Loews Midtown Motor Inn (New York, New York)

Source: The Times Union, 11-17-1971
Our first post in New York state (I hope my choice for this date wasn't too tasteless) focuses on 790 Eighth Avenue, opening in 1963 as Loews Midtown Motor Inn by Loews Corporation (best known for its chain of movie theaters)¹ before Loews Corporation decided to convert it to a Ramada Inn franchise in 1972 (the first in Manhattan). From (I'm told) 1995 to 2005, this was a Days Hotel (branded as such) before becoming Hilton Garden Inn, and in the early 2020s closed for renovations (or at least WAS renovated), becoming Kimpton Hotel Theta in 2023 (an IHG hotel). Before renovation, it appears there was lease space at the bottom (a restaurant in the 2010s, then a luggage and electronics store), but that seems to be re-absorbed into the hotel under the Hotel Theta renovation.

Here's a page from the Days Inn directory 2002 (the hotel was also on the cover). I'm not able to find out when Loews divested it entirely. It doesn't look like they own it anymore.

1. The history of Loews is a bit sticky, it was the original owner of MGM Studios, and forced to divest it after the outcome of [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Paramount_Pictures,_Inc.]United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.[/url], with Loews eventually being sold to brothers Laurence and Robert Tisch, who already owned a hotel business. While Loews later spun off its namesake movie theaters in 1985 (which [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loews_Cineplex_Entertainment]eventually merged out of existence[/url]), Loews Hotels continues to exist as a subsidiary of Loews Corporation.

Albertsons in Ardmore (Ardmore, Oklahoma)

This view of the new Albertsons isn't unique nor is the best, but it's my own picture. I had to crank up the exposure a bit. (7/2026) Our next stop on my July 2026 vacation as far as supermarkets go is Ardmore, Oklahoma. I didn't intend to make this stop, it was more of a coincidence after I found that Ardmore was directly off I-35. I ended up buying some Gorilla Tape for car maintenance-related issues and some cat toys for a friend I was going to see several states away. I didn't take any pictures of the interior (the size and decor isn't that impressive, unfortunately) but it is the only Albertsons in the state of Oklahoma, having opened in February 2025, the first store in the state after an 18-year absence.

It is located at 1855 12th Avenue NW.

I don't have all the details here, but the way I understand it, it was originally supposed to be a Market Street (and larger) then United backed out, then the Southern Division decided to go ahead with it but with a smaller store than what United had planned (it's only a measly 50,000 square feet, which makes it substantially less impressive than it what it could've been).

Shell at FM 1488 (Hempstead, Texas)

The "checks cashed" sign used to be where the LJS sign was.
Once again, we're in the Houston area (but not Houston proper) and covering something that Carbon-izer formerly covered. There were several entries that got left behind when I transformed my page on Hempstead (including US-290) to focus exclusively on "Hempstead Truck Stop", and one of those was a Shell at the same interchange (that is, FM 1488) at 1945 FM 1488. It opened a few years after the truck stop in 2002 and included a Long John Silvers, fully integrated into the gas station. (I remarked that the "whole store probably smelled like greasy fried food" and it was much more integrated into the store than the 7-Eleven I used to visit in Kyle that had a Long John Silvers/KFC). An actual stop to the store in mid-March 2016 revealed that the store was in the midst of changing it to a Chesters Fried Chicken. Signage on the inside was gone, and there was an employee meeting going on. Despite that, there were a lot of LJS décor leftovers inside. (Furthermore, tax records indicate that LJS had been gone for a year at that point).

Chesters was not long for this world, by summer 2017, Chesters was already out, replaced with "Southern Kitchen Kountry Cooking" (also known as Southern Kitchen and More), a one-off which advertised barbecue. It appears to have closed during the COVID-19 era, and it was eventually replaced by El Llanito Mexican Taqueria, which is hardly unique.

The shape of the drive-through suggests an expansion or additional shops were planned at one point. One note--while the post was added September 4th, the pictures were taken September 5th, with the updated version appearing September 7th.

This shed appeared sometime in the early 2010s. I'm not sure of its purpose.

The Pilot truck stop, linked to in the prose of this article, can be seen in the background, on the other side of the highway. Also the other pictures I increased exposure but not this one.

WinCo Foods of Denton (Denton, Texas)

Photo by author, July 2026
One of the things I did on my most trip (2026) was visit new supermarkets that I previously hadn't been to (new chains, not new locations). While I won't be able to do a blow-by-blow of every stop I made on this trip (though I do have some photos and other things to share), I would like to share this WinCo Foods in Denton, Texas, which I visited July 14, 2026. WinCo Foods opened store #140 July 28, 2016 at 2645 West University Drive, meaning I visited just a few weeks shy of its 10th anniversary.

As for WinCo Foods, it was a rather empty-looking warehouse store (more Home Depot-like than H-E-B or Walmart) and its aisles came across like a cross between H-E-B and Aldi, but it had a great bulk section with chocolate-covered coffee beans for far less than what Central Market or Trader Joe's had. (No dried citrus fruits, though...that would've been the real treat...)

Mainland City Centre (Texas City, TX)

Inside of the mall, 2008 (photo by author) with extra exposure added As the new update of Carbon-izer goes live sometime tonight, bringing with it a host of new content, here's some older content with a bit of a catch...the newest version of this goes live at around midnight, so within 24 hours of this post (though no one catches these posts right as they go up, so you'll probably be all right).

In any case, today's post is on Mainland City Centre (10000 Emmett F. Lowry Expressway), discussed a bit in the Carbon-izer entry for the Mall of the Mainland, the mall that operated from 1993 to 2014 and has my 2008 pictures.

1800 Walnut Street (Bastrop, Texas)

From Casa Chapala's official website (see below)
As the new version of Carbon-izer premiers in a few days, and with it will be a handful of new entries covering Houston, Caldwell, and Austin, but there were a few removed, namely 1800 Walnut Street in Bastrop, facing Highway 95/21 and not far from a Buc-ee's built around the same time. It was developed with two tenants—a meat market (one story) and a Mexican restaurant (two stories) though neither one appear to connect to each other or have common ownership. Jalisco Meat Market (opened late 2012) is part of a chain of Mexican restaurants found in this area, and like any other Mexican meat market, small, sells meat, produce, some baked items, and a taqueria, including nopales (cactus) as an option for breakfast tacos. (At least that's what some early reviews indicated. I'm not 100% sure on that now.)

The other side of the building is a two story Mexican restaurant. The two-story La Hacienda Restaurant & Bar opened in fall 2013 (after a long delay for some reason) and closed in December 2017, being replaced with Casa Chapala Mexican Restaurant.

West's Original 7-Eleven (West, Texas)

The West News, 3/31/1977, courtesy Portal to Texas History Online
A bit of a bonus post as I'm planning a revamp to my existing coverage in West, Texas but 700 West Oak Street was a 7-Eleven when it opened in March 1977 (the opening ad is above...a full line of fresh produce?!) with a gas station, but in 1988 it was sold to Circle K, which in turn became Skinny's/Fina in 1999. It shut down in the early 2010s after I-35 ate the gas canopy area (and roadside sign), so it never became Alon (and if it did, it was extremely brief). It was abandoned in 2013 and became JoAnn's Bridal in 2014, though it relocated within a decade, and within a few years of that the building was completely demolished. By that time, there was a modern 7-Eleven catty-corner, but it bears little resemblance to the 7-Eleven that opened here in the late 1970s.