Texas man travels to Louisiana. He accidentally ends up at a restaurant in a ‘Sundown Town’ on the way back—and does something shocking: ‘$110 tip’
A Texas man took a trip to Louisiana to hit the casino. Then, on the way back, he realized that he accidentally stepped foot in a dangerous area.
TikToker Ray Domz (@thedomzatx), who primarily posts satirical, political content for his audience, described a more serious situation that occurred in 2010. In a video with over 876,000 views, Domz detailed one stop in a place called Vidor, Texas, which he made on the way back from a casino trip in Louisiana. After initially driving through, he and a friend realized that the town was a Sundown Town—an all-white city where a person of color would likely feel unsafe after dark.
Domz and a friend only went there for a quick visit, but they made a lasting impression on at least one local business before leaving. Since 2010, though, it’s unclear if Vidor has changed. It’s still widely considered an unsafe area for people of color, even in 2026.
What happened at Vidor, Texas?
Domz, who takes occasional trips to gamble in Oklahoma and Louisiana, decided to head to the East for the free casino liquor one day in 2010. He and a friend drove down to Louisiana, gambled, and then headed back to Texas. On the way back, though, they started to feel hungry. They decided to make a small stop at a Mexican restaurant they found on the map.
“I type restaurants into the map, and it pulls up a Mexican restaurant,” Domz said. But when they missed an exit while trying to get to the establishment, he ended up on some weird back roads. That’s where the content creator realized something wasn’t quite right.
“ I have zero clue what town I’m in, but just from the look of things, something felt really off,” Domz recalled. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been somewhere and your brain just says, ‘yeah, you probably shouldn’t be here.’ This was definitely one of those times.”
They get to the restaurant at the sundown town
When they got to the Mexican restaurant, he and his friend felt an unnerving sense that they weren’t supposed to be there. That only amplified as soon as they stepped foot in the door. The pair noticed a couple doing a double-take on them. Then, they noticed a group of young, white cooks and employees whispering to each other. At first, he thought they were lazy high school kids who didn’t want to work. day. But he noticed that no one approached them at the host booth. After further thinking, he realized they may have been deciding whether or not they could even sit down.
Finally, after an awkward beat, one of the cooks came and asked if it was just the two of them eating at the restaurant that day. Domz confirmed, and they got a chance to sit down, which is when they finally got a chance to investigate where exactly they were. His friend started to look up information about the city they were in, and they asked him, “What’s Racist, Texas?”
That’s when they both realized that Vidor was labeled “Racist, Texas,” on their maps app. When they zoomed out, they realized the town’s actual name was Vidor. A few more Google searches gave them a bit more context: Vidor was well known as a Sundown town. They looked up a well-known truck-dragging case that happened “20 minutes away,” giving them further context for how dangerous the area was.
Leaving a tip
Despite the scary tidbits they discovered online, they made the decision to stay and eat. Domz realized he could make at least some form of impact on the kids working there. So, he talked with his friend and decided to leave a large tip.
Their meal in total cost around $29. When he got the opportunity to pay, Domz took $140 and left it on the table, which left the cooks with about a $110 tip. One of the kids asked him if he was sure about the amount, but Domz said he was.
His hope was that the small amount of kindness he showed would change the kids’ impressions of him and his friend, but he also joked that they may have thought he couldn’t count his cash. He didn’t know whether it made any difference, as he drove away afterward.
What is Vidor, Texas’s History?
Vidor is a city near the border of Louisiana in Orange County, Texas. In 1993, a federal judge ordered 36 counties to desgregate public housing, which included Orange County. The Klan hosted a number of rallies in protest that became notable across the state as a direct result of this federal order.
Eventually, four black families moved into public housing in Vidor, but they faced “months of terror” afterward. Those who were desegregated were publicly ridiculed and pushed out of the town out of fear of retaliation. One man, Bill Simpson, was reportedly murdered before the town returned to a near all-white population, which Texas Monthly reported at the time. All four families eventually left.
Is Vidor still a sundown town?
Vidor is still almost entirely white, even today. In 2022, Newsweek reported on a Black man’s experience in town. The man, Gideon, saw a number of terrifying things on his way through Vidor, including a doll depicting a Black man wrapped in a Confederate flag. When he finally made a stop, he overheard individuals saying they did not want to be responsible for his safety if he stayed. A man told Gideon to head to Beaumont, Texas, which he promptly did. In recent history, there have been reports that the town is trying to change. It hosted Black Lives Matter rallies and has been reportedly “more aware.”
But that doesn’t change how unsafe many people feel traveling through the town. Multiple viewers specifically said their parents or relatives would tell them not to stop in Vidor, Texas, under any circumstances.
“Whew. My dad always told us as kids to NEVER stop in Vidor,” one commenter said in Domz’s comment section. “To this day I’ve never stopped. Driven by it and kept it moving! But kudos to you for going with kindness.”
@thedomzatx I tried to tell the story in under 2 minutes but that was impossible. lol sorry! #maga #trump #conservative #bible #christianity ♬ original sound – ??? ????
The Mary Sue reached out to Domz via TikTok direct message and comment for more information.
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