Tip Of The Hat

[rejectomorph]

This Internets thing sure takes up a lot of time. I go looking for something, find an interesting link to something else, then more links, and more, and then I look at the window and see that the night is over. All I've done for the last three hours is wander from one web site to another (and swat at the mosquitoes that have been buzzing around my head.) Now I realize that I have learned absolutely nothing from these virtual peregrinations. I don't know if I feel bad about having wasted so much time, or feel good about having enjoyed three hours of mindless amusement. I'm a serial killer of time!

I have another new icon, created and uploaded on a more productive night. It is stolen from a Flickr album, and is something I wasn't expecting to see, as I was searching for pictures tagged with "Pasadena" and the image I found was of something located a few miles away in Alhambra. I guess the person who took the picture wasn't paying attention to city limit signs that day. Anyway, It's a picture of a classic neon sign which has graced (probably since before I was born) a hamburger stand called The Hat, at the corner of Garfield Avenue and Valley Boulevard.

The establishment itself has probably remained unchanged since it was built, perhaps as long ago as the 1930s. Hell, the grill probably hasn't been thoroughly cleaned since the place opened! I got running and barking sick from eating there once, but still continued to go back for the classic greaseburgers and French-dip pastrami sandwiches. Mmm, greaseburgers! I miss those. I'd like one right now, but all I have is this new icon.

Comments

[rejectomorph]

I have to root around on Sluggo's hard drive for a picture I have of the neon sign of a bar called The Owl that was also in Alhambra. It was one of the signs I found most fascinating when I was a kid. The bar moved across the street from its original location in the early 1980s, and I was very pleased that they kept the old sign. The picture I have on Sluggo was one that somebody posted on the Internet, but I also have a picture of it that I took myself a few months before I moved here. That one's never been digitized, though.