don't follow the arrow

 

Prior to the 1960s one had to know a bootlegger to buy beer in Lubbock County.  Then a few precincts went "wet" -- notably "the Strip"-- but package stores sprang up along other roads.  I don't know what the Imperial Package store was named originally but it's location wasn't ideal -- especially when Lubbock voted to sell liquor everywhere in 2009.  One could readily pick up a six pack at Walmart or CVS without driving all the way out East 19th Street until it became County Road 6700.  The sign remains but there's nothing imperial about the empty, weedy building.

 

6002 E, CR 6700

Lubbock County, Texas

ed

 

"ED" is all the neon left on this sign on the eastern end of Dickens; but there's not much left of Edith's Place either. If you require liquor or beer, Tip's is the better choice.

 

Dickens, Texas

6.13.2-15

 

take a tip from tip's

 

The tip from Tip's might be "buy your beer here."  Maybe you passed up Sue's Liquor 25 miles back in Crosbyton and not realize if might be another 90 miles to the beer store in Seymour.  Probably no need to comparison shop since Tip's doesn't have much competition in town.  Dickens voted "wet" in 1964 but Tip's has only been there since 1998.  Prior to the alcohol referendum Dickens was a "prohibition" county--which did not necessarily mean there were no drinkers.  Imbibers just had to know where to find the bootleggers.  Bootleggers have been around about as long as the settlers.  There is a story about Samuel G. Flook, bookkeeper at the Espuela Ranch in Dickens County in the late 1800s.   Flook was discharged "because of drunkenness." He then  moved to Dickens and opened a store, to-wit:

                                          Sam´l G. Flook, Dr.

                                          Hardware, Tinware, Glassware

                                          Saddlery, Etc.

 

Wonder if the "Etc." included booze from the back room?

 

Tip's Liquor

Highway 82

Dickens, Texas

4.23.2014

read the fine print

 

 

The  Drop City Liquor Store is the most colorful building in Trinidad.

I was intrigued by its name and the peace signs.  A google search informed me that  Drop City was one of the first hippie communes.  The name was based on an art movement where objects where dropped onto streets from rooftops for conceptual art. I guess I wasn't very "tuned in" for my generation.  Who knew Trinidad was such a counterculture place for the times!

 

Drop City Liquor

155 East Elm

Trinidad, Colorado

8.16.2013



this way

 

Since Lubbock voted "wet" the proliferation of package stores is amazing.  It seems that every neighborhood convenience store sells beer and wine.  Don't bother driving by the KwikSTOP at night to see its neon-lit sign because it isn't--and there aren't any specials listed on the sign board. Rather the KwikSTOP relies on the floodlight to illuminate its sign and the primary colors to attract passers-by.

 

KwikSTOP

Chicago and Marsha Sharp

Lubbock, Texas