In a recent post on Not a Number’s search for a new home, we suggested they might move into the derelict Winchell’s donut shop.
As you may remember, when the old Winchell’s franchise owner closed up shop, the Rancho Bravo taco truck that had been parked in the lot took over the lease for the whole property (The Plot Thickens). Since then, the truck has expanded to a larger truck, the size of the Costco carport set up to provide rain cover to the taco eaters has doubled in size and the shop has remained empty, old Winchell’s decals fading in the window.
Why isn’t the taco truck becoming the taco shop?
Hopefully, the end of the eyesore will come soon. In response to our suggestion that Not a Number move in, Freddy Rivas, the owner, responded:
I’m working with an architect now to remodel the building so we can move in. I’m hoping to do this soon.
Happy day! Hopefully, “soon” will actually be soon, not mañana.
Now, if you haven’t been to the Rancho Bravo that moved into the old KFC by Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill, it’s an odd sight. Usually, when a restaurant takes over a space, it remodels and rebrands. Instead, it’s more like the taco truck is squatting in the old KFC building, with the new signs hung over the old ones. Not that we’re criticizing, mind you; in fact, we like it: You still feel like you’re eating from a streetside taco truck, you’re just not as cold, and it’s as comfortable as an F-150 seat cover.
Freddy has mentioned to us in the past that he hopes to create a more inviting environment at the Wallingford taco truck all around, including landscaping the parking lot. Maybe he get Briar Bates, who landscaped his Capitol Hill shop and is helping spearhead Woodland Park’s Sensory Garden, to create a sensory taco truck garden.
“Hopefully, “soon” will actually be soon, not mañana.”
Wow, really? You really thought invoking an outdated racial stereotype was the best move here?
Thanks, Judy! I was about to say the same thing; I love that I can read the news around Wallingford on Wallyhood, but can we please show respect to all of our neighbors, not make them the butt of a joke referring to an offensive (and dumb) novelty song from the ’40s?
Oh please enough t with the politcal correctness. I am half Mexican, in my house we use the phrase “a Mexican minute” all the time. I am proud of my culture – we don’t sweat the small stuff – try it! Also – Rancho Bravo made my usually iron stomach queasy twice – no bueno.
I respect the complaint here and didn’t mean to offend, but I’m going to stand by my words.
The reference doesn’t come from a novelty song (with which I’m not familiar). Rather, it’s a common word in Mexican Spanish that means both literally “tomorrow” and “some time in the future that you could be waiting a long time for” (i.e., it’s _always_ “tomorrow”). Using a word from a culture when describing a relevant situation involving someone from that culture is not intrinsically offensive. It would be offensive if I implied that he would take a long time to do it BECAUSE he was Mexican, but that’s not what I said or meant.
I’ll believe it when I see it. Winchell’s is a blight on the landscape and from the looks of things in there it’s going to take a lot of $$ and time to get it cleaned-up to where it can be a ‘nice’ place to eat. Operating costs for a restaurant are a lot more than for a food truck, so I don’t see much motivation to spend a not-inconsiderable amount of money to do this.
Personally, I’d rather raze Winchell’s and see the lot’s entire space used to add in 5 or 6 more food trucks. A little slice of Portlandia in our little neighborhood would be fantastic.
I’m half Mexican too and found the manana statement ill-considered. And your response to the complaints feels, well, a little tortured.
Thanks, though, for the news. I was so sad to see Winchell’s go away. Is Freddy the same fellow who worked at the doughnut shop all those years?
Andrea
I’d cite Wallyhood for using a hackneyed turn of a phrase, but suggesting this is insensitive is a bit of a stretch. What about the readers of this forum who may happen to have relatives in Guantanamo or being held captive somewhere… wouldn’t they be equally offended by Andrea’s use of the word ‘tortured’ since its usage in this instance is trivilializing what is ‘real’ torture and therefore is also ill-considered? A little perspective here is needed.
The quote from the owner sounds very much like a holding statement to avoid being hassled, and nothing has been done with this eyesore for a year+; so, it’s reasonable to question whether/when anything will happen.
“Working with the architect”? Yeah, get used to seeing the defunct Winchells if you haven’t already. Sounds like this owner has no real plans to do anything with the building and why should he? Business is good at the taco truck presumably, and he couldn’t care less about how the building looks to us that live here.
Nice article, Wallyhood. Don’t mind the uber-p.c.crowd. “Mañana” is a regular term that even a glow-in-the-dark German-type like me would say to mean “tomorrow or sometime in the future” without implying anything about anybody. No stereotype implied. Holy cow, people can be way too p.c. crazed.
On the other hand, I hope that Mr. Rivas is able to clean up that corner in our neighborhood, though it would be a big expense for a small business. I’ve never been one to buy from taco trucks, but he seems to be doing well and I hope he can swing the move indoors. Best wishes to him on this upgrade and in fixing up the lot.
Do only people of spanish or mexican heritage get to use spanish words now?
Are we allowed to still call it “Rancho Bravo”?
Or do we have to start refering to it as “The Brave Little Ranch” when we order our meat and cheese fillings inside a rolled up flour disc? I like calling it a burrito, better.
Images like “sensory taco truck garden” are the reason I keep returning to this blog. Thanks to all for keeping online chatter in whatever language delicious and delightful!
I am also offended by the slur with the use of soon or manana.
Take a look at many non- hispanic ‘soons’! How about the hole on 40th and Stone? How many ‘soon’ years has it taken to get anything to happen? How long befor ethi spproject is dunped half done?
The Wallingford neighborhood was ‘soon;’ going to get an update on the homeless shelter situation from Gift of Grace…???
The viaduct is ‘soon’ goign to be rebuilt/torn down/ voted on/ revoted on/ revamped/ shutdowm/ opened up?
No one is immune to ‘soon’.
for the record.. I will edit .. soon!
Also.. the Winchells building has been a dump for many years. The Taco Truck has only been there a couple. It is not his sole responsibility to clean up the neighborhood.
In fact, the reaoson for having food trucks instead of buildings is often to reduce costs. So, making a lmuch larger commitment to a building and many more permits and costs is something to consider for some time. many businesses have closed this year. expanding takes consideration and planning as well as assuming risk. Who of us will take that on?
I agree with Judy (comment #1.) As I read the article, that comment did stand out to me as insensitive.
Although I do appreciate the news of the business residents of the neighborhood, I do think that Mr. Rivas has been very gracious to describe his thoughts about HIS property. Kolokolo (#13) made a nice point in his/her post. There are multiple variables for a business owner to consider when making any plans for expansion or change. He is the person who will assume the debt and the risk. This conversation needs to remain at a high and respectful level. It is always a good idea to put yourself in the other person’s position. Would you like to be grilled and interviewed about your plans to build or remodel your home? There is fine line here. Wallyhood, and any of us, are not privy to all the facts.
I did not think the comment was insensitive. It was clear to me that Wallyhood was using the comparison of soon vs. “tomorrow” in a way to reference the way people/organizations often claim they are going to do something “soon” and then it takes years. Using manana instead of tomorrow was just adding a little flavor to the sentence. If the taco truck were to go out of business, would the headline, “Adios Rancho Bravo” be considered offensive?
there is clearly a patter here as evidenced by the recent use of “Ay Caramba” in another Wallyhood post (http://www.wallyhood.org/2011/02/number-wallingford/)
a pattern of what? I’m not sure! but definitely a pattern worth watching, and looking into, and seeing….more patterns!
Being a blog, and not a balanced piece of newsworthy journalism, it’s the author(s) privilege to treat each blog article as an op-ed piece. That’s what these really are.
Which, since the authors all seem to hold the same opinions more or less, it makes this blog about as fair & balanced as Fox News.
Hence why half of you seem to be offended, and the other half not. If you’d like to help Wallyhood be more balanced with a perspective beyond their neo-hippy culture, you can apply for their internship. Then you’re free to write your own op-ed pieces about “The Brave Little Ranch” and their quick remodels.
Just cause you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that “they” aren’t out after you….
The long posts used to be on tagging, now it’s on “mañana”.
Makes for an amusing afternoon! It could have dried up after #3eM’s comment and people could have gone to the movies. Or does that conjure up bad images about some group somewhere that makes some people uneasy.
The Taco Truck is awesome and tasty, albeit a little greasy, and I’d love to see them expand/at least do something with the lot!
Hi I’m half Asian and half white. I took some offense to the choice of words used in that article. But come on! How can anyone be surprised, Wallingford is a bit prejudice. We are only use to being around our own bike riding yoga going white neighbors.
My boyfriend is white and he even agrees, that we need culture and diversity in Wallingford. I’m happy to see the taco truck so we can add some spice to our cute little neighborhood.
“Manana”= Diversity training
Holy Homogenization, Batman! I’m being branded as part of a neo-hippie collective? Whoa, Dude, that’s totally awesome!
Holy crap. I just realized the reader meetup is at Bandolero! GASP!!!! And the top of the Taco Time sign was the photo contest! GASP!!! Clearly there’s a pattern here that we need to get to the bottom of!
Well my friends, I did a little reasearch and it turns out that Jordan’s full name is not Jordan Luther King Schwartz. It’s really Jordan “Che” Luther King Guevara Schwartz which explains his affinity for all things Hispanic and Latino.
Haha, you can always tell when the Wallyhood readers have nothing else to do so they start nitpicking. I’ll bite since we’re talking about food – having lived & worked in Mexico & several countries in South America – everyone knew what ‘mañana’ meant, both expats & locals. Kind of like the American – ‘when I get a round to it …’ By the way, my husband is Hawaiian and when someone is late or gonna get to something eventually sometime in the future but probably not tomorrow but maybe soon, it’s clarified with ‘Hawaii time’. Lighten up people!
My daughter-in-law from El Salvador calls it “Salvadoran Time” and it means …OMG! It’s SNOWING LIKE MAD OUTSIDE! Oh, it means getting somewhere at any time on the given day. OK, it’s not sticking. yet.
Thanks for broadening my horizons Wallyhood. When I read this post I was very confused about the usage of “mañana.” Until this point in my life I thought that word meant tomorrow (thanks high school Spanish), and I didn’t understand why we would be hoping this couldn’t be done tomorrow. Thanks to the comments section I now have another racist term to pepper my language…
Save Wallingford from the PC police! There are plenty of substantial things in life to be offended by. This is not one of them. Lighten up indeed.
Beautifully said CJ! I’m still trying to figure the ‘racist’ part that everyone is talking about.
it is snowing like snow here
I was trapped by ice in my apartment parking lot for several days at Thanksgiving! DANG!!!! Well, actually my car was, bu tstill!
There is this thing called diversity – it means we are not all the same. And hey – it’s okay to talk about it. Colorblindness is a racist construct, yo.
Auwe! Plenty pilikia sistas and brudda’s about da kine racism….can, no can…hey da kine Mexican food stay ono so who give one rat’s butt….but hey no talk stink eh?! Try spread da aloha…a hui hou….
I do hope they clean up that lot – there’s a lot of potential there. That said, I’ll still continue to patronize Rancho Bravo whenever Dick’s won’t hit the spot. The Salsa is amazing.
Apologies, perhaps I should say the “Sauce” is amazing. I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I am being offensive. In fact, I’ll redact what I said earlier and just say I love going to the “Bravo Ranch” truck to eat their “Sandwiches” from “south of the United States” with the amazing “Sauce” they have.
So, since i’m the one who first mentioned it, i’ll weigh back in here. The problem i had with the use of “mañana” in this context was not:
1. that it’s not English (comments 10 & 31)
2. that i am hyper-PC and have nothing better to do than pick on bloggers writing micro-journalism pieces about taco trucks (comments 3, 7, 9, 15, 18, 23, 24, 26, & 27)
I just think it’s worth pointing out –in a neighborhood that is primarily white– that there are certain terms that have a racial history and significance that should not be disregarded. The use of “mañana” here called to mind the lazy Mexican stereotype many of us are familiar with from Speedy Gonzalez cartoons (anyone remember Speedy’s cousin, Slowpoke Rodriguez?). Just Google “lazy Mexican” and see what you find.
As eM said in comment 29, “There is this thing called diversity – it means we are not all the same. And hey – it’s okay to talk about it.” A little sensitivity to non-Anglo cultures is not too much to ask in a country (and city) that is not nearly as “post-racial” as it thinks it is.
Okay guys/gals The horse is dead. Let’s move on. We can all learn alittle somthing from this situation, no more pointing fingers or sarcastic remarks. Let’s get postive and talk about somthing that actually matters.
I really hope we are not snowed in manana!!!! Yikes……Burrrrr
I do agree with Judy’s points! Thanks for speaking up.
It’s always funny to me how people take a a critical comment like “was that the best move?” and respond as if someone said “you are an evil racist ass who should stop using words because I am crying and bleeding inside.” People, especially people of white skin privilege, can often be blind to this type of thing and I for one appreciate when someone says something as opposed to sitting in silence for fear of the often ill-applied “you are just being P.C. and oversensitive’ b.s. some folks apply any time someone points out some racial (or other) “offness” in what they say. I thought the first comment was super reasonably stated and a good question. Was it the best move? No way. Did she say, “Are you out to destroy Spanish-speaking folks with horrific language insensitivity?” No. Thank goodness for pushing on these moments when people say, what I think was, pretty inartful and lazy stuff. Having @#!$ like this pointed out to me in my own speech has been a blessing, not a curse.
And I’d just like to say for the umpteenth time how happy I am that when people disagree on this blog, they do it with more respect, rational thought and open-mindedness than on virtually any other on-line forum I can think of.
As I said back in October (http://www.wallyhood.org/2010/10/comment-policy/), it can be a little like a rough pick-up basketball game, with people hitting harder than they mean to, but all with good intention.
I think that it is worth pointing out that anyone who uses such a bizarre and redundant phrase is already pointing out any topic as they are indeed posting and such action is in fact ‘pointing out’. Thus the use of the phrase pointing out is in essence, a redundant action. I am just pointing this out in case you didn’t already see this pointed out to you.
So the question I have is if a race/ethnicity continues to use a term like “mañana” itself to describe one of its cultural phenomenon, why is it racist for someone outside of that culture to use the term? Whenever I’ve been in Hawaii, everyone tells me to get on “island time”. If this article was about Hawaiian Breezes, and “island time” was used, would that be racist or non-pc? I’m very confused.
I think often white people don’t know wtf to do so they play the not-pc-card so they can claim the high road.
How about those Mariners? Doesn’t the weather suck? Who do you think will win best picture at the Oscars?
Thank you, Jonathan! I agree that the “racist” vs. “PC police” binary completely derails the dialogue, as does the logic that I always find to be a little weak, “I have a friend of [x ethnicity] and he, as spokesman for his entire race, says it’s ok to say that.” Does it matter what your race is if you find something offensive? Does saying you find it offensive equate with demanding that people aren’t allowed to express themselves? I don’t think it does. As for Chris’s comment, I think it’s equally easy to use potentially offensive language and then claim that anyone who is offended by what you say is being “too sensitive” or should get over it because it is assumed that he or she is white.
So where does that leave things Amy? You discounted an individual of a given ethnicity representing an entire race, seemingly in favor of trying to please every single person that may take offense to one’s choice of words. -Which is impossible and foolhardy.
Also your summary of my argument is pretty off. I didn’t assume everyone who was offended was white. -That’s pretty obvious from the comments here. I was pointing out from personal experience that white people trying to be pc and fauxfended as a proxy for a demographic they don’t themselves belong to is often a greater source of these complaints than actually outraged victims.
si back to Winchells a blight.. is it not maybe the respunsibility of the landlord and the community to clean it up? If I recall correctly the Taco Truck moved in the lot when it was a business. In essence he had opportunities to sell food to donut purchasers. now W. is gone and reduced his opportune customers.
No where in wallingford do we have a clothing store.. could an interesting one go in here?
@Kolokolo: The Taco Truck took over the lease for the full property last year. Winchell’s corporate still owns the property, but they have no open stores north of Sacramento, so their interest in taking care of this community is likely quite limited. Since then, Rancho Bravo has had opportunities to put other tenants in the building, but has demured (another restaurant would not be good for business). I doubt that the donut traffic helped much, the taco truck does well because it sells really good food inexpensively. The donut shop was doing pretty poorly these last few years and sold to a different clientele.
Fremont and Capitol Hill have worked with their landlords to put art in the windows of empty storefronts. I suggested this to Freddy last year and offered Wallyhood as a means to organize this, but he said he had other plans.
ok
thank you