A Saturday in the Old Nabe

Yesterday, Plot and Punk found themselves in Lincoln Heights, a Latino/Asian neighborhood just north of Chinatown, which looks like a shopping street in Mexico City, but which also looks back on some very picturesque views of downtown. Best of all is Tacos Chapalita. Ai, yai, yai, you get four shrimp tacos and a Coke for $5 in a little box, and they are impossibly tasty and crunchy, plus hot as hell. Sure, you don't HAVE to swallow the little green grilled chiles, but, yo.

Nicky lives around the corner from the taqueria, it is said, and Plot half-expected to see him at the little outdoor chairs, wolfing down a few baskets of shrimp. If you're reading this, NP, great neighborhood.

Plot and Punk sat on Valentine Street talking with Sue Borden for half an hour before heading out to Lincoln Heights -- Sue is a very old friend who still lives around the corner, in the old neighborhood. Sounds like things change but don't change, people come but don't ever quite go, just like Plotnik. Her daughter Mandy was The Great BeezieWeezie's very best friend all the years the Plotniks lived a block away.

BZ phoned -- she'll be in Senegal next week. Trips to Africa are starting to feel like part of the normal conversation.