DRINKING DIET PEPSI AND GETTING TRAPPED IN A TARANTINO MOMENT

Art by John Register-Red Booths

~~~~~After I recommended the site (Lincoln Clarkes' photography) in an earlier blog, that part of town stayed on my mind. That area has always been known as "skid row", but in the past it was nothing compared to today's state of despair.

~~~~~At one time, Vancouver had some pretty backwards drinking laws. In fact, many still call it by the nick-name, the "No Fun" city. There was no drinking on Sunday and bars didn't open until a specific hour. They would shut their doors at 0200; a time when the night is still young in places such as New York.

`````There were ways around the drinking laws, however, such as ordering a meal in restaurants. Enter "Kim's Kitchen" on Hastings Street. It stood in the same area as the notorious Sunrise and Balmoral, well known to cops and ambulance drivers. Kim's Kitchen looked like a hole-in-the-wall cafe, but it had a little secret. A person could go in there at 0900 in the morning and order toast and they'd be served alcohol. Hey, it was a meal. Thus, the real hard up alcoholics would get at least a bit of nutrients into their body before the hardcore hotels opened in a few hours.

`````There were cornerstores in the area which specialized in apertifs for the truly desperate. I once went into one and found myself gazing at shelf upon shelf of Chinese cooking wine and cans of Lysol cooking spray. I wanted to ask the owner if they had any airplane glue behind the counter, but I figured my sarcasm would get lost in translation and they probably did sell the item. Incidentally, after several over-doses on this wine, the solution of the government was to restrict its sale to liquor stores and to add more salt. Great; let's ruin their health totally while we're at it. The bureaucrats figured that nobody would want to drink an item with such a high salt content. The "suits" never know what they're talking about.

`````One would never want to use the toilet at Kim's Kitchen. I'm surprised that the entire block wasn't declared a biohazard as a result of that one little toilet stall alone. Most likely, it was clogged with the remnants of drugs and paraphenalia quickly flushed by those escaping the law. It's become so common in the last few years that free needles are issued at the exchange. Back then, unless you had a good reason to have one, you could be arrested for carrying it.

`````Kim's Kitchen, you see, was a drug den. T &R's were the biggest items then (Talwin and Ritalin), and certainly by-passed anything else requested on the menu. The place was raided more then a few times. It would stay closed for a month or so, and then open again. It had been there forever under one name or another, as the songs on the Jukebox attested. "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was ironically on the playlist, along with newer rock songs. Or, as new as one could get sticking to vinyl. That jukebox was probably worth more then everything else in the store.

`````"This," I thought, "was where Burroughs would hang if he lived in Vancouver."

`````There usually wasn't a lot of Diet Pop available at this restaurant, as the regulars liked their sugar (and lots of it). Diet Pepsi was my drug of choice. I was in there one day, after having scored a box of Sweet Bean Cakes at New Town Bakery, a block away in Chinatown. A person had to get there early, or they'd all be gone and only the sinful items such as Coconut Buns would be left to tempt me.

`````There was suddenly a commotion in the restaurant and the owner leapt over the counter with a meat cleaver in his hand. He was waving it in the general direction of a tall, thin man whose face looked as though he'd survived an encounter with The Pox.

`````"You pay!" insisted the Chinese man. The Junkie took flight and began to run around the restaurant, instead of doing the smart thing and heading out the door. Maybe drugs really do make people stupid.

`````"You pay!" The running went on for a while, cleaver in the air the entire time. It brought to mind those comedies of old where the boss chases Marilyn or Lucy around the office desk in a lecherous attack (back when sexual harassement was still considered funny). The junkie's synapses must finally have connected and he went out the door.

`````Everybody looked back down at their highly sweetened coffee or soda. Just another moment in time at Kim's Kitchen.