IronTiger

The building I remember seeing was kind of a dump, I might remember it if I saw a picture. But nope, not those two! The first one they showed is a flea market now (it was originally a sort of mini-mall)

It's definitely a crazy idea, but it is a bad one? I mean, that's kind of what the original centerpiece of Disney World was like (the "Experimental Prototypical City of Tomorrow"), and, FWIW, there were initially actually residential areas at Walt Disney World in the beginning (later giving way to more hotels)

Target was always a bit more upscale than Walmart or Kmart, even though they hadn't have eliminated whole departments back then.

OK, fuzzy memories: I first remember seeing Garden Ridge in Houston in the late 1990s, maybe on I-45 or 290. I understand Garden Ridge is a home décor place now, but this was much more downscale what I remember, like a big ugly building with a pitched roof, almost looking like a huge plant nursery. Wikipedia confirms that Garden Ridge had downscale roots (in fact, I think the name of it WAS "Garden Ridge Pottery") but did the Garden Ridge Pottery name last into that era? EDIT 2018: After some further research into the issue, what I remember was not in Houston, but rather the "flagship" in Schertz, which closed several years ago.

You don't have to be poor to use buses or light rail.

Monorail wouldn't have worked, unless you wanted some expensive toy people-mover in downtown Houston. Many moons ago, I saw this rendering of a station in the Galleria/Uptown area, in which the streets would be torn up and the light rail be built one level underground (with the roads being rebuilt). Whatever happened to that?

Yes. The first gen Targets that opened in the 1970s did, often extruding out on the right side of the store. The Target that the Memorial City Mall one replaced had one. The Target in Gulfgate where Auchan was had one too. Don't know when they stopped, though.

I was aware a huge portion of Northwest Mall's parking lot was ripped up for the redoing of the 290/I-10 interchange (which, if I understand correctly, will give direct access to I-10 from 290), but wow, the damage from Google Earth is extensive. I'm surprised they didn't knock down the old Foley's/Macy's building in the process.

Thanks! I wonder if it any of it will get done. Oh well.

Is there an official map that shows the future lines of METRORail (even the lines where it hasn't broken ground yet)? I remember that http://www.ridemetro.org/SchedulesMaps/RailSched.aspx'>the official site had one (I remember the full map, which they have in the little hexagon at the top), but I can't find it anymore. Anyone know where one is?

That's the one. From what I hear, the occupancy is improved since 2008, but the Yelp reviews aren't too positive.

I posted in it on another thread. Light rail's coming along, it seems, and 290 is in the preliminary stages of expanding (bye bye Taco Bell)

Not really a "photographing Houston" in a traditional sense, but today, or possibly yesterday, Google updated its views of Houston for fall 2012. The new H-E-B in Montrose and the Walmart at Washington Heights are all visible now. Other changes are there, too...

So. I'm taking a trip to Houston, the first in nearly a year(!) and in that trip, a friend and I will be passing by the PlazAmericas mall on Bellaire. Is it worth going to, checking out? The mall has the "Mercado" open and whatnot, and might be fun to explore, but I don't know if it's... a) worth the time worth the risk I'd be interested in what you think...what is the mall like these days?

The 1976(?) Google Earth aerials has the shopping center already built, with a few changes (supermarket not extended), which means that the supermarket probably started out as Safeway. The west anchor is still a mystery, though. Target I did know about, it had a very distinctive store structure at the time that included a grocery store and auto center (see: Auchan 610).

UPDATED LIST major sources (besides this thread): http://www.houstonfreeways.com/modern/2005-04-23_i10_row_clearance.aspx http://www.texasfreeway.com/houston/photos/i10w/i10_right-of-way.shtml From left to right (far left is International Road): - a strip mall, anchored by Continental Finer Foods (and later Memorial Grocery) - the building from this strip mall that WASN'T demolished - two buildings I don't know much about - Wellesley Inn & Suites - three story hotel with pool - Private Self-Storage - largely still intact, still survives (under a different name, maybe?) - Holiday Inn - big and fancy one. 11 stories. - something that looks like a car dealership - large warehouse - Crown Plumbing - had storage units in the back? Partially demolished. - unknown gas station - southwest corner of Silber and I-10 This is just west of that. From left to right, but not counting the industrial building on the north side: - McDonald's - gray mansard roof, built late 1980s or early 1990s. No playground. - 59 Diner - cool looking local place, other locations in Houston - Dexter's - a restaurant: this is seen in the background of this shot, though TBH I don't see how two letters hid behind that power pole - La Quinta Inn - well documented, two-level, motel style - Denny's - next to La Quinta Inn, of course - Whataburger - 24 hour location! - Memorial 1 Motorcars - warehouse looking thing - REI - Opened in the late 1990s, short lived OTHER BUILDINGS WESTBOUND INTERSTATE 10 This counts buildings as if heading west on I-10, looking out the right, major roads are marked. WIRT ROAD office building, northwest corner of Wirt Road and I-10 (picture seen in TexasFreeway.com) two office buildings (or apartments?) to the east of the Key Credit Union building Key Credit Union Building (northeast corner of Bingle and I-10) BINGLE ROAD The original building of the Westside Family YMCA (renamed to Dad's Club Aquatic & Fitness Center) VOSS ROAD ALL the houses on Cunningham Street, including the road itself. a cul-de-sac of houses Ciro's Cibo Italiani and the strip mall next to it CAMPBELL ROAD office building at northwest corner of Campbell and I-10 almost everything between Adkins and Anne is demolished, including office buildings, warehouse-like buildings, and St. James Furniture. Calico Corners is actually spared, though still moves out. just east of Lowe's two office buildings (appear to be office buildings, at least) two buildings near Lowe's, possibly commercial BUNKER HILL ROAD most buildings between Witte Road and Bunker Hill were demolished, if not for the freeway (although some were), became part of a huge shopping center anchored by H-E-B and others WITTE ROAD two buildings between the apartment complex and Witte Road a few units of an apartment complex gas station at northeast corner of Gessner and I-10 (appears to have Citgo colors, according to the Houston Freeways page) GESSNER DRIVE Luther's Bar-B-Q - Thanks, TEC! part of a strip mall at the northwest corner of Gessner and I-10 (the strip mall was completely demolished later, though unrelated to the consruction) part of a storage-looking building just west of Conrad Sauer Road (rest of building intact) Bennigan's - just south of Chili's, which managed to survive BELTWAY 8 Igloo Manufacturing Facility - turned into retention pond, worth noting it was once connected to the MKT line via spur some buildings at the northeast corner of Biltmore and I-10 After this point, the only thing that appears to be razed for construction is some apartments near Sherwood Oaks - some units demolished, complex as a whole clipped ---END LIMITS OF WESTBOUND EXPANSION--- As for Eastbound demolitions (south side), there are some building changes (particularly a strip mall that was partially demolished, and then later demolished, plus some new restaurants), the main clearance starts at Wirt Road. gas station - though it looks like it could've been spared, on the west side of west side of Wirt Road. More pictures soon, and a more cleaned up list. Some of them I had forgotten the first time around.

Actually, Bennigan's was demolished due to the highway construction. Evidence is on Google Earth. As for the MKT rail line, it could have worked as a line to Austin, but not Houston. Following the line, the MKT goes north to Bastrop (going under the highway), and eventually up Temple to Waco. A better line would be taken advantage of the Eagle Lake line, but that was largely dismantled for the Westpark Tollway.

So in my research of the Interstate 10 demolitions and AppleTree, I've recently discovered the http://www.smithcodevelopment.com/emails/Flyer_echolane.pdf'>Echo Lane Shopping Center. The Kroger is seen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kroger#Expansion'>here. It was originally an AppleTree (and thus, by extension, a Safeway) due to the fact that a Chron article mentions this was one of the AppleTrees that they were trying to sell off. It's also almost identical to Village Foods in Bryan, Texas, a former AppleTree until c. 2009. If you look at http://goo.gl/maps/Ur9uJ'>Google Maps, you'll see that the Kroger space was expanded later. Given that this space wasn't expanded yet in an old '74 aerial (where the shopping center was still there), I'm wondering if Safeway was always a charter tenant and expanded later. The Loehmann's + Firehouse Subs + a few other stores "box" also suggests it was a junior anchor of some sort. I guessed "Service Merchandise", though a Sports Authority next to the Hermann Memorial Hospital takes that claim, so I guess not, and it's too small to be a discount store. Anyone know more about the history of this place?

They've done the ship channel tours since at least the mid-1980s, likely even longer.

MarketingWiz: You're referring to the one that was near the Ramada, right?

It's unavoidable, and driving through US-290 isn't much better. Plus, if you WERE going to downtown, blight shouldn't surprise you. Actually, although Houston's downtown isn't what I'd call blighted (well, at least until Macy's downtown closes), you shouldn't get your hopes up. Actually, I went on a ship channel tour the year before last, and it is interesting, knowing that it is hard to get to and most definitely not a touristy part of town, you do have to get reservations, it's not a cruise, etc. There's free soda (generic though IIRC), it is kind of cool, and while obviously polluted, it's not like it's an open sewer. Same trip: I remember this high-pitched alert while on the red part of the concrete after disembarking the Metro. As it turns out, there's very little clearance between the Metro and that red concrete part.

In response to the Houston Press article (which has some obvious satire in there), the ship channel is actually kind of cool (though definitely filthy), Northwest Mall DOES have an anchor now (an antique mall, which isn't exactly a department store, but it IS something), etc.

Pizza Inn was much more common in Texas, but I noticed one in a gas station (yes, it was a chain) between Bryan and Temple, so it's possible that it was.

MacGregor Way looks like it had that section through the trees cut off in the last past five years (I vaguely remember a HAIF discussion on it). Marvin Taylor Exercise Trail looks like it must have been a road at sometime, though it looks like it was abandoned by the late 1970s.

Are there any Circle Ks (from the UtoteM buyout) even left in Houston?