Welcome back loyal reader in this week’s post we’re talking about a CVS location that started out life as Eckerd. Most Houstonians can recall when Eckerd went away and CVS debuted in Houston. Many within our fair city thought that this was a long planned transition and a national phasing out of the chain. It at least seemed that way from the customer point of view. Based on the statements CVS was making it seemed that Eckerd was set to disappear from the entire country the reality was that CVS had only acquired Eckerd in certain states. Specifically in states …
Keep readingMonth: April 2021
Retail News: Costco’s new Business Center doesn’t quite fit in ‘The Grid’ and My Fit Foods officially returns in Houston
Costco’s Business Center doesn’t quite snap into place in Stafford’s Grid If you’ve been paying attention to any local business news lately you know that Houston’s hottest new mixed-use development “The Grid“, has turned slightly more commercial with the announcement a new Costco location. The Grid was originally envisioned as a mixed used center with a focus on mostly entertainment and multi-family housing. The only retail in the center were some small shops, and a fair number of restaurants. Plans called for a Movie Theater (Cinépolis) and driving range (Drive Shack) to open around the of 2019 to beginning of …
Keep readingThis Week in Demolition: The Sixth Christian Scientist Church, and Grandma’s House
Welcome back loyal reader, to another edition of This Week in Demolition! This week, we have quite a few points of interest to observe. Let us begin with the Sixth Church of Christ Scientist which is located at 2202 Elgin, on a corner lot directly across from Emancipation Park. The church was constructed in 1941 by the first recognized congregation of African American Christian Scientists in Texas. The house of worship was in operation until 2005 when only a few members of the congregation remained. In 2017 Harris County dedicated a memorial plaque recognizing the building’s history. While many have …
Keep readingA 90s Texaco Star Mart trapped inside of a 2021 Exxon
I was recently on my way home from work when I noticed my car was almost completely out of gas. I’m usually pretty good about filling up, but hadn’t driven in a while and needed to quickly refill my tank. It was pouring down rain, and I was not on a major road, so I found the nearest gas station I could and quickly stopped. While filling up my tank I noticed an unusual sign on the door of the gas station. It was advertising a line of sodas known as “Exotic Pop”. If you’re not familiar with Exotic Pop, …
Keep readingThis Week in Demolition: Disappearing Properties
This week in Demolition, we don’t have much of a story. Part of this is due to a lack of interesting homes this week, another issue is a phenomenon of real estate websites deleting older listing and removing older photos. Take for example 4639 Ingersoll, a relatively standard 1950s Home located in Afton Oaks. HAR.com lists only one photo, while Realtor.com shows 22. Obviously the photos are from an older listing based purely on size, quality, and the general look of the house. Often now houses are sold on a “for lot value” basis only with some owners refusing to …
Keep readingTaking a shopping trip to stores of the Past (Part 2)
Editors note: This is a guest post by commenter Anonymous in Houston. Be sure to check out Part 1 here. Welcome back folks! Today we’re finishing up the second part of our journey through The Portal to Texas History. As mentioned in the previous post the portal is a website operated by the UNT Libraries. As the school is in Denton, the majority of material is from DFW. However we have a great shared retail lineage with our neighbors to the North. So much in fact that with the help of Houston Historic Retail, I have compiled a Shareable Spreadsheet …
Keep readingThis Week in Demolition: 3015 ½ Inwood, the French Quarter garage apartment in River Oaks
This Week in Demolition we have a much shorter list than we’ve seen in the past few weeks, with only a couple of non-residential demolitions. Starting off this week we have a garage apartment from a house that you’re almost sure to recognize if you’ve ever driven through River Oaks. Located in the rear of the neighborhood 3015 Inwood is one of the original homes in the area. Construction was started in 1935 under the direction of notable regional architect John F. Staub. The house is colloquially known as the “New Orleans” house. A designation it seems to have gained …
Keep readingAll quiet at the Taco Cabana
Taco Cabana is a unique restaurant, starting in 1978 from a single location in an old Dairy Queen in San Antonio they brought they idea of Drive Through Tex-Mex across a good portion of the Southern United States. Taco Cabana was so successful early on they even experienced a few imitators by the 80s such as Two Pesos who would later be famously sued by Taco Cabana. By the 90s the family involved with founding T.C. had left the company and after going public the chain experienced enormous growth. Expanding beyond Texas into New Mexico, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and …
Keep readingThis Week in Demolition: Is the Eiffel Tower included?
Happy Easter loyal reader! I hope you’re enjoying what is likely a day off for you, I hope you have time to spend with your family and those around you. As such we’ll keep today’s post short. We have no real commercial demolitions this week, the closest being a former home turned church but nothing of interest. Moving onto homes it seems the time of the “Modern Ranch” is coming to a close. By this I mean homes that were originally built in a traditional ranch style around the 60s or so. They were then highly remodeled during the 90s …
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