Barton Springs Road McDonald's (Austin, Texas)

Picture by author, February 2023 (cropped)
One of the things I mentioned on Carbon-izer and took out to focus on South Lamar Boulevard was a building that was on the corner of South Lamar and Barton Springs (but had a Barton Springs address), the Barton Springs McDonald's at 1209 Barton Springs Road. This operated from 1979 to 2022 and was the original building (the metallic roof came sometime around 2003-2005, when those sorts of buildings were being upgraded before their demolition). In 2022 it abruptly closed and was expected to be rebuilt (as this sort of thing was quite dated by that time), especially as the Golden Arches remained with the old "Billions and Billions Served" signage.

The restaurant was demolished in early 2023 with the sign going last. Much speculation has been on Reddit and its enigmatic owner, the "State of Texas Youth Council" which appears to be nothing than the owner of the land at 1209 Barton Springs Road.

McDonald's at WestBank Market (Austin, Texas)

Picture by author, Feb. 2023
Just less than hour before this article went to press, I had been sure that the Randalls located at WestBank Market, a shopping center at 3300 Bee Caves Road, was an AppleTree, and I had pictures of said AppleTree from Market Supermarket & Hypermarket Design. It turned out, however, that the Randalls was NOT that AppleTree and it was at 3229 Bee Caves Road. Instead, the Randalls was a rebranded Tom Thumb-Page (#77) from 1989 and I don't have many good photos of it except maybe the exterior. While there is of course, a PDF I'd like to focus on instead the McDonald's at the shopping center. Unique-looking McDonald's stores are a rarity these days and I'm sure this has been updated at least once since its 1989 opening, but it's still a cool restaurant. This is from 2023, at a time when most of these places were gone. Additional pictures, also from February 2023, below.

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.

The "McSchlotzsky's" (San Marcos, Texas)

Picture by author, 2019
Much like how I covered Hempstead's abandoned Shell or the Schulenburg McDonald's, this one is a page I made previously on Carbon-izer. The Schlotzsky's Deli here operated from about 1999 to 2004 and became a McDonald's in 2006, but kept the interior layout and much of the decor of the old restaurant. Check it out here. A more recent renovation from the early 2020s made it look less like a Schlotzsky's but still recognizable.

It is located at 4060 S. Interstate 35.

Copperfield McDonald's (Houston, Texas)

Modern McDonald's buildings don't have flags anymore. (Vintage West Houston, 2007).
Courtesy John Williams of Vintage West Houston (who, back in the mid-2010s operated a great site called West Houston Archives) we have the McDonald's in Copperfield...before its rebuild! This incarnation lasted from 1986 to 2009 when it was rebuilt from the ground up.

There continues to be a McDonald's at 7302 Highway 6 North, of course, but it's not the same.

McDonald's / Shell (Montgomery, Texas)

This is a modified Google Maps Street View shot from the mid-2010s.
As I mentioned in the post on Hi-Ho, Highway 105 meant something to me at one time. In December 2003 I was really into McDonald's at the time (in terms of unusual menu items and restaurant buildings) so I loved this combo McDonald's/Shell gas station when I saw it (located at 15476 Highway 105). It was only a few years old at the time (I'm not 100% sure it opened with a Shell in 1999). Originally (until the mid-2010s), the canopies that added additional seating along Lake Conroe were painted yellow and red, but now they're tan. Timewise was also adopted as the convenience store name at some point. The McDonald's was "de-mansarded" in the late 2010s.

In 2003, the nearby strip center and the apartments behind it weren't developed yet, giving it a much more isolated and private nature. This of course appeared first originally on Carbon-izer.com as many recent posts did, but future posts in the Highway 105 series will be original.

Schulenburg McDonald's (Schulenburg, Texas)

Street View a few years after it closed. The Schulenburg McDonald's operated from 1996 to 2015, and as I said in a recent RetailWatchers post it appears that this restaurant was terribly run, and despite what looks like an update once in its 19-year history closed abruptly, removing McDonald's insignia and the playground but leaving most everything including the interiors untouched.

Check out the Carbon-izer report here.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

UPDATE 11-16-2025: Split off Family Dollar.

UPDATE 12-24-2025: Split off Whataburger.

UPDATE 04-03-2026: I've made new posts on Kreuz Market, Lockhart Chisholm Trail BBQ, and Plum Creek Plaza, which incorporates two other entries here.

Thompson Road Truck Stops (Baytown, Texas)

The sign looks a bit battered because of Hurricane Beryl. (Picture by author 7/24)
I'm finding it increasingly difficult to create a consistent rotation of what was outlined a few weeks ago especially as I have almost no information to go on for the other sites I had planned so that ordered plan is out the window beyond this post. Our first Houston-area entry (following the discontinuation of The Houston Files) covers primarily the Love's Travel Stop at 1703 I-10. Previously, this was covered on Carbon-izer, and while it is still in Harris County, the address numbering of Interstate 10 resets at the San Jacinto River.

The reason why the Love's Travel Stop sign looks a little more generic than their typical signage is because this opened in 1999 as a Pilot Travel Center with McDonald's inside. In 2010, it was sold to Love's following Pilot's purchase of Flying J Travel Plazas (not the company itself—FJ Management continued on).

The Love's features a McDonald's in addition to a store and gas pumps. I got the "$5 Meal Deal" here because the Buc-ee's down the street, through either Beryl-induced supply issues or a horrific management misstep, did not have any sandwiches to order at the kiosk.

I should mention that Thompson Road has three truck stops, one on each corner. The southwest corner has the aforementioned Flying J Travel Center (1876 East Fwy.), which you can see the sign of in the photo above. This was completed in the fall of 2005, this had previously had Conoco gasoline but by 2021 had changed over to be self-branded. It features a Denny's inside, something it has had since its opening. It sits behind "Chrome World & Truck Parts" (1880 East Fwy.).

The southeast corner has TravelCenters of America (6800 Thompson Road). This TA truck stop (built c. 2002) had a "Country Pride" restaurant but it has been non-functional since early 2020 and was replaced with an IHOP around spring 2023 (the IHOP is in fact open 24 hours despite many IHOPs no longer doing so after 2020). The gas brand here is a Shell as of 2023 but that may change (or has already changed) since BP took over the company. (I didn't check.)

The northeast corner (1901 East Fwy.) was originally built in the late 1980s and as of 2013, this was "Baytown Express Travel Center" (with Valero). It lost that name by 2015 and converted to Chevron in 2016 (with a mild renovation to the premises) and has been shut down since at least 2021. It isn't fully abandoned, a mobile building on the premises operates as "Four G's CB Shop".

Shortly after this post went to press, I got a note from Mike of Houston Historic Retail: "The building was originally a Speedway Travel Center when they attempted that in the late '90s. It originally had a combo A&W/Church's as the restaurant. Love's was across Thompson where the closed (most recently) Chevron is. When Speedway bowed out of travel centers, Pilot bought them out, and flipped the location. Also according to some Buc-ee's insiders, kiosks are on the way out. Grab and Go is now the preferred method for most items, and anything left on the kiosk will eventually be migrated there." (Bummer.)

McDonald's Alvarado (Alvarado, Texas)

This is a photo from 2014 Spring Break, taking a picture of this McDonald's in Alvarado, Texas. By this time, unusual and interesting McDonald's restaurants were on their way out.

This one wasn't that old (built 2002 when the company built a handful of retro-inspired restaurants) but it still got renovated out of existence in 2017.

I'm afraid I don't have memories or pictures of the interior, which is where most of the pre-2007 restaurants really shined.

The Defunct Gas Stations of West (West, Texas)

Focusing on the north side of West Oak Street and I-35 (or rather, Exit 353), the first "numbered exit" on the Numbered Exits blog is merely coincidental and focuses on some of the defunct gas stations of West, Texas. The northwest corner of the intersection is our main focus. Currently (as of July 2024) this features a Starbucks and McDonald's, both sharing the address of 22119 N. Interstate 35. The McDonald's opened September 2021 and in March 2022, the Starbucks opened right next to it. Prior to this, there were two gas stations that got wrecked in the expansion of I-35. The first was Texaco / CEFCO (22185 N IH 35), a part of a bigger complex that included a large auto center and even incorporating a much older gas station into the property.

Additionally, an Exxon existed closer to West Oak Road. This was Gerik's Exxon at 22087 N IH-35, though it upgraded its canopy before its demise.

700 West Oaks Street at the northeast side still resembles a former 7-Eleven when it opened back in 1977. The Waco-area stores were sold to Circle K in 1988. Sometime around 1999 (it seems it was still Circle K in the late 1990s) was sold to Skinny's and by 2007 had been operating as a Skinny's/Fina for a number of years. 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.

There's obviously the south side of West Oak Street that I did not cover, but that's a future update...or just check out the whole page where this post was derived and expanded from.

The photos here were generously provided by McLennan Central Appraisal District.

Navasota Exit TX-90 / TX-105 West (Navasota, Texas)

While not a numbered exit (it's just the name of the blog), I wanted to use this post to cover a few things about Navasota's main business exit, which goes to Anderson (to the west, TX-90 starts here), or to the east (TX-105 West) to Brenham.

One reason why this is important to me is that Navasota, growing up, represented something. If we were in Navasota for whatever reason, we were going on a trip, whether Houston or heading out as far east as Florida. Naturally, Navasota had a positive connotation even if there's really nothing to write home about.

This page covers from approximately from Alamo Drive to Dove Crossing Lane and is derived from this page on Carbon-izer.com. All of these are updated as of July 2024.

At the northeast corner (where the photo is taken from) is a McDonald's (8737 N. Hwy. 6) which was built here in 1993 (though the roof may have come later). It has since received a late-2000s/early 2010s remodel. The picture above, taken from me in 2006 (moving car, cheap camera, it's not a great photo), shows how the McDonald's looked just prior to the re-do. Note the original Chevron sign colors next door. Opened around 1988 with Annie's Country Store as the main store. A facade update was done in late 2020 with a minor expansion (soon after altering the roadside signage). Just out of view is Los Cabos Mexican Grill (8731 Highway 6) which it was starting around late 2021/early 2022. This restaurant was formerly Wrangler Steak House and later Las Fuentes Steak & Grill. Indications are it just changed names between November 2016 and June 2017, and started business in 2002.

The northwest corner of the intersection features Herrera's Mexican Restaurant (8734 N. Hwy. 6 Loop, also known as Herrera's Mexican Restaurant #3) which opened in 2019 to replace Erick's Mexican Restaurant (operated here previously since 2011). Various other Mexican restaurants have been here at least since at least the early 2000s and more prominently, a 7-Eleven/Exxon. The store at 1701 East Washington Avenue was previously Rattlers' (originally "Jim's Express Mart" from 1992 to early 2000s rebranding), and was the first time I saw the new Exxon logo (lower case lettering, no blue stripe) in late 2017. By early 2021, with the Stripes (which bought Rattlers) takeover by 7-Eleven progressing, the rectangular sign has both 7-Eleven and Exxon on it, neither very large. Two doors down is a Burger King opened in December 2019 owned by Kolkhorst Foods; the Kolkhorst family used to own Rattlers' (it was sold to Sunoco in 2015 and came under the Stripes family before it was flipped a few years later to 7-Eleven) and promised to build a Burger King at least since the time of the sale.

The southwest corner features a Walmart. Walmart #293 (still a "Division One" store) opened here in May 1980. For years, it kept its "WAL-MART" lettering (no star!) even as it switched to brown paint in the early 2010s. The store finally became a true "Walmart" by the late 2010s with lighter blue paint (it was to be replaced with a Supercenter but plans have stalled). A drive-through only Church's opened in 1984 (it was a prefabricated model that Church's developed) in the Wal-Mart parking lot. This was closed in 2022. Going a bit further down there's a car dealership built in 2019 (Sterling Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, 9030 Highway 6), ErgoGenesis (1 Bodybilt Place, operational since 2002 and likely a former TG&Y Family Center—still looking into that), a closed Aaron's (9310 Highway 6 Loop, 2007-2020), and Tractor Supply Company (store #1130, 9320 Highway 6 Loop), which opened in or around September 2006.

To the southeast is a Shell gas station, Pizza Hut (9305 Highway 90), and Sonic (9249 Highway 90). The Shell gas station (9323 TX-90) was built here with a Domino's Pizza (inside) and a Popeyes adjacent (branded as Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen these days, address of 9319 TX-90) around 1999 (may have been branded originally as a Texaco), the Domino's here closed in the summer of 2012 (apparently, both being located in the back of a gas station and in direct competition with a Pizza Hut in a small market was not good for business). It has since been replaced with (relatively recently) Sum Yum Chinese Food. Both Domino's and Popeyes have been removed from the roadside signage. Going a bit south (which is impossible if driving now thanks to a late 2000s conversion of making the frontage roads one way) has a Days Inn motel (8965 Highway 6, Best Western prior to around 2024), Autotrust Repairs (9309 N. Hwy. 6 Loop), Mallett Brothers Barbeque (9339, built in 2009), and a Comfort Inn & Suites (9345 Hwy. 6) built around the same time.

UPDATE 08-26-2025: While the content of this post hasn't changed, the information on Rattlers' has been spun off as its own page.
UPDATE 01-04-2026: The businesses at Highway 90 have been spun off. Once the new Carbon-izer page goes live, this page will turn into a new page on Wal-Mart.