This Week in Demolition, we have two homes, seemingly joined at the hip, with a big pool in the backyard, right across from Memorial Park. This lavish monument to 1990s Houstonian exuberance will soon be demolished for something even more grand. Residential Demolitions 6518 Kury Ln, Houston, TX 77008– Timbergrove Manor, Photos 406 & 412 Crestwood Dr, Houston, TX 77007– Rice Military, Faces Memorial Park, Photos, More Photos 409 Schwartz St, Houston, TX 77020– Barnes …
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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!
Dining Out on Highway 6, a reflection on the dead restaurants near West Oaks Mall
Howdy folks and welcome to a companion piece for the Month of Malls. While not a full mall post, our center topic today are the dead restaurants near West Oaks Mall. These eateries are mostly adjacent to West Oaks Village Shopping Center, as opposed to the mall itself. However, let’s start off talking about full service eateries in West Oaks Mall. While the mall had its fair share of staple food court tenants, up until …
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Permit Roundup: Slim Chickens inside the Loop, Taco’s A-Go-Go at Greenway, and a few more Village Medicals
Howdy folks, and welcome to another Permit Roundup! Unfortunately, last week, I ran out of time before I was able to complete the post, and it looks like I’m going to run into a similar issue again this week. While I won’t have time to write a full article, I do still have time to pull the data needed. I’m also included the interesting pieces that were skipped last week. I’m unfortunately going to be …
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This Week in Demolition: Barn Only
Today’s demolition has something special in it. Barn Only, this is a tag that is obviously somewhat special, as I’ve never seen before. The house it applies to is somewhat special as well. 1903 Wycliffe, doesn’t fit in with the rest of the early 60s homes on the block. It’s a beam and pier farmhouse, with a barn to boot! Taking Google Streetview back just a few years, you can even find a matching shed. …
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The best Foodarama I’ve ever been to: Randallasarama!
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail. Today we begin by adding another definition to the HHR Dictionary, with the new term Randallsarama. Randallsarama- (Noun) A Foodarama location occupying a former Randalls Supermarket. “Great news, the Randallsarama had discounted chocolate cake!” Now that we’ve got the taxonomy out of the way, let’s get into the history of this store. We’re talking about Foodarama at 1603 Cartwright Rd, Missouri City, TX 77489. Originally opening …
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This Week in Demolition: Firehouse Saloon land starts redevelopment and Harris County snipes a few houses along White Oak Bayou
This Week in Demolition, the burnt down, closed down, Firehouse Saloon, is torn down, and info on the low down, shows another gas station for this town! This is a list of the buildings which received a City of Houston demolition permit the week before this post.
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The Mission Bend Fiesta, where neon still reigns king!
Over the past ten years, with emphasis on new lighting technologies like LED, neon advertising signage has found itself oft being replaced by cheaper imitators. While this “fake neon” lighting has become commonplace in most stores, there is one chain where neon still reigns king, Fiesta! Neon exists at most (but not all) Fiesta locations, with some stores incorporating it as part of their signage, and other using it simply as a decor accent. While …
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Permit Roundup: Another 7-Eleven, Another Village Medical, and Victoria’s Secret Memorial City Mall gets a makeover
Howdy folks, prepare for a short Permit Roundup this week, while we do have a good cross-section of retail represented, this was a slow week for permitting in the city, likely somewhat due to the uncertainty of Hurricane Ida. So let’s keep our thoughts with our neighbors to the East this morning and throughout the coming weeks. Let’s start off with the good stuff, Walgreens at 2221 Fulton appears to be starting on an earlier …
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This Week in Demolition: Buffalo Bayou Partnership takes aim at Turkey Bend redevelopment
Good Afternoon HHR readers, this week in demolition we see the start of something big, the Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s redevelopment of the eastern portion of Buffalo Bayou. According to a demolition permit filed by the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, it seems that some preliminary work will occur at the former Turkey Bend Barge Docks. Concept art released in 2019 showed most of the support structures at the dock being left behind, and warehouses transitioned into a …
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Lake Oil Co, a lesson in identifying old gas stations in Texas!
Old gas stations are not an expertise of mine. I like to look at them well enough! Especially, when they’re still operating as a modern gas station, but I don’t know too much about them. When you look at most of the companies and stores represented on this website, I chronicle their existence in the conscious mindset (so from the 60s forward really). This is mostly because retailing has expanded quite a bit over the …
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