Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Old Woodlawn High School (St. George, Louisiana)

The original photos posted on Carbon-izer weren't very good so I enhanced this one a bit. (Picture by author, June 2004).

As Numbered Exits is essentially a spin-off of Carbon-izer, it features a number of stuff that was originally there. One of the pages that never got to be published was on Baton Rouge. I'm still working on bringing a few things from over there to here (of what I wrote, only this is sourced from that page. Unlike Hi Nabor, which wasn't on the way to the house (but ads of which were scattered in the kitchen), Woodlawn High School (the original one) was. (Good thing I didn't publish it due to the whole St. George thing).

Originally located at the corner of Jones Bridge Road and Tiger Bend Road, this high school was a landmark when visiting my uncle's house east of it and a notable landmark on Tiger Bend Road for many years, even after its c. 2001-2002 widening (which ended at around the point of Woodlawn High School). The original school dated back to 1910 as Jones Creek School, renamed Seventh Ward School in 1911, and renamed again as Woodlawn High School around 1949 (presumably becoming high school only by this time).

The physical state of the school at 14939 Tiger Bend Road was deteriorating by the late 1990s (even if that article was sensationalized, it's not a good picture) and in 2003, the new Woodlawn High School opened at 15755 Jefferson Highway, and the old school was torn down in summer 2004. I know because I took pictures and published them on Carbon-izer. Woodlawn Middle School was later built on the site.

Tiger Bend Road itself was also not in the best shape, either, until around 2002-2003, this was Tiger Bend Road between Jefferson Highway and Jones Bridge Road (this is a cut-off portion where you can still see the original road, though the center stripe was removed).
This section is pretty close to my memory since the rest of it looks pretty different...and I don't have access to Baton Rouge newspaper archives.

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Meeboon Thai Cuisine (Temple, Texas)

Photo from Google (Ebey Soman).

Previously covered at this page, this restaurant served as Popeyes from some point in the 1980s (believed to do so as H.K. Dodgen Loop addresses didn't exist prior to the mid-1990s)1 to 2006. Afterwards, it was New Baytown Seafood Express (2007-2013), then Rice Etc. Asian Kitchen (2013 to 2021). The current restaurant, Meeboon Thai Cuisine, has been here since November 2021 (a former food truck location). The restaurant has poor access, with no entrance from either the "MarketPlace" shopping center's parking lot, nor Market Loop.

1. The current address is 1521 SW HK Dodgen Loop.

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Arlan's Market of Navasota (Navasota, Texas)

Taken back in January 2016 by author.
Just a short post today on Arlan's Market of Navasota. The main page of this post is on Carbon-izer.com and is worth a read. Check it out!

(We'll continue with another H.K. Dodgen Loop post in the near future.)

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Taco Cabana Off the North Loop (Houston, Texas)

There's some distortion going on with Google Street View, but it's those neon signs I miss most of all. This one was changed in 2019. (Street View from 2015).

As we peel off another entry from North Loop West and just off North Shepherd Drive is Taco Cabana, and a real Taco Cabana opened as Taco Cabana (not a former Two Pesos) and one that is still open (many have since closed), originally in April 1992 (possibly the first Taco Cabana proper to open in Houston, but I haven't confirmed). Sadly, Taco Cabana (as a chain) is no longer open 24 hours, but action still happens here, just this week as of this writing, HPD responded to the scene of a "shooting in progress". A firearm was indeed discharged and one person was injured, but, well, just see for yourself.

Monday, January 19, 2026

Tanglewood Farms (Waco, Texas)

From Waco Tribune-Herald in the vacant Playhouse Cafe days (c. 2001)

While it was part of the original plan for this site, it will be difficult to work the 80+ entry "Interstate 35 in Waco" page into smaller sites for Numbered Exits. Tanglewood Farms was built in 1978 at 221 S. Jack Kultgen Expressway in Waco, soon gaining a positive reputation for its homemade biscuits and good breakfast menu. It changed hands in 1991, but business declined, cut into by things like Cracker Barrel further north and the Shoney's on the other side of the freeway. The site was soon re-developed with the Texas Playhouse being built next to the site, and the restaurant itself becoming the Playhouse's restaurant component, Playhouse Cafe, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but it was short-lived and closed in 1999. In 2001, it was reopened as Magic China, which would open there (ultimately relocating from 1616 Wooded Acres Drive), and operated until 2015 (planned to relocate, but never did).

After that, it was torn down and replaced with Premier ER & Urgent Care - Waco, meanwhile, the Playhouse itself became a restaurant.

Saturday, January 17, 2026

5151-5153 Antoine Drive (Houston, Texas)

Despite being marked as "5000 Antoine", this is the Kroger in better days. (Houston Post, 07/28/1992).
Originally, 5153 Antoine Drive was home to Kroger (a "Superstore" model, store 160) from 1975 to around the mid-2000s (Fallas Paredes, which used the 5151 Antoine address, leased part of the store in February 2007, so it was closed by then). By April 2008 this was divided between Fallas Paredes and 99 Cent Only Stores (with a "Watermill Express" water kiosk in the parking lot). By 2015, this was now a vacancy on the south end of the store, YouFit Health Clubs, and King Dollar on the north end. This arrangement would be kept until 2020, and by 2022 the entire building was vacant again before Value Village opened a store in the former King Dollar later that year. March 2023 brought the opening of a Gordon Food Service Store (which makes sense--the trucks just have to travel south from their distribution center).

I visited this particular store in November 2025. While it didn't have cookies or rotisserie chicken, this location did have a popcorn shop, so I bought some black cherry flavor that mostly tasted like colored sugar, but still good anyway. (Would've preferred something like Dr Pepper, which is what the glaze reminded me of, had similar experiences).

It looks delicious but I can't fit that in my freezer.

Note: This is an ongoing effort to dismantle Antoine Drive in Houston (Houston, Texas), which still has eight other entries as of this writing.

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Former Redneck Heaven (Arlington, Texas)

Redneck Heaven as it appeared in the late 2010s. (Photo by Silviu Gheorghe, source).

701 North Watson Road in Arlington, Texas started out as a Luby's Cafeteria, opening in 1982 but closing in March 2003 among other restaurants in the chain. After it's demise, it reopened as Palomino's Ranch Buffet in 2007, closing around 2012. Redneck Heaven followed soon after. It operated from about 2012 to 2020, and while it wasn't the first in the chain (it was the second), Redneck Heaven a bit over the top, even as far as "breastaurants" went with live minnow shots, scantily-clad waitresses, and more (at least when they expanded to San Antonio). Per these sorts of places, the food looked nothing to write home about, but I did find this shot buried among the photos on Google Maps.
She looks so uncomfortable. (Photo by Ryan Hitchcock, source).

Redneck Heaven and its other locations got washed out in 2020 and a few years later was renovated and reopened as a location of Bombshells Restaurant & Bar and despite technically more modest garb for waitresses, is owned and operated by a company that primarily deals with strip clubs.