Although I went to the bastard Mani’s in Santa Monica within days of moving to Los Angeles and I have a more vast compendium of memories to tap into for that location, I was no less smitten with the more cozy Fairfax location. Just the name of the road lights up in me a whole host of distant flickers. Were it not for Thos.’s refusal to compose the tableaux which is more rightfully his demesne, these little vignettes would probably be gone from my skull as are the million sparks which will not illuminate these notes, already 6.5 years removed from my somber last visit to Mani’s Fairfax.

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gray kiser has told me about a curious phenomenon he has noticed in mexico. apparently every single place of business has a single step at its front door, no ramps, no warnings, no mercy! being somewhat of an architecture buff i found it very interesting but could not recall noticing it during my brief visit but thought it fit in pretty well with the sort of chaos tempered against old-world charm. perhaps it was a remnant from the days before storm sewers or from people swabbing their stoops, or perhaps it was the little touch that gave you the feeling of ‘entry’ into the place. whatever the root, it awakens a sort of nostalgia for simpler, less litigious and more human times. these days anywhere that has been able to preserve a walkable downtown of the mayberry ilk, no matter how theatrical and spurious, gives me the license to feel a little bit comfortable walking slower than my typical restless-leg-syndrome pace.

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