Antoine Dental Center (Houston, Texas)

Picture from Loopnet (see below)
Nothing much for today...it's just Loopnet's picture of what is now Island Dental, a dental operation that opened sometime between 1997 and 2007 in a former Grandy's (#2061) that operated from 1984 to 1997, located at 6206 Antoine Drive. Island Dental is the successor operation to the late 2000s/early 2010s Antoine Dental Center, and in the process, actually repainted the Grandy's awnings red (they were tan under Antoine Dental Center, though probably dark green when Grandy's actually operated. (Spun off from this post).

Italy Truck Stop (Italy, Texas)

The weird blurriness of Street View doesn't do it justice, this was quite an interesting sight to see.
As part of a rework of Carbon-izer, I've decided to rework my page, currently (soon to be formerly) Italy in 2014 (archive version). It was designed when I had a different vision of the site. It will focus on Starship Pegasus exclusively in the future...

In the meantime, let's look at the other eye-catcher of the town.

I went to the Dallas-Fort Worth area twice in 2014, and both trips were enjoyable. One of them was for an academic-related function yet still had some time to kill. I mentioned in that article that I wanted to write about Italy, Texas, and this is that article. (I hope by now you realize that this is referring to Italy, Texas and not the country). The particular 2014 trip to Dallas-Fort Worth was with my family and took a meandering route, so that Italy was only seen on the way home. A McDonald's in a truck stop wasn't unusual, but what was unusual was the motel rooms cantilevered over it. I only saw the "hotel above truck stop" once before (Orange, Texas), and I thought it was weird/cool then. A hotel in a truck stop was rare enough but McDonald's? Didn't see that coming. Additionally, it also featured a second restaurant, a Grandy's (practically extinct south of Dallas-Fort Worth, even then) and on top of all that, included a Stuckey's store-within-a-store inside the Exxon "Tiger Mart" (#32), all located at 101 L.R. Campbell Road.

In 2017, McDonald's moved out to a stand-alone location on the other side of the Interstate at the old Starship Pegasus site (see next section) and by spring 2019, Grandy's (ever shrinking) was out, and while the Stuckey's "branding" (mostly just some merchandise, which I don't remember seeing) remained, it had lost two restaurants and just wasn't that special anymore. Moreover, in 2015, Love's had opened a new travel center catty-corner to it, featuring a Carl's Jr. (which, despite the closure of most Carl's Jr. restaurants in Texas, is still there).

However, it was down, but not out. By the end of the year, Denny's had opened up in the parking lot of the Exxon and the McDonald's side was filled with Golden Chick. By 2021 it did gain the Pilot branding but only for the diesel bays in the back, not for the main gas station in the front, and not for the convenience store. Finally, tax records indicate Einstein Bros. opening inside the gas station, presumably replacing Grandy's but if Pilot's other Einstein Bros. kiosks are any indication, this isn't much of a bagel shop like the real ones are, and doesn't use much kitchen equipment.

Sales tax records indicate McDonald's opened in 2002, so I have to assume that's when the truck stop opened.

H-E-B Lockhart (Lockhart, Texas)

Google Maps Street View, with some of the more glaring watermarks crudely edited out.
This is probably going to be the last Lockhart entry before the old page gets rewritten as "Lockhart McDonald's". It concerns the Lockhart H-E-B (#445) at 403 South Colorado Street. It's the only full-line supermarket in the Lockhart area. The much more modern store at 45,000 square feet was originally opened in 1997. Prior to this a much smaller H-E-B faced east on the same lot (about 25k square feet, sharing the building with another tenant). While they were closed, they apparently temporarily occupied the space of Super S Foods at 1220 S. Colorado Street.

Anyway, I've added the oldest Street View which I believe represents the store from 1997, by 2009 the awnings had been repainted a rusty red color, and more recently (in the early 2020s) the physical footprint of the store was expanded when it added a Curbside department.

Bear Creek Inn (Houston, Texas)

Picture by John Williams, April 2009. Much like the Copperfield McDonald's this is another picture from John Williams of Vintage West Houston, the Bear Creek Inn at 4204 Highway 6 North. He says this used to be a Travelodge, which old archives do confirm, but I'm not sure when it switched it over. It was Bear Creek Inn even as of 2008 but that leaves a lot of ambiguity as to when it changed over. (The old West Houston Archives webpage implied was more recent.)¹ During Hurricane Harvey (I'm guessing), the main sign was blown out but it continues to operate.

1. "this motor lodge used to be Travelodge, which was built over 30 years ago. It is now the Bear Creek Inn [as seen] in this April 2009 photo"

Another photo of the premises (taken from a car).

Smile Doctors Braces (Temple, Texas)

This picture is from Loopnet.
While some of the addresses along S.W. H K Dodgen Loop previously had different addresses, Golden Corral (2113 SW H K Dodgen Loop) appears to one of the restaurants that was built afterwards (and nothing there before it). Well, it was a Golden Corral at least, operating roughly from 1995 to 2011...and closing a few years before a new Golden Corral was built in 2013 on I-35. In 2013 a Chinese buffet, Royal Buffet, opened, and modified some of the entrances, but by the end of 2014 it was closed, and by April 2015, it was Central Texas Smile Doctors, which rebranded to "Smile Doctors Braces" between 2018 and 2019). This entry previously appeared at this page.

Pantego Del Taco (Pantego, Texas)

This Dairy Queen looks a little off... (source)
This restaurant in Pantego (Dallas), Texas is currently vacant, and has been a variety of restaurants since. It was built around 1978 as Del Taco until around 1989 when Del Taco shuttered its Texas locations. Afterwards, it was a restaurant called Burger Street (until around 1997), then a 1950s-style restaurant called Fabulous 50s, and then, for a brief period in the early 2010s Del Taco once more when the company embarked on a (sadly failed) plan to re-enter Texas (they only made it to ONE STORE in Houston), and then a modern "DQ" Dairy Queen, which closed in 2025 as the second round of closures of failed franchisee Project Lonestar. It is located at 2424 West Park Row Drive.

Towne Center North (Conroe, Texas)

From Loopnet (source).
As we continue to dismantle this page, we take a look at the "Towne Center North" strip center. The main anchor here, 1306 West Davis Street, was originally a Randalls supermarket (lasting just three years, roughly from fall 2002 to fall 2005)¹, this later became Hastings, a chain store specializing in music, movies, books, and games. At some point, Gold's Gym moved into the unused space that Hastings didn't use, and after Hastings closed in fall 2016, Gold's Gym continued to stay here. Current tenants include 2nd & Charles, and Planet Fitness (which replaced Fitness Project) and a vacancy that used to hold Party City before their bankruptcy. The other buildings here have separate addresses. 1302 W. Davis Street as of May 2024 featured Stellar Bank (A), Leslie's Pool Supplies (B), OneMain Financial (C), Panera Bread (D), and a vacancy (E). Panera Bread closed in August 2025 with the failure of franchisee EYM Cafe. In 2008, the bank space was vacant, Citi Financial was there instead of OneMain Financial, Leslie's and Panera Bread were still there, and E was a Sears Home Appliance Showroom (this closed in the late 2010s), while 1304 from north to south, as of May 2024, we have Trinity Dental (A), Milan Laser Hair Removal (B, home of TGF Haircutters circa 2008), vacancy (Check N Go as of 2008, C), F&H Supplements (D), Vivid Nails (E), Spec's Liquor (F), Tune Up The Manly Salon (G, RadioShack as of 2008), and FedEx Office (H, FedEx Kinko's, formerly). 1308 features Panda Express and Verizon, though this was built between 2008 and 2013.

1. This relocated from a different location in Conroe.