http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-031-14.jpg I'm not sure exactly when this building was built, but it was in the 80's.  It was apparently a bank, complete with a drive thru teller.  Now, it is just a multitude of small offices and spaces for lease.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-051-24.jpg This is the front view of the same building at Highway 6 and Timber Creek Place Drive.  It has amazing architecture.  Sharp edges and a curved awning.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-017-7.jpg When I was young, about 5, I remember this restaurant as Wyatt's Cafeteria, located on Highway 6 and Timber Creek Place Ln.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-021-9.jpg This ACE hardware store was once Hamilton Hardware, and still is, although the Ace name was not so large in the early 80's.  My dad visited this hardware store frequently when I was young.  It has been in business since 1976.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-019-8.jpg A front view of Hamilton Hardware.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j72/megatherion7900/0731601-R1-020-8A.jpg Bear Creek roller skating rink has been nestled in the background between the Ace hardware and the Collision shop for many years.  My guess is that it was built in the late 1970's or early 80's when roller-skating rinks were the place to be for teens.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j72/megatherion7900/0731601-R1-022-9A.jpg  This is the sign for the skating rink.  I'm sure those lamps are original fixtures, although the graffiti'd Ford Club Wagon is not.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-015-6.jpg This is the busy auto service section of North Highway 6.  This Southwestern Muffler has apparently been in business since 1959, and was known in the sixties as the place to go for custom exhaust. www.southwesternmuffler.com/history.

Behind the CSI collision repair shop is another classic spot, the Bear Creek Roller Skating rink.  I have no idea when this place was built, but I would guess the early 1970's, given the trend of hanging out at skating rinks prior to video games and Starbucks. 

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-013-5.jpg C & E Auto Care has been serving the Bear Creek area for at least 25 years.  When this photo was taken, it was a Tuesday at 4:00pm, but it was closed, so I don't know if the business closed for good, or for the day.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-027-12.jpg I thought this slab of tile was all that remained of the old China Best restaurant, which burned down in the early 80's, but a viewer corrected me.  This slab infact was the old foundation of the Summer House restaurant, a business that operated in the late 1970's, and was similar to a Denny's or IHOP restaurant.  This lot is hidden behind a red barn next door to O'Reilly Auto Parts.  The barn was once a drive-thru liquor store, and a vehicle inspection station.

The actual location of CHINA BEST was further down beside Northwest Glass & Mirror, and although it caught fire, the front half of the building was rebuilt to form today's PAWN ONE.  But if you look toward the rear of the pawn shop building, you can still see the original Spanish-tile roof.

I was unable to get a photo for this, due to lack of information, but near the O'Reilly Auto Parts in Bear Creek, there used to be a company that rented utility equipment such as generators, compressors, tractors and plows.  Their unique feature that I remember was their equipment was all painted pastel purple.  If anyone has any more info on this please e-mail me.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0800145-R1-013-5.jpg I remember eating at this Long John Silvers' restaurant as a young child, so it's definitely as old as the early 80's, but the design of the building compared to modern fast food outlets suggests that it may have been built in the 1970's. Oddly, when I passed by in September 05, they had moved to another site, leaving the restaurant vacant for the first time in over 25 years.  Also, after I photographed the Toddle House with it's front patio add-on, a crew of workers came by to tear the deck down, leaving the original entry visible.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0800145-R1-019-8.jpg This photo shows the older design of the Long John Silvers' restaurant.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j72/megatherion7900/816021-R1-028-12A.jpg This was taken from the balcony of InTown Suites after Long John's closed, but before the new structure to the left was built.

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/ljsclosed.jpg This is the Long John's after it closed in the fall of 2005.  I was lucky to catch some photos while it was still open.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-047-22_1.jpg Part 1: The old Bear Creek Burger King, now just a boarded up shack on Highway 6 at Loch Katrine.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-045-21_1.jpg Part 2: Bear Creek Burger King.  I'm not certain, but I believe this restaurant has been around since before 1980.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-049-23_1.jpg This vast parking lot was once that of the Bear Creek K-Mart, where people went before Wal-Marts began exploding around the nation.  K-mart struggled along until the late 90's, then finally folded.  This location is now Track 21, an indoor racing center.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-051-24_1.jpg In the same parking lot at Loch Katrine is this Hobby Lobby, which was originally a Safeway grocery store in the later 1970's.  It has also seen time under the name "Apple Tree", and has been damaged by a tornado.  Across the street is a Mc Donalds that has been in place since I can remember.  It was the only Mc Donalds for miles back in the early 1980's until the Copperfield location sprang up circa 1987.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-E029.jpg Highway 6 and Clay Road was once the location of Cinema 6 move theaters, a mainstream movie theater in the late 70's, and later the area's Dollar Cinema.  The theater closed in the 90's, and is awaiting renovation and re-use.  Next door, the old 24 Hour Fitness used to be a toy store in the 1980's called 12 and Under.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0800145-R1-011-4.jpg The ticket booth of Bear Creek Cinema 6.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0800145-R1-009-3.jpg The current condition of disarray inside the theater.  This was the snack bar.

http://www.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0853145-R1-047-22.jpg I hardly notice this pawn shop at Highway 6 and Clay Road, but closer observation will tell you that this was once a Pizza Hut dine-in restaurant, most likely built in the later 1970's. 

Further down Highway 6, the business fronts taper off after Clay Road, and the Addicks Reservoir begins.  The speed limit goes from 45 to 60 mph.  The intersection of Patterson Rd. has a history going back beyond the fifties.  The corner graveyard, known to some as Blue Light Cemetery, was a popular site to "park" during the fifties and sixties, but repeated vandalism has destroyed much of the original headstones, dating back to the turn of the last century.  There is a historical plaque in front of the original Hillendahl family cemetery, sectioned off by fencing.  I have recently included some new photos as of June 2005 that show the original Blue Light Cemetery, and the historical plaque that accompanies it.

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/theoldcopperfield/0willia-R1-034-15A.jpg This is what is known as the Blue Light Cemetery.