Posted on 02/10/2008 10:11:33 PM PST by traviskicks
Densely packed buildings, well-weathered and decaying, line the corridors of the southeastern section of downtown L.A.'s commercial district. The streets and sidewalks are choked with traffic and people. Spanish names and phrases dominate the signage and snatches of overheard conversations. This is one of those places in the city where it would be easy to convince an outsider that Los Angeles is not functionally a part of the United States. It feels more like a satellite metropolis of Latin America, magically implanted north of the U.S.-Mexico line.
Here, in the middle of the pedestrian traffic rushing by in the Fashion District, on the sidewalk along Los Angeles Street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, Elizabeth Palacios has built her business at a blue, beat-up mobile food cart protected from the sun by two bright beach umbrellas. She sells chips, bottled water, canned sodas and, until recently, the beloved but troubled icon of L.A. street food, the bacon-wrapped hot dog.
"I used to clean houses," Palacios says on a warm afternoon. "Then, a year later, I got the chance to work on a carrito. A month later, I started renting one. Four months of doing that, I had enough saved up. I bought a cart. 'What do I have to do?' 'Go around and around, and where there isn't a cart, put yourself there.'"
She did, 18 years ago.
"Back in those days, you didn't use the bacon," she says, indicating the hot dogs that lie unattractively in her golf-cart-like Cushman vehicle.
As she speaks, a customer approaches, peering at her meat bin. "No bacon?"
"No bacon," Palacios sighs apologetically, in accented English. "They don't let me."
She means police and L.A. health-department inspectors, but the customer doesn't need much explanation: He moves on.
(Excerpt) Read more at laweekly.com ...
I’ve had these bacon-wrapped dogs many times here in L.A. I’ve never gotten sick. Hell, I ate fish tacos from a street cart in Tijuana and didn’t get sick. I’m sure the conditions under which their cooked isn’t sanitary, but I just say “caveat emptor”, kiss it to God, and enjoy every bite...
One of tens of thousands such places in LA.
"The bureaucracy is expanding, to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy." -Oscar Wilde
The comedian Doug Stanhope says, "I am a player in this life, not a spectator. Herpes to me is like a skateboarder with a skinned knee."
That's kind of how I feel about getting something like e. coli or hepatitis from eating a bacon-wrapped dog. But herpes would still suck. I can't get behind that, Doug.
I’ve had these bacon-wrapped dogs many times here in L.A. I’ve never gotten sick. Hell, I ate fish tacos from a street cart in Tijuana and didn’t get sick. I’m sure the conditions under which their cooked isn’t sanitary, but I just say “caveat emptor”, kiss it to God, and enjoy every bite...<<<<<<<<
You couldn’t pay me to eat from a cart once they showed the undercover footage of the filthy conditions some of the vendors maintain. I guess it’s the buyer’s choice, since there won’t be any illusions about suing the vendor if they become deathly ill.
Heh. Somebody should photo-shop that scumbag Obama’s face on that.
Same happened to my wife, youngest son and myself at Wendy's in 1978, haven't stepped foot in one since. A night in the hospital with I.V.s for the three of us was enough to last a life time.
My oldest son, 5 years old at the time usually ate like a little pig, except for that one time and he didn't want anything to eat and was the only one who didn't get sick.
I've accused him ever since of being "in on it". Since I am accusing a member of this forum of being a part of a conspiracy, I have pinged him to this reply.
Restaurant owners must pass health inspection and they probably wouldn't consider it fair if they were required to compete on price against sidewalk vendors who are allowed to cut corners.
If there’s one thing an American should never be afraid of it’s a little competition. There’s sort of a “wild west” aspect to this that I find appealing.
The issue is not competition but unfair competition. If the government imposes a cost on some vendors but not others then this is a subsidy to the unregulated. It is a very simple concept, really.
We did the same thing with knock wurst- heart attack city, but My Gawd! what a melody of flavors.
“Call me when the nightmare masquerading as a free nation is gone and my country is back.”
No kidding.
I almost died once - spent three days in the hospital in NJ - after eating tainted roast beef at a Roy Roger’s - it’s not just street food. While I don’t disagree with having health inspectors, I do disagree with this kind of blanket ban.
I thought Mexicans were taking over Kalifornia, not mooselimbs.
I think I figured it out. Grilling produces “heat trapping gasses”. You know, CO2, “the most important green house gas”.
Ninety-nine percent of the people here are mexicanos. Here, you don’t really see americanos. One or two,” she says. “Why are they coming now to get us out of here? Why the abuse? Why the abuse?”
These people and their carts are filthy, many are illegal aliens with diseases. They spray Raid on the food to keep flys away. I’ve seen them washing dishes in their backyards with a garden hose. They pay extortion money to the gangs and refuse to cooperate with the police. I’ve been sick so many times I rarely eat at McDonalds, Carles Jr. or Del Taco unless I travel outside of Los Angeles, Mexico.
They sell to children and the kid’s parents are too stupid to give a damn. Most of them are unlicensed. They push their home made carts to the elementary schools. I know of two people that got Hepatitis, both of them nearly died. They don’t pay taxes. They set up shop in front of restaurants and take their customers away.
This is all over Los Angeles and the authorities don’t give a damn.
If you think government health inspections are what keep restaurants clean, you've obviously never worked in a restaurant, or in government.
Welcome back Travis!
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