Just a couple more observations via rustic

li'l CL(...now what is it?...the s/o nearly had a seizure when we drove past it last month and he saw the name had changed...wherein I had the opportunity to drop a bit of LTH knowledge, yo)---
When I lived across the street from CL I'd regularly walk up to get my fix at Dusty Groove, bypassing La Pasadita's 3, amazed at what gringos were missing right under their noses(CL). I mean...it's just a jaunt down the street. If one could(back in the day) hustle past the homeless, the Polish vinyl-wrapped ceramic black panther furniture stores, and discount trainer outlets on Milwaukee...surely, one could detour off to CL instead of LP.
I've just never seen the "sketchy" in CL. I remember first exploring that cramped, tiny market to check out their (good) produce selection...in fact it was quite awhile before I branched out to Supermercado Guanajuato nearly next door. Once, inside(omg...the only white guy) I was ensorcelled by incantations of meats grilled upon the dais; benedictions of bottled lime juice, smoke rings read from beneath foil tents, and those innocuous plastic tubs of psychoactive, sacramental salsa verde.
yum-o
I was in there all the time. Had my favorite workers; where I knew so n so's would make me a great taco or give me the best stuff and this other guy would just throw some shit on a tortilla, sqwunch it up in leaky aluminum, and grunt..."here."
And, the longhaired (matriarch?) of the market manning the cash register upfront...she was always friendly...always seemed happy to see me.
My only complaint(if complaint it is) was that if you hit them at peak time you'd get stuck behind milling workers buying tacos and tortas in bulk...ay yi yi..."I just want...dos tacos, por favor!"
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My point is...I never found it threatening...maybe because I lived in that part of the neighborhood. I knew first hand there was nothing to be afraid of.
I also miss the (long gone)supermercado pretty much across the street from CL...just before the laundry(that laundry is squirrely...thankfully we had laundry in our first building...then in our unit when we moved next door)
When I first visited, that was the supermercado where you'd go for your selection of tequilas and/or half-pints. They had a long since shuttered taqueria of their own. It was in half of the store that became overstock. Run by Puerto Ricans(this jovial, mustachioed guy and his -daughter?-) they carried locally-made tubs of mole's, chicharron, canned goods all kinds. And, an okay produce section. Also...pulque!
Again, you'd have to know it was there unless you lived in the neighborhood.
So, many neat places and culinary adventures and sweet people. I bristle when I hear them described as "grubby."
Being gauche rocks, stun the bourgeoisie