• Tag Archives Westbury Square

  • “What I say is that, if a fellow really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.” A. A. Milne

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    When will Jack in the Box bring back “Frings”? One of my fondest memories of the late 70’s/80’s was going to the doctor. Well, not the doctor so much, but after each doctor visit, we’d go to the Jack in the Box and pick up some Frings. It was a little fry pouch with two separate compartments – one would have fries and the other would have rings. Enough starchy breaded oily goodness to pick me up after a hernia exam….or whatever it was I was ailing with. (More than likely strep throat or an ear infection).  Above is a slightly older order box, but I think the one there did have a newer 80’s style box. They also didn’t have indoor seating, it was all outdoor with a walk up window. (In Houston? That was nuts!)

    The corner where the Jack in the Box used to stand has a lot of great memories for me. It’s kind of surprising that the little ratty strip center and long, LONG abandoned gas station are still there.  I think we had our car serviced there once or twice. Our old house was only about two or three miles away.


    The Jack in the Box was originally located where AutoZone and Pizza Hut now stand. There was also a drive through Fotomat Booth in the corner.

    * The alley behind the strip center and the laundromat is where I rode a three-wheeler for the first (and last time). I accidentally popped a wheelie and my buddy was like, “How did you do that?”

    * The strip center had a liquor store, we dug around in the dumpsters behind it (like rats) and pulled a nice cache of Crown Royal cloth bags. I used those bags for years, even earning a Mike Peck stern, “WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!” under the assumption that I had been drinking Crown Royal….in high school….yeah, so no, I told my dumpster story.

    * The strip center had a U-Tote-Em, which in my junior high circles were well known for having a better candy selection than other convenience stores – namely 7-11 at the time. I don’t recall any other c-stores around.

    * The gas station that hasn’t been used since the mid-90’s if I recall. That gas station is where I can still remember the smell of leaded gasoline. Crazy. There was one time a guy was trying to get his Baja Bug started and asked if me and my friend could help push it. We tried, and it still didn’t run. We had pushed it into the liquor store parking lot, and for our help he let us pick some cassette tapes from his cassette tape rack. My friend picked one, then saw another one and said, “Aw, I should have gotten that one!”  As sheltered as I was, I didn’t know what to pick so I chose the one that my friend wanted after all – it ended up being J Geils album Freeze Frame – which had the classics Centerfold and Freeze Frame.

    * My friend from above ended up working at the Autozone in the late 90’s/2000’s and I ran into him in shock buying an in-car air filter for my Honda. Hadn’t seen the guy in years.

    * That Jack in the Box location is where my buddy and I were hanging out when we saw the area’s homeless dude attack the bank with a long pole. We were briefly interviewed by police regarding what we saw – the suspicion was that he did it to get a night in jail and free food.  Westbury Square is right down the street. It’s seen better days.  A lot of memories there too.


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  • “If you worried about falling off the bike, you’d never get on.” Lance Armstrong

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    My daughter had a recent need for a bicycle.  After we got it road-ready, I found myself warning her, “If someone wants to steal your bike, give it to them. Don’t get hurt over something as dumb as a bicycle.” After she reminded me what kind of lily-white crime free neighborhood she lives in now, I had to think for a minute. Then, I looked around and I was definitely talking about my neighborhood.

    It took me back to some of my bestest bike riding experiences. One of my first was defying my parents and biking down to Westwood Mall – in the middle of the dried out Braes Bayou. Another was my 70’s banana seat Raleigh – – that managed to be stolen three separate times. Each time, I found it further and further away. Once, leaning against a house at the end of the block. The other time I found it at Westbury Square, where I worked for a while at The Company Onstage. The last time I’m not sure where it went. Odd walking in such a remote area from my home and seeing such a distinctive bike. “Hey! That’s my bike!” I googled it, but it was such a weird bike that I’ll probably never find it.

    Then there was my black Huffy. My ultimate pre-car bicycle was my Mongoose. Ahh…..my Mongoose.

    The Mongoose was subject to many a schoolyard debate on the merits of…..uh….whatever we could throw at it. “Mongoose vs Diamondback” My first Mongoose was stolen by a kid who lived next to our elementary school. My second looked just like this:

    What a great looking bike. Lightweight and chromed out, it was a gorgeous bike. I ended up taking the bike with me to New Zealand where it was (unbeknownst to me) the Rolls Royce of bikes. I rode it to school two times. After the stares and envious looks, my theft paranoia got the best of me and I walked the 1.988 miles instead.

    I just looked at that map – in no way is that 1.988 miles flat – there’s a 40 degree slope on both sides of Cumberland. We called that “Cumberland Hill”. It is in fact the largest hill I’ve ever had to traverse in any school bound travels. So when I tell my daughter “it was uphill both ways!”, in a way it really was.

    So that second Mongoose actually was nearly stolen once, then was completely stolen the second time – although I got it back. The first time is when my friend Jeremy and I were riding to Sharpstown Mall (that’s a LONG ride from my house). We were walking our bikes through the mud and this kid comes up, grabs my bike and pushes me down. I was so astonished, I wasn’t sure what was happening. So I grabbed the back tire (not smart, but it wasn’t moving). I yanked and he pulled out a screwdriver. “Let go!” “No!” “Let go!”. He then kind of stabbed the tire with the screwdriver but it just bounced off.

    By that point I had figured out what he was trying to do and I was freaking out. Somehow this lady way across the street started yelling at this kid, “Hey! I see you! Where’s your momma!” I was so startled I yelled, “At home!” The big kid kind of muttered then let go of my bike.

    The second time was actually pretty anticlimactic. In my junior year of high school, I get this knock on the door. At the door is a police officer and two kids. The police officer asks me if anything has been stolen out of the garage. I tell him I have no idea. He gives me the look like, “Say yes you idiot.” He then tells me that these kids admitted that they stole my Mongoose. Of course I didn’t notice, I’d been driving a car since then. The only thing left on it that was original was the frame. The cool lightweight rims were long gone.Later, one of my friends that worked with me at Meyerland General Cinema asked if he could have it so I gave it to him.

    He said that the guy at the bike shop was amazed, “This is one of the first Chrome framed Mongooses!!”

    I miss that bike.


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