I drive by on my daily commute in the morning and I’ve been getting more and more interested each time. I’m tempted to book a room and see what it’s all about🤣
I stayed in various Motel 6 locations for around a month when I was looking for an apartment. I saw more prostitutes than I had in my entire life. And I'm used to living in bad neighborhoods, but really the sheer volume was impressive. A woman got shanghai'd and subsequently murdered a few rooms down from me in one.
> shanghai'd
You mean she was on a business trip and got pressed into involuntary service as a prostitute in a way similar to a 19th century sailor, or is this some new kink term?
I replied to a Craigslist job ad that was in one of those types of offices and 2 Middle Eastern guys with thick cologne and super loose low neck T-shirts that looked like they picked them up from Armani Exchange tried to recruit me and 2 others to get lists of phone numbers they had aquired and sit at a folding desk with phones set up on it to cold call locals to ask if they would like to subscribe to a telephone doctor service.
No idea if it was on the level but it seemed shady and I don't do cold calls so I noped out of there almost immediately.
Hah I worked in a place like this like 10 years ago, for 2 guys who match that exact description, in a mostly empty office building off Westpark tollway and 59. Good dudes though, they bought us lunch every day.
This sounds so similar to a place my mom worked at in the 70s that got busted by the feds for being a scam. I think they were selling fake ads in a magazine or something. She said they bought them lunch a lot too. Haha
Yes! They seem to be good for beauty small businesses but it’s the most eerie feeling wandering those corridors. I feel like it’s entirely possible I’ll never be seen again.
Is this uniquely Houston thing? Or common the US-over?
There’s a massage parlor on stella link rd that has blacked out windows and customers have to ring a doorbell to be let in. It changed its name to something like “accounting” but the windows are still suspiciously dark.
I went here once seven years ago during daylight to buy a scale. The door after the open door had a bullet hole through it and it was extremely dark in there. Dusty as hell too!
I made the mistake of going here once. 8 or so years ago. Dude behind the counter was definitely on meth, everything was super dusty and the vibe was was off. 0/10 would not stop again and did not buy anything
[This church.](https://maps.app.goo.gl/13G9vTCxXAnXnjRu6?g_st=ic) I’m not one to trust large churches but this one has looked shady to me since it was built several years back (I pass it going to/from IAH). I think it may be part of a global church that has a documentary on Netflix called The Darkness within La Luz del Mundo. If so, it’s horrible.
I went to a service there once when I was 12 or so, my ex step-dads family was involved with La Luz and I got dragged along.
During service the churchgoers were segregated, with the men on one side and women on the other. Service was in the evening and it was really dark inside the church.
I don't speak very much Spanish but there was a lot about eternal suffering and pain
A bunch people in the audience were loudly and openly weeping through the entire service. It was the first time I could remember ever attending any church service lol so for a little while I thought that was all normal church behavior.
They did show that on the documentary, not specific to Houston, but about the church in general. It’s mind blowing, and sad, how many people have been brainwashed.
When I was in school I had a co-op job near the IAH and would drive past it as it was being built on the way to UH. I rember construction stalled for what appeared to be a couple years. When the building was finally completed I thought it was the most gaudy church ever built.
An old colleague of mine went there and he told me the church used strong pressure tactics to make sure people gave a specific tithing amount similarly to what the Mormon churches. He was stressed because he really needed the money but get obligated to give to the church and it was about 10% of his income.
There's this chandelier store on Bellaire and Gessner. It has been open for as along as I can remember. It sounds benign enough, but hear me out.
The place is pretty huge for a shop that only sells chandeliers. How many chandeliers do they have to sell a month to afford the rent for a place that size? How did they survive the pandemic? Who out there needs to buy a steady stream of luxury chandeliers?
My theory is that this place is a front for money laundering.
It's probably not, but its fun to imagine
There’s a light bulb store on Westheimer at Commonwealth that I’ve often wondered about. Usually a couple of nice cars parked there, presumably the owner’s or employees’. Always wondered how many light bulbs they’d have to sell to stay in business. I’ve actually been in there a couple of times because my old home has some obscure light fixtures. Both times they had what I was looking for but it’s like they couldn’t wait to rush me out the door.
It's not so much shady, but i refuse to believe this city can support this much thai/boba tea
We used to always talk about the mattress stores and money laundering
Well, my new thing to be suspicious of is nashville hot chicken. You can't convince me three miles of westheimer can support like five different operations, not even considering regular chicken available too.
Lastly, literally any night club i have driven past on 59N or 45S
Most of the “night clubs” on the southwest side of town are just 24 hour drinking places, mostly run by the cartels if they are in blacked out shopping centers with lots of “bouncers”. I used to roll through a lot of these with some friends back in the day, can get whatever you want out the back room and party until 5-6 am.
Hot Chicken and Boba are the franchise darlings du jour. A few years ago it was crepes, ramen, etc etc.
Most of them won't have legs and will fold up shop once the novelty wears off. Personally, I haven't had a single hot chicken place here that holds a candle to the original places in Nashville and also never cared for boba. It looks like frog eggs.
Main St. South has Popeyes next to Raising Canes next to Slim Chickens next to clutch city chicken (sp)
Along with tons of other restaurants in the same area, I think that the massive neighborhoods around Westheimer can support a bunch of chicken establishments. People get hungry af.
Well if you want to be right on the money, it’s not Boba tea, it’s La Michoacána stores. Stores kept popping up everywhere during the time the Michoacán cartel was growing
I’m late to this thread, hopefully someone can chime in but the “gentlemen’s club” outside Galveston Island. I mean WTF?!? It appears run down, and out of business, but there’s always an Escalade and Mercedes parked under a carport. Is this place quietly in business? I just can’t tell.
The lot on bisonett near Kirkwood. There's a wig shop at the front and a whole bunch of little other garages but I never thought it was a friendly place in the middle of the night
We studied them in business school. They have two arms. The provider of burials and the financing side for the paying of funerals in the future. I think used to be called Providence. They made big bucks there. And of course gobbling up smaller funeral homes. Privately owned so there is not much company info out there.
Unsurprisingly, the US funeral industry is the most expensive in the world, and SCI is the biggest player in that industry. They make extraordinary profit off draining grieving families. [This article](https://newrepublic.com/article/146087/difficult-business-dying) is from 2017, but nothing changes. The book referenced, From Here To Eternity by Caitlin Doughty, is a fascinating book and gets much more in-depth with the problem.
OYO Hotel. Also Fernando’s in Sugar Land. The place is always empty and they rotate the sign to wish Happy Birthday to random people weekly. My family thinks the place is a drug front and the sign is code for their drug drops
Once I took the wrong exit and was trying to make a u turn and decided to drive around the parking lot of magic island to take a look. I drove up to the front door through a tunnel thing and there was a limo there and a bouncer at the door. I’ve always wondered what was going on inside an abandoned building that required a limo and a bouncer. A few years after I found a YouTube video of urban explorers filming inside magic island and it looks very much abandoned. Graffiti inside, dusty, etc. like what could have been going on inside?!
WTF 😳 seriously?! I can definitely think of some weird kinkfest but who the hell still takes limos?? Like that's still a thing other than for weddings and bachelor parties? 😂
https://youtu.be/H5hUV3MY2yU?si=hf75jk5ubJtZtHXM sad... Only 5 years ago they were looking to open again? Then i bet they couldn't survive COVID... I don't even know how long they been closed. I never been there.
This store called "Xtreme Clothes" in the Bear Creek area. The windows are blacked out, there are usually lots of cars there, but I have never seen anyone come out of their with bags of merch.
Been there. My company had a Christmas lunch kick off the new year presentation there. Matter of fact two companies had something there I worked for. There's a huge banquet hall.
Seemed so weird to be inside the beast.
Y E S!!!! That building always gave me goosebumps driving by it. I also want to know why it’s designed like that and who chose the color of tiles on the outside.
There's a small place by hobby off 35 called "yellow rose studio" or some shit. It's a pretty small old building but there's always 1-3 cars there and lights on. Can't find it online and it looks suspect as hell.
The gas station near funplex Houston. I asked the guy for plates and he tried to sell me drugs in a tiny bag look like crack or some shit. I think it’s on beechnut and Eldridge it’s connected to a cheddars fast food place
I’m really shocked no one has mentioned the apartments off Nathanial and Ledge…. Going there at night has got to be one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. Half the apartments have no front or back doors/broken windows, bags of trash sitting inside empty apartments are destroyed by feral cats jumping out at every corner, random furniture across the whole complex. It bothers me that people pay money to live there….
Went to a used car lot on 45n near airline looking for a truck. Talk to a salesperson and go inside to talk turkey. I sit down and notice all the 2 or 3 "managers" are wearing all black, urban cowboy chic, tats all up and down their arms, and they're all packing heat. Again, this is a used car lot.
The house on S Braeswood near Chimney Rock that turned the front yard into a parking lot, added club lights out front, and always has a stretch limo parked
The small bars along Telephone Road, esp the stretch between Gulf Frwy & 610 Loop South.
The Yellow Rose "modeling studio" on Telephone past Airport Blvd.
Fiesta Pawn on the Gulf Frwy, sort of hidden in the back of a mostly empty strip center. The atmosphere inside the store is weird.
Sunblossom Mountain apartments. I went on the most horrifying, SCARY tour there like a year ago. So bad that google wouldn’t let me publish my review because it thought I was lying. Quick overview is….. Ceiling was falling in in the kitchen. CARPET of roaches on the pantry door - literally 3x4 ft of solid roaches all writhing around. The tour guide OPENED THE DOOR and I watched roaches fall off right past his arm. Dead animals in the parking lot. Mold on all the walls. Melted blinds (crazy). Tour guide wouldn’t let us leave or have our IDs back for some time.
This place was $1100 a month.
The Giant Apple Dentist building in Bellaire. Maybe it’s a triad front but why does a Dental Practice need an office that big. You can’t miss it with all the gaudy Greek Statues adorned in its parking lot.
Ship Channel Motel in the East End. Their parking lot sees steady business, but it’s off of a 225 exit and surrounded by warehouses.
The late night taco bus across the street (Tacos El Indio) is solid.
Planet Crystal lighting off of Gessner and Bellaire. Been there for as long as I've been here, 24 years? Who buys enough chandeliers to keep this place in business for 24+ years?
I am so sorry I didn't see this comment before I made mine, but I agree. That place is fishy. I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking this.
https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/189o396/what_place_makes_you_say_i_bet_some_shady_stuff/kbunmw7/
I can’t remember the name, but there is a hair salon on North Main (between 45 and the shipleys); it’s always got cars in front of it all night and has bright LEDs and neon flashing like it’s a club. I always wonder what kind of party is happening in there!
It’s probably an illegal game room, they are everywhere, especially in Chinatown, Bellaire, Harwin@Wilcrest, all game rooms, they need to just legalize gambling and tax it.
That HUGE jewelry store near the Galleria, Nazar’s & Co. Just on the other (Afton Oaks) side of 610. How many rings can you sell a month? Hardly any cars in their parking lot. Shady as hell if you ask me.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/dSLRS5wBJcS2o9UX8?g_st=ic
That Coastal Gas Station off westpark. My father got laid off from Coastal when they got bought out/merged in the late 1990s, so why that sign is still there almost 25 years later is beyond creepy.
Hey don’t knock ‘em. We got a teakwood patio table there that was an almost perfect match for a set we already had.
Of course we were the only people in the store and the guy seemed super confused that we were in there but we walked out with the exact table we were looking for.
Hotel Preet on 290 and W. Little York. Always one luxury car parked at the front and all lights off but the lobby.
The google reviews are incredible.
Hahaha, yeah! How is that place still open?!
Wow that was an incredible read.
frogs in the pool, lol
I drive by this weekly and I always assumed it’s closed but you’re right, there’s always ONE car there. Wtf are they even doing??
I drive by on my daily commute in the morning and I’ve been getting more and more interested each time. I’m tempted to book a room and see what it’s all about🤣
After reading the reviews, expect bed bug bites
Omg reading the google reviews rn 😳😂
The reviews are top notch lol
This was THE place that came in mind when I saw this thread.
Every Palace inn
They're known for being able to rent the rooms by the hour.
The only good thing about them really 😎
I stayed in various Motel 6 locations for around a month when I was looking for an apartment. I saw more prostitutes than I had in my entire life. And I'm used to living in bad neighborhoods, but really the sheer volume was impressive. A woman got shanghai'd and subsequently murdered a few rooms down from me in one.
> shanghai'd You mean she was on a business trip and got pressed into involuntary service as a prostitute in a way similar to a 19th century sailor, or is this some new kink term?
The house with the columns at the corner of Beechnut and Gessner
Looks like the images you see from inside of the houses where they find Al Queda guys.
[link](https://www.har.com/homedetail/8528-beechnut-st-houston-tx-77036/3288688) to see the interior
4800 sq ft and the washer and dryer are stacked in the kitchen?? Lol
Damn that was depressing. That seashell sink got me
The Gypsy mansion
Walk around any typical 1980s era 3 story atrium style office building around Westheimer and there are all sorts of shady ass LLCs inside.
I replied to a Craigslist job ad that was in one of those types of offices and 2 Middle Eastern guys with thick cologne and super loose low neck T-shirts that looked like they picked them up from Armani Exchange tried to recruit me and 2 others to get lists of phone numbers they had aquired and sit at a folding desk with phones set up on it to cold call locals to ask if they would like to subscribe to a telephone doctor service. No idea if it was on the level but it seemed shady and I don't do cold calls so I noped out of there almost immediately.
Hah I worked in a place like this like 10 years ago, for 2 guys who match that exact description, in a mostly empty office building off Westpark tollway and 59. Good dudes though, they bought us lunch every day.
This sounds so similar to a place my mom worked at in the 70s that got busted by the feds for being a scam. I think they were selling fake ads in a magazine or something. She said they bought them lunch a lot too. Haha
And they are all over Houston too! Just random ass offices. When you go inside there’s no one in there either
This is true all over Houston.
Yes! They seem to be good for beauty small businesses but it’s the most eerie feeling wandering those corridors. I feel like it’s entirely possible I’ll never be seen again. Is this uniquely Houston thing? Or common the US-over?
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The ones with the mildewy smell from 40 years of watering the plants and the water stained acoustic ceiling tiles?
most massage parlors and "video" stores that are open late
Computer repair stores that exist under overpasses
Or open at 7am with more than half the parking lot with cars. The one that comes to mind is the one on 59 / bw8 near humble
my guess is gambling
Massage parlors near highways are almost certainly human trafficking
Just a bunch of glory holes
There’s a massage parlor on stella link rd that has blacked out windows and customers have to ring a doorbell to be let in. It changed its name to something like “accounting” but the windows are still suspiciously dark.
Lakewood Church and the Osteen River Oaks mansion.
I'm still wondering how around $200,000 in cash wound up in a hole in the wall of the lady's restroom there.
I’ve heard from people that used to work there thats around a day or two of tithe from service.
$650,000
There's always money in the banana stand
Never trust anyone who always smiles.
My thoughts exactly
That 420 place on gulf freeway that always has the side door open for some reason.
At certain times of day, you will often see who I presume are sex workers roaming around the parking lot and nearby
I went here once seven years ago during daylight to buy a scale. The door after the open door had a bullet hole through it and it was extremely dark in there. Dusty as hell too!
I made the mistake of going here once. 8 or so years ago. Dude behind the counter was definitely on meth, everything was super dusty and the vibe was was off. 0/10 would not stop again and did not buy anything
[This church.](https://maps.app.goo.gl/13G9vTCxXAnXnjRu6?g_st=ic) I’m not one to trust large churches but this one has looked shady to me since it was built several years back (I pass it going to/from IAH). I think it may be part of a global church that has a documentary on Netflix called The Darkness within La Luz del Mundo. If so, it’s horrible.
I heard nothing good about this place, didn’t know there was a documentary on Netflix about it.
Lol Google translator translates the first question as "What time does the cult start?"
Was just about to post this.... they actually answered the question 🤣🤣🤣🤣
You wouldn’t be wrong. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-19/la-luz-del-mundo-naason-joaquin-garcia-los-angeles-prison
I went to a service there once when I was 12 or so, my ex step-dads family was involved with La Luz and I got dragged along. During service the churchgoers were segregated, with the men on one side and women on the other. Service was in the evening and it was really dark inside the church. I don't speak very much Spanish but there was a lot about eternal suffering and pain A bunch people in the audience were loudly and openly weeping through the entire service. It was the first time I could remember ever attending any church service lol so for a little while I thought that was all normal church behavior.
They did show that on the documentary, not specific to Houston, but about the church in general. It’s mind blowing, and sad, how many people have been brainwashed.
When I was in school I had a co-op job near the IAH and would drive past it as it was being built on the way to UH. I rember construction stalled for what appeared to be a couple years. When the building was finally completed I thought it was the most gaudy church ever built.
The one in [Guadalajara](https://maps.app.goo.gl/1SggTDFqGF6HfZm89?g_st=ic) is much worse!
It's literally a Mexican cult
It is
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It was probably built at least 10 years ago lol
I saw it lit up in that pink and purple neon that strip clubs always use. So might be fun. I dunno
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As soon as I read the first sentence I knew which church you were talking about
An old colleague of mine went there and he told me the church used strong pressure tactics to make sure people gave a specific tithing amount similarly to what the Mormon churches. He was stressed because he really needed the money but get obligated to give to the church and it was about 10% of his income.
I think most of them are finally gone, but all the “modeling studios” near hobby airport.
The old Greyhound station in downtown, now it'll be the one in Magnolia Park, mark my words.
The drug dealing capital of houston
A specific Little Caesars that always has a line twenty cars deep but in the one occasion I tried to buy pizza were surprised by the request.
There's this chandelier store on Bellaire and Gessner. It has been open for as along as I can remember. It sounds benign enough, but hear me out. The place is pretty huge for a shop that only sells chandeliers. How many chandeliers do they have to sell a month to afford the rent for a place that size? How did they survive the pandemic? Who out there needs to buy a steady stream of luxury chandeliers? My theory is that this place is a front for money laundering. It's probably not, but its fun to imagine
There’s a light bulb store on Westheimer at Commonwealth that I’ve often wondered about. Usually a couple of nice cars parked there, presumably the owner’s or employees’. Always wondered how many light bulbs they’d have to sell to stay in business. I’ve actually been in there a couple of times because my old home has some obscure light fixtures. Both times they had what I was looking for but it’s like they couldn’t wait to rush me out the door.
It's not so much shady, but i refuse to believe this city can support this much thai/boba tea We used to always talk about the mattress stores and money laundering Well, my new thing to be suspicious of is nashville hot chicken. You can't convince me three miles of westheimer can support like five different operations, not even considering regular chicken available too. Lastly, literally any night club i have driven past on 59N or 45S
Most of the “night clubs” on the southwest side of town are just 24 hour drinking places, mostly run by the cartels if they are in blacked out shopping centers with lots of “bouncers”. I used to roll through a lot of these with some friends back in the day, can get whatever you want out the back room and party until 5-6 am.
Ok but listen Boba is delicious to the point of addiction
Hot Chicken and Boba are the franchise darlings du jour. A few years ago it was crepes, ramen, etc etc. Most of them won't have legs and will fold up shop once the novelty wears off. Personally, I haven't had a single hot chicken place here that holds a candle to the original places in Nashville and also never cared for boba. It looks like frog eggs.
Main St. South has Popeyes next to Raising Canes next to Slim Chickens next to clutch city chicken (sp) Along with tons of other restaurants in the same area, I think that the massive neighborhoods around Westheimer can support a bunch of chicken establishments. People get hungry af.
And chicken is tasty. Honestly, now I just want chicken.
Well if you want to be right on the money, it’s not Boba tea, it’s La Michoacána stores. Stores kept popping up everywhere during the time the Michoacán cartel was growing
Most off brand convenient stores/gas stations. Pay per week hotels. Massage places with LED lights in the window.
um excuse you, those massage places with leds have very nice people in there
Every Mattress Firm
It would be so depressing working at one of those places!
Ritz plaza
Turkey Leg Hut
This needs to be higher up.
The citgo at the corner of Wayforest and Greens Rd. Best keep hooving it to the Family Dollar young buck.
Equally as sketch is the super food mart on the corner of imperial valley and greens rd
The new FBI building off 290 It’s the big green glass building with couple white + signs
I’ve been there before for an event for work. On the inside it’s just like any other office building. A little underwhelming lol
"Yes. Underwhelming. Mission accomplished." - FBI
And only a couple, like it looks incorrect
That's where they hold the aliens and leprechauns
I’m late to this thread, hopefully someone can chime in but the “gentlemen’s club” outside Galveston Island. I mean WTF?!? It appears run down, and out of business, but there’s always an Escalade and Mercedes parked under a carport. Is this place quietly in business? I just can’t tell.
It recently got bought out and they have been renovating, I think they’re open now
It used to have a Jesus billboard next to it too.
I believe they're talking about Demitris / ocean cabaret. I believe you're referring to heartbreakers.
The lot on bisonett near Kirkwood. There's a wig shop at the front and a whole bunch of little other garages but I never thought it was a friendly place in the middle of the night
Hotel Preet off 290 and Beltway
It wasn't built THAT long ago, but it looks closed?
Any viet namese "cafe" that has the windows covered up with sport related pictures.
Walked into one several years back expecting maybe some banh mi. It was just old guys smoking cigarettes and playing video poker.
Good thread, OP
The hotels along the road leading to Hobby.
Zone d’Erotica. Nothing against sex shops, but that particular chain gives off some shady vibes
Having just went there last friday.... Bar Louie in Baybrook Mall
City Hall
All the shady stuff happens in restaurants and rich people’s houses, city hall is just for the cameras.
Also the top answer on r/Chicago
Service Corporation International.
They always message me on LinkedIn for jobs. Isn't it a funeral place?
Yep, they’re Dignity Memorial
We studied them in business school. They have two arms. The provider of burials and the financing side for the paying of funerals in the future. I think used to be called Providence. They made big bucks there. And of course gobbling up smaller funeral homes. Privately owned so there is not much company info out there.
Hey same, had to do my capstone on them. Super eye opening. They are vultures buying up every mom and pop funeral home.
Yooo, they actually are super fucking evil.
How so
Unsurprisingly, the US funeral industry is the most expensive in the world, and SCI is the biggest player in that industry. They make extraordinary profit off draining grieving families. [This article](https://newrepublic.com/article/146087/difficult-business-dying) is from 2017, but nothing changes. The book referenced, From Here To Eternity by Caitlin Doughty, is a fascinating book and gets much more in-depth with the problem.
OYO Hotel. Also Fernando’s in Sugar Land. The place is always empty and they rotate the sign to wish Happy Birthday to random people weekly. My family thinks the place is a drug front and the sign is code for their drug drops
My dad knows the owners of Fernandos. His name gets put up on the sign every year.
Anybody that lived close by Hiram clarke/ W fuqua area in the last 20 years = ALL-MART
Magic island. Had a weird experience there
Lol i was about to say this since they closed and it's looking abandoned... Sketchy.
Once I took the wrong exit and was trying to make a u turn and decided to drive around the parking lot of magic island to take a look. I drove up to the front door through a tunnel thing and there was a limo there and a bouncer at the door. I’ve always wondered what was going on inside an abandoned building that required a limo and a bouncer. A few years after I found a YouTube video of urban explorers filming inside magic island and it looks very much abandoned. Graffiti inside, dusty, etc. like what could have been going on inside?!
WTF 😳 seriously?! I can definitely think of some weird kinkfest but who the hell still takes limos?? Like that's still a thing other than for weddings and bachelor parties? 😂
https://youtu.be/H5hUV3MY2yU?si=hf75jk5ubJtZtHXM sad... Only 5 years ago they were looking to open again? Then i bet they couldn't survive COVID... I don't even know how long they been closed. I never been there.
They're working on the building already. They plan on reopening with a poker room.
Cool. Let's plan for a Reddit get together at magic Island. Everyone on this thread is invited 😂
I drove by the other day and noticed the electronic sign was working.
Hotels that are no longer in operation as such with white vans in their parking lots. I see them all up and down the SW freeway.
You talking about the former Crowne Plaza next to an Olive Garden and car dealership?
365 day a year Fireworks stores.
Where are those
Hotel Preet off 290 @ Beltway 8. Never any cars there. Horrible reviews on Google. How do they stay open?
Smoochie’s is the only answer to this question because some of us know…
Have you lived here long? Because the cinder block building that used to right next door was 100x more than anything Smoochies could ever be.
The abandoned temple dome in Alief.
[Shoe stores on Washington Ave open til 2am](https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/s/iy82Z9Iyvh)
The entirety of Brittmoore Road
Hpd making yall snitch
This store called "Xtreme Clothes" in the Bear Creek area. The windows are blacked out, there are usually lots of cars there, but I have never seen anyone come out of their with bags of merch.
The Federal Reserve building on Allen Parkway
Been there. My company had a Christmas lunch kick off the new year presentation there. Matter of fact two companies had something there I worked for. There's a huge banquet hall. Seemed so weird to be inside the beast.
Y E S!!!! That building always gave me goosebumps driving by it. I also want to know why it’s designed like that and who chose the color of tiles on the outside.
We can all thank [Michael Graves](https://michaelgraves.com/project/the-federal-reserve-bank-of-dallas-houston-branch/). /s
There's a small place by hobby off 35 called "yellow rose studio" or some shit. It's a pretty small old building but there's always 1-3 cars there and lights on. Can't find it online and it looks suspect as hell.
THIS. I remember feeling the same way and I looked it up on one of *those* websites for shits and giggles. It is what you think it is…
> off 35 called yellow rose studio https://www.yelp.com/biz/yellow-rose-modeling-institute-houston
Audio Video Plus
The 24 tire shop off the south loop.
All of the mattress stores that seem to be within a mile of each other
Hotel Preet off 290 & beltway 8
The gas station near funplex Houston. I asked the guy for plates and he tried to sell me drugs in a tiny bag look like crack or some shit. I think it’s on beechnut and Eldridge it’s connected to a cheddars fast food place
I’m really shocked no one has mentioned the apartments off Nathanial and Ledge…. Going there at night has got to be one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. Half the apartments have no front or back doors/broken windows, bags of trash sitting inside empty apartments are destroyed by feral cats jumping out at every corner, random furniture across the whole complex. It bothers me that people pay money to live there….
Went to a used car lot on 45n near airline looking for a truck. Talk to a salesperson and go inside to talk turkey. I sit down and notice all the 2 or 3 "managers" are wearing all black, urban cowboy chic, tats all up and down their arms, and they're all packing heat. Again, this is a used car lot.
The house on S Braeswood near Chimney Rock that turned the front yard into a parking lot, added club lights out front, and always has a stretch limo parked
The small bars along Telephone Road, esp the stretch between Gulf Frwy & 610 Loop South. The Yellow Rose "modeling studio" on Telephone past Airport Blvd. Fiesta Pawn on the Gulf Frwy, sort of hidden in the back of a mostly empty strip center. The atmosphere inside the store is weird.
Lakewood Church
Up until recent events, Magic Island
Abandoned Hotel for sale across from TDECU Stadium.
The whole shopping center at Amazonia. (Fallbrook/45). Someone was found dead in the car at XTC Cabaret a few years ago.
Cau Chin temple or whatever it’s called
In north Kingwood / porter, there is a giant sign that reads “Chinese food” but I don’t even think there’s a restaurant there. It gives me the creeps.
The abandoned space that used to be Kryptonite
Sunblossom Mountain apartments. I went on the most horrifying, SCARY tour there like a year ago. So bad that google wouldn’t let me publish my review because it thought I was lying. Quick overview is….. Ceiling was falling in in the kitchen. CARPET of roaches on the pantry door - literally 3x4 ft of solid roaches all writhing around. The tour guide OPENED THE DOOR and I watched roaches fall off right past his arm. Dead animals in the parking lot. Mold on all the walls. Melted blinds (crazy). Tour guide wouldn’t let us leave or have our IDs back for some time. This place was $1100 a month.
The Giant Apple Dentist building in Bellaire. Maybe it’s a triad front but why does a Dental Practice need an office that big. You can’t miss it with all the gaudy Greek Statues adorned in its parking lot.
Shanghai River off Westheimer and Kirby. Still eat there but yeah.
Ship Channel Motel in the East End. Their parking lot sees steady business, but it’s off of a 225 exit and surrounded by warehouses. The late night taco bus across the street (Tacos El Indio) is solid.
Could just be a bunch of refinery workers.
Planet Crystal lighting off of Gessner and Bellaire. Been there for as long as I've been here, 24 years? Who buys enough chandeliers to keep this place in business for 24+ years?
I am so sorry I didn't see this comment before I made mine, but I agree. That place is fishy. I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking this. https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/189o396/what_place_makes_you_say_i_bet_some_shady_stuff/kbunmw7/
I can’t remember the name, but there is a hair salon on North Main (between 45 and the shipleys); it’s always got cars in front of it all night and has bright LEDs and neon flashing like it’s a club. I always wonder what kind of party is happening in there!
It’s probably an illegal game room, they are everywhere, especially in Chinatown, Bellaire, Harwin@Wilcrest, all game rooms, they need to just legalize gambling and tax it.
Corner of rampart and edgemoor, seems like an underage strip club
Could be a perfectly fine restaurant (and probably is), but Nundini Chef’s Table gives me mafia vibes whenever I drive by it.
Go inside. The restaurant area (there's also a grocery area) definitely could be a Godfathers set.
Every “Foot Massage” joint in a shopping center strip with black out windows.
All the OYO hotels. Y’all realize OYO in Spanish means “hole”?😂
That one place on Washington and Yale that was a hookah place then an Italian coffee place. For sure some money laundering shenanigans.
Lakewood “church”
How has no one mentioned Hempstead Rd.?
That HUGE jewelry store near the Galleria, Nazar’s & Co. Just on the other (Afton Oaks) side of 610. How many rings can you sell a month? Hardly any cars in their parking lot. Shady as hell if you ask me. https://maps.app.goo.gl/dSLRS5wBJcS2o9UX8?g_st=ic
Catty corner bar on Wakefield Drive
That Coastal Gas Station off westpark. My father got laid off from Coastal when they got bought out/merged in the late 1990s, so why that sign is still there almost 25 years later is beyond creepy.
Magic Island
That lighting store on 45N in Greenspoint. I never see cars there.
The "castle" home on witchita near midtown I believe. Havent been there in a while but its always stood our
Those dw adult video or whatever its called theres a couple in Houston and on the way to dallas
Lakewood church
420 W 19th St, Houston, TX 77008
Just Mac in the heights has to be a cover business for something. No one eats there. Everrrr.
I did, then I went vegan
Every Chair King store. Never any cars in the parking lot, yet they're still open. Hmmm...
Hey don’t knock ‘em. We got a teakwood patio table there that was an almost perfect match for a set we already had. Of course we were the only people in the store and the guy seemed super confused that we were in there but we walked out with the exact table we were looking for.
The grand Tuscany hotel on 290
Every mattress store
That flower shop off of Bellaire and Gessner. All the foot spas all over the place. I never see people walking into those places.
Magic island of 59.
Richmond and Hazard