Houston’s South Asian community is a case study in how an ethnic enclave evolves. The city is relatively diverse and young compared to other American metro areas, with large groups of blacks and Hispanics. As of 2013, Asian Indians made up roughly 2 percent of the city and its surrounding areas, according to estimates based on data from the Census Bureau. The overall population is growing, and according to the Greater Houston Partnership, an association of local businesses, it may become even more ethnically mixed in coming decades. The changes that have happened on Hillcroft are part of that story: After the first few businesses, it only took a few years for the area to start “blowing up,” as Patel put it. A lot of South Asian immigrants, including people from all over different regions of India and Pakistan, came to Houston for jobs in medicine, engineering, oil and gas, all big industries the Texas city. “You’re talking about first generations, leaving their country and moving abroad—they needed somewhere that reminded them of home,” Lulla said. “Everybody knew everybody, and this street was a meet-up point.”

A lot of the shops are small and family-owned, and the more established ones have had to figure out new ways of doing business as they’ve grown. Lulla said he often sees sari shops opening up, only to close down quickly; competition on the block is fierce, and people will often walk back and forth between stores to compare prices and products. When it comes to food, owners are often secretive about recipes; Lulla said an employee at his family’s restaurant quit only to open a nearly identical place down the street.

This kind of thing has made it hard for the owners to trust their stores to people outside their families. Karat 22, for example, hired its first-ever manager just last year. “We had never had anyone open or closer our doors, ever, besides me or a member of my family, in 30 years,” Patel said. He and his sister went away to school in Boston, but they eventually came back, hoping to help their parents’ business expand. “The whole passing down through the generations: It’s a very Asian thing to do,” he said. “I would love to have more Karat 22s. I’m not going to have more kids just to open them up. Keeping with family is great, but you’re not going to grow more if you keep thinking that way.”

Over time the South Asian community in Houston has become fairly diverse in terms of geographic origin and cultural traditions. Gahunia’s family is from Punjab, in northern India, but she didn’t grow up religious. Her family’s store has always served meat, including beef, which many Hindus don’t eat; she said some of their best business is from Pakistani Muslims who buy sweets at the end of Ramadan. There’s a small temple to Ganesh around the corner from Hillcroft Avenue, and Aku Patel, Anant’s dad, helped with the development of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, a giant Hindu temple of white, intricately carved stone that sits a few miles south in Stafford.