This place is elfin' great…read more
Man. It really is.
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A quick backstory for you:
I grew up in the Falls (as you may have ascertained from my previous reviews), and these days, I'm not there much. Unless I'm headed to the folks' house, there's really no reason for me at all to be in Menomonee Falls.
But when I go back, I get nostalgic like a mother trucker... both for the good and the bad.
Enter: El Paso Western Gear, part of that whole good nostalgia
A place of magic and wonder and also, it seemed just a touch scary when I was a kid. Pop's Frozen Custard lived two doors down in the same mini-mall, so many formative years were spent in said mini-mall. I remember, out of sheer curiosity, asking my parents if we could go to El Paso. "Can we can we CAN WE?!?" I'm sure they secretly rolled their eyes, wondering why in sam hill an 8 year old would want to check out a western-themed store. I digress.
The walls? The floor? The ceiling? WOOD.
And boots. So so many boots. And hats... cowboy hats, of course. Belt buckles and flannels and button ups with pearl snaps and fringes a la the Grand Old Opry in its heyday, and boy howdy! This place? The real. freakin'. deal.
But wait! What's that over there? What's in that glass case?
A snake. A huge, gross, disgusting snake. My tiny eyes did not believe.
Then, Sam Elliot himself (not really, but to 8-year old me he surely could've been) walked up and started telling me all about the his pet snake Gary or whatever. Scared shitless, I backed away slowly in wide-eyed horror.
Then? THE WORST THING EVER.
"Hey, little girl... so have you ever seen snake eggs?"
"No! Eww! Why? Where?" (me, curious)
"Right here, in this small pouch right here. Here! Take a peek... "
You know the rest. If you don't, click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hQ1izLqKko
I screamed in terror. I ran. Then, the worst part! I had been DUPED! What an awful man! What an awful store! What an insult!
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These days, each time I walk past El Paso Western Gear (which, again isn't terribly often), I have to smile. Such fond memories of the strange store with the strange smells and that weird snake and that stupid trick. It reminds me that I was, in fact, once a kid.
AND, this is a review, so...
***For those actually interested in knowing more about El Paso Western Gear? Go. They're chock full of fab gifts for the Western lover in your family/group of friends. Amazing leather boots, belts, ornate shirts, finely-crafted hats, Zippos, and more... both for men + women! And locally owned. So there.