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Hooper’s restaurant in Kingsland officially opened Wednesday, Jan. 4, after an extensive cosmetic and culinary makeover. The business replaces Grand Central Cafe in the latest phase of a series of planned changes for the property at 1010 King Court, which is under new ownership.

The restaurant gets its name from the late, great horror director Tobe Hooper, who is most well known for the “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” movie. Hooper’s is housed in an old Victorian home that was used as the main set for the 1974 cult classic.

New owners Courtney and Mike Rhodes and Simon Madera and wife Hobie Sasser acquired The Antlers Inn, Grand Central Cafe, and surrounding property in November. With the completion of Hooper’s, they have plans to remodel the bar and coffee shop, update rooms at the inn, establish a central lawn to tie together the entire property, and build a steak and seafood restaurant nearby.

“We’re believers in simplicity,” Madera told DailyTrib.com. “Let’s offer what people are looking for, but in a pragmatic way.”

The menu at Hooper’s is straightforward and Southern-inspired with a few twists, according to Madera. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served, and a weekend brunch is in the works.

Madera described the restaurant as “fast-casual.” Diners can order a quick bite from the counter or dine in.

When it comes to decor, Madera and his partners kept things simple, while still paying homage to the home’s horror past.

“We leaned into the whole ‘Hooper’s’ concept,” he explained. “We’re not massive horror movie fans, but we embraced it after getting in touch with the fanbase and locals.”

Hooper’s is the first phase in a larger-scale plan to revamp the entire property.

“We want to be that center park for people to come and hang out,” he said. “Even if you don’t shop here, it can be a city square.”

The planned central lawn will act as a community space as well as a staging area for future events on the property. Madera mentioned live music, holiday festivals, and more as part of the master plan.

Hooper’s is expected to employ between 15 and 20 workers in the slow season, but Madera predicts the collective businesses on the property could employ up to 100 people in the future.

Grand Central Cafe in Kingsland is now Hooper’s. The restaurant’s new owners are embracing its horror film credits with the name change.

Fans of the 1974 cult classic “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” will recognize it as the main setting and home of Leatherface, the movie’s terrifying antagonist. Years later, the house was moved to Kingsland from Round Rock and, in 2012, became Grand Central Cafe.

It’s namesake, the late, acclaimed horror director Tobe Hooper, a Texas native, kicked off the “Chain Saw Massacre” franchise and also directed the 1982 hit “Poltergeist.”

“We think it’s a brilliant name for what the house is,” said Simon Madera, one of the new owners. “Tobe Hooper made that house famous, and it would be ridiculous for us to not pay homage to him as a director.”

Madera purchased the restaurant and nearby Antlers Inn with wife Hobie Sasser and good friends Courtney and Mike Rhodes.

Renovations and utility upgrades are underway, but the business at 1010 King Court is open. The owners merged the restaurant with the once-separate Club Car Bar into one business. A temporary pop-up menu is available and drinks are still being served from the bar during construction. Indoor seating is available.

Madera will be the hands-on operator of Hooper’s and The Antlers Inn. He is an avid restauranteur responsible for the Taco Flats restaurant chain. Business partner Mike Rhodes has a background in high-end architecture and construction.

“We feel great about it,” Madera said. “We feel really good about the direction we’ve taken, the name we’ve chosen, and the layers of food we’re adding.”

Currently, the restaurant is serving food from the Taco Flats menu out of a trailer on site, but a Hooper’s-specific lineup is in the works and will be implemented once the interior kitchens are finished.

No specifics on the nature of the new menu have been released, but Madera alluded to approachable Southern cuisine in an interview with DailyTrib.com.

Former Club Car Bar owners Sandy and Brad Jones are still managing the bar portion of Hooper’s while renovations take place. Much of the staff from Grand Central Cafe and the bar are still on board.

“We’re looking to build a strong local team that can handle the workload and execute the quality that we are accustomed to,” Madera said.

Another aspect of Hooper’s is the coffee shop and bakery, formerly Kingsland Coffee, which is attached to The Antlers Inn, just a short walk from the main restaurant. The coffee shop is in operation, serving fresh-baked pastries daily.

The new owners project a full opening by March with various stages unveiled as work is completed and plans come to fruition.

Hooper’s is open from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and Sunday and 8 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday.

Access to a formerly private section of the Llano River has been opened to the public by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The Kingsland Slab RV Camp is now part of the department's River Access and Conservation Areas Program. It is one of three new access points opening to the public in the state through this program. The other two are on the Brazos and San Marcos rivers.

“Texas has over 40,000 miles of perennial rivers and creeks, and with 95 percent of the land held in private ownership, it can be a real challenge finding safe legal access for paddling and fishing,” said River Access coordinator John Botros. “These three newest leased access areas are great locations for bank, wade, and kayak fishing and paddling opportunities for the public.”

Five public access points are now available on the main stem of the Llano River. The Kingsland site has 750 feet of river frontage for bank or wade fishing. RV camping is available with electric, water, and sewer hookups. The campground is located on River Oaks Drive, one mile from the RR 1431 West and Slab Road intersection.

“The Kingsland Slab is an excellent place to catch white bass when they are running upriver in the early spring,” reads a Texas Parks and Wildlife news release. “When rains provide flow and water temperatures reach 55 to 60 (degrees), white bass gather in the upper ends of Lake LBJ and begin migrating into the Llano River. White bass spawn over gravel or rock in 2 to 8 feet of flowing water.”

Texas Parks and Wildlife establishes lease agreements with landowners to increase river access for both anglers and paddlers. Since 2012, more than 20 public river access leases have been established with cooperating landowners. These agreements for leased access areas enable or enhance paddling and river fishing on more than 211 miles of 10 different rivers across Texas. A map, area descriptions, and special conditions on public use for each site can be found on the River Access and Conservation Areas webpage.

River Access and Conservation Areas are funded by a combination of sources, including donations from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, sales of the Texas Rivers Conservation License Plate, and grant awards through the U.S. Farm Bill and Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program.

Other Llano River public access points under the jurisdiction of Texas Parks and Wildlife are:

For more information on other river access initiatives, including the Texas Paddling Trails Program, visit the TPWD River Fishing page.

The Katy City Council, at a special April 17 meeting, approved an economic development agreement with Home Depot in which a new store will be constructed at the northwest section of the Cane Island Parkway-Kingsland Boulevard intersection. Officials said the store is expected to be open by late spring-early summer of next year.

To make this happen, the council first authorized a utility agreement between the city and Home Depot. The agreement provides for city utility service at the store. The council approved an agreement involving METRO and Katy Development Authority funds to defray property purchase costs and as part of a sales tax incentive.

The council, at its April 10 meeting, removed another obstacle to the deal by getting the City of Houston to release the 24 acres of land on which the store will be built. That land was under Houston extraterritorial jurisdiction. Now, it is within this its Katy city limits.

Clay Trozzo, a broker with Property Commerce in Houston, was involved in the property acquisition process. He said other development was expected around the future store location, though he had no immediate details on what those stores might sell.

Officials had no precise figures for how many new jobs the store, and the development around it, will bring to Katy. The sales taxes coming from the store and surrounding development will play an important role as Katy continues to grow.

“You’ve got to have sales taxes to fund the growth we’re going to have in all public services,” Mayor Dusty Thiele said after the meeting.

Before the first vote, Thiele said when he became mayor last May, he and City Administrator Byron Hebert met, and Hebert asked if Thiele had any specific goals that he wanted to see the city pursue. Thiele said he had several, but one of the main goals was smart economic development.

“One of the main ones is smart economic development,” Thiele said before the first vote. “I think that is what this is,” Thiele said. “I think this is what we’re looking for in the city of Katy, smart economic development.”

In an interview, Hebert said he approached Home Depot last year, asking if the chain would consider building a store in Katy. Presently, Home Depot has two locations in the Katy area, though not within the city limits. One store is at 1111 N. Fry Road. The other is at 6850 S. Fry Road.

The interest was there, and officials worked to make the deal happen. When Thiele learned of the mutual interest, he said he “bugged and bugged and bugged” Hebert about the situation, though he did not need to because Hebert and city staff working on it. He complimented Hebert and city staff for making it happen.

Hebert described the deal as the perfect economic development package.

“It’s a big one,” Hebert said. “I’m very excited.”

AUSTIN (KXAN) — On March 9, Suzette Baker was fired as head librarian at the Kingsland Branch Library in Llano County.

“This is the final warning and termination,” Baker said, as she pointed out why she was removed from her position. “For creating a disturbance, insubordination, violation of policies and failure to follow instructions.”

Baker said she was given the warning to remove books by her boss, but she did not comply.

“The books in my library in Kingsland were not taken off the shelves, we did not move them, I told my boss that was censorship,” Baker said.

According to Baker, a group of people had reached out to the library system about books that they said were “inappropriate” or “pornographic,” and they wanted them removed, but she disagreed. She claims one of the books was about life as a transgender teen.

“It is her biography of her life growing up as a transgendered teenager and obviously this group thought that was too much for their children to read,” Baker said. “Which no one is forcing their kids to read anything.”

“I always thought she was extremely professional, very knowledgeable, has a strong character, and did her job well to the best of my knowledge,” said Leila Green Little, a patron of the Llano County libraries.

Little said the library system has seen recent changes and there has been no transparency. She said the library advisory board meetings are now closed to the public, and said there was also a change to the library system’s online reading services which moved from OverDrive to Bibliotheca.

“I have now counted 12 books that I know have been removed from Llano County Library, and I can’t get clarification from the library system on why,” Little said.

According to the Texas Tribune, the library staff conducted a thorough review of every children’s book in the library to assess their content.

“There are very clear rules that should be followed with regards to censorship to books in the public library, those rules were not followed,” Little said.

“It may not be my book, it may not be your book, but it could be someone else’s book and we have no right to take that book away from them,” Baker said.

KXAN reached out to multiple Llano County officials looking for answers over the last week, but we haven’t heard back.

The Llano County HR department told KXAN it had no comment about the situation.