Kyoto Sushi

Last days of the original "Kyoto Sushi", picture by author, 2014
Kyoto Sushi (at 113 College Main) doesn't exist anymore, it's now "Mama Sake", but when I entered Texas A&M University in the early 2010s, Kyoto Sushi not only was open but it had another sign facing south, visible from University Drive, that added to the atmosphere.

I had first written about Kyoto Sushi on a large Northgate post (since removed in site updates) and then on another post called 104-115 College Main which is still up as of this writing (albeit out of date) with new posts being split off of it (like this one). From what I had researched from that point, the building was originally the home of College Station's first police department.

From fall 1993 to mid-1994 it was ProTutors Incorporated, and following that, Disc-Go-Round, which it was as late as 2001. Kyoto Sushi came in for fall 2002, but I don't remember if I actually ate there (also sometime around 2010-2011, the front of the building was painted yellow). By night it served as a sake bar, and around 2012-2013 the sushi ceased entirely, and became the bar it is today (though the "Mama Sake" name didn't come in until later, I believe it was still officially "Kyoto Japanese"). Before ProTutors, my records mention a "Northgate Athletic" in 1985-1986 (not to be confused with Northgate Athletic Club where Logie's currently is) and the last spot of On the Double (from 1992-1993). I can't find anything beyond or before that.

I do remember in early 2014 the restaurant portion (guess it was operated by the bar) was called "The Bulgori" (which I had a menu of, and was Korean food, not Japanese) but by April that had already shuttered. The restaurant was okay, I guess. There was even a slice of blood orange with the meal. The upstairs portion was 115 College Main, accessed from a doorway to the right of what I knew as Kyoto Sushi.

Awkwardly-angled 2007 Google Street View with the unpainted bricks but no ugly facade
Until around 2013, 115 was "The Law Office of Drew Gibson & Associates". The lawyer office is still in Northgate and offers full services but I seem to remember them catering to the local area by helping students to get them out of trouble from drunken escapades. Probably as early as late 2014 (I mostly avoided Northgate by that time) it was a bar called One15, which it still is as of this writing. There's an almost-gone "Aggieland Studio" mural on the side of the building. As you can see in the shot below (when the building looked even worse), there's a sign that says "Paradise" above it. That was Paradise Scuba. It moved to Parkway Square in the mid 1990s (soon after that picture was taken, my 1993 phone book still has Paradise Scuba as being in Northgate) and eventually moving to the old Putt-Putt location.

A document written in 1995 dates this building back to 1935, but beyond the original police department building being here (their Texas Avenue building was built in 1978, and I have no idea if they stayed here long) I don't have information on the previous life of the building.

UPDATE 04-09-2022: One15 appears to have been closed sometime in early 2022. Also actually fit the address into the post.
UPDATE 04-24-2024: One15 didn't actually close, it moved to 106 College Main (the former Holik's, which as of this writing there's no post for). The space is now Johnny Manziel's Money Bar.

Sarge's

Goodbye to a Northgate icon (Picture taken April 2020).

First mentioned in the long-outdated 104-115 College Main page (still up but being dismantled), I had personally never stepped foot in Sarge's, rather appreciating it as a Northgate staple that was part of Northgate itself. At this rate, Sarge's will probably be replaced with yet another nightclub that will just be an eyesore during the daytime.

Sarge's with its neighbors, 2013.

Operating from May 1984 to the end of May 2020, Sarge's was an army surplus store (at least originally) that operated as a Corps of Cadets supply store, including sabers and Corps boots (before TAMU also started selling them). From 1975 to until the early 1980s, University Frame Shop operated at 109 College Main. This store, same ownership as Theo's Gallery at Culpepper Plaza, featured, according to a 1980 ad, not only "custom and ready made frames" but also "New York graphic reproductions" and "limited edition prints & original art".

The building's earlier history (which dated back to the 1930s) is harder to determine. It seems that in the early days (late 1930s), Houston Street and College Main was named Bell (Bell Street?), with the Houston Street portion on campus taking the 1xx addresses and Northgate taking the 2xx addresses; however, other renumbering has taken place and placing the College Main businesses is difficult. Based on that information, it can be inferred that "Jones Barber" and "Wilson Beauty" operated here but more information needs to be acquired before an accurate chronology can be created.

UPDATE 04-24-2024: In fall 2022 a candy (and snow cones, it looked like) store called "Sugar Babies" opened. It seemed to be open as of December 2023 but as of April 2024 it seemed to be closed up shop even during a busy weekday with lots of foot traffic, even though there was merchandise inside. They have a website but all pages were marked with an ominous "Our store is not currently accepting orders."

Antonio's Pizza by the Slice

Picture from summer 2013.
In the most recent update of this post (November 10th, 2021) we have learned that the subject of the post (split off from this page), Antonio's Pizza by the Slice, closed in very early November 2021 after a run of just short of 18 years, originally opening around November 2003.

Interestingly, Antonio's was actually a branch of an East Coast pizza chain with no locations in New York, but in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and, until very recently, College Station, Texas.

Back when Antonio's opened at 104 College Main, College Main was a normal road with sidewalks, bike lanes, and two functional traffic lanes. That was until College Station decided to turn their half of College Main into a pedestrian mall (the closure happened in summer 2012) while the Bryan side of College Main was made into an attractive roadway with nice lighting, concrete, and bike lanes. The "new" College Main is a charmless void, without even a single tree and basically serves as another bar-hopping plaza like the main Northgate Promenade.

While the building is estimated to date back to 1930, records are spotty. It was Court's University Shoe Repair from until 1979 to the end of 1984. Lacey's (jewelry store) occupied half of the storefront from late 1994 to early 1996, and split the space with Perfect Tan III. Perfect Tan seems to have given way to Software Exchange, which was here from fall 1994 to the end of 1995 and became Byte Me Computers from January 1996 to April 1997, Cycles Etc. from July 1998 to summer 2003 (Cycles Etc. appeared to have occupied the full space). A 1990 planning document also mentions a proposed Thundercloud Subs in the space, but I'm not sure it ever opened. It did however, open next to Albertsons and at 607 University Drive East.

Like many a student, it was Antonio's at my time at A&M, fairly inexpensive (at least prior to 2014), decent-tasting pizza with large slices and, unlike what many of the campus establishments had, Coca-Cola products. Due to varying experiences with the food over the years, I can't really say anything particularly good or bad about it.

UPDATE 11-09-2021: Rewrote entry with better overview of former tenants, and of course, covering the closure of the restaurant ([defunct] label added).
UPDATE 04-02-2022: Added date back to the pedestrian mall as part of reworking original "104-115 College Main" page.
UPDATE 01-13-2023: Dollar Slice Club, a new pizza restaurant, opened in April 2022. [defunct] tag has been removed.
UPDATE 04-26-2024: Cycles Etc. has posted a picture of when they were located here on Facebook. (I have this picture backed up so let me know if it goes down).
UPDATE 08-17-2024: Dollar Slice Club closed in the summer 2024. Famous Famiglia is signed to replace it.

Former Aggie Cleaners on College Main

Courtesy Project HOLD, mid-1990s
As always, one of the goal of the current "new posts" is to dismantle the older posts that combined various properties. In this post, we're revisiting Northgate to cover 111 College Main, which was previously covered back in 2014. In my day at A&M it was "Gatsby's on Main", with a sign that said "Since 2004". By 2014, this was mildly impressive, which they celebrated with having drinks at 2004 prices. (I did not participate in that, that's just what I remember). But, Gatsby's did end up closing, with a replacement bar, The Dragonfly, opening in May 2018 (Gatsby's closing is unavailable). Aggie Cleaners was in the space prior to Gatsby's, from as early as 1980 to as late as 1998.

Rename in March 2020 to eliminate "address posts".

Marooned on Northgate

Courtesy Project HOLD
Editor's Note: Originally, I had created this page as "104-115 College Main". It was created to follow the breakup of an even larger page on Northgate (now offline). This page was later slowly broken up to make new pages like Kyoto Sushi, Antonio's Pizza by the Slice, Sarge's, Dead Lazlo's Coffee Pub, and Former Aggie Cleaners on College Main.

Pictured here is what is now known as Social Lounge but was Marooned in the 1990s (1990-1998), a record store that many still remember today. After a brief stint as a Quizno's, in 2005, it transitioned permanently into bar space, originally named V-Bar. In 2007, V-Bar had a bit of bad publicity when a Rice basketball player was killed during a stabbing, but ultimately, the story came out that the man (and his brother, who was also injured) were killed because they were beating another man to death and the man's friend came to his aid. That's the short version of it anyway, but because of the bad publicity from the attack, in the late 2000s, V-Bar became "Social Lounge" (same ownership).

From what information can be found on the building, here is a rough chronology: Stereo Shack (fall 1972)
The Hanging Tree (1973-1974)
Taipei Express (1989)
Marooned (1990-1998)
Quizno's (2002-2004)
V-Bar (2005-~2007)
Social Lounge (~2008-present)
Due to the fact that there are large gaps in between, this probably isn't the complete chronology of the space (see below). Making this complex is it's technically a part of the same building that holds Foundation Room (colloquially "Foundies") today. As mentioned before, that building was previously covered on the blog; however, the gaps don't seem to indicate that a larger tenant occupied both at the same time. UPDATE 04-02-2022: Cut down post to just 110 College Main and updated that section.

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.

College Main Wash & Go

Be honest, have you ever seen a "Grand Opening" ad for a common laundromat? (from The Eagle)
Located just north of Northgate (and colloquially considered part of it), 4405 College Main is completely abandoned, but it wasn't always that way. The building was built in 1985 according to Brazos CAD and was divided into two suites.

4405A was primarily a laundromat. The first one, College Main Wash & Go, only lasted until 1989 but it served as a laundromat sporadically over the years, including Come 'N Wash (2004-2005) and BV Washateria (2005-2009). There might've been something in the during the 1990s but research has been inconclusive at the latest update's press time. By 2014, it was converted into the i-Stop convenience store but by 2015, i-Stop had shriveled up, leaving the center completely empty.

At 4405B, the earliest restaurant I can find is Carrie's Kitchen in 1987, immortalized in the "Camptoons map" (from Carbon-izer) While I don't have phone books for the late 1980s (except 1989) readily available, it appeared that before the more well-known Thai Taste (which occupied B for most of the 1990s), "Carrie's Kitchen" was at 4405B in 1987 (and according to taxpayer records, only lasted a very short time). Thai Taste opened in 1990 and moved out to University Square in 2002. From what I've heard, Thai Taste was well-liked in this location, the University Square location, not so much. Details on Thai Taste are still sketchy, but I seem to remember from reading on forum postings that Thai Taste closed in the mid-2000s on College Main, but the name was bought and it reopened on University Square for a few years. Vietnamese Taste began operations in 2003 (keeping the "Taste" part of the old sign). Vietnamese Taste closed in May 2012 (roughly) and reopened as "Vy's Asian Kitchen Cuisine" just off Texas Avenue a few months later. It lasted another five years in that spot before changing hands; they must have done SOMETHING right.

After that, it was registered as "Bottoms Up" (presumably a bar) but Googling it just shows it as a taxpayer entity and not anywhere as an actual business. Despite "existing" for a year, this was probably just a stillborn business. With Vietnamese Taste having left in 2012 and never reopened, and the short rise and fall of I-Stop, the whole building has been vacant and is for sale. It can be yours for about $860k.

UPDATE 08-03-2021: New name, minor rewrite, new details, removing [2000s], [services], and [northgate], adding [defunct], [service businesses], and [college main].