Okay, Ringo…GIVE!! What is Moko’s Yodeling Pigsnout!!!
LMAO, I am indeed in the Los Angeles area.
Over the years a number of fast food stands in LA have been bought out by Asian immigrants. As has been mentioned there any number of _____ and Chinese food places or Mexican Food and Teriyaki. They keep the existing cusine and just add Chinese to it.
however for a twist on this trend in the City of San Fernando there is a great Chinese (steam table) place. What is so odd about it? Every time I have been in there every employee I have seen has been Hispanic, I have never seen an Asian working there.
There’s a small garage-like structure on 37th between Penn and Russell in North Minneapolis called “Cheese”. Although I walked or drove past it perhaps 200 times in 10 years, I only saw people there once - a half dozen guys were sitting around on some cars in front drinking beer. I’ve never seen the doors open.
OTOH; there’s plenty of older and/or run-down commercial structures in that area that are completely unmarked, but occasionally have quite a number of people in them.
Well, then, Chinese/Donuts/Hamburgers is normal 'round these parts. 
Did you not catch that it’s a “24 hour” store that’s closed more often than not? Or is that really common practice in Canada? What’s that all aboot?
Yeah, that’s what we say about it all the time. Apologies to Steven Wright, of course
Until last year, there was a place in Burbank Ca. called “Michele’s” that was little more than a place for deadbeats like me to pay their bills at the last minute because they were about to have their utilities shut off. There was always some kind of merchandise on display, but I never saw anyone do anything but pay bills in there. First it was a music store: old cassette tapes, tacky posters of Hendrix, Lennon, etc., and lame T-shirts. Then these two middle-aged gay men bought it from the old couple who had run the place for decades. They turned it into an action figure store, and added a booth to handle the bill payments, making it look like some kind of bookie joint. Then they changed it into kind of a general gift shop, with a lot of Hawaiian shirt and cutsie junk, making it look like the gift shop at Honolulu airport. Through all this I never saw anyone buy one single thing in there. They closed last year, the end of a Burbank institution.
This morning, I saw a combined Psychic Adviser & car wash.
On Murfreesboro Road, near Antioch, TN.
I used to work across the street from the “Ample Supply Company.” The sign always made me laugh.
Just what they did supply, I never did discover. Not sure I want to know.
your humble TubaDiva
Ah, Cromer’s in Columbia. You get really high quality rubber chickens there. <<sigh>>
Mmmmmm … Guthrie’s! But really, at 3AM what more do you need than a giant vat of fried chicken and some texas toast?
My husband used to work there, and if you’re curious about the sauce I have the recipe. There’s also worcestershire sauce in the mix, and a few other bits & baubles, but you’ve basically got the idea.
In Seekonk, MA there is a store called Cuties, Bears and Stuffies which is mostly a Beanie Baby store kind of place, but I understand that it also sells male inflatable sex dolls.
About two blocks down from my last apartment was a corner lunch counter called “The Lido”. Exterior decor early 60’s turquoise tile and script logo. From the outside the place looked all beat to hell. Never had the courage to go inside, but what I could see through the (filthy) windows was dark faux panelling, an electric clock, a beer cooler, a rack of potato chips and a rack of chewing gum.
There would generally be a half dozen rough looking folks sitting around drinking bottled beer, smoking cigarettes and eating chips (and possibly chewing gum too although I did not stand around long enough to evaluate this possibility fully). I never saw any other food served, nor any other service people, deliveries etc (other than the beer truck). Bearing in mind that Ontario has a law where even beer joints need a functional kitchen that can serve burgers etc this is extra-suspicious…
So it seems evident that the place was some sort of front for certain underhanded dealings. I have heard rumors but nothing concrete. It has since been closed down and remodelled into (yet another) coffee bar, quite upscale now really.
The counterman was a grizzled old Greek guy, more or less ball shaped and stooped over a cane. He would sit by the till up at the front window all day long. I never saw him move from that spot. Ever. One day as I was walking past he opened the till drawer, reached into one of the compartments therein, pulled out a set of false teeth, and popped 'em in!
Yeah, the old neighborhood has cleaned up quite a bit since then…
Hey guys!
This thread’s in Threadspotting. You’re famous haardvaark
Thanks TubaDiva 
(I haven’t actually posted to this thread but enjoyed lurking. I just can’t think of any weird enough businesses in my area. I guess I live in a boring place :sigh:)
I went to school in Santa Clara, CA, and right down the Alameda from SCU, there was a place called “Palm Donut Burger” (and for a small time I think it was “Palm Donut Burger and Sushi”). It was much better than the Mongolian BBQ that kept you in the bathroom for 2 days that was on the El Camino just down the street. The only problem was that they never agreed to cook our burgers in the donut oil - because who couldn’t resist a deep-fat fried burger concoction?
They ultimately decided to change their name to “Palm Restaurant,” I believe. It’s been a while since I went by it, and now I live in Nebraska, so I won’t see it anytime soon.
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PA’s got all kinds of places like that. Near where I live, we’ve got Massey’s Frozen Custard, which is legendary.
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Ah, yes. Ollie’s Bargain Outlet. We are intimately familiar with this enterprise. Airman’s uncle happens to be Mark Butler, one of the co-owners. (The answer to the obvious question is no, I can’t get you a discount.)
Robin
There’s another place in Tally right down the street from Guthries called Chubbys Chicken. Same concept, 1 mile apart, all chicken fingers. What is it with chicken fingers than one store can’t satisfy the demand.
And there’s a nightclub down the street called “Chubbys”. (no relation) Who would name a club that. Hey, i think i’ll call my nightclub “fat guys”
Ok 3 weird Texas businesses in the Austin area. One is “Just Guns”. That’s right you guessed they sell nothing but guns. The second one is the “Livers N’ Gizzards” store in Lockhart or Gonzalez, Texas. The specials they have up on the sign are truly repulsive. A bucket of gizzards for the whole family! And lastly my favorite new weird business, “the Sexy Scissors”. Topless women cutting hair, and they serve beer. Wow, every man’s dream. I bet that guy is making money hand over fist.
In San Francisco, not far from my office is a place that sells zippers. Just zippers. I once needed some zippers, and went there - the place was basically ankle-high with zippers on the floor. The zippers were nominally contained in battered cardboard boxes that were leaning and bulging and leaking zippers. There was no straight path from anywhere to anywhere else in there and you had to watch your step to avoid walking on the slithering zippers. Getting into the shop was like using a mantrap - push the door open, go in as far as you can to the right against 50-gallon fiber barrels of zippers, close the door and only then can you turn left to get away from the door. Well-suited to the short Oriental people running the place, nothing was higher than five feet off the floor.
I’ll tell you this much - you have no idea how many varieties of zippers there are untill you walk into a zipper store! Anything from 3 inches to 25 yards was available there. (Buy the 25 yard bulk reel of zipper teeth, add a pull, and zip up … something really big.)
Me too. I’m even more curious about the one in the town where my parents live. We’re talking WAY south of Chicago, out in the farmlands. It’s a small town that’s growing, but it’s still small. In town there’s a grocery store, a bank, a burger/ice cream joint, a video store, a vet, and some other misc. shops (including a small Radio Shack, for whatever reason). But there, on the outskirts of town, is a huge Hallmark shop! WTF? I still wonder how they can support themselves in such a small town.