Sunday, March 19, 2000

Tropicana Pinball boilerplate

Just hop the bus and go to Pecos.

http://www.pinballmuseum.org/

The Hall of Fame is located in the plaza on Pecos and Tropicana. There is a sign to tell you the correct corner. You need to walk back to the end of the plaza and you'll see it. Eventually, it will be up by the Liberace Museum but they are having some political troubles with the move and it won't be for a while. Good, however to call to see if they have moved before you go. The number is in that site above. The Liberace Museum is also on Tropicana and can be reached by the same bus.
http://www.liberace.org/liberace_museum/
Generally, the bus has a recorded caller who tells you the stops, but if that is not happening, just ask the driver to tell you when you get to Pecos. Leave yourself a half hour for the ride. As I remember the stop was on Tropicana along the side of the Tropicana Casino. You will see it.

For $4 you buy a 24 hours pass from the driver unless you are sure you are only going to make a trip out and back and then it is $1.75 each way. You can use the 24 hour pass to ride the Deuce for another dollar each ride.
http://www.rtcsouthernnevada.com/transit/fares_passes.cfm

Either way HAVE THE CORRECT CHANGE. The driver does not make change.

If you want to go for breakfast ( the Pinball museum does not open until eleven) and get a taste of El Salvadore, this place is in the plaza directly across Pecos from the plaza with the museum

SALVADORAN ILOPANGO on Tropicana

Located in the plaza across Pecos from the plaza where the Pinball Museum is located, this little spot served me one of the nicest breakfasts of my trip. I was the only gringo. There was a large table of men sitting more than eating and I wondered if they were looking for day work. My waitress was a pretty young girl. Passing through was a heavy older woman with smiles. She had a cane and wore a loud colorful dress.
This is not an expensive restaurant interpreting Salvadoran food for gingos. It is the kind of place I often ate in costa Rica or Mexico. Small, with diner tables, maps of Central American countries on the wall and two televisions going in Spanish. One was a heavy romance complete with some good sex scenes and an overly dramatic attempt at suicide. The other television presented the news.
I loved it all, but the food was the best and I do not even know the names of all the tastes. No one asked me how I wanted the eggs. Next time I will say, but they were fine. The rest was great. There were at least four tastes: a serving of gallo pinto which was blander than the Costa Rican variety with that special sauce, but still so good I did not know if I wanted any Tapatio hot sauce or not. One chorizo. Not the Mexican variety of ground up meat but a fat link that tasted more like Spanish chorizo. I loved it. One mixture of potato and vegetable wrapped in corn silk, like an empanada with no pastry. Something I can't remember. With all this came two of the most wonderful, hot circles of bread. I drank horchata, listened to the Spanish banter, watched the overly dramatic soap opera and just had a pleasant morning emersed in Central America. I'll be back there again. Pupusas are on sale for 99 cents on Wednesday. There were many foods including the soup of seven seas. Much of the menu was in Spanish but most was translated and there were pictures of some of the foods on wall.

Need a Haircut??
If you want get a great haircut and see some cool
Western stuff, drop in at Cliff's and tell him Dewey sent you.

Cliff's barbershop and Western museum


The swinging doors to Cliff's




I finally bought a haircut at Cliff's barbershop, located just a few doors down from the Pinball Hall of Fame, Pecos and Tropicana.
Cliff was a fine, gentle fellow. He fussed with the cutting, gave me a fine beard trim, and was deft with the razor.
Packed in the room is a wild assortment of odd antiques and curios reflecting the American West.
When I asked to take his picture, he deftly twirled that foot long pair of scissors as if they were his sixgun and when they clicked to a close he was in his pose by the barber chair. It was great fun!
Cliff used to cut the hair of the stars in Hollywood.
If you decide to say hello or have your haircut, tell him Dewey says Howdy

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