FOOD, FRIENDS, MUSIC & WHISKEY ...  Welcome to Jack’s By The Tracks ... a contemporary juke joint
serving ‘southern’ sushi and fresh tacos, tapas, salads and po’boys, with cold beers, handpicked wines and top-shelf whiskey, and free live music on a little red stage hosting the finest musicians on the coast and enjoyed by the greatest music fans.

Although we have found few records and even fewer photos of Krebs Avenue for the period, Jack’s construction and the materials used are typical to other homes in the area built around 1910. This was a great time for Pascagoula, with five restaurants and four saloons, several theaters and halls for concerts, and an electric trolley. Pascagoula became known as “the best show town between New Orleans and Mobile.”

In 1903, Pascagoula Street Railway and Power Company inaugurated a streetcar line that ran from Pascagoula beach to Moss Point and Dantzler’s shipyard, making a loop down Krebs Avenue. As the automobile replaced the demand for mass transit, the trolley shut down in 1921.

That same year, a fire broke out downtown at Morley Bakery on
Delmas Avenue, and quickly spread to engulf twenty-five businesses and twenty-five residences. Fire companies responded from
Moss Point, Mobile, Gulfport, Ocean Springs, and Biloxi.
When the smoke cleared, hundreds were homeless.

German watchmaker and jeweler F. C. Westphal arrived in Pascagoula in 1878 at age 25. The Westphal home just east of Jack’s was the only downtown residence to survive the fire. The Daggett family purchased the Itialianate cottage in 1924 and lived there until 1980, Westphal kept this shotgun building and operated his jewelry store here until 1926.

Several small businesses followed at the downtown location, like Wilson Furniture, est. 1948. Ernst Wilson added the cinder block addition and back warehouse  in 1958 to expand his furniture store, which closed in the late 70’s. By 1980, a paint store opened, Gulf Paint & Paper, and remained open until we purchased the building in December 2009.

The old building received little attention following Hurricane Katrina and needed a little work! After a complete overhaul, retaining as much period-correct details as possible, plus a little whimsy of our own,

Jack’s By The Tracks opened in October 2011.