REGGIE
A few weeks ago, Armin Pfaender gave me a "challenge:" to find something about the old illegals of Arbuckle. He especially wanted to know about Tex's and Tuffy's. And while I rarely get up to that city, strange things happened; my tenants in Yreka bailed and left the house a shambles, and I had to drive up there to inspect and make whatever small repairs I could over an all-too-short Labor Day weekend. And so, I found myself returning on Sunday evening through Arbuckle ....
Exited I-5 onto Fifth Street, the main street of that little town. Drove around a bit and then . . . I spotted it! Tex's Tavern, big as life!! 513 Fifth Street, Arbuckle CA 95912.
I got up the courage to walk in . . . there was nobody in the place except for a man who quickly walked into the kitchen, and a lady, eating supper at the bar. Obviously the barkeeper. I asked her, did they ever have a cardroom in the place, and she replied, somewhat hesitantly (probably figuring me for a cop), yes, once, but years ago. I explained my interest in casino chips and did she know what sort of chips were used there? She replied, they didn't use chips, they had wooden free-drink tokens. Her father left her one and she's not about to part with it. All the other tokens were discarded a long time back.
I asked if the bar was the same as Tuffy's and she said, no, Tuffy's was located a block up Fifth Street. At one time Arbuckle had 7 or 8 bars and "illegal things were done at some of them." The town was known as "Barbuckle" for all its alcohol consumption. I thanked her for the information and left, with the uneasy feeling that the man in the kitchen was spying on me - well, whoever heard of a woman alone in a bar talking with a total stranger.
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