This is a screencap from the Plaza history video released last year.


Some things of note:
- That big barn structure in the background looks like it might be part of the waterslide alluded to from the nostalgia threads.
- Gulf was later Chevron, of course, it was closed and demolished in the mid-2000s
- The Exxon was originally a Shell, apparently
- I don't even see Poplar Street, and if I do, it's probably just the empty lots post-the houses there and pre-Adult Video.

Looks like the opposite corner was still a U-haul site behind another gas station, but perhaps on a smaller scale. Perhaps that's Poplar (the dirt-looking road) right past the line of trucks?

I've lived here since 1968 and remember a water slide at Pooh's Park on the NE corner of Texas and Holleman, and a "Super Slide" that had multiple lanes and the you slide down it on a mat an the East side of Texas in the vicinity of Fuego's and Denny's. (I think.)

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It's your money, not theIRS! (At least for a little while longer.)

Here's the same view, taken from the top of the Plaza tower in 2011. Comparing the two, I see the La Quinta and the 707 Texas complex (looks like there was a second building near the current On The Border). Judging from Google Maps, it looks like Poplar has now been realigned slightly to the south where it meets Texas Avenue. Looks like it used to run right up against the old U-Haul building (between the brown overhang and the far line of box trucks) in that 1980s photo. At some point, the old U-Haul building was torn down and the operation moved into the gas station and expanded across the two lots.




Oh, and another from atop the Plaza.

The former gas station at the northeast corner looks distinctly different than the 1980s one. Is it possible that whatever was there in the early 1980s was torn down for another gas station, and then THAT one became the U-Haul?

Looks like Pizza Hut wasn't built yet in the first shot. Is it possible that the Northgate Pizza Hut came first?

Also: "707 Texas" is in both shots.

[This message has been edited by PS3D (edited 5/20/2013 1:29p).]

Is the area uglier now or then, I wonder? Hard to tell.

UHaul has been there since early 70s!

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UHaul has been there since early 70s!

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Yes, but they weren't all the way to the corner. Before they took over the corner gas station (mid to late 90s?), it was a Diamond Shamrock. Used to get gas there but as traffic grew, it was really difficult to get in and out of the station.

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Also: "707 Texas" is in both shots.

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Yeah, as is the La Quinta (or whatever it was in the 80s) with its mock bell tower. If you look closely at the 707 building in the old photo, it looks like there is a second, almost identical building just beyond it, near the present day On The Border.

The gas station was originally "Fill 'em Fast" in the mid-late 70's and later bought by Shamrock.

Yeah, that thing is the La Quinta "bell tower", but that's not a La Quinta--must have had a different name at one time.

I can't see the original pic

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The former gas station at the northeast corner looks distinctly different than the 1980s one. Is it possible that whatever was there in the early 1980s was torn down for another gas station, and then THAT one became the U-Haul?

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There was a Diamond Shamrock station built there in the late 80's. The U-Hall was located on Texas, just south of there and later bought that lot when Diamond Shamrock went out of business.

It was a good location for a gas station, but the lot was too small to maneuver in and out of.

707 did have a twin, or very similar, building. I know there was a Hunan restaurant and Charli clothing in the buildings, don't know which was in which. One building got torn down for the Barnes & Noble / On The Border development.

In the 80's I remember Computer Access off by itself surrounded by a lot of empty space. It probably was about where B&N or Office Depot ended up.

Is the Saber Inn visible in the first pic?

[This message has been edited by Scotch (edited 5/21/2013 5:03p).]

According to Brazos CAD, it looks like the original service station on the southeast corner had been torn down and rebuilt as a Diamond Shamrock by 1989.

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Looks like Pizza Hut wasn't built yet in the first shot.

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I just re-watched the actual video...it's there, just outside the frame.

I also saw that the Kettle was originally a Pancakes House, associated with the Ramada (original Ramada sign had a Pancakes House sign below it).

[This message has been edited by AggiePhil (edited 5/20/2013 6:27p).]

I see the Pancake House signage under the Ramada sign in the video at 1:57, but is this for sure in reference to the future Kettle?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJySapzW0Y

I have heard some say on the board that The Kettle was a Pancake House, and I have a memory(could be faulty) of a sign under the main Kettle sign that said PANCAKES in the early 80's, I just don't see the connection in the video.

I remember the big slide, Saber Inn & Pizza hut around 1973

I remember the big slide, Saber Inn & Pizza hut around 1973

Scotch - that is what I was looking at. If it was the Saber Inn then the original Grapevine restaurant was in the front section of the motel on Texas Avenue.

After giving it some more consideration, I'm now of the opinion that the "PANCAKE HOUSE" signage seen below was probably in reference to the lobby restaurant, not the detached Kettle restaurant.



For one thing, it doesn't look like there currently is or ever was a restaurant just called "Pancake House". Also, the Kettle sign said "Pancakes" (with an "s"). And, it looks like most of the original Ramada Inns advertised their lobby restaurants in a manner similar to the one seen in the above photo. Ramada Pancake Cottage was a concept seen around that time.

So that begs the question, when did the detached Kettle restaurant open? Here's a picture of it early on, from the same video.

I thought that the "Pancake House" was a full-service restaurant inside the Ramada. I also remember seeing (though I didn't see it on the video, may have missed it) a picture with Kettle and the Oasis Pipes & Tobacco building, except it wasn't the Oasis back then, it was a UtoteM.

I need a nap. I had a faulty memory of what is probably a faulty memory. I previously thought the Kettle sign said "WAFFLES", and then it later changed to "PANCAKES". If only that picture of the Kettle from the 80's included the sign.

[This message has been edited by Scotch (edited 5/30/2013 8:34p).]

When I worked at the Schlotzsky's next door to the old Plaza, the owners told me that it used to be a Kettle. This would have been in the 70s I'm guessing? Just curious if anyone remembers that.

The old Snowflake Donuts at Hensel and Texas, while not next to the Plaza directly, was a Schlotzsky's until the early to mid 1990s.

There also appears to be another business next to UtoteM.

It was a Kettle. There was also a Pizza Inn across Texas Ave. From the Ramada. Pizza Hut was on University next to the Shamrock.

For years I have been telling people that I remember there being a Pancake House where the Kettle is/was on University Drive. I'm not certain it was actually called that, but I have a memory of a sign being there, similar to the one below. Anyone else remember this?

bco: Thanks for the reply. I'm guessing the Kettle moved to the University Drive location, then Schlotzsky's opened.

PSD3: That's correct. It was a Schlotzsky's owned by a husband and wife. The other location was by Winn Dixie on Texas/SW Parkway where Quiznos is now.

That little building had an interesting history of businesses! I was sad to see it torn down.

Skylark, the large Kettle sign had a sign about halfway down that said PANCAKES just like that. I previously bought it
said WAFFLES at one time, but I am beginning to think that memory is incorrect.

Skylark, 3:08 into the video, there's your sign.

I think my confusion about it saying WAFFLES was that it was in a similar style to the WAFFLE HOUSE sign.

Wow, I never would have spotted that sign. Good eye!

I think you may be right about the sinage. It does look a lot like the original Waffle House sign. Those types of similarities and the cloudiness that seems to happen to our memory over time, can certainly play a few tricks on us now and then. It certainly happened to me!

The other identical building at 707 Texas was the original location of Audio Video.

- 707 Texas does still have two buildings. FWIW, the old InSite Magazine Archives I've found do have Hunan listed as 707 Texas Avenue.

- The little building at Texas Avenue and Hensel (torn down last year) was "Dutch Kettle Snack Bar" in the 1960s (first tenant) --> ??? --> Schlotzsky's Deli (late 1980s/early 1990s) --> Snowflake Donuts.

- The building to the right of UtoteM (which I can surmise started as UtoteM, then Circle K --> ??? --> Ink Dreams --> Oasis Pipes & Tobacco) seems unfamiliar to me. From Google Earth, it looks like it lasted up until the end of the Plaza, but I don't remember anything being there? I thought it was part of their property, not a separate business.

- The Kettle looks like it was always a Kettle.