Winston's Advice

Labor Day Weekend 2011, I went on a trip that I really could not afford back to Illinois for a friend's wedding.  I flew into Chicago, went to a Cubs game & also a Pearl Jam concert at Alpine Valley, Wisconsin before making my way downstate.  By then I was pretty much flat broke.  I stayed with one of my original Mad Munch pals, DP in Bloomington & actually did some construction work for him to pay to stick around one more day.

"How's Cali been treating ya?" he asked.

"Alright.  I've been thinking about starting Mad Munch out in San Diego," I explained.  "I could get a cart & serve up Cheezers late night next to this night club in OB, Winston's."

"Winston's?  Like the bagel guy in Carbondale?" he asked.

"Yeah, the same name, but-"

"That's what you should do," DP said.  "We'll go down there & talk to him.  Ask him about his cart.  Where he got it.  What you gotta do to make it happen."

"Wait?  Go down there?  To Carbondale?  When?" I was so confused.  We were a three hours drive away & I had a flight back to California in two days.  I had to work the overnight at the Inn at Sunset Cliffs.

"Tomorrow,"  he said.  "It's a Thursday, it'll be perfect.  Let me give him a call & let him know we're coming into town."

The next morning, along with his brother, Jay, we all piled into his truck & headed south.  I hadn't been back in a few years but things were a lot different than I remembered.  Most of our friends were gone, the ones who were still there worked at the bars, while a few of those bars had changed names or the buildings they were in had vanished.  

We made a few stops, ran into some old buddies, & saw a live band or two before it was time to meet up with Winston.  He was in his mid-fifties I would guess by his salt & pepper fading hair line & his cart with the green umbrella was just how I remembered it back on the Strip.  DP introduced us & I asked him a few questions that I had scribbled down the night before in a pocket notepad.

"Where did you get your cart?  What type of fuel do you use?  How often do you set up out here?"  Those types of questions.  He gave me some good feedback & valuable insight into the street vendor's world.

"I got the cart custom made in Columbus, Ohio for $2500, but that was back in the early '90's.  Be a bit more now," Winston recalled with a laugh.   "I use charcoal like what you use in a Weber grill.  Light the coals around ten o'clock every night 'cept for Monday & Tuesdays.  Consistency is one of, if not the most important thing.  No matter what you're peddling, the people have to know you're gonna be out here."

We left Carbondale the next morning at the crack of dawn.   I traveled all day in two different cars & an airplane to reach a pitch black San Diego night, drop off my suitcase & ride my bicycle to clock in for my shift at the Inn.  Sure, I was tired, but now I had a new plan to work on.