Yesterday I had the day off so I did what anybody in Vegas would do...I loaded up the MP3 player with podcasts and went to Tommy's (next to Saint Rose Hospital at Eastern), where I had a delicious chili cheeseburger and a Diet Pepsi. It was fantastic. I can't recommend it highly enough if you're in the area.
Then I went to Fred Sanford's house. Or, rather, the former home of TV actor/dirty comedian Redd Foxx. Redd had tax troubles and lost the house not long before his death in 1991. It's at the corner of Eastern and Rawhide and is now a real estate office. I had been here before, a couple of years ago, but nobody was there and it was creepy. I went inside and asked a lady working there if it had been Redd's house and she confirmed that in fact it had been, and that we were actually standing in what used to be the garage. She didn't seem to know anything about the sliding door that I'd heard had been removed because Redd's ghost kept opening it. I asked if I could go back and take some crappy, low-resolution photos of the pool with my cell phone and she said OK.
The pool is very small and fenced off. It's extremely small for that of a star. While the front is immaculate and well-kept, the back is probably just as Fred left it. After Fred lost the house, it fell into the hands of Elvis impersonator Jesse Garon, who was the first to report the hauntings. Subsequent tenants have also talked about weird psychic events, but no one mentioned a disembodied voice shouting for Lamont, or calling anyone a big dummy. I wonder if the ghost does dirty midnight comedy routines? Vegas needs that about now.
Later in the day I went to Fry's electronics, the bestest place in the world. I almost bought something, then didn't. Then I ventured back onto the strip and over to Maryland Parkway, where my favorite B. Dalton bookstore is. I'd noticed that a new supermarket, Seafood City, had opened next to it. I went inside. Quickly I noticed that I was the only honky in the place, a very white person in a sea of islanders. It's actually a cool place, with a lot of fairly cheap imported foods. Also, about eight different types of Spam and Spam wannabees. I'd shop there if I could understand the labels. Again having bought nothing, I began to head out. Then I saw the bee. A huge, out-of-place, cartoonish bee outside of a fast-food restaurant called Jollibee. They advertised hot dogs 2/$2.50. I went inside and waited about five minutes (they were very busy) and ordered the hot dogs (again with a Diet Pepsi) and sat down. Not bad. They came with a weird sauce that I can't describe and I probably don't want to know what contains. I mainly ordered the strange hot dogs because I didn't recognize anything on the menu as food I'd actually want to eat.
Sadly I didn't get a picture of the hot dogs. It only struck me that I might need a photograph after I had finished the second one. Please to be noting the weird smiling bee on the cup, as it is everywhere in the place. A co-worker of mine is actually from the Phillipines and says that Jollibee is a major fast-food place where she comes from, "Like Wendy's". Yes. Exactly like Wendy's.
2 comments:
I remember us going to the auction of all the stuff from Redd's house. His wife was there and my son who was about 5 or 6 at the time saw a picture of "Fred and Lamont" and turned to his dad and said.. "It's the Big dummy!" I think we bought some coasters. But I remember thinking at the time..IF i'd had money and NOT paid my taxes I sure as hell would live better than this.
*found the blog from the LJ group*
You're gonna' have to do the copy paste dance. http://www.vimeo.com/626497
I'm on dialup, can't see the damn thing, go check it out for me & let me know if it's funny will you?
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