the sights and sounds of fairfax avenue (part 1)

As many of you know, the area of fairfax where Family is located is a burgeoning hotbed of shops, bars and eateries heavily populated at all times. I have, for your benefit, and to slightly humor myself, decided to give a run down of some of the spots surrounding Family.

1. Largo
Largo is the pub next door to us. If you've ever seen people lined up in front of Family, I hate to break it to you, but they aren't here to pick up the new Johnny Ryan comic or Paperrad dvd, rather they are all clamoring to get in to Largo for an evening of adult contemporary rock and a glass of chablis. Occasionally these people step out of line to stumble into the store, furrow their brows at the selection of materials, and then get back in line because at Largo its first come, first served.

2. Supreme
If you are not in the know, Supreme is a chain of skateboard shops, started on the east coast, with a bad reputation so unshakeable that not even members of AA would let them in. Supreme is located across the street from us and probably the most popular store on the block. At any hour of the day you can find a good 5-10 dudes hanging out in front, of course none of them work there, but you know, it's summer and jobs are for "adults." This is all to say that I have no beef with Supreme and the guys I have interacted with were nice and upstanding citizens of the block.

3. Damiano's Pizza
Ah the infamous Damiano's, home of New York style pizza, little to no lighting in the dining area (one votive candle per table to give you that "cave dining" experience) a tremendous turnover rate (I once ordered a slice of pizza from a guy, and he was fired by the time it came out of the oven!), and a big fat B in the window. I'm sure by now you've heard all the horror stories on this place, like the one about Christian Slater biting a guy's ear off in the back in the mid-90's, but tell me where else am I going to get a slice of pizza while I negotiate a guy on the phone about where to find the Constellation Jodorowsky documentary on the box set he just bought (he called back 10 minutes later to say it was on the Fando Y Lis disc) ? Face it, Damiano's has the market cornered, shimmering grade B and all!

4. Picanty
Picanty across the street is a market where you can buy anything from alcohol to kettle chips to sour punch straws (three for a quarter!), basically everything you need to get through a sixer (a six hour shift as it's known here) but the one kicker is the guy opens and closes the store whenever he pleases because HE KNOWS he has the market (pun intended) cornered. He's actually a really cool guy aside from the fact that he's probably asleep right now in his unabomber-style shack and I want a bag of cheddar beer potato chips.

Part 2 to follow...

posted by NATE at 12:59 PM
3 comments

Blogger Cali said...

Ah Lil' Nate, you are such a witty young man. You are definitely 'In the gay', whether you know what that means or not.

4:46 PM  


Blogger kramer said...

must plug the dude from picanty's karaoke tapes. i have heard from a number of sources he sincerely has a beautiful voice.

5:28 PM  


Blogger Kelly Kilmer said...

More! More!!

8:18 PM  


Post a Comment

Go Back