I drove - in segments - from Chicago to Los Angles, and ultimately to Monterey for the PARSH Rennsport Reunion in 2018. I met a friend in Denver, and we did a fairly long haul from Denver to Las Vegas in one hit; we arrived at the Wynn valet with just enough time to make a 10 PM dinner reservation. Side note - I have never seen so many people eating A5 Wagyu in sweatpants.
Naturally, our departure from Sin City the next day was, ahem, delayed. The drive along I-15 was hellish, for a myriad of reasons. We were somewhere around Barstow when my buddy’s Turbo needed gas, so we stopped at a substantial truck stop / gas station off the Interstate - think Love’s / Pilot Flying J, it wasn’t an Arco. The parking lot was mostly gravel, and there were numerous occupants of said parking lot who were clearly on speed; naturally, I felt right at home given my humble, hardscrabble, hillbilly upbringing.
We finally made it to Malibu, where we had a beachfront Airbnb for a few nights. Another side note - it was probably a mile or two from The Malibu Kitchen, where you and I once had breakfast with a certain Fortunate Son. It was just before 9 PM on a Sunday night.
Apparently, there are precisely three places to find dinner at 9 PM on a Sunday night in Malibu:
1-Jack In The Box
2-NOBU
3-Mastro’s Ocean Club
(The Taco Bell inside the 76 station at the intersection of PCH and Sunset was, inexplicably, closed.)
We were driving tastefully on this jaunt, so we settled for Mastro’s (NOBU was booked).
The next morning, we were up and into the Malibu canyons before sunrise, and we’d had our fill by lunchtime. We spent the afternoon on our balcony overlooking the Pacific with a box of cigars and several bottles of wine. It was one of the best - and most carefree - days of my life.
————
On another trip to Los Angeles, I had dinner with a certain former journosaur-cum-PR flack at APL; APL references the initials of Adam Perry Lang, restauranteur / former Jeffrey Epstein personal chef. For some reason, APL is no longer in business.
APL’s menu (in)famously included a “Felony Knife,” which was priced at $950.01 to deter theft:
“Dead fucking serious,” he says. “If they steal it, it’s $950 because that’s the bare minimum for a felony in the state of California.”
The scourge of Arco has recently made its way to my neighborhood in Atlanta; there’s a palatial new Arco station that sells prepared food and also offers an extensive selection of wine. The bathrooms are unlocked. For now.
I have a topical if not personal question with regards to "I slipped a Boker Applegate-Fairbairn into my waistband..."
What's the reason you don't carry a firearm? You have talked about gun ownership in the past, have good working knowledge of them, and often travel to places where such a thing might be necessary.
Here, in the Tulsa area, we have a Mr. Bass maybe a 1/4 mile from my house. Locally owned, open 24/7/365. Beer sales til 2:30am. Need snacks, fishing gear, live fishing bait, kerosene, propane, ice, cigs, lottery tickets, ice cream, fountain drinks etc, it's all there.
They also still sell all 3 grades of gasoline ethanol free, with their own dedicated hoses.
Eh, even in the worst parts of the UK (usually the poorest parts of any given city) you never have to pre-pay for gas, and ours is much more expensive than yours. Because we're such a small country, we really don't have regional chains (of anything). It's all big multinationals (and supermarkets) who supply gas. Shell, Texaco, BP. So they tend to be kept to a certain standard (although I expect they're franchises).
Weirdly nothing is ever locked up here. Tobacco products are always behind the counter (and now have to be kept in a closed cupboard). Hard liquor (usually in supermarkets) will have some kind of anti-theft device on the cap which is removed when you pay. If it's your standard liquor store, have at it.
And we're having just as much of a standard of living crisis as you guys and it's getting worse.
I manage a small town hardware store located (inside a grocery store) halfway (20ish minutes) between two of IL's less reputable cities.
The amount of stuff we have to lock up, and the dollars we have dedicated to LP is absurd -- and it's not due to the locals. Every few months word gets out on the street -- go 20 minutes, the have good shit and low security. The staff, the regulars, we all see the absurdity of it. Local PD cracks down, but there is only so much one can do.
Ironically, the liquor department can leave $100 bottles of high-end bourbon on an endcap, but it's always the Hennessy and Crown Royal that get stolen...
We tend to lose power tools, knives, and the like. Oh---and the meet department loses steak.
Just Tuesday I was at a rural gas station that didn't have the option of paying at the pump. I noted my number and went in anticipating a struggle. The exceptionally amiable guy asked me how much I wanted, after a bit of ships in the night entirely on my part he said why don't you just fill up and come back. It's possible that this interaction was facilitated by our mutual lack of melanin but that did not seem to be the vibe. In fact on this particular journey the only trouble I encountered was with a similarly pale hotel security guard of the "you are all equally worthless" Ermey mold hassling me for having the temerity to use the pool at 2130 when it closed at 2200.
I've purchased Arco gas exactly once while driving a car. The Debit Cards Only thing surprised and annoyed me. Four years later I get a check in the mail larger than my purchase amount as a result of a class action lawsuit (apparently due to some illegal fee on the purchase). A year after that I get another check as a result of a follow up class action lawsuit (something about interest charged on the fee). As a result Arco is the only company who has ever paid me to take their gas.
As someone loosely involved in the gas station business, I have observed this myself for many many years. My town is comfortably middle class with certain upper middle class neighborhoods but we neighbor an inner ring suburb with higher crime and the transition to the bullet proof glass model slowly over the last decade or two has been interesting. It initially sparked a desire to leave but following the stats, our crime rate does not appear to have increased in 20+ years, likely due to our well funded police department (another topic!). At least we they leave the gas station bathrooms unlocked for us around here!
We have a restaurant (well it is really a large bar with 3 rooms and a patio with about 40-50 tables) that lets you eat lunch and then you go up to the bar and tell them what you had for lunch. You never get a bill from the server. The bar tender can't see your table, and you don't even get the same server during the meal, it is more communal service and any of the 3 or 4 servers will stop by regularly at your table. The place is awesome and makes you feel like you live in Mayberry.
Cool, an Hyperion reference. That I can relate to, thank you!
The rest of what you write about is somewhat remote from the reality I see in my Montreal neighborhood, where only the hunting rifles are locked at Canadian Tire, *and* the ice in some gas station, but not all. Go figure. I have myself forgotten to pay for gas on few occasions, simply by being distracted. All of this is no news though. I think it is very unfortunate to see the impact of wealth disparity, especially in some US cities (although Asia is worst from my experience).
But what I meant to comment on is that I believe you would appreciate the writings of Mr Douglas Philips (the quantum series) and Mr Peter Cawdron, from who I absolutely love the way they explain in their epilogues the “hypothesis” they make to go from reality to (hard) sci-fi. I make my son read it to develop his anticipation capabilities (aka how perspective shifts depending on the viewpoint).
Cheers from the North! (Always enjoy reading you, even though not always in agreement, you often bring me an interesting and informative new perspective, and I can relate to the logic).
I looked tonight at my local gas station/convenience store. Restrooms unlocked and clean, all food items were unlocked and unguarded. The only thing that was locked up was the cigarettes/tobacco. Ice was in a cooler outside the side door and completely unsupervised. I guess suburban Utah must be a pretty high-trust community. I did read a local news story this week about a bridal shop in downtown Salt Lake City that had to close/move to the suburbs because the local “unhomed” individuals kept coming in and harassing/assaulting the employees.
Jack, this prompted a few recollections:
I drove - in segments - from Chicago to Los Angles, and ultimately to Monterey for the PARSH Rennsport Reunion in 2018. I met a friend in Denver, and we did a fairly long haul from Denver to Las Vegas in one hit; we arrived at the Wynn valet with just enough time to make a 10 PM dinner reservation. Side note - I have never seen so many people eating A5 Wagyu in sweatpants.
Naturally, our departure from Sin City the next day was, ahem, delayed. The drive along I-15 was hellish, for a myriad of reasons. We were somewhere around Barstow when my buddy’s Turbo needed gas, so we stopped at a substantial truck stop / gas station off the Interstate - think Love’s / Pilot Flying J, it wasn’t an Arco. The parking lot was mostly gravel, and there were numerous occupants of said parking lot who were clearly on speed; naturally, I felt right at home given my humble, hardscrabble, hillbilly upbringing.
We finally made it to Malibu, where we had a beachfront Airbnb for a few nights. Another side note - it was probably a mile or two from The Malibu Kitchen, where you and I once had breakfast with a certain Fortunate Son. It was just before 9 PM on a Sunday night.
Apparently, there are precisely three places to find dinner at 9 PM on a Sunday night in Malibu:
1-Jack In The Box
2-NOBU
3-Mastro’s Ocean Club
(The Taco Bell inside the 76 station at the intersection of PCH and Sunset was, inexplicably, closed.)
We were driving tastefully on this jaunt, so we settled for Mastro’s (NOBU was booked).
The next morning, we were up and into the Malibu canyons before sunrise, and we’d had our fill by lunchtime. We spent the afternoon on our balcony overlooking the Pacific with a box of cigars and several bottles of wine. It was one of the best - and most carefree - days of my life.
————
On another trip to Los Angeles, I had dinner with a certain former journosaur-cum-PR flack at APL; APL references the initials of Adam Perry Lang, restauranteur / former Jeffrey Epstein personal chef. For some reason, APL is no longer in business.
APL’s menu (in)famously included a “Felony Knife,” which was priced at $950.01 to deter theft:
“Dead fucking serious,” he says. “If they steal it, it’s $950 because that’s the bare minimum for a felony in the state of California.”
Link: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/please-not-steal-adam-perry-152705445.html
————
The scourge of Arco has recently made its way to my neighborhood in Atlanta; there’s a palatial new Arco station that sells prepared food and also offers an extensive selection of wine. The bathrooms are unlocked. For now.
I have a topical if not personal question with regards to "I slipped a Boker Applegate-Fairbairn into my waistband..."
What's the reason you don't carry a firearm? You have talked about gun ownership in the past, have good working knowledge of them, and often travel to places where such a thing might be necessary.
Just wondering.
Is ARCO is the worst of the lot, I submit Stewart's as the best of the regional gas/c stores.
The only weapons laws in the US that are more confusing and inconsistent than those for firearms are the laws governing knives.
Here, in the Tulsa area, we have a Mr. Bass maybe a 1/4 mile from my house. Locally owned, open 24/7/365. Beer sales til 2:30am. Need snacks, fishing gear, live fishing bait, kerosene, propane, ice, cigs, lottery tickets, ice cream, fountain drinks etc, it's all there.
They also still sell all 3 grades of gasoline ethanol free, with their own dedicated hoses.
Related:
https://thecarousel.substack.com/p/theres-gonna-be-a-war-in-montana
Eh, even in the worst parts of the UK (usually the poorest parts of any given city) you never have to pre-pay for gas, and ours is much more expensive than yours. Because we're such a small country, we really don't have regional chains (of anything). It's all big multinationals (and supermarkets) who supply gas. Shell, Texaco, BP. So they tend to be kept to a certain standard (although I expect they're franchises).
Weirdly nothing is ever locked up here. Tobacco products are always behind the counter (and now have to be kept in a closed cupboard). Hard liquor (usually in supermarkets) will have some kind of anti-theft device on the cap which is removed when you pay. If it's your standard liquor store, have at it.
And we're having just as much of a standard of living crisis as you guys and it's getting worse.
Hello from the other side of that retail counter.
I manage a small town hardware store located (inside a grocery store) halfway (20ish minutes) between two of IL's less reputable cities.
The amount of stuff we have to lock up, and the dollars we have dedicated to LP is absurd -- and it's not due to the locals. Every few months word gets out on the street -- go 20 minutes, the have good shit and low security. The staff, the regulars, we all see the absurdity of it. Local PD cracks down, but there is only so much one can do.
Ironically, the liquor department can leave $100 bottles of high-end bourbon on an endcap, but it's always the Hennessy and Crown Royal that get stolen...
We tend to lose power tools, knives, and the like. Oh---and the meet department loses steak.
https://nypost.com/2022/07/30/spam-goes-on-lockdown-due-to-inflation/?utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=SocialFlow Where does locking up canned meats fit in the scale?
Just Tuesday I was at a rural gas station that didn't have the option of paying at the pump. I noted my number and went in anticipating a struggle. The exceptionally amiable guy asked me how much I wanted, after a bit of ships in the night entirely on my part he said why don't you just fill up and come back. It's possible that this interaction was facilitated by our mutual lack of melanin but that did not seem to be the vibe. In fact on this particular journey the only trouble I encountered was with a similarly pale hotel security guard of the "you are all equally worthless" Ermey mold hassling me for having the temerity to use the pool at 2130 when it closed at 2200.
I've purchased Arco gas exactly once while driving a car. The Debit Cards Only thing surprised and annoyed me. Four years later I get a check in the mail larger than my purchase amount as a result of a class action lawsuit (apparently due to some illegal fee on the purchase). A year after that I get another check as a result of a follow up class action lawsuit (something about interest charged on the fee). As a result Arco is the only company who has ever paid me to take their gas.
As someone loosely involved in the gas station business, I have observed this myself for many many years. My town is comfortably middle class with certain upper middle class neighborhoods but we neighbor an inner ring suburb with higher crime and the transition to the bullet proof glass model slowly over the last decade or two has been interesting. It initially sparked a desire to leave but following the stats, our crime rate does not appear to have increased in 20+ years, likely due to our well funded police department (another topic!). At least we they leave the gas station bathrooms unlocked for us around here!
Not a gas station but...
We have a restaurant (well it is really a large bar with 3 rooms and a patio with about 40-50 tables) that lets you eat lunch and then you go up to the bar and tell them what you had for lunch. You never get a bill from the server. The bar tender can't see your table, and you don't even get the same server during the meal, it is more communal service and any of the 3 or 4 servers will stop by regularly at your table. The place is awesome and makes you feel like you live in Mayberry.
Cool, an Hyperion reference. That I can relate to, thank you!
The rest of what you write about is somewhat remote from the reality I see in my Montreal neighborhood, where only the hunting rifles are locked at Canadian Tire, *and* the ice in some gas station, but not all. Go figure. I have myself forgotten to pay for gas on few occasions, simply by being distracted. All of this is no news though. I think it is very unfortunate to see the impact of wealth disparity, especially in some US cities (although Asia is worst from my experience).
But what I meant to comment on is that I believe you would appreciate the writings of Mr Douglas Philips (the quantum series) and Mr Peter Cawdron, from who I absolutely love the way they explain in their epilogues the “hypothesis” they make to go from reality to (hard) sci-fi. I make my son read it to develop his anticipation capabilities (aka how perspective shifts depending on the viewpoint).
Cheers from the North! (Always enjoy reading you, even though not always in agreement, you often bring me an interesting and informative new perspective, and I can relate to the logic).
I looked tonight at my local gas station/convenience store. Restrooms unlocked and clean, all food items were unlocked and unguarded. The only thing that was locked up was the cigarettes/tobacco. Ice was in a cooler outside the side door and completely unsupervised. I guess suburban Utah must be a pretty high-trust community. I did read a local news story this week about a bridal shop in downtown Salt Lake City that had to close/move to the suburbs because the local “unhomed” individuals kept coming in and harassing/assaulting the employees.
Also, don't go to gas stations after sundown if you can avoid it.