Take it or Leave it: Ten Signs You’re from Lubbock

I was born and raised on this little island on a plateau in the desert. It’s home. Lubbock, Texas is more unique than outsiders and even some insiders realize! Lubbock-ites all seem to share a few idiosyncrasies and traits. Maybe you’ve noticed too!

Were Terrible With Time and Distance When We Visit Larger Cities

In Lubbock, you can get from one side of town to the other in about 15-minutes. Personally, I live at Buffalo Springs Lake which some locals consider to be ‘out in the boonies’, but it’s really just east 50th street and I can typically get from my front door to the middle of town in 18-20 minutes! When people from Lubbock visit, say, DFW, we misjudge how FAR everything is! Getting from Highland Park to the middle of downtown Dallas could take upwards of 30-minutes, and that’s if traffic is good! We just don’t have that issue in the Hub City.

The Red Raiders are Typically Middle-of-the-Road at Football, but We’re Passionate About Our Team

Everyone from Lubbock knows the saying, ‘It’s easy to be a Longhorn fan, it’s hard to be a Red Raider’. That statement is so true it physically hurts! We root on our team, the coaches and even the support staff at the games. Usually until we play a conference game, and then we say, ‘It’s a building year! NEXT year we’ll be great!’ I’ve heard that for 46 years of my life as a Red Raider and I don’t see it stopping anytime soon. But I’m a Red Raider through and through! We all are.
Speaking of football…

Mike Leach Is Practically a God

Mike Leach coached at Texas Tech from 2000-2009. He was AWESOME! All the pirate lingo and lore, the hilarious things he would say at press conferences, and his ability to destroy the ego of a particularly smug sportscaster after putting his son in a storage shed made all of us adore the man. After he passed in 2022, the entire city seemed to be in mourning. People in Lubbock simply LOVE Mike Leach. Swing your sword, Captain!

We Can’t Drive

Yeah, yeah. I know YOU'RE a great driver, it’s all the other idiots who can’t drive. Well, I have news for you. You can’t drive either. It’s like a collective hypnosis comes over us when we receive our licenses in this town! No blinkers, stopping in the middle of the street before turning right (that’s the one I hate the most), not knowing how to use turn lanes properly and so many more issues. I could go on and on. Lubbock can’t drive and we should just accept it since it seems like it won’t be changing anytime
soon.

We Like to Eat

According to RentechDigital, there are a total of 352 restaurants in Lubbock as of January of this year. That’s a LOT of places to eat for a town of 319K people.
We get to enjoy some incredible food too! If you like Thai, steaks, burgers, Mediterranean, Italian, African or any cuisine in between, you’ll find people in Lubbock eating with enthusiasm.

You Have Your Taco Villa Order Memorized

Taco Villa is a Lubbock staple. Everyone here has their order committed to memory.
Mine? “One soft taco, one combo burrito and one tacorito. Extra hot sauce, please!”
What’s yours? I know you have it memorized!
Speaking of Taco Villa…

You Have Taco Villa Hot Sauce Cups Hidden Everywhere

One of the best things about our favorite fast food taco joint is their INCREDIBLE hot sauce! We always ask for extra when ordering so we can put some in the glove compartment and in kitchen drawers for use when we have to eat sub-par tacos from somewhere else.

We Know That Our Weather Can Change On a Dime

West Texas is part of ‘tornado alley’. Lubbock in particular sits on top of a plateau. Those two factors create some WILD weather around these parts! The winds are epic, the heat of the summer almost gives you a stroke when you step outside and the winters can be something to behold with the freezing winds. It can snow on Tuesday and be 85-degrees on Thursday. People in Lubbock keep summer and winter clothing in the same closet.

We All Have a Favorite Weatherperson

Because of the nature of our weather around here, we know our favorite weather people like they’re family! We also give them nicknames, like the one literally everybody in town knows…’Run For Your Life Ron’ is my all-time favorite because he was the weatherman on my morning radio show for years and he really does care about the safety of our citizens. Same goes for the guys I personally know like Jon Robison and Matt Ernst. We have some quality weather reporting around here!

We Know to Stay Away from Avenue Q After Dark

Watching local news, it seems like some bad stuff goes down there every night of the week! Most people know to stay away from that area after dark. It’s weird, because it’s perfectly fine during the day. It’s like the zombies come out at night on that street!
How about you? Do you have anything you would add to the list?