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 …
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My name is Mike and I am the founder of the Houston Historic Retail! I have been running this site since 2015. For more information check out the About page!
This 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 …
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A 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 …
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This 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, …
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This 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 …
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All 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 …
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This 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 …
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This Week in Demolition: Etta’s Lounge meets its end, and an address on the NRHP
Welcome back loyal reader, This Week in Demolition we see the loss of one of a popular former club with a long history, along with a few interesting residential addresses. Let’s start of with Etta’s Lounge, the building has a unique history as one of Houston’s first 7-Eleven locations. Opening around the end of 1952 or early 53, it was operating only a few months after the first 7-Eleven had come to town. These early …
Read moreThis Week in Demolition: Site of explosion comes down one year later
This Week in Demolition, we take a moment to reflect on a tragedy just over a year later, the special houses this week will be in the second paragraph. On January 24, 2020 a deadly explosion occurred at the Watson Grinding Facility in Spring Branch. Two employees were immediately killed by the blast, and a third man who lived near the facility died later from injuries related to flying debris. Sadly most neighbors were unaware …
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Sunoco’s attempt at earning their Stripes
In this fast-paced world of corporate acquisitions it sometimes gets confusing as to who owns what. Family owned concerns are getting harder to find as time goes on, often selling to firms promising an investment that never comes. Stripes was no stranger to all this confusion, having gone from arguably the strongest independent chain in Texas to a subsidiary of 7-Eleven in the short span of only 3 years. Stripes started out as a family …
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