Yes darlings, This was when America was really free. I made $1.15 per hour plus tips. Which I might add was enough to pay my $85.00 per month rent. I only paid electric and I think that was $3.00 per month. No cable TV, no cell phone, no phone at all. All calls were made from a pay phone or the phone at work, if it was local. Hanging out was at the "Drive In" on the highway drinking Cherry Schnapps and Everclear. Oh my, I even hate to admit that. Oh yes, and Coed tag football at the park/zoo that had one animal, a lion that roared incessantly. I could hear it at the trailer that I lived at down the street. Yes, kids trailer. Everybody lived in trailers in Alamogordo. Well, everybody in my income bracket.
I did not have a car at the time, but managed to get one in a few months from Mr.Cookson. Everyone in town knew him. He was my parents neighbor. Sly dog. He came in for coffee every morning to the Red Rooster and would make me feel guilty when I brought his ticket. I think gas was like .35 cents a gallon. And no I am not that OLD! Inflation has just been out of control.
Anyway, I ate PBJ sandwiches and meals at the restaurant. "Louie" the evil boss from hell, would watch all of our meals and count the french fires. Oh Oh Oh and there was this guy that was "Louie's" henchman he was a career dishwasher. Serious. Flaming guy with alternative lifestyle which was unreal in a small town like Alamogordo. And also the first time I had ever known someone of his sort. I remember he wore eyeliner and mascara and the makeup got thicker the closer it got to Friday night. I wish I could remember his name...Freddie? No... Oh Oh it was SAMMY, yes SAMMY. Anyway I think there was something going on between Louie and him. It was all so sorted and I was so very naive.
I'd plug a dollar in the jukebox and play enough songs to get through the morning rush. I guess that was really a hard days work but didn't realize it. Youth.
So, this pic has given me a lot to remember.Hmmmm I wonder how much I can blog without recrimination.
Love Mamabus
6 comments:
ok so I am the little sister who remembers my older sister moving to Alamogordo fighting all the way and yes I don't think she spoke to my parents the entire trip from New Hampshire to New Mexico. And yes I remember to Red Rooster and yes that building is still standing I think it is a thrift store of sorts not but the HUGE sign is still there no rooster though it has since be half way demolished and painted a variety of colors along with the building. And I am no sure I ever met Louie or Sammy that lifestyle is any everyday occurance in the small town of Alamogordo now, and the older people that live there are still in denial. And Mr. Cookson, well I am not sure if he is even still alive, I am sure not as that would make him about 150 years old it seems, but to the best of my knowledge his house is still standing and he will be forever known as the swindler that built Alamogordo NM to me anyways. And just for the record, I no longer live there, however I do visit on occasion to see my Mom and Dad because I only live 6 short hours away in Colorado. But everytime I go, I always come away with the great memories of that town. It is simple amazing how much a picture can have a 1000 words and memories for such a small town. And the final point, I should point out, as I always do whenever I get the chance that I am the younger sister and while my older sister was developing memories at 17 I was developing memories at 7. So there you go. I doing the math, I would say that neither of us is getting old just wiser and better with age.
Diana, I laughed until I cried about your description of the career dishwasher. Your style of writing is very entertaining. Glad to see you are back.
Talk about a blast from the past.. ths site did that for me.. in 1957 I moved to El Paso to live with my brother and his famil. I was putting myself through Beauty School by working at the Red Rooster in El Paso. I went with my boss and a couple of others to open this Red Rooster.. we left the Red Rooster in El Paso after my shift ended at 7 PM and worked till about 4 AM in the morning getting every thing ready for opening at 6 AM.... about 4 AM, I went into the bathroom and washed out my uniform, putting it back on wet and lay down in a booth for a couple of hours to let it dry. We worked till 3 PM before returning to El Paso.. I got married to an Air Force guy in february of 1959 and we went elsewhere.. but many times I have wondered what happened to both of these places.. many good memories and always wonderful to remember them..Gerleine A. W. Schoonover
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Wow. Thanks for the picture. I’m currently riding my motorcycle from California to Texas and randomly stayed the night in Alamogordo. Who doesn’t want to see the world’s largest pistachio? I rode by this place and recognized it as an old drive in and was hoping to find out what it originally was. It’s still a thrift shop but looking at the video I took, I don’t think any of the original sign remains. It’s now held up by two round legs/stumps that don’t resemble the base in the photo.
It’s criminal that the glorious red rooster sign was torn down.
I moved to Alamogordo with my dad & little brother in 1956 & lived there til 1970 when Uncle Sam informed me that he needed me.
I remember the Red Rooster Drive-in well. In the early years the big rooster used to crow (I think it was every hour). He was LOUD! As time went by nearby residents complained so much about the crowing that the city had him silenced.
Wow that was a long time ago!
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