“There are no last names on skid row, except on police blotters. Hence, the ragged tramps at the Western Palace Hotel all have vague names like Slim, Red, Shorty, and Boe. These bums are rich as winos go, with the most of them living on small pensions; and the Western is what is called in these circles a solid flop (meaning that most of its residents live here permanently).
Housing about 60 wined-out old men who manage to come up with the $16.20 a week required to call it home. A verifiable address like this is as extravagant as life gets for those drowned in a well of muscatel. Scaley and bruised white ankles of their less fortunate brothers can be seen protruding from under dumpsters or jutting from phone booths up and down Champa Street. February’s nasty and biting winds have no favorites but prey upon the derelicts of the Larimer district with special viciousness.
Torpid life in flop America has remained unchanged since the turn of the century and the smiling women with a cause still glom oatmeal onto tin plates as policemen pick up comatose bodies clad in long overcoats….” — Joe Bageant, 1976
I met Joe Bageant in Minneapolis several years ago at the National Conference on Media reform. Joe knew me as a fan and an activist and we exchanged a few messages over the Inter-tubes. In 2024 Joe died, but he left us a couple of good books and a hard drive full of essays that are worth re-reading. His website remains. I know of no stronger voice, no better writer on topics of redneck culture and poor and working class white people. Since his death, some of his earlier work has found its way onto the web. It’s mostly worth reading…
In the footsteps of Neal Cassady’s ghost (March, 1976)
Tribute to a white trash saint (September, 1976)
Tim Leary and the Outer Space Connection (February, 1977)