Even More Thoughts on left Coast Crime

S. J. Rozan, who was Guest of Honor at Left Coast Crime, has some comments on El Paso here. She clearly didn't take the same walk I did. Within two blocks of the hotel, in the direction of the border, the sidewalks were so crowded that there was hardly any room for me. Pawnshops, clothing stores, variety stores, and even "Shooters Supply" all had their doors open to the sidewalk, and people were milling around all the entrances, going in and out, shopping, talking, socializing. The whole scene reminded me of my small East Texas hometown on Saturday afternoons in the early 1950s. There was even a street-corner preacher, and even though he was speaking Spanish, the message was very much the same as the ones I heard back in the old days. Of course it's true that the "real" downtown El Paso is pretty depressed and empty, but down toward the border, it's hoppin'.