Saturday, February 28, 2009

The Early Days of the Wild, Wild West

Way back when, in the early days of the Wild,Wild West, almost before they had cars, we'd start our nights out at one of the infamous watering holes. This watering hole was infamous for it's authenticity of mixing the old with the new. The old being the Wild, Wild West of San Francisco of course. The new being the new of the Wild, Wild West of course. So what's new and what's old? The old is, first of all, the watering hole itself. It's decor was strictly old time "Mexican Bar." style. What does that mean? Oh, it means dark painted walls, x-mas lights, mariachi hats, the distinct scent of beer and tequila, and an old time juke box filled with old Mexican music (music to cry by and music to dance by). And this watering hole also provided a great big mounted deer head! Oh yeah, it also had a lot of old Mexicans-some worked there and some who were mistaken to work there. Not to mention, the mariachis. The new includes the new "Mexican." That would be us. Born and raised in San Francisco, but fully Mexican, for sure!
But, let's be real, the watering hole was also infamous for it's dynamite margaritas. You may have heard of them around town-big, strong and cheap. Yeah!!! Sounds good, ha? And good they were. In fact they were so good and so powerful that we (Chaparra, my sister and I) had to institute a 2 drink maximum! Really, my sister and I had the first experience which forced us into the 2 drink max. But, we'd frequently challenge it and have one more, which was usually purchased by one of our admirers.
Well, we came to a 2 drink maximum one night when my sister's car was stolen. After 3, or however many margaritas it was, we left the watering hole and walked towards the car. As we approached the corner where it was parked, we realized it wasn't there. "OMG, it's been stolen!" We contacted the police and, after arguing with them over which city (San Francisco or Daly City) should take the report, we went to sleep. The next morning we borrowed a car and returned to the scene of the crime, as if someone would steal it and return it to the same place. And guess what? There it was! They had returned it to the exact same place! Well, in actuality, we'd forgotten which corner we'd parked it on. There and then we instituted the 2 drink maximum! My sister and I decided that we'd never tell anyone the story. So,sssshhhh, don't say anything to anyone.

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