20 Signs You Know You Grew Up In Odessa Texas

If you grew up in Odessa Texas these 20 signs will be all too familiar to you. Check out these unmistakable signs that reveal you grew up in Odessa Texas.

1. YOU KNOW WHAT THE “SMELL OF MONEY” MEANS.

The “smell of money” refers to the smell of the gases emitted during the oil and gas production. When you smell rotten eggs, you know you’re getting close to the city!

2. YOU HAVE READ FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, AND/OR HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE OR TELEVISION SERIES.

Football is King in Odessa, as illustrated by Buzz Bissinger in his book, Friday Night Lights. “Sports Illustrated” named the book one of the top five greatest books ever written about sports. It was not well received in Odessa upon its release, but reactions to the book now in Odessa are more positive.

3. YOU FIGURED OUT AT AN EARLY AGE WAS A HOOKER WAS FROM HEARING YOUR PARENTS COMPLAINING ABOUT THEM COMING INTO TOWN EVERY TWO YEARS FOR THE OIL SHOW.

The Oil Show is an international convention held in Odessa every two years. Oil and gas producers from all over the world attend, as do the prostitutes.

4. YOU KNOW ODESSA WAS NAMED AFTER THE CITY IN UKRAINE, AS A JOKE.

The climates, landscapes, and pretty much everything else are the total opposite of the Ukrainian city of Odessa which rests on near the Black Sea. The Ukrainian city of Odessa has a population of over one million and is known as a beautiful resort city with a mild climate, beaches, and European architecture. Odessa, Texas, on the other hand, is more desert than resort. There are no lakes or rivers, much less an ocean or sea, to bring tourists in. The only “tourists” that visit Odessa, Texas, are people from the smaller towns out west coming to shop at the mall, Costco, or Sam’s. The mall does have an ice skating rink…

5. YOU KNOW BY THE AGE OF SIX, WHAT HIGH SCHOOL YOU WILL BE ATTENDING AND YOU PROBABLY KNOW THE FIGHT SONG FOR THAT SCHOOL.

Yes, there is another high school in Odessa besides Permian High School. Odessa High School is another high school there, located on the west side of town. The high schools share the huge football stadium, seen in movie “Friday Night Lights”, where their games are played. Odessa High School was not mentioned in the movie. Both teams’ practices are held at their schools.

6. YOU KNOW THAT HOMECOMING GAMES ARE A BIG DEAL AND THE BIGGER THE MUM, THE BETTER.

Homecoming games are packed with high school girls wearing huge, outlandish, gaudy mums. The size of the mum your date bought you reflects how much he likes you.

7. YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN OIL RIG AND A PUMP JACK.

The city is surrounded by both, but an oil rig is a manned, 24 hour, working operational rig. A pump jack is an unmanned mechanical pump which produces smaller amounts of oil.

8. IF YOU MOVE AWAY FROM ODESSA, YOU MISS TACO VILLA. EVERYDAY.

There have been Facebook pages set up just to beg the owners of the Mexican fast food restaurant, Taco Villa, to expand their restaurants to other cities in Texas. Ex-Odessans who now live in the Dallas area, Austin, San Antonio, and other cities suffer needlessly because of this loss.

9. YOU KNOW THAT ODESSA AND MIDLAND ARE “SISTER CITIES”, BUT MIDLAND REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT.

Growing up in Odessa, you would always hear Midlanders talk about how much better their city is than Odessa. Midland is approximately 20 miles from Odessa. An airport is located between the two cities, which Midland insisted on calling the Midland International Airport. Having lived in both cities, no difference was observed except in the attitudes of the people from each city.

Odessans know that the cities are just alike, except Odessa has the University of Texas of the Permian Basin and a junior college, Odessa College. Midlanders maintain this disregard for Odessa with no reasoning behind it. Sure, George W and Laura Bush lived there, but they left as soon as they could. There is the airport, too, and a junior college, Midland College, but Odessans see the reality that both cities are almost a mirror image, with the airport being the mirror.

10. YOU KNOW THAT ODESSA USED TO HAVE ANOTHER MALL, THE WINWOOD MALL.

The Winwood Mall closed shortly after the Permian Mall opened, unable to compete with the larger mall containing more, newer stores. On one end of the Winwood Mall contained a K-Mart store, while the other end contained a Montgomery Wards. Bealls was located in the center of the mall. The newer mall contained dozens of stores including Dillard’s, JC Penney’s, Sears, Mervin’s, Spencer’s, two music stores, several shoe stores, and many more speciality stores. An HEB now sits where the skeleton of the Winwood Mall sat for years.

11. YOU KNOW THAT ODESSA USED TO HAVE A WATER PARK, WATER WONDERLAND.

Water Wonderland was like an oasis in the desert. Kids and their parents would flock to the water park during the 100+ degree summers. Zip lines, water slides, a wave pool, tubing, and swimming in the large pool kept them cool and happy. For reasons unknown to this author, the water park closed and looks like something from an end of days movie set. Tall weeds and graffiti have taken over and it is sad sight.

12. YOU KNOW THAT ODESSA HAS AN EXACT REPLICA OF SHAKESPEARE’S LONDON GLOBE THEATRE ON THE ODESSA COLLEGE CAMPUS.

The only other city in Texas which has a replica is Dallas. There are only five other replicas in the United States. Not only is it an exact replica, it is a working stage theatre. If anything, the city of Odessa has tried to bring culture to its citizens, not only with the Globe Theatre, but Odessa also has an art museum, the restoration of the old Ector movie theatre, a drive-in movie theatre, and the Permian Playhouse. On the University’s campus, a replica of England’s Stonehenge was also built.

13. YOU KNOW ENDLESS HORIZONS SHOULD BE A CITY LANDMARK.

Endless Horizons has been the place to go for albums, concert tickets, musician posters and t-shirts, and other fun stuff for over forty years. The smell of incense is imbedded in your mind for life. Endless Horizons is an original, never changing dream store for music lovers of all types. You can’t find record stores like this anymore. They are a dying breed. Think about this. What happens to your iTunes collection when you die?

How much have you spent on downloading music that could have gone into vinyl that can be passed down to generations? If they don’t have what you want, they’ll find it for you. When they were faced with having to close because the property it sits on was sold to Odessa College, there was such an outcry that Odessa College granted them a lease until Halloween 2023. If it is made into a historical landmark, it could stay open forever!

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14. YOUR IDEA OF A SUMMER VACATION WAS A TRIP TO DALLAS TO SHOP AND GO TO SIX FLAGS.

Vacations were few and far in between besides visiting family in nearby towns. Your idea of the perfect vacation was a six hour road trip to Dallas to go shopping at the Galleria and go to Six Flags. If you were lucky enough, you could take a 30 minute flight to get there much faster. Staying in hotels with glass elevators or hotels with escalators was a treat!

15. YOUR IDEA OF A WINTER VACATION WAS TRAVELING TO NEW MEXICO TO SKI, ICE SKATE, SLED, TUBE OR RIDE SNOW MOBILES.

Even though it did snow at least once a year in Odessa, it is flat land. Plus, the snow usually melted away by the next day. New Mexico was close enough that traveling there for Winter fun was a must! Taos, Angel Fire, and Ruidoso would be infiltrated by West Texans during the Winter ski season. There’s nothing like driving up Ski Apache’s frozen, curvy cliffs to reach your destination, except maybe bungee jumping…

16. YOU KNOW THAT OIL IS THE MAIN SOURCE OF ODESSA’S ECONOMY.

Oil is and always has been Odessa’s main source of money. Even after moving away, people still watch the gas prices to measure the price of barrels of oil produced. If you lived there during the “oil boom”, you probably were there to witness the “oil bust”, as well, maybe more than one. After the bust in the 1980’s, diversification was talked about over and over again, but it seemed no one was listening.

The latest oil boom and bust is a testament to the lack of diversification. Why go to high school or work a minimum wage job when you can make $80,000 a year working on an oil rig as a gopher? Will this bust change the ways of city government bringing in new technology companies or others that will diversify the city’s economy or will everyone just wait another 20 years, praying for OPEC to decide their and the city’s future in oil?

17. YOU KNOW THAT OZZY OSBOURNE, AFTER BITING THE HEAD OFF A BAT, CANCELLED HIS ODESSA CONCERT IN THE 80’s AFTER THE “ODESSANS FOR DECENCY” PROTESTED AND HE RECEIVED DEATH THREATS.

I have no words for this one except, sorry Ozzy. That would have been a great concert if people at that
time realized that running a heavy metal record backwards did not summon the devil or tell you to do
evil things…or that these were all stage shows to gain attention and making an issue out of something
so ridiculous only helped metal bands sell more records.

18. YOU KNOW WHAT WAS USED TO ASSESS YOUR STATUS IN THE COMMUNITY.

If you didn’t have a car or you didn’t drive a nice car, you were of a lower status. Didn’t wear a name brand fashion clothing or shoes and you were of a lower status. If you did not live in a nice house, you were of lower status. Don’t live in the “right” side of the city?You were of lower status.

19. YOU KNOW THAT THERE WAS NOT MUCH FOR TEENAGERS TO DO IN ODESSA.

This led many teenagers to drinking, smoking, and experimenting with drugs. Parties occurred almost every weekend and if there wasn’t one, there were always places “out in the sticks” where you could party with your friends. It is surprising there isn’t a higher mortality rate for drunk driving.

20. YOU KNOW THAT AFTER YOU GRADUATE, YOU CAN LIVE ANYWHERE YOU LIKE. YOU EITHER STAY FOREVER OR YOU LEAVE FOREVER.

I was once told that American Indians thought of this area of West Texas was a proving ground. If you moved and proved (found) yourself, you would never go back. On the flip side, if you moved away and then returned, you had not proven (found) yourself. It is a hard life anywhere, but you will hopefully find your niche in life, whether it is in Odessa or somewhere else.

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