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It’s Sunday November 15th and gazillion bipeds are converging in East LA to ride the new light rail system that is having its debut and I know it’s gonna be madness. I’m ready to roll with a group of drunks doing the pub crawl. I heard about it on Facebook and decided to, “jump on the wagon.” A lot of my friends also thought it was a good idea but in the end I’m riding solo again. Fuck it.

I had my shower and drank my coffee. Feeling good I’m ready to go. Camera? Check! Business cards? Check! Let’s go!

There’s my little baby, my noisy 93 Nissan pick up truck. Inside the truck I turn the key and…nothing. What? This has never happened before. I didn’t leave anything on. I’m all ready a little late.

I managed to get a jump from my neighbor and I headed down to the Indiana station. Fuck! No parking anywhere. I went around the block four times until I scored a prime spot on the corner of 2nd and Indiana.

I see the train so I run across the street and still miss it. No worries they gotta be running a lot today.

The turnout is amazing. Every train is packed to capacity. I finally get to Belvedere Park and find out that I missed Monte Carlo 76. I wanted to get some pictures of them. Lysa Flores had just taken the stage with Fredo Ortiz on drums so I snapped a few shots and headed downtown to join the crawl.

The madness started at Olvera Street but I was running late so I started at the second stop. I heard people waited in line an hour and a half at Union Station to get on the train. Second stop is Weilands, my second home. Only two lone dudes are sitting at the bar when I walk in. I can’t wait to get started. I order my Blonde Ale. Ahhhhh.

PCP!

That was when the first crawlers came through the door: Pattie, Carmen and Phil (PCP). I knew we were gonna have a good time when Phil said, “You have to bite the dog that bit you in the ass!”

That’s how we roll!

I tried to stay a step ahead of everyone so after three beers I jumped on the train to Mariachi Plaza. It’s unbelievable that this is in Boyle Heights.

It was a jumpin’ scene at the Boyle Heights Block Party and Mariachi Festival. Booths, stages, and gente all over the street. Eastside Luv was packed! Met up with my crawlers again and had a Fat Tire.

The next stop was Indiana Street for El Mercado. I guess everyone was really crawling now. It took people a while to get there so I stepped into Oscar’s Sports Bar for a quick Modelo.

When I headed back at El Mercado I finally met up with PCP again. You know Chata? Chata fuck up!

Here I introduced myself to the crawl organizer, Javier Angulo. “I serve on the East LA planning committee and I’ve been following this project for a long time. Of course, East LA has always been here but this train opens a new gateway of sorts that opens up the east side for a lot of people,” said Angulo. He was rolling with a rather large group of people to every stop.

Party at Oscar's!

After the Mercado, PCP and I were a little ahead of the other groups so we stopped at Oscar’s for another quick modelo. By this time we were all pretty drunk and having a blast. Met this dude from the Garfield Drill Team. (see picture, lol)

Oscar’s has $3 beers all across the board. Great price! It’s called a sports bar but no one was playing pool and one TV was inaudibly broadcasting a spanish news show and the other TV didn’t work.

The next and last bar stop was Rudy’s Bar and Grill (formelly known as Tequila’s) off the Atlantic train stop behind Pep Boys. This place had a bar where we all kicked it at and it also had a restaurant area that was packed to capacity with people watching a Paquita Del Barrio tranny impersonator. OMG! I had to ask if it was the real Paquita because I wasn’t sure. (see slideshow for pics)

PCP was looking for me and when they found me Phil had a tequila shot in hand for my consumption. I started the whole idea of doing shots at the last stop but by this time I was wasted and a shot might just take me over the limit. So I took it in three sips. (what a chump!)

Outside Rudy’s I met one of the dudes from Los Tigeres del Norte. Now I’m wondering if he was an impersonator too! lol.

The group of drunks had lost some souls along the trail and gained some new ones. Included in these new souls was Carmen’s cousin Martha. Sober and ready to continue the madness she drove us all back to Eastside Luv. PCPM was laughing so hard on the drive over with the lamest jokes we could come up with. You know Mica? You know Micho? Alcohol makes everthing funny!

At ES Luv I realized I had just missed a performance by Killsonic. Dang! Missed two bands that I would have really liked to see.

Well it’s been grand, but here is where I said bye to PCPM :’-(  and I jumped on the Killsonic bandwagon to Bar 107 to see Blasting Company kick some musical ass!

At 107 I started drinking $2 Olympias. I was soooo drunk I danced. (it only happens when I’m drunk, that’s not a good thing)

Let’s do a beer count:

Weilands: 3 Blonde Ales
Eastside Luv: 1 Fat Tire
Oscar’s: 1 Modelo Especial
El Mercado: 2 Modelo Negros, 1 Corona
Oscar’s (2nd visit): 1 Modelo Especial
Rudy’s: 1 Modelo Negro, 1 shot of tequila (not sure what kind)
Eastside Luv: 1/2 Fat Tire (cuz I left)
Bar 107: lost count but had to have at least 6 Olympias

Also had a long drunk talk with Moises about raising kids with ex-viejas and all that.

When the night was (seemingly) over, Erika (Killsonic) got me back to my car. Mike was with us and I’m supposed to give him a ride home (he’s my neighbor). We get in the car, my trustee 93 junk, turn the key……nothing! Bastard! Mike calls Erika and she comes back to pick us up and gets us home safe. Woo hoo! Inside my house getting ready for bed!

But wait!! Where’s my camera? Fuck! Did I leave it at 107? Erika’s car? My truck? Could not remember so I decided to walk back to my truck. A long walk for a drunk guy at 3 in the morning. The camera was sitting in my passenger side seat, visible to any passer by looking for a quick jack. I get in the car and decide I’m not walking back, recline the seat, set my alarm and knock the fuck out!

In the morning I called my homie for a jump. Made it home in time to give my daughter a ride to school. Slept.

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Rafael Cardenas can be reached at eastsiderwriter@gmail.com

He also writes for Citizen L.A.

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