The herald., 1894-01-22
THE PASSING Of THE TAMALE
An 0ld-Time Institution Is
Seriously Endangered.
Another Landmark Destroyed by the
Waves of Progress.
An Effete and Ffckle Public Prsfsrs the
Seen to the Unseen--TamaIes
Relapsing Into Innoca-
GUS Desuetuds.

The days when Los Angeles mer-
chants gambled on the open streets,
when houses we're built OF adobe, and
when the plaza WAS the center of the
business part OF town, are rapidly be-
coming traditions. There is no gamb.
ling now, worthy the name, adobe has
given place to pressed brick, and the
plaza is as out of the way as was Third
street in the old days.
The tamale man has remained as
almost the only landmark which the
resistless march of civilization has left
to the old inhabitants of the adobe
faro days.
And even the tamale man is threat
ened and mutt soon give place to his fin
de steele rival, the itinerant lunch man.
And the change came so suddenly
that not tamale man had time to con-
slider plan of action. They had occu-
pied the field for so long that they began
to believe tamales were q public neces-
sity; they even doubtless considered
that without tamales Los Angeles would
relapse into her old condition of mud
houses and hard citizens; to them
tamales were an education, but they
forgot that the public is tickle mis-
tresa.
Ham and eggs, Is CENTS" "Wiener-
wurst, cents," were the signs which
contributed to the undoing OF the ia
male man. Commencing in the lower
part OF town. the interloper wormed his
way gradually into the affections of the
public, until where once there was but
one tamale stand, there now are two of
his rivals, and the cry of the former is
becoming rare in the land which once
ne owned.
When the first exponent of the fin de
steele movement set up his stand on
Main street and began to cell his hot
coffee, his wienerwurst, his sandwiches
and his ham and eggs, the tamale man
looked on in disdaln how could the
newcomer, who didn't even shout, but
set forth his wares by means of printed
price list, hope to succeed against the
vendor of tamales, backed up by the
wealth of tradition and the educated
tastes OF tamsle-loving town? And 30,
In classic parlance, the tamale man,
fearing nothing, fiddled while Rome was
burning.
And the consequence was that one
night the tamale men awoke to the
fact that they were back numbers. In
vain did they eschew sesgull and pur.
chase instead the youngest and most
succulent of ROSTERS; in vain did they
press their goods on the pe.sserby with
lavish encomiums upon their warmth
in vain did they reduce the price of
shot Spanish" and shot Texas" Their
customers would have none Of them.
For some time the night owls who
patronize these al freHco restaurants had
wearied of that "blessing in disguise"
the tamale. Even the newspapers had
begun to crack jokes concerning the in
ternal economy OF tamales, and the
night owls and hobos began to look
upon the red-hot delicscies with suspi-
cion, and it was at this time thai the
ham and egg man, like second Daniel,
made his appearance.
In one short month he owned Main
street body and soul; the news of his
triumph got abroad, and soon the smell
of frying bacon scented the midnight
air on First street; then, becoming
holder, a canvas rooted stall sprang up
like a mushroom in the night on Spring
street; tails was war with a vengeance,
and it meant ruin to the rivals OF hot
coffee and wienerwurst.
At present the cry is for ham and
eggs; the old standby, the tamale, is
relspsing into obscurity, and the tsmale
men sre asking anxiously, "How long,
Oh Lord, how longP"
And whether the old-time tamsle will
regain it's lost prestige, and the public
recover from its midsummer madness,
is the question which it's vendors are
anxiously asking themselves, as they
see their trade gradually narrowing into
an occasional sale made to some enter
prising and spicious tourist.