SEMA & SoCal & The Golden Steer

Tuesday, November 1:
   Woke up early & headed for SEMA at the convention center. Stopped in to see my suppliers & got a couple leads on some chrome stuff & a cool line of Rat Fink-abilia. Not a whole lot of traditional Rod & Kustom stuff happening. I think I'll limit SEMA to one day from now on. I did take a few pictures, though.

This is my kinda grocery getter!

   Left the show early enough to go visit my buddy, Lenny, over at the SoCal Speed Shop here in Vegas. Lenny & his dad are true traditional Rod & Kustom guys & it's always cool to visit with them & see what they've been up to. A couple roadster bodies arrived when we were there & Dave & I helped the guys unload them. As a thanks, for our help, Lenny gave us a coupla SoCal t-shirts. Whatta guy! SoCal is another must-see for any Hot Rod/Kustom/Rockabilly/Vintage guy or gal visiting Sin City.

   Next, it was back to The Orleans to snazz myself up a bit for dinner at The Golden Steer. The Golden Steer is a Rat Pack era steakhouse that has remained virtually untouched since the days when Frank, Dino, Sammy, et al, hung out there. The prices aren't cheap, but the food is excellent & the place just drips classic Vegas cool. There aren't many of these places left, so I encourage you to enjoy & support them each & every time you visit Vegas.

Tiki In Vegas!

Monday, October 31:
   Slept in a bit then gorged ourselves on the breakfast buffet, in The Orleans. After breakfast, it was off for some Tiki hunting at the Charleston Antique mall. I passed on a bunch of small stuff in favor of this amazing, 3-Tiki, Scorpion bowl from the Aku Aku at the long, lost Stardust Hotel. The bowl is in mint condition with the OMC label perfect & intact, on the bottom.

After all that Tiki hunting, I needed a nap, so it was back to the hotel for a little shut-eye. Refreshed from my little respite, it was off to Frankie's Tiki Room for some video poker & exotic cocktails. I had a Lava Letch & took the new mug home with me. If you've never been to Frankie's, it's a must see when visiting Sin City. They have many exotic cocktails that come in their own signature Tiki mugs & the decor is killer, having been put together by Bamboo Ben with carvings & art from everyone who's anyone, in the Tiki community.

After Frankie's, we headed over to Bambino's Pizza for some chow. Bambino's is a Boston-style pizzeria, operated by a couple of East Coast transplants. I walked in the door & immediately zeroed in on a large picture of the 1969-1970 Boston Bruins Stanley Cup winning team. The owner, being from Boston, was quite impressed that I could name all but 2 of the players, in the photo. Definitely the best pizza I've had in Vegas. After dinner, we ventured over to the Red Rock Casino for a look around. While not vintage, much of the decor & architecture had a mid-century vibe about it. This place is pretty swanky & definitely one of Vegas' best kept secrets. After that, it was back to The Orleans to crash, for the night.

SoCal & Vegas Flashback

Are you freakin' kidding me!?!? 8" of effing snow on October 30!?!? The night before the last Amherst Flea Market of the year, October 29,  we were greeted with 8" of heavy, wet crap, downed branches & tress, & massive power outages. To say this felt like Deja Vu is an understatement. Needless to say, Amherst was cancelled, which cost me a lot of money & now I had to worry about leaving my family with no power, as I was scheduled to fly to Vegas at 7:00. Fortunately, we're on the same grid as the police station, so we got our power back quickly. I finished packing & headed out to meet my buddy, Dave, at Logan Airport. Boston didn't get the snow, so our flight was on time. We had dinner at Johnny Rocket's & boarded the plane for Vegas. We arrived in Vegas, just after 11:00 & grabbed a midnight snack at Del Taco, (Bad idea!), headed for the Orleans & hit the sack. If you've never stayed at The Orleans, you're missing one of Vegas' best kept secrets. It's off the strip, but a great hotel at a great value. The Orleans has many restaurants & bars, a movie theater, live entertainment, a bowling alley & an arena that is home to the Las Vegas Wranglers minor league hockey team. It also, now host to the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly weekend. I always rent a car, so being off the strip is no big deal to me.