The Dude Lives

I've said it before, the best thing about living in Los Angeles is that you can see things you totally cannot see anywhere else. Like recently, when friends from NJ had come to visit we saw a 70s-style pimped out dude with a 70s-style fro driving a beat-up Trans Am and blasting funk music REALLY loud in the parking lot of my local Ralphs grocery store. About an hour later, we were driving through Silverlake and we saw a girl riding a motorcycle pasted with stickers for brand-name dildos and buttplugs. And not too long after that, I saw a guy walking across the street, dancing in circles, doing little two-steps, sashaying back and forth as a line of traffic waited for him to cross so they could make a right turn. He was wearing a weird hat, and was obviously more interested in putting on a show than in crossing the street before the light turned red on him. It's the little moments like these that make me love LA, and made me buy a cell phone with a camera, so I could always capture those moment.

Anyway, I did some food shopping at the aforementioned Culver City Ralphs this evening. It's not unusual on a Saturday morning, or even a Thursday night to see people doing their grocery shopping in their pajamas, or hair curlers and what have you. Good for them, I usually say. Tonight, I say, great for them, because tonight, I saw "The Dude."

A long haired, middle-age guy in a wife beater, bermuda shorts, a ratty green bathrobe and flip flops was shopping at 8 pm. I did a double take just at that, and then I saw what he was carrying: a bottle of Kahlua! And he was walking right over to the milk case to select the other vital component of the white russian. I shit you not.

I know The Dude is based on an actual guy, and I'm going to believe that it was this actual guy in my supermarket, rather than just some hipster dude setting up for a Lebowski theme party.

Unfortunately, I didn't have my cell phone with me to take a picture. And I felt a little weird taking a picture in the supermarket. But this one really required visual proof and I'm gonna be kicking myself for not snapping that picture. I decided, though, that I have to go back next Saturday to see if he comes back. Since Saturday is Shabbat, chances are he won't be bowling that night.