Atomic, get me bombed!
There are certain things that are really quite fabulous about Atomic liquors: they hold the oldest continuous liquor license in Vegas, their already quite reasonably priced beverages ($1.25/can of Busch) are even more reasonably priced during their conveniently timed Happy Hour: 7am-11am, during which they can be had for $1, on this particular occasion, their parking lot was empty as we were the only ones who had driven to the bar, and I gotta say, I’m still a sucker for a bar that buzzes you in- it’s like a poor man’s VIP experience.
That being said, Atomic Liquors was a somewhat sobering drinking adventure. At the end of the day, or even at the beginning of it, as the case may be, we are all just looking to get through the day with a modicum of dignity and if we’re lucky a warm place to spend the night and if we are even luckier, a nice cold one to help us get there.
Leaving the bar, I picked up a brochure that was one of a stack left out on the corner, it was for a job with the census, the only thing you needed to apply was a passport or baring that, a valid ID from column B AND a document from column C. From the looks of it, these people weren’t exactly passport holders.
It is easy to wallow, or else to get swept up in the glitz of the Strip, but sometimes it is good to get a little perspective, Atomic Liquors is good for that. The place got its name because they used to go up on the roof and watch the mushroom clouds. I used to wonder about that when I was little, about how they knew that once they set off that first chain reaction it wouldn’t overwhelm them and the entire universe with it. I guess to a certain extent, they didn’t, and they just did it anyway. Looking around the Atomic, it is easy to see how sometimes things do just overwhelm.
But at the same time, at least there is an Atomic, with bartenders who get a kick out of making you jump when they blast the buzzer to let you in, old fashioned Heinekin signs and a dedicated Veterans corner. The jukebox screetched “Welcome to the Jungle”, ain’t that the fuckin’ truth. 
