (3227 S. Texas Avenue) for the "Texas Avenue in Bryan" page for Carbon-izer, a site I no longer really know what to do with despite trying to integrate it into this one. It is of course part of the same photo set of the defunct Planet K next door.

This was originally Church's Chicken for many years (opening around 1971, but originally with the address of 3207 S. Texas Avenue) but it closed in spring 2012. Austin-based El Pollo Rico opened a little less than a year later, swapping out the fried chicken the building once served for charcoal-grilled chicken. It was closed by January 2015 with Pollo Tote (a similar business, but a one-off) opening in June of that year, but by late 2016 it too was closed. OMG Seafood, a Cajun seafood restaurant, opened January 2018 and to their credit and seem to have done well (almost six years). The 2007 Street View is the only one that has the sign filled in.

Looks Like Planet K's Blasting Off Again!...

Cacti and Christmas lights. (Photo by author, Sept. 2024)
Located at 3218 South Texas Avenue, the now-defunct Planet K (officially a smoke shop, though would've been a "head shop" back in the day) operated out of a converted house...or at least it appeared to be so. The house behind it at 3213 Doerge Street is on the same property and per Brazos CAD was built in 1953 so it seems that it might have been built for commercial use after all (it also explains why I didn't see mention of a residential address here).

The earliest reference I can find is Doerge Repair Center, which renamed to Midway Repair Center in 1957. After a brief time of vacancy, it became Tuttle's Carpet Discount Center in 1971 (later simply Tuttle's Carpet Center). Sometime around 1978 and 1979 it was replaced with Tin Barn Furniture, and sometime around 1989-1992 it was closed and replaced with Tin Barn Antiques & Collectibles, which operated until around 2004. Another antique store called Abigail's Attic operated in the house from 2004 to 2008, and Wiggles & Wags (a dog grooming boutique that had been in town since 1999) operated in the space in the mid 2010s for a few years (it had already moved in 2016, and shut down in 2020).

In 2018, Austin-based Planet K "opened" in Bryan with a major change in the building (including covering up the front entrance with a false front with a mural) but tied up official opening of the store for eight months including parking lot operations. Once Planet K actually opened in 2019 it was just five years later, August 10th, 2024, when they packed up and closed, blaming the economy and the medians.

The false wall is where Planet K's murals used to be. (Photo by author, Sept. 2024) Planet K's website is amateurish. Obviously, I can't throw stones in that department but I'm also not trying to run a business, nor am I promoting debunked myths about the military budget as mentioned on the page. The military's budget is around $700-800 billion annually, it would cost $267 billion annually to end world hunger, well above 3%. (While national debt and budget soars, the military does not have a $9T budget, nor did it ever).

In any case, Planet K has left Texas Avenue and I'm sure that there's probably either relief or disappointment depending on the views of the place.

Fat Burger Bryan

I hate using Google Street View pictures especially with Fat Burger's regrettable "update" but this is from May 2023 and shows that Fat Burger wasn't long for this world. In yet another restaurant closure on Texas Avenue, we have the final demise of Fat Burger (again, no relation to West Coast-based Fatburger) at 1801 S. Texas Avenue in Bryan, which in 2010 reached a peak of three locations—their Northgate location (gone), their Fat Burger Grill location on FM 2154 (also gone) and now their final location on Texas Avenue in Bryan, gone.

However, you didn't come here to learn about Fat Burger's last batch of fries, you came to know how it was established, what used to be here before, and that was a location of Zuider Zee Seafood Inn in 1970. I'm not sure what the relation was to Zuider Zee Oyster Bar & Seafood Restaurant, but I think it was renamed and this 1971 article suggests that it was to transform Zuider Zee into a more mass market fast food seafood concept. Even with newspaper resources things have been a bit spotty on the history of this spot. It seems Zuider Zee was gone by the early 1970s and replaced with "The Lighthouse Seafood" in 1975 though that also appears to have been short-lived.

In January 1977, Texasburger opened, not to be confused with any other similarly-named establishments. Within a year Texasburger folded and in January 1978, Chick'n Lick'n, a fried chicken restaurant opened, and within six months that was replaced with Parsley's Fried Chicken, another fried chicken restaurant.

Like many long-running restaurant buildings, in 1980 it became home to Texas Rental Company (ABC Rental Company by year-end), a "rent-to-own" store selling furniture, appliances, and electronics, which operated for a few years (closed in 1983) before becoming Burger Boy in 1984 (Burger Boy No. 2). Burger Boy of course would also have its time in Northgate, but it closed this location as early as 1985 and became Fat Burger No. 2 in 1988.

There it would remain for some time. Sometime around 2019 the restaurant exterior was redone, replacing their neon sign with a smaller backlit sign and re-doing the roof to be gray...though the restaurant had already had its best days behind it. Google photos shows that by 2022 the one-pound Bevo Burger was off the menu (the largest, the 2/3 pound "Freddie" was $10.99).

You can see the neon sign lit up in this Foursquare picture.

Fuzzy's Taco Shop (Former)

This picture was taken in September 2024 by author.
Fuzzy's Taco Shop at 1712 Southwest Parkway, Suite 100 closed permanently after August 11, 2024, a victim of the economy and/or cutbacks from Fuzzy's new ownership of Dine Brands, but let's back up a bit.

Prior to 1993, we had several 7-Eleven stores in town, far more numerous than the converted Stripes stores we do now. A few of these sites have in fact been covered, like the defunct Northgate Chevron or the Citgo at Southwest Parkway and Wellborn, mentioned mostly in passing.

In 1993, Southland Corporation (the original name of 7-Eleven, Inc.) sold off its College Station area locations to E-Z Mart, another convenience store operator. Within a decade or so all those locations changed hands and I don't believe any more operate under that name. (For instance, the location at Villa Maria and Finfeather was now "E-Z For You" even as early as 2005, something I'm sure the alive and well E-Z Mart didn't take kindly to).

Despite that, most of the former Citgo/E-Z Mart sites were in good, visible locations on corners of major roads. There was only one that I knew of that wasn't like that, an odd "parking lot" location off Southwest Parkway and Texas Avenue. No gas canopy, no corner lot. While it's on the oldest Street View I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. (It operated from 1985 to 2008). Fuzzy's Taco Shop opened in 2010, about the time the rest of the strip center got an update. As of 2023 the stores here included Pro Nails & Spa, Wild Side Smoke Shop, and Haircuts by Whitney. The stores that were here included CR Nails (which Pro Nails replaced, here in the early 2010s), Mak's C Store (predated Wild Side, here 2011-2012), a dental office (dating back to the 1990s with different ownership with just a simple "DENTIST" sign, getting a real sign of "Dr. Black Dental Care"; moved in 2013 to Rock Prairie), and Prestige Cleaners (later Aggieland Cleaners, ultimately absorbed into Whitney's space).

Most of the other spaces around here we've covered. To the immediate east is Shipley Do-Nuts, then Arby's, which shares the parking lot with Red Roof Inn, NailSpa, what used to be Kettle, and connecting to that is Days Inn.

Bryan Kettle

It's difficult to get a good shot so this Google Street View will have to do. Besides, they replaced all those mercury-vapor lamps back around late 2019. With the demise of the College Station Kettle in 2022, the Bryan Kettle (at 2712 South Texas Avenue) still remains, the last remnant of the Kettle chain (now with three independent locations--Tucson, Arizona and Laredo, Texas (which I'm not even 100% sure is open anymore) it's time to look at the Bryan Kettle.

The oldest records for the address (1955) comes up with the home of Sunset Trailer Court which occupied the block. In 1962 Beltone Hearing Testing Laboratory opened under H.R. "Tex" Mayhall though within a few years Mayhall relocated to Austin. (It likely used Sunset's office.) By the mid 1960s the address was home to Wilie Trailer Sales, with Denny's opening a new restaurant on the site in 1969.

After a run of ten years, the Denny's changed hands. Under new owner J. Carlos Hongo, the name changed to Carlson's, which dropped 24 hour service while adding items like Kobe Teriyaki Steak to the menu. However, Carlson's closed in early 1982 and soon reopened as Kettle, which featured 24 hour service once more, and that 24 hour service would continue for almost forty years (ending in 2020).

The demise of the College Station location meant that this is the only Kettle remaining in the area. Besides the Arizona one, that Laredo location I'm not 100% sure is open anymore. It looks rather desolate these days.

Fargo's Last Stand

This sign is original to its first tenant, Western Sizzlin. (Photos by author, 8/24) I suppose I should mention the passing of Fargo's Pit BBQ, which closed early last month (July 2024) with 1701 South Texas Avenue being its last location. While a more in-depth Fargo's might be interesting, from its humble beginnings at 1220A N. Texas Avenue (at least as far back as I can find, at least to 2007 if not 2003...though Fargo's has indicated they started business around 2000) to moving to 720 North Texas Avenue for about five years, to finally moving to 1701 South Texas Avenue, where we are today.

The restaurant was opened in 1976 as Western Sizzlin Steak House, an order-at-the-counter family steakhouse (no alcoholic beverages served according to a 1980 ad) and continued to operate until 1996, when it closed.

Another shot of the former Western Sizzlin/Barnhill's/New Barnhill's/Ocean Buffet/Fargo's. Western Sizzlin's replacement was Barnhill's Buffet, a chain based out of Tennessee that opened three Texas locations in 1999—Bryan, Lufkin, and Nacogdoches, and its at peak had some 40 locations in the Southeast (Bryan was the furthest west location). By 2005, the other Texas locations had closed and as a result the Bryan location was somewhat isolated from the next closest one in Shreveport and closed in 2008 following the bankruptcy of the company.

In late 2010, the local Barnhill's reopened as "New Barnhill's Buffet" based out of Spring, Texas (which, going by the blog site listed above was only a list of not-Barnhill's opened in old Barnhill's locations). It closed about a year later and replaced by Ocean Buffet in 2013, and that was closed in 2016 after too many health violations.

In 2018 that's when we had Fargo's Pit BBQ move in, repainting the building white with blue trim, and closing in July 2024.

Western Sizzlin lives on. Its restaurants still exist in in some pockets of the Southeast United States (I think the closest one is in Arkansas) but they're not gone entirely yet. Meanwhile, the last Barnhill's closed during COVID-19 joining Sweet Tomatoes, Ryan's, Old Country Buffet, and others in permanent death.

TX Burger

This isn't my picture, unfortunately, it's theirs—source I've been sitting on this post for a long time, and one of the reasons was that I didn't have a picture of my own. However, there's nothing really special about it, something where I have to take a picture because it's going to change soon. (There is something I did for a future post; that will have to wait).

One of the things I did a while back was dedicate a lot of resources to the "open source" Wikimapia, and while I've described the reasons why I don't deal with it anymore has been described here (March 31, 2022) and I have to admit that much of this post is going to be adapted from what I wrote on Wikimapia, which I worked a lot on before I moved focus back to this blog. The building at 14895 FM 2154 has seen several incarnations come and go before its current incarnation as TX Burger, which re-did the facade and paved the parking lot.

Starting chronologically, the first tenant here when the building was constructed in 2004 was Junek's Barbecue, which moved out from the gas station just north of it. Junek's folded sometime around 2011 or early 2012.

After Junek's folded, for several years, the building was tenanted by a series of restaurants, none of which lasted a year. The second restaurant here was Outlaw Jack's Brew N Chew which featured hamburgers, barbecue, and fried seafood. It opened early 2013, closed, reopened a few months later, and then closed again. The third, Country Cafe, opened up in 2014, but was gone by January 2015. There was "Chubby's Meat Wagon" (late April or early May 2015 but closed September...as it lasted three months I know almost nothing about it) as the fourth restaurant.

The fifth restaurant here was Cajuns Bayou Grille. It opened February 2016, giving the exterior new paint and enlarging the parking area, but closed just five months later, partially because of new City of College Station ordinances that prohibited the expansion of the restaurant without additional improvements. This is the only restaurant in the spot that I actually ate at, getting some crawfish and having enough for some leftovers (though properly re-heating crawfish is something I have yet to master).

Finally, the sixth restaurant opened in July 2017, a branch of Madisonville-based TX Burger (formerly Texas Burger until around 2010 or 2011 when the chain rebranded, possibly to avoid confusion with a Midland-Odessa chain of the same name). TX Burger did a significant re-do of the front facade and paved the parking lot for the first time, and as a result it has been here since.

Editor's Note: Want to go beyond the limits of Bryan-College Station? Visit my new blog, Numbered Exits, featuring Waco, Dallas, and even out of state spots.

Former Hooters

The front of the building faces the freeway, so it's hard to get a good shot.
I wanted to follow the "try to make a post for every day you didn't have a post for" rule in hopes that I could run Facebook as a "on this day..." post but that also means due to the original summer-heavy posting schedule I couldn't add anything for like two months if I wanted to do something in July.

In any case, today's post is about the defunct Hooters. Hooters had a long interest since at least the mid-to-late 2000s to build. Originally it was rumored that a spot on Texas Avenue was the place to build but ultimately built a location at 960 North Earl Rudder Freeway right next to Imperial Chinese & Sushi. It opened in July 2018 and for a while did okay.

Plans had been in the work to add a Hooters to the area since the mid-to-late 2000s but one finally reached the area in July 2018. It no doubt suffered from Twin Peaks opening down the road (at 768 North Earl Rudder Freeway) but nonetheless continued until June 2024, closed in a purge of around forty underperforming locations, joining the ranks of several other restaurants closed in the summer including Fargo's Pit BBQ, Casa Olé in the mall (closing over forty years), and Mo's Irish Pub at Century Square.

It was soon after this announcement that I dropped by and grabbed a few pictures (so pictures were taken June 2024). Fellow blogger Columbia Closings also lost their Hooters restaurant and documented it, so it's only natural I need to do the same.

Yup, that's me. You're probably wondering why I'm wearing a Super Mario t-shirt...

A cardboard cutout remained in the restaurant.

Inside the covered patio area.

Normandy Square

April 2024 picture by author. Ever since November 2021 I've adopted a new policy that all new posts going forward would "be demolished or otherwise closed, had tenant changeover, had some significant change themselves, or are part of a larger story." I wanted to model it a bit closer on Columbia Closings. Columbia Closings, however, does occasionally cover defunct apartment complexes and while many crumbling College Station apartments and duplexes still stand, Normandy Square (b. 1965) on 501 Nagle (with addresses up to 509 Nagle) seems to be not long for this world. Their Facebook page (archive) indicates that they were operational for the 2022-2023 season. However, in April 2024, the apartments were boarded up.

Given the transient nature of Facebook, I've attached a few of the pictures from said Facebook page that show the interior of it, as well as a publicity shot from better days. (Note the lack of a big apartment building behind it). There aren't many Google reviews of the complex but they don't seem good.

While it's Northgate, I do like the architecture. It's an improvement from most of the 1970s apartments that crowd Southwest Parkway.

The Current J. Cody's

Picture by author, 02-2024
As I've already somewhat covered Tom's Barbecue both on their College Station location (where you can see a picture of the Bryan location) and their pre-1985 original location (which started out as Barbecue Barn), there's not too much I can say about their 1985-2001 Bryan location at 3610 South College Avenue. They opened a location here in 1985 (built new) and following the closure of the restaurant in April 2001, reopened later in the year as different business J. Cody's Steaks & BBQ and despite its longevity (it has been located in the same place longer than Tom's had), there's not too much to say about it objectively.

Former Cycles Etc.

The building for Insomnia is quite old... (Picture by author, 4/24) There's a lot of posts about Texas Avenue (74 and counting), but University Drive (not even counting University Drive East) takes a solid second place, and today the focus is on 505 University Drive, not to be confused with 505 University Drive East.

Located just to the east of what is now Aggieland Credit Union, this is currently home to Insomnia Cookies, which opened in 2021.

As usual, I try to focus on what used to be there.

Check out this 1954 advertisement from The Battalion!
The building started out as Student Co-op in 1931 as a bookstore with a radio repair shop inside. In 1944 Ed Garner took it over, added a sporting goods department, expanded the radio repair shop (which now serviced televisions). At some point it was retooled into Garner's Sporting Goods.

In 1972 purchased by Ted Wyatt, renaming to Wyatt's Sporting Goods. Wyatt's Sporting Goods was here until 1988 and had three stores in town at its peak (Culpepper Plaza, Manor East Mall, and here). It was a locally owned store and unrelated to the late Wyatt's Cafeteria.

After the nearly sixty-year old store closed, the next few decades would see it used as a bicycle shop. First was Cycle Spectrum from 1993 to 2002, then Bicycle Station was here from 2002 to 2003, with Cycles Etc. being here from 2003 to 2013 (moving from 104 College Main) and later moved to College Station Business Center in an attempt, I suppose, to get out of the student bicycle business (they closed in 2021). Before they moved I was a frequent shopper of Cycles Etc., but it was annoying that the sidewalk in front of the store was about a foot above the rest of the sidewalk, making it harder to even bring in a bicycle into the shop. (This was one objective improvement of the big University Drive pedestrian improvement re-do, I suppose).

After that it served as a leasing office for The Domain and in 2019, briefly served as Aggieland Phone Repair (already boarded up and for lease before the campus closure in March 2020). After that it became Insomnia Cookies.

Rooster's Bike & Coffee Shop

It's not closed and abandoned, but it did look that way.
With the old University Square post in desperate need of reorganization and having already spun off (the now former) IHOP in addition to the supermarket itself, I wanted to take a look at the restaurant on the northeast corner of the center, 317 College Avenue.

It was built a Bonanza Steakhouse as of 1974 (they ran a few ads) but only operated for a few years. Following it that it was a revolving door of restaurants: W.G. & Company Steaks & Seafood (1976-1977). It was briefly "The Texas Grubstake" (operated less than six months, if it actually did open) and briefly a location of Claim Jumper (one of the few Texas locations). From 1982 to 1985 it was "Hoffbrau Bar & Restaurant", of which I've attached an ad below.

From the 1984 GTE phonebook. If it was anything in the late 1980s I can't find it. The Cow Hop, a popular Northgate eatery moved here in 1993 and closed in April 1996. (The name was later purchased and reopened in Northgate later that year). A full article on Cow Hop doesn't exist yet but it's mentioned here). From 1996 to 2002 it was Cruz's Crazy Cajun, a Cajun restaurant (renamed to Alicia's at some point with Mexican food added). Thai Taste moved here in 2002 from 4405 College Main though by that time it was in decline and closed in 2005.

Another view of the current building.

In 2007 it reopened as Crazy Cajuns' (not to be confused with Cruz's Crazy Cajun), created by Hurricane Rita evacuees from Lake Charles, Louisiana (this was mentioned in a KBTX article that is no longer available). It moved from its walk-up location in Wellborn at 14841 FM 2154 (indeed, the sign on the building side still read "Wellborn, Texas" up until its closure). While I first went to the location in Wellborn (I don't know what's there now), which included only a large covered area with picnic tables (December 2006 is when I went), this eventually did end up being a favorite of mine, as I went in March 2011 to this location and had a blast, with lots of food for a good price. It was still spicy, and had been in this place since somewhere about 2008-2009. It went through a few changes in ownership, and steadily declined, notably in service first, then food, and health ratings, before finally closing for good in summer 2012. It shut down the same week as Hebert's did (sad time for Cajun food lovers).


While wandering around around the 2012-2013 holidays, I found the canopy had some older names exposed...Alicia's AND Thai Taste! BCS Bicycles & Repair moved into the space in early 2013 as that part of the shopping center was getting demolished. However, the space was still a restaurant at heart, so in January 2020 the bicycle shop became Rooster's Bike & Coffee Shop (not to be confused with the late Rooster's Country Dinner House). After the obvious hiccups from what happened in 2020, the bicycle shop successfully was able to "change gears".

All of the pictures were taken January 2024 by the author when it was still closed for the reason, hence the desolate appearance. Note that the University Square sign (as of this writing, seen on the University Square page with a permanent link here) is now just a skeleton.

Southwest Parkway East Shell

Evening shot by author, May 2021.
This was another post that I wanted to get to back in 2021-2022 but I decided to put off indefinitely because a good number of the posts I made in that time were gas station or convenience store posts and I didn't want yet another one. Including and between Christmas 2020 and Christmas 2021, there were 25 posts, 20% were on gas stations. Sure, some of them had restaurants inside, but it was just too much at one time. The gas station here, legally "Express Stop" at 450 Southwest Parkway East and built around 2000-2001 as a Texaco (converted to Shell in early 2003) has two sub-tenants. The one on the left (452 Southwest Parkway East) was, from 2004-2005, Cool Beans (legally "TC's Smoothies & More"), which left its sign up for a few years after it closed. From 2008 to 2011 it was Southwest Cleaners, and most recently, Salon Christiana which opened in 2012 but shut down due to COVID in March 2020 and never reopened. On the right side of the gas station was Casa Rodriguez Express from 2011 to 2014 and Master Donut since 2015). Before "Casa Rod" it was the fourth location of Mi Cocina (later Polly's Cocina). This was one of the "two additional locations in College Station" mentioned in this post.

One of the other reasons this never got posted was I had located on Flickr a picture of Cool Beans' facade. It was the side view and I even think it may have been in grayscale, but it got lost somewhere along the way, I think when new owner SmugMug purchased Flickr from Oath (Yahoo!) and cracked down on storage space. Here's the Street View for the site as of 2007. Less-blurry pictures are available but this one is the only one where you can make out the red-and-green Cool Beans facade.

Former Johnny Carino's

Not too many changes from the original restaurant.
Restaurants, restaurants, restaurants! As of this writing, more than half of the last dozen posts I created involve restaurants directly and on average, more than half of the posts in the entire blog. This is no exception. Today we'll do the former Johnny Carino's on Harvey Road, a long-missing part of the Harvey Road restaurant series.

Johnny Carino's opened its College Station location at 620 Harvey Road in 1999 (a bit of a weird placement, it's located down the street from even 701 Harvey). Part of the fast-growing chain under Fired Up Inc. and even gaining its sister concept Kona Ranch down the street, the restaurant was initially successful but the chain eventually crumbled (at some point it was rebranded to Carino's Italian--the name was reverted but I don't think the signage ever was).

After a long, slow decline of the chain (by the time the restaurant closed, only about 14 existed in Texas of around 40 nationally) with the restaurant chain changing names to Carino's Italian before reverting back (the Carino's Italian signage stayed), the restaurant closed in June 2022. As of this writing in April 2024, the chain is down to 30 locations nationally and just nine in Texas.

New York-based Anchor Bar, which claims to have been the birthplace for buffalo wings and started expanding in 2012, announced over year ago that they would move into the former Italian chain restaurant. Despite some exterior improvements (metal roof instead of terra cotta), it doesn't look like they'll open anytime soon (if ever? We'll let you know), with so many other restaurants long adopting wings as a main menu item (you know, like Wings 'N More), will it succeed? (All pictures taken by author, 2/21/2024).

This part of the restaurant was fully enclosed, but not anymore.

Carino's sign from the road. The lighting tubes inside glowed red and I think there was a green border as well.
UPDATE 09-01-2024: Anchor Bar opened late August 2024.

Amico Nave Ristorante

This one and the other photos were taken by author, February '24.
I had to pull the details of this one from my FM 1179 page, but this one came up for a post as the restaurant announced closing with the last day being February 24, 2024. So, with that in mind, we'll take another look at it.

Amico Nave Ristorante at 203 East Villa Maria Road was built in the late 1970s as a restaurant called "Pizza Planet" (many years before Toy Story, of course) and this lasted from 1979 to 1984. Because of spotty records, it later served (briefly) as Kelly-Moore Paint Company (according to taxpayer records) and a restaurant called Buffalo Joe's as late as 1994, but has been a beauty salon from 1996 to the very early 2010s (Shapers Hair Productions, though might've gone under a different name in the late 1990s). In spring 2013, it reopened as Amico Nave from the same owners (Wade and Mary Beckman) of Shipwreck Grill across the street. In its early years Amico Nave did very well: in summer 2013, when restaurants usually have slow business, the parking lot was packed out nightly. But I suppose all things have to come to an end. Enjoy the photos and check out the post for Shipwreck Grill.

Uh-oh, hours changed! Who could have seen this coming?

While the concrete base is old, this is one of the few new light fixtures for Amico Nave.

The building is visibly older. Currently, plans are in the works to renovate the building to look more like a ship and move Shipwreck Grill into the space.

UPDATE 09-04-2024: Exterior and interior updates to Amico Nave have been completed, with the new Shipwreck Grill opening sometime a few days ago as of this post. ([defunct] removed)

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 (a similar facility), 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.

(Former?) Desert Hills, 1995

Two buildings as of 2004.

Three buildings as of 2011.

Two buildings as of 2022.

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.

IHOP on Northgate

The IHOP at College Avenue and University Drive kept up with recent logos in its nearly fifty years of operation but has come to an end.
The IHOP at College Main and University (104 College Avenue) has now closed, closing at the end of December 2023, as reported by KBTX who most likely looked at the old University Square post (as it appeared as of this writing, same as the past few years).

First opened in 1974, the IHOP (International House of Pancakes back in the day) has mostly operated 24 hours a day for many decades, and I'm not sure why exactly it closed...KBTX parrots the 2019 stuff I previously posted but can't do any reporting on their own. Regardless, I personally only went there once around 1999 and all I can say is even if IHOP wasn't the greatest restaurant around (it wasn't), it's a shame to lose yet another 24 hour restaurant. You know...Kettle closed a few years ago, Taco Cabana closed as did follow-up tenant Las Palapas...it's a shame that we can't have nice things anymore or get a sit-down meal at 3 am in the morning. (Hey, I worked night shift.)

The two other stores were opened in more recent years.

Workers were on site dismantling the restaurant.
All pictures were taken by the author, January 2024.