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Everything Must Go: Highway 290 Demolitions


IronTiger

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I know that I made a thread on the Interstate 10/Katy Freeway demos, but the problem was is got way too unruly and out of control. Knowing that, instead of trying to post here, I've made a separate page online in an attempt to catalog the changes. Check it out here. I know it's pretty crude HTML but I intend to round it out with more additions. What do you think? Potential? Needs new additions?

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Nice to see Northwest Mall's El Chaparral nightclub mentioned. The movie theater it used to be was the AMC Northwest 4. AMC pioneered the concept of the modern multiplex, and according to Cinema Houston, the Northwest 4, the Almeda 4, and the Town and Country 6 were Houston's first theaters with more than two screens, all opening on Christmas Day 1969 (http://www.cinemahouston.info/multicinema.shtml).

 

I saw quite a few movies at the Northwest 4 in the 70s, and every time I drove by it in its later incarnation as El Chaparral, I always wondered how many other people still remembered its previous life. 

Edited by mkultra25
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I certainly do. I practically lived in Northwest Mall as a kid and teen. Saw many a movie in Northwest 4, the last being "An Officer and a Gentleman". That's been over 30 years ago now.

If there's a Northwest Mall thread lurking around here, someone point me to it. You don't need walls that talk there. My sister-in-law worked at Lerner's, good friend worked security there, and my cousin worked the budget store in Foley's Northwest for years. Heck, I kissed my first girl at the star shaped fountain at center court. If it happened at Northwest Mall in the 70's and 80's, I was probably there.

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If there's a Northwest Mall thread lurking around here, someone point me to it. You don't need walls that talk there. My sister-in-law worked at Lerner's, good friend worked security there, and my cousin worked the budget store in Foley's Northwest for years. Heck, I kissed my first girl at the star shaped fountain at center court. If it happened at Northwest Mall in the 70's and 80's, I was probably there.

 

If you do a search for "Northwest Mall", you'll get quite a few results where it's mentioned in various threads, but this one's the only dedicated thread I could find:

 

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/27678-northwest-mall/?hl=%2Bnorthwest+%2Bmall

 

I'm always interested in hearing about Northline and Northwest Malls, as those were the two that I spent the most time at as a kid before Greenspoint was built.

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Mkultra25: I bet you our paths have crossed before and we just don't know it. Thank you for the link too! I grew up at both, because they were the two closest malls. Greenspoint was always too "fussy" and crowded for my mother's taste. I can only imagine what she'd think of old GP now, if she were still alive...

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I took photos of the right-of-way clearance in 2012 and 2013, and this post inspired me to process the images and post the photos online.

 

These are the first new highway photos posted on http://www.HoustonFreeways.com in over five years!

 

http://houstonfreeways.com/modern/2014-01-18_us_290_right-of-way_clearance.aspx

 

Of course it covers many of the same properties as IronTiger's web page, but I have photos of demolition in progress as well as buildings staged for clearance.

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Wow, that's great, thanks! Unfortunately, I'm not in Houston very often, so that's why a few of the photos aren't mine. I was inspired to do this after the Interstate 10 right of way clearance photos page of yours, and I wanted to document 290--the highway I had known--before it changed forever.

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The Pinemont Park and Ride closes today as the ramp is being demolished. According to the page of MaxConcrete's, Creekwood Apartments will lose a building or two. 

 

Have any more buildings been razed/condemned? I'd like to ask the status of a few buildings out there:

 

- A former Chevron exists at the southwest corner of Antoine and 290. The place has been gone for years, but the distinctive sign (now with contact information for buying the land) still stands. The Shell on the other side is still there. Will it be torn down?

- If the houses on the east side of Harland Street are being eaten for right of way, as well as a building or two of Creekwood Apartments will any part of the early 1990s shopping center be cut off? There's (at least of whenever Street View was taken), C&S Chinese Cafe, Red Onion Seafood y Mas, Olde Towne Kolaches, Allied Cash Advance, a vacancy, and a Starbucks Coffee.

- If not, will the McDonald's go away (it was rebuilt in 2008)?

- The Hartz Chicken Buffet at 43rd and 290 definitely seems like a goner.

 

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The McDonald's at W. 43rd and NW Freeway? If it gets taken in the expansion, McDonald's really didn't plan very well. They just tore down the old one and replaced it with the new one 5 years ago. It's still pretty new looking last time I was in it.

For what it's worth, the Katy Freeway expansion tore down a lot of then-recent construction from the late 1990s, including a three story hotel and a REI. And by the end of 2005 they were already abandoned or demolished.

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