ENID, OK - Hello Jurassic Park Fans! Guess what? There really is an Enid, Oklahoma that had a Westgate Shopping Center, now called Westgate Plaza! Unfortunately there is not and has not been a Kirby Paint and Tile Plus as mentioned in the 2001 movie, Jurassic Park III.
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Being a huge Jurassic Park fan I find it ironic that I was the advertising director for a pharmacy in Enid that had a store located in the Westgate Shopping Center right where Kirby's might have been!
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Kirby Paint and Tile Plus was a store run by Paul Kirby in the Westgate Shopping Center of Enid, Oklahoma; the “Plus” in the name stood for “bathroom fixtures.” When Paul tricked Alan Grant and Billy Brennan into accompanying him to Isla Sorna in 2001, he claimed to be the multimillionaire owner of the fictional Kirby Enterprises, located at 2600 Cheyenne Avenue (also in Enid, Oklahoma).
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Westgate Shopping Center is located on West Owen K. Garriott. Enid does have a Cheyenne Ave. but it is in a residential area. Enid Buzz has been trying to track down the writers of the script to find out why Enid was the city chosen in the movie. As of yet, we have not been able to track down that information.
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The characters and idea for the movie came from Michael Crichton. Jurassic Park III writers were Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor.
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If you have more information on the reasoning Enid, Oklahoma was used in the movie please send information to buzz@enidbuzz.com.
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Kirby Paint and Tile Plus
My grandfather owned and operated a business in Enid, OK in the mid ’80’s called Kirby Rent All. It was a furniture rental store plus a “UHaul” type truck rental place. His name was Richard ‘Dick’ Kirby. I’ve tried looking it up online, but have found no reference to it. If I’m not mistaken, it was located in or around Westgate shopping center. It may have been furter west, closer to Way Out West, but I seem to recall it being somewhere in the vicinity of the green stamp store that used to be in the shopping center directly across Cleveland from Westgate, where Little Caesars used to be. In fact, that may have been the exact location. Anyway, I’ve always felt they used someone’s old knowledge of that area for the movie. No ill will, more awe from the connection.