Crosstimbers Road and West Crosstimbers Road in Houston (Houston, Texas)

This was originally part of the West 43rd Street, West Crosstimbers Street, and Crosstimbers Street page. It doesn't cover the former (now demolished) Kroger / Family Bingo Center as that was previously covered on The Houston Files. It makes some small updates including removing Aquarius Awning Corporation (demolished, will soon come back in a future post) and Barbecue Inn (again, covered on The Houston Files).

Mister Car Wash / 640 W. Crosstimbers Street
Mister Car Wash dates back to 1973 (one of the earliest locations), though has obviously upgraded its appearance several times since.

508-512 West Crosstimbers Street
There's a few warehouses that are back here accessible by a driveway, and prior to COVID, there was a small brewery called Brash Brewery, but as of fall 2022 appears to be closed up. Just west of here (actually accessible from Westcross) are some townhomes built in the mid-2010s. Immediately west of 500 was 514 West Crosstimbers Road, a Whataburger (#89; one of the drive-up variety, appears to be) opening in 1976 but closed sometime in the latter half of the 1990s. It was later redeveloped into townhomes. Immediately west of the driveway was 514 West Crosstimbers Road, a Whataburger (#89; one of the drive-up variety, appears to be) opening in 1976 but closed sometime in the latter half of the 1990s. It was later redeveloped into townhomes.

Residence at Garden Oaks / 500 West Crosstimbers Street
Unremarkable 98-unit apartment complex unit built in 1972. It has gone under a few names, including "West Crosstimbers Apartments" to just "Crosstimbers Apartments" by 2011. In 2014/2015, it was repainted and rebadged as "Residence at Garden Oaks Apartments". Originally the parking lot spilled out onto Truman Street and Fenn Street; however, these were later fenced off and is now controlled by an electronic gate.

HTX Autoplex / 440 West Crosstimbers Street
ABC Automatic Transmission was here for years, since at least 1990, probably further back. Around 2021 it closed and was replaced by Heights Upholstery (auto upholstery) and repainted the building with some ugly murals on the garage doors, but it seems like as of September 2022 it already closed ("For Lease" signs up, et cetera). HTX Autoplex filled it in within a few years (car sales).

Flying Saucer Pie Company / 436 West Crosstimbers Street
Flying Saucer Pie Company has been here since at least 1975. 1967 is the first year in business, it's very likely the building is the same.

The Wealth / 422 West Crosstimbers Street
From 1999 to 2016 this was the home of Direct Air Compressor Rebuilds, also known as Direct A/C. After it closed, the sign stayed up for a few years before it was renovated in 2018 into "The Wealth" (events space, open 2019). It appears that "The Wealth" was always just an events space, despite tax records indicating it was supposed to be "The Wealth Bar & Lounge". Records prior to 1980 can't be found.

Gatlin's Fins & Feathers / 302 West Crosstimbers Street
For years, from about 1957 to 1997, this restaurant, Mexicatessen (also known as Mexicatessen Herreras, operated at this small building off of West Crosstimbers. It finally closed around 2007, and remained vacant for about 7 years before becoming Texas Enchilada House in 2014, but less than a year later became Landa Café (which also appears as Landa Cafe', or even "Landa Caf'" in many sources). It closed in fall 2018 but the signage remained up. Around June 2019, it reopened as Arturo's Mexican Cafe (even making it in a local piece about new restaurants) but by September 2019 it was already closed (per Yelp).

After sitting vacant for a few years, it was announced to be the location of Gatlin's Fins & Feathers, a soul food restaurant with other ethnic influences. It opened in July 2022.

MP Instrument Company / 125 W. Crosstimbers Street
Electronic and engineering repair for large companies, as well as a distribution center for those parts. The company website says it was founded in 1962 at the "request of" Southwestern Bell and officially incorporated in 1964. It's hard to say if it was ever officially part of Southwestern Bell/old AT&T but it certainly isn't today. (Southwestern Bell spun off as an independent company in the mid-1980s, and eventually bought AT&T, taking its name).

Independence Heights Apartments / 302 Crosstimbers Street
These apartment buildings were constructed in 2018-2019 (at least partially subsidized), and physically where Kennedy Elementary School was before it moved out around the early 2010s.

Church's Texas Chicken / 425 Crosstimbers Street
In the late 1960s this was home to the "TexGas Service Station" and became Ron's Krispy Fried Chicken around 1982. It didn't last too long before the entire chain sold out to Church's less than five years later. It's still a Church's Chicken to this day (excepting the name change, of course).

1331 Crosstimbers Street
This started out as Monterey House and converted to Monterey's Tex-Mex Cafe, before becoming Monterey's Little Mexico. It was closed up sometime around 2018 (maybe 2017). It is used as a nursery for palm trees but is not open to the public.

1332 Crosstimbers Street
This was originally Wendy's, opened in 1985 and closed in 2013, becoming Loanstar Title Loans afterward. This was closed between November 2016 and May 2017, and boarded up soon after. Sadly, around 2020 the solarium (hidden behind plywood) was later completely removed.

Garth Road in Baytown (Baytown, Texas)

This page is another import from Carbon-izer.com dismantling the "East Houston Roads" page with a focus on Garth Road. It features a few updates that were not included on the page. The old page went from north to south, this re-orients the addresses in sequential order, ending at Interstate 10. Future Garth Road entries will likely go on their own page.

3203 Garth Road
Former Sonic closed in the mid-2000s, Texas Car Title & Payday Loans moved in around 2006 or 2007 but left the building abandoned sometime in the first half of 2016. It was demolished soon after.

3422 Garth Road
This was originally Krispy Kreme, which opened April 2017 but closed in November 2018. In 2020 it reopened as a Taco Bueno but closed about two years later.

Joe V's Smart Shop / 3500 Garth Road
This store opened in January 2012 as the fifth Joe V's store ever built. This store, a division of H-E-B, had to gut an old Kmart (1992-2003) to build it, most notably replacing the original facade and carving out a notch in the back to stick the new loading docks in.

Hibachi Grill & Buffet / 3703 Garth Road
This has been here since 2009. This was Ryan's from approx. 1993 to 2007.

Taqueria Arandas / 3912 Garth Road
This opened as an Arby's in fall 2008 but closed in early 2011. It has been Taqueria Arandas since 2013. Later on, Taqueria Arandas built an addition in front of the store.

Target / 4510 Garth Road
Baytown's lone Target store opened in 1994 and has been updated several times since its opening.

AR's Entertainment Hub / 4533 Garth Road
AR's Entertainment Hub opened January 2021 inside this former Kroger (branded as Kroger Signature during the 2000s and 2010s) that closed in March 2016 (replaced with a new Kroger Marketplace up the road at 6351 Garth). The Kroger originally opened in 1982 though looks like it expanded over the years.

4553 Garth Road
This was Venture from the early 1990s to 1998 (it was one of the three stores in Houston not sold to Kmart in 1997). After it closed, the former Venture #143 was later divided between Hobby Lobby and Ross Dress for Less.

Starbucks / 4557 Garth Road
This was Boston Market from 1995 to 1997, then Taco Cabana for a few years (1999-2003) before becoming Starbucks Coffee in 2004.

4610 Garth Road
This former Golden Corral operated from 1995 to 2020.

Captain D's / 4910 Garth Road
This location of Captain D's has operated since 1987. It is the only 1980s-era Captain D's seafood shops in the Houston area that hasn't closed down over the years.

Taco Cabana / 6311 Garth Road
This was built as a Pollo Tropical in 2016 but lasted a matter of months, and in 2018, it was reopened as sister chain Taco Cabana, which it still is.

H-E-B / 6430 Garth Road
After Baytown's lone H-E-B (former Pantry) closed in January 2012 for a Joe V's, Baytown regained a new H-E-B in December 2017. It's about 94,000 square feet.

Dairy Queen / 6431 Garth Road
Former Carl's Jr., opened in 2013, closed in 2018. Dairy Queen opened around 2019.

Exxon / 6525 Garth Road
This used to be a RaceWay (originally opened in 1995 as RaceTrac, converted to RaceWay in 2005) and sold its area stores to 7-Eleven in early 2021 (this one gained the Exxon name as a gas brand). When it was converted, the sign was also shortened...it used to be twice as tall.

6900 Garth Road
After a long pronounced decline, there is nothing left of San Jacinto Mall, located at the southwest corner of Garth Road and Interstate 10. It opened in 1981 with two overlapping wings (a little hard to describe, you'll have to look at a map to see what I mean), featuring five department stores, Mervyn's, Sears, Montgomery Ward, Foley's, and JCPenney, and four junior department stores, Bealls, Palais Royal, The Fair (replaced by Marshalls later), and Wilson's (later Service Merchandise). Eventually, all of these closed. Montgomery Ward closed with the chain's bankruptcy in 2001 and Mervyn's closed in January 2006 (when the chain pulled out of Houston), but ultimately the remaining three anchors closed as well: Sears (2018 as part of the chain's bankruptcy reorganization), JCPenney (2020 when that chain declared bankruptcy), and finally Macy's in 2021 (having converted from Foley's in 2006). During all this time, various redevelopment plans were circulated around, starting with one wing being redeveloped as apartments or outdoor retail. By the early 2010s, two of the wings had been demolished and eventually the whole thing was demolished. A closer look at this defunct mall is planned for this site with other links, but that's in the future for now. For now, there is an old Labelscar post, which is where I first learned of this mall. The DeadMalls.com entry is less helpful, though it does include a YouTube video that at least is entertaining to the halfway point. I hope to cover this on Carbon-izer soon.

McDonald's / 7000 Garth Road
Originally built in 1986, this McDonald's as I remember it had a nautical theme inside (basically blue walls and a few paintings of boats) with an outdoor playground. Around 2012 it was demolished and rebuilt to what it is today, a "yellow eyebrow" McDonald's with an indoor Playplace. The restaurant faces Garth Road but the sign is for highway drivers and the parking lot connects to the eastbound frontage road of I-10.

Riverpointe Shopping Center (Conroe, Texas)

This another post that expands on a Carbon-izer page, this time focusing on Riverpointe Shopping Center. While this won't extensively cover every tenant there it will focus on just two major store spaces and a restaurant in the parking lot.

At 230 South Loop 336 West was a Kmart store (#3648), opening back in November 1989 and later converted to Big Kmart before closing in early 2003.

It remained vacant for a few years until Incredible Pizza Company opened in August 2005. Also known as Conroe's Incredible Pizza Company, it was a part of a franchised chain of pizza buffet and entertainment centers and one of the first stores of that chain in the region. I remember when I was first looking into this years ago, maybe circa 2010-2011, the Incredible Pizza Company website was one of those websites that had audio tracks that loaded automatically, so you'd load up the page and immediately it would start blaring "GO KARTS RUN ON INDOOR TRACKS (INCREDIBLE PIZZA COMPANY), OLD MEMORIES WILL TAKE YOU BACK (INCREDIBLE PIZZA COMPANY)" but thankfully it doesn't do that anymore. IPC doesn't use their entire space; the rest of the former Kmart was used for the Conroe campus of Champion Forest Baptist Church, but now (since 2022) is Pillar Church.

As a complement to the Kmart, there was also Albertsons at 220 South Loop 336 West on the other side of the center. The store (#2723 post-1996 renumbering) operating from 1989 until early 2002, when Albertsons pulled out of the Houston market and sold many of their stores (including this one) to Kroger. Kroger quickly reopened it as one of their own but closed this store in 2017 when they built a much larger Kroger Marketplace a quarter mile away. It remained vacant until 2024 when it was cut into three spaces with Planet Fitness and Dollar Tree taking two of them.

Finally, in the parking lot sits Ni's Chinese Buffet (226 South Loop 336 West). Shoney's was here from 1994 to around 1999 (I don't think there was anything before that). Porkey's Cafe was here from 2000 to 2001; Ni's opened in December 2003 and has been here since.

Various Lockhart Businesses (Lockhart, Texas)

Once again, we're working from Carbon-izer.com to bring you this latest post (also see the the archived version) with only a few changes, most notably removing the previously covered the late Huddle House. It concerns Colorado Street in Lockhart, aka US-183, which was left a business route after US-183/SH-130 went around it in the late 2000s.

Kreuz Market / 619 N. Colorado Street
Kreuz Market has been part of Lockhart for over a century and its current building opened in 1999 looks like a modern, tourist-friendly location, looking more like a Rudy's rather than a "real" barbecue joint. The new location opened with much fanfare, notably with the publicity stunt of physically dragging a bucket of the hot coals of the old location to the new location.

When I first visited it in the late 2000s, it famously bragged that unlike most barbecue joints, it had no sauce and no forks...which was, okay I guess. On the forks issue, sure they didn't have forks when they started way back when but they didn't have proper sanitation either, so it's a bit of a wash. But forks are necessary when eating. You can't do it with plastic knives and spoons (which were provided, no metal utensils). The sauce? You could make, say, a great hamburger or French fries without any condiments, but to say that there's no sauce implies that your food is that good. Spoiler alert: it wasn't.

In the end, Kreuz Market did change its long-standing policy. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. On one hand, it was poorly implemented and quite pretentious, on the other hand, it did give it a bit of uniqueness.

They mention the Bryan location and its decision to have no sauce or forks (before reversing the position), which I have actually previously covered on the site here.

Schlotzsky's / 111 North Colorado Street
This Schlotzsky's opened in 2018 at the site of a former Philips 66 gas station. The signage for the restaurant (branded as "Schlotzsky's Austin Eatery") is very gas stationesque.

Walgreens / 200 S. Colorado St.
The Walgreens occupies a full block and opened around 2007 (completely redeveloped).

H-E-B / 403 South Colorado Street
H-E-B (#445) is the only full-line supermarket in the Lockhart area. The relatively modern store at 45,000 square feet was 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.

Family Dollar / 1118 S. Colorado Street
Family Dollar opened a new store in Lockhart in 2004 (a previous store in Lockhart had closed in 1997). In 2005, the company introduced a more modern logo based on the old 1970s-era one with a little logo of a family and a new color scheme, while retaining the original typeface. The logo here was updated in early 2011.

Dairy Queen / 1125 South Colorado Street
I wrote about the Lockhart Dairy Queen on Two Way Roads back in 2012...the Lockhart Dairy Queen was built in 1987 (though Lockhart had a Dairy Queen for decades prior) and although the restaurant style wasn't unique in and of itself, it was certainly very different from the rest of the Texas Dairy Queen restaurants with red roofs and fairly limited seating. It also had a playground, which for Dairy Queen was quite rare. The inside of the store wasn't particularly interesting but at least was quirky, with a "Medicare Corner" inside, but sometime between August 2010 and July 2011, it went from this to this...in other words, into a generic DQ model that so many restaurants were being built or remodeled into. No playground, no Medicare Corner.

Whataburger / 100 State Park Road
The origins of this "Oddaburger" are shrouded in mystery, opening in 2005. It's certainly a strange-looking store, with some records indicating it was "Bumpers Drive-In" of Texas, but it's not known if it's related to Bumpers Drive-In in Mississippi. We reached out but they haven't called back.

Lockhart Chisholm Trail Bar-B-Q / 1323 S. Colorado Street
This barbecue restaurant has been here since 1978 and is one of the main barbecue restaurants that calls Lockhart home.

I've had Chisholm Trail about once a year for roughly a decade now; I should know how it tastes (and that's more than I can say about most restaurants). It's probably not the best barbecue I've had but it's better than most.

While Fearless Critics (a restaurant guide I have) savagely ripped apart a number of well-liked restaurants in Houston, Chisholm Trail was not spared either, ranking quite poorly. While it's not entirely a hit piece (the sides are indeed weak), they didn't even mention the homemade bread Chisholm Trail often has available (not sure how "homemade" it is but it at least is different). I know white bread is "classic" for barbecue but the bread they have is good too.

Fresh Donuts / 910 S. Colorado Street
This generic-looking donut shop was built new (as "Fresh Donuts") in 2016.

McDonald's / 1330 South Colorado Street
McDonald's has been here since 1993, and sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000s a Playplace was haphazardly built onto the side. In 2014, the restaurant was demolished and rebuilt without an indoor playground.

Caldwell County Justice Center / 1703 South Colorado Street
This operated as a Walmart discount store (#292) from 1980 to 2012, and it survived long enough to get the modern circa 2009 "Walmart" logo. The renovation to a county government building came a few years later. It also has the county clerk's office.

Exxon / 1706 US-183
This goes back to the 1980s as a Diamond Shamrock/Corner Store and was still a Diamond Shamrock as of spring 2008 (it was a Valero by late 2009). Unfortunately, Circle K, the successor to Corner Store, decided not to do a full rebrand on this store and pulled out by late 2019 and it became an Exxon a few years later. The convenience store is unbranded, you can still see the scar of the old Diamond Shamrock-era Corner Store logo.

Verizon / 1712 S. Colorado Street
This Verizon store opened in 2011. From 2003 to around 2010 it was a Jack in the Box restaurant.

Walmart / 1904 South Colorado Street
This store opened in May 2012 to replace the aforementioned smaller Walmart.

At the junction of Magnolia Avenue and Pierce Street, US-183 is carried on by Pierce Street east toward I-10 while Highway 80 (which joins at East Austin Street) continues south. There, it ends at Karnes City southeast of San Antonio.

Jewel-Osco in Kenosha (Kenosha, Wisconsin)

Taking a break from the exports from Carbon-izer, this is a quick article about the January 1996 opening of Jewel-Osco in Kenosha, Wisconsin at 7014 Green Bay Road (it's part of a bigger shopping center). It was their first store in Wisconsin after some small, outdated stores left the state decades earlier. Soon after, the company would continue into Milwaukee by purchasing Cub Foods stores.

The new store boasted their bakery producing unique products like kringle (if it's anything like O&H Danish Bakery, whose products are available nationally at Trader Joe's stores every December, then it must have been great) and some regional items available.

Sadly, the store didn't last...while it sailed through Albertsons' troubles, soon after getting the Milwaukee stores as part of the company's break-up, new owner SuperValu closed the Milwaukee/Wisconsin stores (speculated to be part of a pre-arranged agreement with independents in the area), back in 2007. As of this writing, Hobby Lobby occupies half the space today with Jewel-Osco gone once more.