We don’t get to spend as much time in bars as we’d like, these days, what with the kid and all. You know how it is. We did manage to get ourselves up to Vermillion on Capitol Hill last night (which has an amazing and disturbing set of art on the walls these days) as well as The Unicorn (which has an amazing decor coupled with a disturbing lack of service these days), but that’s something of anomaly. Instead, we rely on the kindness of strangers to keep us informed on the goings on about town.
For example, we received the following from an anonymous informant:
Another quiet Sunday afternoon at a bar in the idyllic neighborhood of Wallingford. The dulcet tones of Limp Bizkit wafting less than gracefully from the jukebox. These thug-life types are sitting at a table behind me with a few girls wearing entirely too much makeup and a style of clothing likely to get you arrested in less enlightened parts of the world. One heavily intoxicated lothario was determined to impress the lovely, if heavily painted, nymphs that had joined him. “Babygirl, babygirl” pronounced as if it was a single, six syllable word, “Babygirl, I’ve been all over the world. I been to Vegas, I been to Miami, I been to….uhhh… Walla Walla”. I had two thoughts:
- After that list you couldn’t even rightly say you’ve been all over the United States, much less the world.
- He actually referenced Walla Walla as a point of particular interest.
I tried to recreate this gentleman’s life via his statement. What could he have been doing in Miami?
Spring break. Got it. Vegas was probably his 21st birthday. But Walla Walla? What could he have been doing there?
I couldn’t figure it out, so just assumed it would forever remain one of the great mysteries of life, such as; “What is the nature of the universe?” or, “What park did I just wake up in and how did I acquire this sucking chest wound?”
So, later that evening I was joined by my friend Mark who is from Pasco and thus vaguely familiar with the greater Walla Walla area. I asked him what sort of activities one might find in that part of the world. Without me even mentioning why I was curious, he simply replied “Pretty much all they have in Walla Walla that I know of is a prison”.
Mystery solved.
Aaaaaaaannnnnnndddd scene.
I can’t speak to the charming young man here, but I believe Walla Walla is home to a wonderful college I attended called Whitman, in addition to being the host of many many wonderful wineries in more recent years. It’s actually quite a nice place!
If all the friend from Pasco knows of Walla Walla is the penitentiary, I would suggest that knowledge comes from personal experience. Walla Walla has, for a city and region of its size, an exceptional nightlife and music scene consisting of the best national and regional jazz and blues acts, festivals and free concerts, outstanding restaurants, and a wide range of outdoor and sporting events, without the traffic and other difficulties associated with lovely, if heavily painted, nymphs and their escorts in the form of wannabe thugs. Not to mention the best wineries and tasting rooms in the Northwest…
Walla Walla, Washington = great points in Scattegories games.
this is part of the entrenched classism and racism that really takes me aback.
entropy, I believe you’re the one who’s inserted race into the discussion.
The Seventh day Adventist college is also in Walla, Walla and if you like stone fruits W.W. is home to many delicious orchards. There are also wineries in the outlaying areas of W.W. This part of Washington state is very beautiful, you must not have grown up here?
There might be many reasons why this person might have visited Walla Walla, as Leah and Jethro suggest. The inference that he went to Walla Walla simply to go to jail is random, unless: the “Babybaby” language and/or the lack of broader travel experience are supposed to signal that this person belonged to a social group (for example, a particular race or class, as suggested by Entropy) that is stereotyped as being more likely to go to jail than to engage in other activities (like attending college or enjoying the nightlife) in Walla Walla.
I must say, this is one of the most pointless blog posts I’ve read in a while. If we’d been told WHERE this conversation occurred, at least we’d have some perspective that could be useful. Such as, if you visit Bar X, conversations regularly turn to Walla Walla. But, at Bar Y, the clientele is a bit more sophisticated and conversations often involve more exotic locales, such as Boise.
I grew up in W2. Perhaps I’m more sensitive to this than others. Apologies if I overstated, but still.