A True Story Involving Me Working For A Mafia Guy

OK, so I'm working on this story HOLLOWPOINT with Horatio Salt, the guy who hooked me in on @joymotel. I tell him this story, back in 1978 I'm washing dishes at Sam A****ino's Sandwich Shop. Well, it was really called Pa's, but no one called it that. Same had a wife who looked like Carly Simon and they had just bought a new apartment in this huge building that is actually still behind the Red Lobster at 95th and Southwest Highway. One Monday near the end of July, he heads out to Mirabelli's Furniture on 103rd and Cicero to look at couches. Rush hour on a Monday. Three guys get out of a van and shotgun him away. No witnesses. Sam had the place as a front for a chop shop. After about a month of closing the place by myself and riding my bike home at midnight down SW Highway, which just about led to my backyard, I quit, because there were always (or so it seemed) suspicious looking cars parked across the way, when there was no reason for there to be any vehicle parked. In front of a bridal shop? a martial arts studio? I quit in August and before the end of the month, the place was torched. I want to say it was a month to the day of the killing, but I honestly can't recall. The photos above show what is now taking up the place the furniture place once stood, so yeah, no witnesses. I don't blame anybody, though. The third photo is simply there because I like old buildings that actually have a name. But that strip mall between Rosie's and Pluto's is where Sammy got his. It wasn't too long after the place was torched that I started working with the Elvis band.

The Place With the Paintings & The Mannequin With Her Butt Exposed

Awhile back, I posted a photo of this art store on 93rd & Cicero with a mannequin standing up to look as if he was painting on a canvas. Well, I took the time to actually walk around the place and peek inside. The place is always closed, there are business cars and phone numbers listed in various spots on the door and windows. I was surprised to find the other mannequin, the female one, and bottomless in the way of apparel. The building is one of my favorites in the area, the art place wasn't there until a few years back. I love the fans in the upstairs apartment windows, plus the fact that it looks like they never really bothered to paint the entire building, quitting as they saw fit. From where I took the photo, there was a Denny's behind me, and on the next block, blocked by the art building, is a Hooters. Yes, indeed, I live in one classy suburb. Check out the painting of the woman with the harp. If it wasn't in the window, I would never have stopped to look at the place. (I remember the moment clearly, as I had to walk from 95th to 87th in the dead of winter, having missed the bus. Snowplows had dumped everything on the sidewalks and I had to stop every few mounds to catch my breath. The valley between two of those mounds was the part of the window that had the harp painting. It was well below zero with the wind chill, making the scene even more surreal.) I would love to be able to walk around inside the place, though. Actually, I would love to live in one of the apartments above it.