GenX Women are Sick of This Shit!
GenX Women are Sick of This Shit is a nostalgic nod to the humans of GenX. Each episode, co-hosts Megan Bennett and Lesley Meier have a long, rambling, ADHD driven conversation about GenX history and pop culture using their own lives and experiences as the backdrop. The podcast is a creative project inspired by the Facebook group 'GenX Women are Sick of This Shit', created by Megan Bennett in 2023. "Five Minutes of Fame" stories and "Dear GenX Women" letters are sent in by listeners and members of the Facebook group and are shared with consent. The original Facebook group is a mosh pit of menopausal women talking about all things GenX culture and life in the 70s, 80s and 90s as well as being a GenXer today. GenX Women are Sick of This Shit is part of Latchkey Kids Media, LLC where we make things we like because we want to. Copyright 2024, Latchkey Kids Media, LLC
GenX Women are Sick of This Shit!
S2E4:We are Super Sick of This Shit - Let's Go to Casa Bonita!
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Ever wondered why those kitschy themed restaurants of the 80s and 90s still hold such a special place in our hearts? That yearning for escape isn't just nostalgia—it's a lifeline for the sandwich generation.<br><br>Between advocating for our own health and caring for everyone else, Gen X women are desperately seeking moments of joy and transportation. From Medieval Times to Casa Bonita (now gloriously resurrected by the South Park creators after a $40 million renovation), we celebrate these immersive experiences that briefly whisk us away from reality.<br><br>The episode opens with serious health topics—Megan's frustration with having to get a measles shot because of vaccine hesitancy, and Lesley's post-menopausal health scare (a reminder to call your doctor immediately if you experience bleeding after menopause). But true to form, we lighten the mood by sampling Irish whiskey created by pioneering women like Louise McGuane of JJ Corey, Ireland's first female whiskey bonder in 50 years.<br><br>We take a moment to remember Gene Hackman's diverse career, from his Oscar-winning performance in The French Connection to his memorable role in The Birdcage. Then we dive deep into our collective obsession with themed restaurants—Showbiz Pizza's terrifying animatronics, Chi-Chi's birthday celebrations, Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor, and the legendary Adventurer's Club at Disney's Pleasure Island.<br><br>Whether you're planning your next escape or simply want to revisit the magic of eating mediocre food in spectacularly weird surroundings, this episode celebrates finding joy in carefully crafted experiences. Because sometimes, watching cliff divers while eating enchiladas is exactly the mental vacation we need.<br><br>Check out our website at genxwomenpod.com to join our L.Y.L.A.S GenX Women's Social Club, where GenX women can connect away from traditional social media.
Listen to the gals plus the SNUG of Irvington - a beautiful Irish Pub on the eastside of Indianapolis! Their St. Paddy's Day Party is 3/15 from noon to 10pm! www.snugin.us
Get your hands on our MERCH!!!
(Donating $1 per item to The Center for Reproductive Rights through January 2025, min $50)
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I'm Megan Bennett, I'm Lesley Meier and this is Gen X. Women Are Sick of this Shit.
Lesley Meier:Good afternoon Megan.
Megan Bennett:Hello Leslie.
Lesley Meier:How are you today?
Megan Bennett:You have a very deep voice.
Lesley Meier:Darling.
Megan Bennett:Is this because you're getting over a cold?
Lesley Meier:Sure, yeah, I just think it sounds cool. Yeah, I did have a cold. We were gonna try to record your nose is a little stuffed up, still a little drippy. We were gonna try to record last Saturday. I'm glad we didn't, and me too, cause I would have coughed and coughed, and coughed, and coughed and coughed. You were doing something Kind of fun. You were doing some political something, something, something.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, we had a local Democrat hootenanny thing where we had to vote for who was going to be in charge of the local stuff Gotcha.
Lesley Meier:So that was fun, and then I got to go help my mama out because she's been ill. So yeah you know the things that we are doing as gen x women, the squish generation. We are super squish. Uh, happy international women's day yay.
Megan Bennett:Happy international women's day to you as well. We should all have a cake all women all over the world.
Lesley Meier:All women should have cake. All women should have cake or creme brulee or whatever the hell you want. Whatever you want, yeah, it's your day.
Megan Bennett:It's your goddamn day. You can have a bath and eat a brownie in your bath if you wish, if you would like, with candles and champagne, sure, if you wish.
Lesley Meier:You can do anything you want Mostly, sure, if you wish. You can do anything you want Mostly, mostly If you have Robbing a bank is probably frowned upon, right, probably frowned upon, and in places where women don't have the right to do whatever they want.
Megan Bennett:That's true.
Lesley Meier:We support you and we send love and solidarity and we will advocate for you.
Megan Bennett:Yes, absolutely.
Lesley Meier:Because that is shit that we're sick of.
Megan Bennett:We are sick of that. I'm sick of some other stuff too.
Lesley Meier:What else are you sick of, Megan Girlfriend? Tell me about it.
Megan Bennett:I had to get up early on a Saturday morning, which right off sucks. Why, why, pray tell, because I needed to go to the pharmacy to get a fucking measles shot my golly.
Lesley Meier:why on earth in 2025?
Megan Bennett:would you have to go get a measles shot, megan? Well, because you see, there are people out there who, I guess, don't remember that measles killed a lot of people.
Lesley Meier:Yeah.
Megan Bennett:And blinded people and made them very sick, and so they've just chosen to not have vaccinations. And now we're seeing outbreaks of measles in different communities and it's just spreading and it's freaking me the fuck out. I'm immune, compromised. I have to to be smart, I have to take care of stuff.
Lesley Meier:I presume I'm still protected from being a kiddo at one time and being vaccinated, but I don't know so, and we are of a certain age where we don't necessarily know which version of the vaccine that we got right, and so you may be eligible for a booster.
Megan Bennett:You can also get a test done, the tiddle tit tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit tit, tit, tit tit tit, tit, tit tit tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, higher than the cost of actually. My insurance thankfully covered the cost of the shot anyway. So it was like Amazing why wouldn't I just go do that?
Lesley Meier:I also got a text this morning reminding me to go get my pneumococcal vaccine.
Megan Bennett:I'm supposed to do that too, but now I'll wait, I'll wait.
Lesley Meier:Let this Just a little bit.
Megan Bennett:I'm not a big fan of getting multiple vaccinations on a day, not because I'm afraid anything's going to happen, because I'm not, but also my arms just get really sore?
Lesley Meier:Do they get sore? And I just, I don't want to do two in a day. I did my flu and my COVID on the same day.
Megan Bennett:That was a good time.
Lesley Meier:Yep, Both arms. They're a little sore.
Megan Bennett:You're like I can't lift my arm, nope. The one that hurts, though and I'm not you absolutely should get it, everybody should get it, 100% should get it when you hit 50 years old, or if you're at risk earlier. If you can do it is shingles. That one hurts. It is totally worth it, but my God, my arm was throbbing. Was it bad? Yeah, that, but my god, my arm was throbbing. Was it bad?
Megan Bennett:yeah, well, it's two, it's two doses right, yeah, so you do it, and then you wait like three months or something, and you do it again and you get your second one.
Lesley Meier:I had no trouble with it, oh good, so I will advocate, I will say people, that is also possible it was minimal, I think my second one I might have felt like I had the chills a little bit one night, but I was I was just tired good, I was it.
Megan Bennett:My arm was sore and I was exhausted, like I was like. Ah, I think I'll go to bed a little early and that's fine I don't want the shingles.
Lesley Meier:No, oh my my grandmother had it same and she got it in her like face and her back and everything.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, my grandmother had.
Lesley Meier:it was like a band kind of around her chest, oh like where her bra would go kind of thing, yeah, so she was like no brawls, she just wore tank tops and sweatshirts and it was compared to what I've read, because I was not aware of the severity of contracting shingles. People have gone blind Because of the shingles People have gone blind. Yeah, because of the shingles, you can end up in the hospital. It can continue for years. Yeah, so she recovered, thankfully. I think it was probably two or three weeks, but fuck no.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, I don't need that.
Lesley Meier:Really bad and I had chicken pox twice back in the days and I didn't even get sent to a chicken pox party. I just I had like kind of two mildish cases or one rougher case than a mild case.
Megan Bennett:Yeah.
Lesley Meier:So I don't want that. No, nor do I want the measles.
Megan Bennett:No, and I have read that there are parents who are talking about measles parties. That's. It's insane.
Lesley Meier:Fucking insanity. It's insane.
Megan Bennett:It's insane. Here are 14 kids at a party. Statistically, one of them is going to die. So great that sounds fabulous.
Lesley Meier:Let's not do that. We still die from the flu, folks, right.
Megan Bennett:Like come on. Anyway, I'm a little pissed about that. That's something I'm very sick of.
Lesley Meier:Understandable, yeah. Speaking of women's health, yeah, tell me what. You got something going on. I had a little. I have a recent health issue as someone who has two and a half years into post menopausal two and a half years post menopausal, you had your menopause day, day, single, day single day. And then one event that you don't even really know has happened until Talk Single day Single day. And then one event that you don't even really know has happened until after the fact, talk about having a cake.
Lesley Meier:So you don't get a party until after the fact. The other night I had some bleeding which was a little unnerving. Two and a half years postmenopausal, did I fuck around?
Megan Bennett:You did not fuck around Did.
Lesley Meier:I go on Reddit.
Megan Bennett:Yes.
Lesley Meier:Did I put a post in a Facebook group? No, I called my GD doctor% turns out to be something a little bit more serious. However, I'm not going to sit around and wait to find out later on. So just an advocacy for like call your doctor, call your GYN.
Megan Bennett:If something feels off, if something is weird and different, then call your doctor. Call your GYN If something feels off, if something is weird and different, then call your doctor. That's what they're there for.
Lesley Meier:Yep, and if you are postmenopausal, bleeding is not normal. I've been on HRT for more than six months. Yep Not normal. You need to go and take care of yourself.
Megan Bennett:And it doesn't. And it's not something that you should immediately go worst case scenario in your head. Absolutely not, Because it could be other things.
Lesley Meier:Absolutely.
Megan Bennett:But also advocate for yourself. Do something good for yourself. Yes, take yourself to the doctor. Don't talk yourself out of it, because if it is something serious you want to jump on that as quick as you can, sooner, the better.
Lesley Meier:So I will update when we find out more and we'll just go from there. Yeah, please do. Uh, this episode will air on the 15th of march, you know what that is. That's a couple days before big old holiday saint patty's day, two days before st patty's day and I will be working at a big st patty's day party in indianapolis on the east. That's very cool.
Megan Bennett:I love st patrick's day.
Lesley Meier:It's so fun and, and you know just not that, not that bagpipes are irish in any way, shape or form, but the pipers are always out there are irish pipers there are, yeah, but the you get, the big scottish pipers that are out too, because they're like yeah, we'll take this day too yeah, so on the east side of indy there are some. There's the golden ace, which is hosted.
Megan Bennett:Oh my god, that place longest saint patty's day party and let me, just for for those of you listening who have absolutely no idea about the golden ace, the golden ace is is about the size of maybe a village pantry. It is a small like wee, yeah little gas station type size bar. Yep, it's old, it smells mildewy and vaguely like old cigarettes and booze.
Lesley Meier:It's been there for a long time.
Megan Bennett:That place is the most rockin' St Patrick's Day party you could ever imagine. There's tents and parking lots and people parking and walking from like blocks and blocks and blocks away you can't touch it with a 10-foot pole. It's amazing.
Lesley Meier:So cool. And now there is a second. Now you've got your party place St Patty's Day party on the east side of Indianapolis, at the Snug of Irvington on South Audubon, 210 South Audubon and we will be hosting a big one-day event on the 15th. As you are listening to this, it's noon to 10.
Megan Bennett:Live music all day long. If you're local, get your booty there, go, that'd be fun.
Lesley Meier:Do both Get an Uber, Get a Lyft, have a sober driver, enjoy yourself. Come and hang out.
Megan Bennett:Good Irish whiskey Do you guys have?
Lesley Meier:special drinks. Are you doing special drinks? Super simple, no, we'll have all our Irish drafts. I think we're doing like picklebacks that day and green tea shots. So we're going to feature Jameson and you know kind of the basics, but combo Irish whiskey and International women's day. Yeah, I have two bottles here sitting next to me, uh, from because you have.
Megan Bennett:You've got a person like a gen x woman.
Lesley Meier:That yeah irish louise mcguan of jj corey whiskey. She is the founder, she is the first uh ireland's first whiskey bonder in 50 years, first female irish whiskey and what part of ireland she is in county claire oh, lovely um, and these two bottles are women's day releases, so that was the first women's day release. The whiskey thief in 2020. Can I smell it? Uh, yeah, fuck, yeah, it's really good. My good friend matt gave that to me for my birthday this past year. Carmelie delish that smells good.
Lesley Meier:And then this was last year's release which we picked up when we went over, uh, last march. This was done with jennifer nickerson, who is, um, the founder of temporary distillery, and she and louise did this release together. Oh, that's cool. Oh, it's very different. Oh, yeah, it's a very different whiskey.
Lesley Meier:Oh, wow, very different than the other one too, like, like wildly it's a little bit more like there's some grapiness in there, yeah, so yeah, it's got a really strong wine finish. I think that's what. That's very cool. This is. I actually don't know if I was supposed to get this bottle. It's not numbered Shh. Don't tell, it's sample number one. Oh, we picked it up when we went to visit JJ Corey last year. Well, I had ordered it.
Lesley Meier:No, no, no no no, I had ordered it and paid for it and they couldn't ship it and we were going. So, luckily enough, when we went for our visit, we were able to literally I just got it, louisa's sister handed it to me in the little bag and I was so excited. Uh, this was finished in px. Cap pedro jimenez casks.
Lesley Meier:I'm just reading like the little okay we should have a little toast so yeah, I just I mean, this is like you know, badass women doing badass things, badass gen x women doing badass things, being the first doing things and just saying, you know, fuck it, this is the thing I want to do yeah I've hit my you know glass ceiling. She had kind of hit her glass ceiling in the alcohol industry beverage alcohol industry and went off on her own and has this on her family farm and it's based in the history of jg cory in the community who was a whiskey bomber that's amazing you know, this is like a very cool person.
Megan Bennett:This just we. We often hear of women who are looking for their second, their second thing yeah, like, whatever it is like if you worked in I don't know, like medical transcribing for most of your life right, there's louise and you're done with that and you want to go do something else. Or maybe you're a federal employee and you've been asked to leave right like. But what do you do with your second half?
Megan Bennett:you know, and and for me, like, uh, I've been, I've been doing my thing for a very, very long time. I'm at that point.
Lesley Meier:Yeah.
Megan Bennett:What do I want to do? For sure, and maybe it's like for my mental health, like literally it might be just working in a jewelry store, like I keep thinking about that. I'm like there needs to be something, yeah.
Lesley Meier:And what would you wake up feeling like good about?
Megan Bennett:doing every day, right right, and I'll tell you if I could make whiskey. That might be a cool thing to do. Fuck yes, I don't know shit about it, but that'd be really fun.
Lesley Meier:Career for me, you know, comes out of a love of whiskey, sharing whiskey with my very dear friend. Jimim over dungeons and dragons games for many years and the dream of the pub happening and then us developing the whiskey club and me doing education now and coordinating events like I would never have put educator and irish whiskey on my list of like and here you are jobs. I also never would have put therapist on my list of jobs. As a young person, the only thing on my list of jobs was theater degree.
Megan Bennett:I'm going to be an actor Cheers to that Same Right.
Lesley Meier:And then I got my theology degree, because what's more dramatic than theater theology? You just like things that start with drama in the bible, if you haven't noticed theater and theology.
Megan Bennett:Theology and fifth key. Fifth key.
Lesley Meier:There we go. It's not a part, but it's, you know, and Fisky, meaningful is the story because it's grounded in so much history, yeah, and place and people, and that is important and it's not like a thing that I sit at home by myself and sip. It is something that I share in community because we talk about the experience of it. Um, the smells, the memories, the taste. That's what we do during our whiskey tastings here in Indianapolis at the Snug and it creates memories.
Megan Bennett:And celebrating the resurgence, right Absolutely, of something that was literally wiped out. Yes and the fact that we were able to bring it back Yep, which is incredible.
Lesley Meier:And then we're just so pleased to be able to share it here in the United States and have some really exclusive bottlings and get to meet very cool people like Louise and count her as a friend.
Megan Bennett:I like the little notch out of that bottle too. It's interesting.
Lesley Meier:Oh, it's here too. I wonder what that's for. I don't know. I'm going to have to ask. Oh, look at the bottom. I have not.
Megan Bennett:That's cool, is that on the bottom of that one, nothing.
Lesley Meier:Not on this one. Nice, there's the JJ Corey logo on the bottom. I love it. It's a good thing I put that cork back on. Oh hey it me.
Megan Bennett:There's Louise. There's pictures of. We're looking at pictures of Leslie and Louise at the Snug. Yep we did a tasting for our bottle release.
Lesley Meier:You can.
Megan Bennett:You can see the picture of leslie is like she's, she's, she's telling a story. I am.
Lesley Meier:There's lots of hand movements yeah, you can tell all my training. There we go. There's gems, all right. Anywho, there we go. So how do we transition from this? Girl, I don't know shit that we're sick of. Oh, we were going to talk about sad things too. Yeah, who?
Megan Bennett:died this week so we we lost gene heckman really fucking tragic in a yeah, in a really super sad, tragic way, um, which speaks to lots of things it does. I mean it just check your elders, man. Yeah, it's just I mean.
Lesley Meier:I know he had.
Megan Bennett:His wife was with him.
Lesley Meier:Much younger, much younger.
Megan Bennett:Taking care of him?
Lesley Meier:presumably yeah, and she had a tragic, yeah, tragically contracted a virus. You know, it's the unexpected things, we don't count on that, right, yeah, you don't plan for the unexpected, and so just really difficult. And he had, I believezheimer's or dementia. So when you have cognitive decline and you're isolated, you know they were in a beautiful community but and his caretaker?
Megan Bennett:just you know his caretaker and wife passed away before him.
Lesley Meier:I mean like that's really sad sort of like worst case scenario of things that can happen to us as we age. So it's, you know, reminder to put plans in place and take good care of yourself and and maybe back up your plans because right. You know, even if you've got it.
Megan Bennett:Even if you've got it planned out, who knows Uh favorite Gene Hackman movie. Um favorite or a memorable gene hackman film I well, we talked when we were talking about talking about gene hackman.
Lesley Meier:We talked about birdcage, which yes, I mean fantastic, not the thing that he was most known for no right, because nobody really like right, which we're remiss we must mention.
Megan Bennett:We have to mention hoosiers, or we literally lose our hoosier card. I think sorry, but also a phenomenal fucking movie. Yeah, really, really good, and he was obviously we must mention. We have to mention Hoosiers, or we literally lose our Hoosier card, our Hoosier card.
Lesley Meier:I think Sorry, but Also a phenomenal fucking movie. Yeah, really really good, and he was obviously like the sports movies were a big thing for Gene.
Megan Bennett:Hackman Big time, but this was like a nice departure, absolutely. Because, it was funny.
Lesley Meier:Yes and it was you know, it was just really cute in terms of the community, like the queer community, gay culture, I mean it brought to bear, you know, like homophobia, transphobia, politics, like all of those things, and it was a wonderful.
Megan Bennett:Well, it humanized people in a way that like maybe we hadn't seen before.
Lesley Meier:On the big screen right.
Megan Bennett:You just brilliant when you see um. You know, I don't know gene hackman. You see nathan lane.
Lesley Meier:You see, you know robin robin williams, it's like I don't know, diane weist, she's, is she, she's the mom I think yeah, she is. Diane Wiest and that.
Megan Bennett:Oh, my God.
Lesley Meier:Was he in the Poseidon Adventure? Yeah, have you ever watched that?
Megan Bennett:Oh yeah, years ago though.
Lesley Meier:I love that movie. That one's great. That is insane. It is a ridiculous, ridiculous film. He looks phenomenal in a turtleneck.
Megan Bennett:Is that Leslie Neal's? Yes, it is. Oh my God, that's so awesome. Oh, of course, the French.
Lesley Meier:Connection. Yeah, amazing movie. You watched that recently, didn't you, babe?
Megan Bennett:That was so good Academy Award winning movie. Right, I think French Connection was. Probably I believe you, I mean that's kind of a big deal.
Lesley Meier:I watched that vicariously. Is he Lex Luthor there? Oh yeah, and Superman of course. Oh, that's right, that's right, so good.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, very good, let's see what else. So many memories for me as a child oh of course.
Lesley Meier:We quote Young Frankenstein all the time along with the Birdcage. We quote that all the time.
Megan Bennett:His list of films is super long reds. Yeah, I do remember that, wow, yeah so just you know there's no way out, man mississippi burning. Oh my gosh postcards from the edge for those of you who are unforgiven.
Lesley Meier:Postcards of the Edge the Firm. Oh yeah, there we go. So many movies from the 80s and 90s. Wyatt Earp golly gee, we're just looking at the list this is when he got into his western phase he got Quick and the Dead and Wyatt Earp and oh fun.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, we're just rolling through kind of some of his movies listening audience.
Lesley Meier:You don't get to look along, but you can believe us, we're here. Royal tendon bombs also an amazing movie yeah, so he will be missed. He was um, obviously somebody that we all grew up with. Yes, I grew up watching.
Megan Bennett:You know his, his movies and um yeah, sad, super sad to lose him.
Lesley Meier:Extra sad in the way that we lost him and a good reminder just to take care of your people, take care of your health, get your vaccines, go to the doctor, damn it yes.
Megan Bennett:Be good to yourself and be good to others, For God's sake. Gen X Women Are Sick of this. Shit is supported by Lilas Love you like a sis A Gen X Women's Social Club. What's Lilas? Megan a Gen X women's social club. What's Lilas Megan? Lilas is our off platform, off the books of faces, off all of the other traditional social media. It is our space and place for Gen X women to come together, have conversations, meet each other.
Lesley Meier:It's a social club. It is a social club. It's a membership-based club. Memberships are $10 a month. That does help support us in growing the platform. We purchased a platform that would host a network of women so that you could come together and meet each other in real time.
Megan Bennett:In a safer space than a traditional social media platform and a much more personal space. So what do we do there, Leslie?
Lesley Meier:We host movie nights where we live stream some of our favorites as they are available to us for group watches of films from the 70s, 80s and 90s. We host a space for a monthly book club. We host trivia nights. Once a month we have a live text chat.
Megan Bennett:Four prizes even.
Lesley Meier:Four prizes. That's true. The space is able to host like weekly text chats so that you can kind of check in in real time with people. I would say the critical difference between kind of what this space is and any other social media space that I've experienced is that it is active. You will have to engage in it or be engaged in it by other people, so it's not like a passive consumption thing.
Megan Bennett:It's like making connections, Yep, and if that's what you're looking for the opportunity to meet other people, to find people who are maybe in the same similar spaces as you are Like-minded same time, phase of life, navigating all of those transitions, then this might be the right place for you. So check out Lylas. You can learn more about it at genxwomenpodcom.
Lesley Meier:Okay. So before we get started with this segment oh, and we're back I am going to pour you a little bit. We're going to do a sip of this founder's release for International Women's Day.
Megan Bennett:That was last year's right Last year's with Jennifer Nickerson.
Lesley Meier:I don't think that they gave it its own name. It was just the Women's Day release.
Megan Bennett:That's a heavy pour lady.
Lesley Meier:Well, we'll sip. Do you have other? You know, you have a beverage of.
Megan Bennett:I do, I got a chaser, I got a chaser. I I do, I got a chaser. I got a chaser. I got a chaser Diet beverage, that's not what you're supposed to do with whiskey is have a chaser. That's not how you're supposed to do that.
Lesley Meier:There we go, so we get. You know there's like a light amber color in there. You sort of turn it around. It's not super oily, you don't get a ton of legs on it. It's not super oily, you don't get a ton of legs on it, it's a blend, yeah, like wine, you get the legs right.
Megan Bennett:You want the legs.
Lesley Meier:Well, if this was a pot still, you get much more viscousness in a pot. Still I do see some dribbling this is.
Megan Bennett:I see some dribbling which is not an actual term.
Lesley Meier:I'm going to guess this is a single malt I don't want to say dumb things Matured in Rioja. Oak casks from Tipperary Boutique Distillery's warehouse oh, it's the oakiness in it, so this will have a lot of that stuff. Oh, I like that Really strong, you get the oakiness on the nose. It's delicious.
Megan Bennett:All right, we're're gonna set this seriously, this is why, like it worked in ireland because it warms- your whole body, yeah, just warms you front to back.
Lesley Meier:Oh, the oak is really strong in that juicy. It's delicious. Okay, we're gonna stop talking about this.
Megan Bennett:Oak is really strong in that Juicy. It's delicious Okay. We're going to stop talking about this Is that what we think of it.
Lesley Meier:That means that's tasty. We're going to set this down here. We go Back to the microphone.
Megan Bennett:All right, cheers. Happy International Women's Day. Happy International Women's Day.
Lesley Meier:Sláinte. Okay, we're going to transition to something slightly more joyful yeah, celebrations, fun things celebrations places we would go to celebrate shit yes, because our conversation began with like birthdays and weird birthday parties and we were like no, this is bigger than that. It is bigger than that. There, it is bigger than that. There was something in the that was me Cheers, everybody, cheers microphone. There was something about I think it really started probably in the 60s, but something about the 70s and 80s, and themed immersive restaurants, which this is a theme on the pod, because we talk about disney.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, we talk about dungeons and dragons.
Lesley Meier:Yeah, we talk about fantasy movies.
Megan Bennett:There's a clear trend here oh yeah, we could probably have an entire podcast about escapism that's really what this whole podcast is.
Lesley Meier:It feels like that it is escapism we're talking about our past. We're talking about our yeah yeah, we've decided, we have something important enough to say that we should get on here and ramble along uh-huh and I hope for the best, hope that it brings joy to others or triggers something magical in your mind where you're like, holy shit, I forgot all about Hickory Farms. Oh we did get a message from our last pod. Oh yeah, somebody sent a note and said thank you so much for mentioning Excalibur. I had totally forgotten about it.
Megan Bennett:Oh, that's such a good movie.
Lesley Meier:And I was like, yes, yeah, that's such a good movie, and when you watch it as an adult it's way kinkier than I remember Well that's because you were asked to leave the room.
Megan Bennett:Truth, but like, I even watched it in college and I didn't remember it being that kind of hot and foxy. Well, because in college.
Lesley Meier:You were probably like hey, well, true, I was doing my own hot and foxy, anywho Back to immersive restaurants of the 80s. So we can transition your Excalibur to a specific restaurant that we both want to go to.
Megan Bennett:We have not been to yet my entire life, though, I have wanted to go to one of these Medieval Times Hell yes, and there is one in Chicago, so we should do that. In fact we could probably ask folks in Lylas if they're in the Chicago area, if they want to meet us there, and we'll have a do a gen x?
Lesley Meier:women are sick of this shit. Medieval times meet up a feast. Let's put it out there.
Megan Bennett:Watch some jousting absolutely eat some chicken with our hands to medieval times.
Lesley Meier:Are we gonna dress up? Are?
Megan Bennett:we gonna like get fits and cosplay.
Lesley Meier:I think you have to. I think that would be amazing. I would like to be.
Megan Bennett:Uh, I'm princess knight, I'm going to just go full princess with a big old crown I want armor, oh okay, and a big sword that's what she said.
Lesley Meier:Oh boy, Thank God for romantic novels. Thank you, Sarah J Maas.
Megan Bennett:Fabulous like yeah.
Lesley Meier:Yes.
Megan Bennett:Full on.
Lesley Meier:I hope we can do some beheadings, Daggers and Ooh beheadings. They should have a menopause night.
Megan Bennett:Oh, there's a royal falconer.
Lesley Meier:Oh yeah, Like we could have our own Ladyhawk moments. Do they do archery here? I want to do.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, I think that would be cool If they do like displays of you know skill?
Lesley Meier:I wouldn't necessarily give that to us, but this is what we're talking about.
Megan Bennett:Can I be a princess with a crossbow?
Lesley Meier:Fuck, yeah, that'd be amazing. You can be whatever you want. Yeah, we're making it up. So we start with a place that we've never been but we want to go to. But there were places but.
Megan Bennett:I love that place. I mean you walk in right to this place.
Lesley Meier:They have jousting Right, it's kind of like the Roman Coliseum.
Megan Bennett:Right, you watch this spectacle, right?
Lesley Meier:Yes, and Right, you watch this spectacle, right, and I think there's like a king and a queen and you're supposed to like toast to them and all the shit.
Megan Bennett:I don't know You'll have mead wine ale. I freaking love it. Actually, what we saw on the website is you could have a medieval margarita too.
Lesley Meier:Oh yeah, we were laughing about that. That's a little weird, but whatever, maybe, whatever. Look at that chicken on bones.
Megan Bennett:Is that like gumbo you get like medieval gumbo.
Lesley Meier:Sure.
Megan Bennett:Beans and rice. It's a big pot of stuff. You can also get things that are gluten-free. Well, that's for your medieval celiacs. True.
Lesley Meier:Talk about a contemporary creation because of how we fucked with our food supply.
Megan Bennett:I love that.
Lesley Meier:Oh, you got a medieval pina colada, uh-huh, and your medieval hurricane glass. Those also happened in medieval times. But we know it's camp, it's kitsch, it's souvenirs, it's all the things. It's a break from reality, and we want to do that.
Megan Bennett:And they've been around forever.
Lesley Meier:I know there's one in Orlandolando too, because I've driven past okay, you know this big giant building and it says medieval times and you're like, oh, and you feel when you drive past these things it's like exciting you're like oh, this is a thing, yeah there's tacky shit happening in there and I want to be a part of it but this has its roots kind of in memories from our childhood, Like we were talking about kind of younger, immersive experiences and they sort of begin with like Disney, but locally showbiz pizza.
Megan Bennett:Oh my gosh. Yeah Well, and I think showbiz was national.
Lesley Meier:They were Right, they were national. So you had, yeah, the audio animatronic characters that were okay, they were founded in december 1979, so I was six years old, I was eight, okay, and then they became national and that's cool, it was so it's franchising right.
Megan Bennett:Yes, they franchise that, which that would be a very expensive franchise, I would think.
Lesley Meier:Right, Because you would have animatronics and everything too.
Megan Bennett:Oh God, that fucking bear.
Lesley Meier:Yeah, that's terrible, but it was like Absolutely terrifying, awesome. I mean, as a kid, mitzi was the like Mouse Duck, mouse, duck mouse.
Megan Bennett:Duck mouse I remember her. What was the bear's name? Duck Mouse I remember her.
Lesley Meier:What was the bear's name, billy Bob. Yeah, there you go, billy Bob, and they were kind of like a jug band, yeah okay yeah, and there was a when you went for a birthday party you would get like a little 45 record of them singing happy birthday. I remember that, wow that's cool. I don't remember, but even before that here in indianapolis like middle school. Oh yeah, oh, it was a mouse with long hair.
Megan Bennett:Scary isn't she? But I thought I do remember the ape.
Lesley Meier:Oh, the gorilla.
Megan Bennett:Or the gorilla, yeah.
Lesley Meier:Yeah, ape gorilla. I don't think he's the Rock-A-Fire Explosion.
Megan Bennett:Oh my God, you can almost hear it, can't you in your head?
Lesley Meier:Did evolve over time too, but before that, in the probably early 80s, late 70s, was farrell's ice cream parlor which we've talked about before.
Megan Bennett:Yes, was like an immersive restaurant experience giant, giant ice cream sundaes that you could eat with like 10 of your favorite friends yes, lots of mirrors. It was like the old soda fountains red and white and yep and somebody playing cymbals and drums and stuff like that for your birthday.
Lesley Meier:Yeah, like traumatically loud Sensory overload.
Megan Bennett:I hated that part of it, but these immersive places, and on the east side there was one that you would go to- yeah, so we had this is hyperlocal, but we had Paramount Music Palace, which was pizza and, as I recall, very, very good pizza buffet type of thing. But the big part was you'd walk into this giant kind of A-frame room and at the front of the room was this huge organ like a church organ, but on steroids, right.
Megan Bennett:So the organ sat in the middle of the room and then there were cases around the room of the pipes themselves, so there was always somebody up there and they were playing the organ. Now, do I think that that's something that would work today, like people just sitting around eating pizza and listening?
Lesley Meier:to organs. Are those drums up there Like did it play automatically?
Megan Bennett:Yep, like well, it was all pedal work, right, right. So they'd hit a pedal and the drums would go and it was super cool, yeah it was really wild, um, but that was. That was a pretty cool place. That was where you would go and have big birthday parties, because you would get an entire. The tables were really long, um, and so you could have a whole table for your family and your friends and do a that's amazing.
Lesley Meier:That way we never, or birthday party. I don't remember going to that. That doesn't mean that we didn't do it, um, but I don't remember going. The sign was iconic like the sign shape. Yeah it later. I don't know what it was it is, it became. Pablo's, but Don Pablo's made their sign to that sign shape. And then that sign fell at some point. As one does when you're like 50 years old Right, and then I think it's like Indie Dive Supply or something like that oh Lord. I wouldn't be surprised Great Scuba.
Megan Bennett:I'm down. It did have a giant water fountain.
Lesley Meier:Did it always have a fountain?
Megan Bennett:in it. Uh, that's interesting. I don't remember a fact.
Lesley Meier:There might have been one in the lobby because it had, when it was don pablo's, it had like a two-story yeah, I don't think so.
Megan Bennett:I think that was a don pablo thing, that edition. But I could. I could be wrong.
Lesley Meier:I could be totally wrong. It was great. I loved going there. It was unpolished, not immersive, but other kind of experiential things from our childhood we talked about Chi-Chi's. Oh my God, yes.
Megan Bennett:So Chi-Chi's is coming back as being our experience of.
Lesley Meier:Mexican Chi-Chi's is coming back.
Megan Bennett:Is it really, and I'm so excited, are they going to do the birthday party? I don't care, I hope so, I hope. All I want is that chicken chimichanga with, like that green verde sauce that goes on top. Oh God.
Lesley Meier:I want that so bad. It's been so many years since I've been to a Chi-Chi's. I still.
Megan Bennett:I crave that still to this day.
Lesley Meier:Yeah, so that was a Midwest first experience with Mexican in the 80s Uh-huh.
Megan Bennett:Sorry, it was loud AF.
Lesley Meier:Yeah.
Megan Bennett:And you would go in for your birthday and they would come around. This was like the beginning of my hatred of going to places where they sing birthday songs. But you would say, oh yeah, and you used to be able to be like, oh no, it's her birthday. And even though it wasn't her birthday, you know, and like just fuck with people, super fun. And then all the staff would come over and be like happy, happy, happy birthday.
Lesley Meier:Happy, happy, happy birthday.
Megan Bennett:Happy, happy, happy birthday to you, to you, to you, olé.
Lesley Meier:Yeah, we're sorry.
Megan Bennett:I'm not really that sorry, but look at the fountain. Yeah, oh yeah, a big fountain in there they had amazing. I think I was too young when they finally closed to ever have a margarita, but I remember my mom talking about the margaritas being good.
Lesley Meier:Good to know.
Megan Bennett:So if they come back, we'll keep an eye out. Oh my gosh, I was like what are we talking about next? I have, excuse my burp a whole list about these immersive experiences, too, are. I know there's tons that everybody, everybody in every town, had something weird and unique a restaurant or something that was like their experience. So I will touch on a few of them as we talk today. But if you had one and you want you know to share it with us.
Lesley Meier:We would love to know because, please send your stories, we will read them on the air. If you send them locally too, we should mention, like the ls airs tea room that was downtown. Yeah, for so many years awesome totally, but those very immersive places that you would go on purpose to have an experience.
Megan Bennett:Yes, the ls airs tea Room was big for my mom. As a little kid she told me stories and then I would go with her and my grandmother and there was always a toy chest at the end. Did you ever go?
Lesley Meier:I did not.
Megan Bennett:So there was a toy chest and after, first of all, you'd have to get dressed up. Because it was a tea room, and so you get all dressed up and you go and they would have, uh, the most amazing chicken velvet soup, yes, ever absolutely delicious on the internet. Yes, do it make it totally worth it. Ls airs chicken velvet soup cannot, cannot recommend it strongly enough. And then they would have the ice princess.
Megan Bennett:Um uh, ice cream cone oh, so it was like a goodness domed kind of ball of ice cream with meringue around the top, oh and like, almost like a baked alaska kind of thing with a little doll body. It was a ceramic doll body, oh yeah so the the meringue and the ice cream, or the skirt, which is really got you and then, when you were done, oh, look at your tea.
Megan Bennett:Though the tea service you have like a real tinker sandwiches and petty fours and yeah oh, and then when you were done, you would leave and there was a big treasure chest and they had um little prizes, some of them all wrapped in tissue paper with either a blue or a pink ribbon, and you could pick whichever one you wanted and have like some sort of little prize that those memorable, like very intentional experiences, so fun.
Lesley Meier:We and we still look for that today. I mean, which is kind of how we got here. We were talking about a couple places locally. We're talking about tiki, oh tiki restaurants and tiki places, tiki bars because that certainly goes into disney and some of the other places that we were talking about and that tiki experience like there's a whole tiki subculture, people who just travel around and go to all those tiki bars and collect the mugs and and then they'll take um.
Megan Bennett:I went to false idol in san diego which is amazing so cool and everybody brings. I don't know I was there on a wednesday or something and everybody brought back, like their favorite tiki mug, okay, and they would have, like the bartender, make the make their drink in their favorite mug. Oh yeah, that's awesome so cool and some of them are elaborate and fabulous. Look at that's gorgeous, so beautiful.
Lesley Meier:Locally we have strange bird and we have strange bird is in irvington on the east side and then in fountain square. We have it just went out of my brain.
Megan Bennett:We've said it like 10 times we're cool, this can all be edited.
Lesley Meier:The Inferno Room. Thank you, Jesus.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, so then on yeah.
Lesley Meier:So we've got here, we go Strange Bird locally on the east side in Irvington, which is a tiki themed restaurant. They have an incredible cocktail menu. It's very immersive, it's got a great vibe. And then they have the show you shop, which is ramen, and then they have the Shoyu Shop, which is ramen, and then we have in Fountain Square, yeah, the.
Megan Bennett:Inferno Room, which is really cool. It's like multiple levels. The people who own it went and basically curated all the things that are hanging on the walls. So the masks and the you know the big bamboo things and all the stuff.
Lesley Meier:There's also a little one that's on the back end of um, a taco shop in fountain square too oh, yeah, that um so you know, those little tiki places are so fun and there's my used to be dining room, which was now a tiki room oh, my your dining room whiskey cabinet is in it.
Megan Bennett:It's a, it's a tiki cabinet, it's amazing.
Lesley Meier:so and we have this little place in Brown County that we go, who imports tons of stuff and we collect tiki items from them to decorate our room.
Megan Bennett:I love that Because we were like.
Lesley Meier:this room becomes a laundry dump. Why am I having a table in here? It's still a laundry dump, but now it's a lounge.
Megan Bennett:Well, the end-all be-all of the tiki rooms, I think maybe not the end. All be all but one of the best. Iconic is Trader Sam's at Polynesian and Disney. Yes, absolutely. I mean when the walls start talking to you and the you know and giving you shit, that's pretty cool.
Lesley Meier:And when you get yelled at for ordering certain drinks. It's a wonderful, immersive experience.
Megan Bennett:Agreed.
Lesley Meier:So what do you think it is about these immersive experiences that we seek out?
Megan Bennett:Oh, I don't know. I mean, it's just a nice way of escapism, right, we talked about that. It's just something unique and it's an adventure in itself. But then, like you, just get to try something new and just you know, be separate from your regular Wednesday night dinner of fish sticks and mac and cheese. Right, you get to go do something completely different. That's pretty close to true.
Lesley Meier:I see their tuna salad. Yeah, see Fish sticks and mac. Fish sticks and mac.
Megan Bennett:We'll see how it goes Little Stouffer's something or other that you just shove in the oven.
Lesley Meier:Frozen dinners. Totino's party pizzas there was locally. Well, we were kind of digging back in the 80s. There was this like rash of kind of big burger places. There was like Fuddruckers. Somebody mentioned the Ground Round.
Megan Bennett:Oh yeah, it was a local kind of immersive experience. Johnny Rockets, johnny.
Lesley Meier:Rockets, johnny Rockets, johnny Rockets was like in the 90s. Some of these aren't as dramatic as others in terms of like immersiveness. Oh, for a while in Chicago, particularly when I was in high school, it was a thing to go to Ed DeBevics. Ed DeBevics was so fun I think it's still they moved, they moved.
Megan Bennett:Okay, so fun. I think it's still they moved, but I think they're still around.
Lesley Meier:But yeah, they would just insult you. Yeah, you'd pay to be insulted. It was magnificent. But, it was totally worth it because the food was really good. And we talked about, oh yeah, the pictures from Ed DeBevix. We also talked about contemporarily like Rainforest Cafe, which was came out in the 90s.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, Rainforest. Cafe, and then there's a dinosaur one also, that's at Disney T-Rex Cafe. T-rex Cafe, you talked about that.
Lesley Meier:We were loving that. Do you have memories? Were there places that you visited either when you were traveling as a kid, like for vacation, that were sort of immersive, memorable restaurants?
Megan Bennett:So I went to the original Hard Rock Cafe in London.
Lesley Meier:Amazing which was really really cool.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, like. So that one was and I know I bought something when I was there and I can't remember what the hell it was?
Lesley Meier:Did you just get the standard iconic t-shirt?
Megan Bennett:Maybe I got a t-shirt.
Lesley Meier:I don't know, I don't, I don't know it was incredibly cool.
Megan Bennett:Maybe I got a t-shirt, I don't know, I don't, I don't know. It was incredibly cool to have. Maybe I got a pin for my denim jacket or whatever. But yeah, so that was a very, very cool place and we in Indianapolis had our own Hard Rock for a long time and we don't have it any longer.
Lesley Meier:No, it's gone.
Megan Bennett:But along with the Hard Rock, you had the Hollywood one right, the. Why can't? I think of the name?
Lesley Meier:I don't know. I even have it written down, but I don't see it. Planet Hollywood.
Megan Bennett:Thank you.
Lesley Meier:Sometimes we just need Tim to jog our brain a little bit, pick up the words that we promised Planet Hollywood.
Megan Bennett:Which I think a bunch of different stars own pieces of. I know Arnold Schwarzenegger had a a share of planet hollywood.
Lesley Meier:So that's amazing, that's dumb knowledge and we talked about, like in the 90s, 2000s, like dick clark's american bandstand restaurant oh yeah, margaritaville, margaritaville.
Megan Bennett:I have been to the original of that one as well, did you? Yeah, lovely Key West.
Lesley Meier:Oh yeah, it's fabulous. I think Key West is its own immersive experience. It really is. I agree that is magnificent. When I was a kid and I think this probably started my love of like what I imagined Tiki was we used to vacation prior to my mom's death. We would vacation in Florida like in. Madera Beach and in Clearwater was this wild restaurant called the Kapok Tree Inn and you would walk up and like when you were waiting to go in they had these two giant kind of like Easterter island um like big statues okay out front.
Lesley Meier:So it was a real, like florida, white person's mishmash of cultural appropriation as well as uh, some as a dose of colonialism thrown in there and also it kind of had this like nature preserve-y vibe there was a giant fucking kapok tree in the front of the restaurant that evidently had been there since like 1880.
Megan Bennett:Wow, check that out. That's an old postcard from it. That's wild.
Lesley Meier:So it was that much of an experience, like we would dress up, you would wander through. I think there were like 20-some, 20, some odd rooms in this sprawling complex. There were fountains, it was open and airy and light. There were gardens. I like going to Disney. It was an insane restaurant but it was known randomly for its fried biscuits with apple butter Very Midwest.
Lesley Meier:Yeah, it seems like they're also, I guess, ultimately Southern, but like, look, you can see like the glass, kind of nautical, like the lights up there. So to me like there was something about sitting and dining in this, like fully immersive experience super magical that got planted in my soul.
Lesley Meier:But I we probably started going there when I was like a toddler yeah so and it was really special to get to go and something about that attached to, like the magic of disney, and then just my giant imagination and reading fantasy books all the time, like this is what life is I'm gonna have to ask my mom if this is something we ever went to, because we we traveled to florida all the time okay, when I was a kid, my grandma, my grandma, my dad's side, grandma and grandpa, my dad's side, lived down there, so I feel like this is something that we would have done, so you can like google this.
Lesley Meier:There are whole like archive pages about this place with like the postcards and stuff that were in it. It was just that's cool. It was really cool. I can't imagine how expensive it is to maintain places like this, which is probably why it ultimately closed well, and it doesn't surprise me, I guess that this is in florida, because it seems like yeah disney would have just spawned absolutely more and more things like this. Right, yeah, good thought sure I'll buy that. I mean, that's, that is our like, that's my bullshit.
Megan Bennett:An expert not an expert bullshit in there yeah, that's don't even know.
Lesley Meier:But that's my guess. I think you're totally right.
Megan Bennett:Let's take that my favorite immersive experience of all time. Oh, yes, tell me of all time it is. Also, it's a disney thing, okay, um so uh, pleasure island, which is now been replaced by um disney springs, so it was a whole complex, okay, that had um bars and restaurants and nightclubs and all the things.
Megan Bennett:So, basically, you could pay to go to this particular island, okay, and then pop around all these different bars. The best one was a place called the adventurers club. Amazing, conga loosh. For those of you who know what I'm talking about conga loosh, conga loosh. Okay it is. It was three stories you'd you'd start at the top and work your way down and yes, you did it was.
Megan Bennett:Is that zeus? Uh, yeah, I think so. Um, he naked. You'd walk all the way around and and down this ramp, basically into the bottom, and there were multiple little rooms. But it was set up to be a 1930s style adventures club where okay, you're where the hunters would show up oh sure, and like, complete with like colonialism, but sure, we don't emphasize that right and there were animal heads all over the walls and some of them talked and some of them didn't okay and there was a room of masks.
Lesley Meier:The mask room was amazing and the masks would argue with each other, so like you'd sit in there and they would have arguments classic and you'd sit there and have drinks and they would argue you know, with each other.
Megan Bennett:And then, um, there were actors and actresses that were there and they would take on these different roles. So you would have, like the head of the adventurers club, colonel, something, something or other, and then you would have maids and you would have, uh, like the colonel's wife, and then you would have, um, like you know, the, the sexy, um, I don't know, like strumpet type character, I don't know, sure, but they would vivacious vixen, but they would interact with each other and in the most perfect, just avant-garde guerrilla theater kind of way.
Lesley Meier:Oh, wow, so it wasn't so much scripted, not scripted, they would just have stories over the course of an evening. Okay.
Megan Bennett:And they would, you know, interact with the people who were there just having a drink, and then at some point, I think a couple times a night, they would invite everybody who was there into this big room and they would basically bring you in as a member of the Adventurers Club and so you would take the oath and you would get a little pin and you would learn Congaloosh, which is the you know your cheers, it's your cheers, yeah.
Lesley Meier:So there were t-shirts.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, it was amazing and I'm so sad that it's gone. But I would love to see a resurgence of that particular thing somewhere, yeah, yes. I mean, I guess like things like these.
Lesley Meier:Like this is fully improvisational, which seems really cool. They just have like themed characters and then a basic storyline and then they continue in the environment, playing off of exactly the audience, exactly. So this is sort of like pre-dinner theater, like murder mystery dinner theater kind of immersive.
Megan Bennett:It's pre-exit room, pre, yeah, mystery things, absolutely.
Lesley Meier:But there's something about creating these environments that are such an important part of this that walking into magic, yeah that we have lost in some of contemporary, many most contemporary, dining experiences.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, for sure I hope kind of re-emerges in ways. All right, leslie you have to tell us.
Lesley Meier:So we started this, so before we came on today, before we started recording, I don't even know how we got on the topic.
Megan Bennett:Well, you're planning a trip.
Lesley Meier:Daylight savings time is what brought this up. Here you go. I don't even know how this happens. This is the genius of an ADHD brain, because I looked on Instagram and I said damn it, tomorrow is daylight savings time and I was grumpy about the time change, even though I love longer days, and I said thank you, casa Bonita, for telling me that. And then Megan said what the hell is Casa Bonita? And I said oh, my God, you don't know about Casa Bonita.
Megan Bennett:And this is how this whole conversation got started.
Lesley Meier:We're reenacting.
Megan Bennett:No, I don't know about Casa Bonita.
Lesley Meier:Please tell me more Let me tell you about Casa Bonita. Casa Bonita is in Colorado, it is in. Is it in Denverver? No, no, clear, clear it is in denver, no, it's in like a smaller area. Okay, you are zero for three, right no, no, no, no, I looked, I know you look it is.
Megan Bennett:It is in a colorado, denver colorado suburb I'll wait it is.
Lesley Meier:It is where it is in lakewood, colorado both wrong lakewood. It's a suburb and the reason that we were talking about casa bonita is because of fucking south park and the creators of south park. Casa bonita started in the 50s.
Lesley Meier:It looked pull up the history very 50s it was originally was it opened in the 70s it was in the 70s, so it is of this era and the creators of South Park are Gen X men and it was of this era of immersive restaurants. It was sprawling, it was pink, it was filled with magic. There were like caves and pirates and divers that would dive into a pool inside of the restaurant.
Megan Bennett:Lakewood.
Lesley Meier:Colorado Opened in 1974.
Megan Bennett:And it was part of a Mexican entertainment restaurant chain that started in Oklahoma, oklahoma City. So I suspect, like other people know, about Casa Bonitas.
Lesley Meier:So this is the only.
Megan Bennett:Can we read the last sentence for me right?
Lesley Meier:here when.
Megan Bennett:On the first paragraph, that last sentence, the restaurant oh Lord.
Lesley Meier:Colorado since opening Mommy mommy and daddy fighting again and the greater denver metropolitan area. Thank you very much, but I knew it was. Oh boy, white man. Anyway, casa bonito was a one and only in terms of its location. It was sprawling. Show me photos now.
Megan Bennett:So we can, so it temporarily closed March 2020. Yes, because of all, because everything closed Right.
Lesley Meier:But it had. So there is a documentary that you don't have to believe any of the bullshit I'm spewing at you. There is a documentary about it because the creators of South Park purchased the building. They wanted to renovate it because one of them had grown up going there. Yeah, look at this thing.
Megan Bennett:Which one was it? That is wild.
Lesley Meier:Matt. Was it Matt? We watched this documentary. This is how they both did, because they're both, they're both they're both from colorado, they both went here but uh, that's how civvy my brain is. So it is. I mean, look, it's totally immersive, it's tropical, it's beautiful. There are cliff divers, there are cliff divers. This is a whole show. There are performances, there's a puppet show. It is like four kids. It is magnificent. So the documentary is fascinating.
Megan Bennett:They went through hell and high water to open this thing.
Lesley Meier:It ended up costing them $40 million to complete the renovation of these magical, immersive, escapist experiences where, from beginning to end, you are transported somewhere, you are attended to, like you are the focus of the experience, and I mean it's just, it's tropical and fabulous saved this thing because it was that important.
Megan Bennett:Yes, but how's?
Lesley Meier:the food uh now phenomenal okay, all right used to be shit, but now but they've made like yeah, they hired this amazing chef. She recreated many of the dishes and like elevated them. She was, like, super well known in the area. Don't trust me for all the details, but this is true. I'm not going to say names because they all escape me.
Megan Bennett:I want to go to there.
Lesley Meier:I know so reservations for May opened up March 1st, so you have to make reservations a couple months in advance and go.
Megan Bennett:That's fantastic.
Lesley Meier:And it reopened in 2023. And I think it was like a year before anybody could get a reservation, which, I believe just means the pretty house.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, true House beautiful House.
Lesley Meier:Pretty, I love it, pretty house. So there you go. I think that's kind of like the height of restoring and bringing back one of these fully immersive experiences.
Megan Bennett:This means that there's hope for me in a future adventures club, right, hell yeah, so I just need $40 million $40 million dollars.
Lesley Meier:It was only supposed to be six and a half. When you watch the documentary, your heart just sinks with them, and when you see the inside of it, like the lack of um upkeep over the decades, I mean so it's like for those of us who really love those bad shows about fixer uppers and stuff like that. It's like the ultimate. It'll totally scratch your itch and just the fact that they were able to follow through with it is pretty magnificent fixer upper but I would even to like kind of circle back back, like earlier.
Lesley Meier:We were talking about, you know, saint patty's day and indie and immersive experiences, and I think that, like the snog was designed with intentionality to like feel very immersive.
Megan Bennett:It feels like you are in an Irish pub and experiential Absolutely.
Lesley Meier:You know you want to be someplace for a little while Right, when you can experience like a break community. Be in places that are intentional, that are lovely to look at, with really well-crafted food or drink. I love it and enjoy yourself. We need moments of joy.
Megan Bennett:Absolutely, and I'm glad that there are still a lot of places out in the world that are creative and fun. Yes, because you mentioned when we were talking about this, there's a bar in um, new orleans yes, for like the vampire bar cafe, that's awesome um, there's. There's a place in manhattan that I just learned about called the jekyll and hyde club.
Megan Bennett:It's a restaurant and bar um, which looks incredibly creepy and fabulous. Yeah, so the next time I go visit my daughter, I'm gonna have to check out the jekyll and hyde club yeah, vampire cafe in new orleans, oh.
Lesley Meier:And we also got reminded of like the resurgence of speakeasies, oh yeah, and just like kind of secret little nook places that you can go to escape.
Megan Bennett:That has sort of like a feeling of being special and a little bit exclusive and there's a great new speakeasy not new, but there's a great speakeasy in indianapolis that, um, that I've been to a couple of times. Oh yeah, dirt floor. You go down the basement, you have to know the password to get in it's really fun, we'll go, we'll go, we'll go.
Lesley Meier:It'll be great if old tiny drinks too and they want to sponsor our show.
Megan Bennett:We'd be so happy to have them.
Lesley Meier:Yeah, it's fun, although you know can't tell anybody about it, of course it's a total secret. Look at the Jekyll and Hyde Club. Oh my God, we have to go there.
Megan Bennett:Look at that. It's leather and dark Very cool Super dark wood.
Lesley Meier:Oh yeah, oh, that is cool wood. Oh yeah, oh it, that is cool. Yeah, that's pretty neat. I don't know, maybe gen x women are sick of this shit should do a tour of immersive spaces.
Megan Bennett:I'm to rescue her. Look big elephant. Like head on the wall too.
Lesley Meier:Not a, probably not no, not a real, but my goodness, that would be sad, not a real library?
Megan Bennett:is that a?
Lesley Meier:shark over the fireplace. If anybody's been here, please like give us your review.
Megan Bennett:Tell us about this place because we would love to be there. Send us your photos.
Lesley Meier:It's just super sink and cool. So while we keep one foot squarely grounded in reality and taking care of our health and paying attention to what is happening, we are also allowing ourselves moments of joy and fantasy escape, escape, escape and trips down memory lane.
Megan Bennett:That's a great time, good times cheers, cheers, slainte.
Lesley Meier:Happy saint patty's day when this comes out uh, happy international women's day today, on the day of our recording.
Megan Bennett:Thanks for doing this with me. It's good time. Yeah, good time, I'll see you next time.
Lesley Meier:You have been listening to Gen X. Women are sick of this shit. Hey Megan, hey Leslie, what do people do if they want to find us?
Megan Bennett:Well, we have a website that people can find us on, and that is genxwomenpodcom. We also have a facebook page. We have an instagram account as well. We have a youtube account where we put youtube shorts and other little tidbits up there.
Lesley Meier:We have a tiktok account I don't talk the dick or take the time you don't take the time I I barely talk the tick.
Megan Bennett:You don't tick the tock, I barely talk the tick. But I did put a tick tock up.
Lesley Meier:We're explaining the internet to people again.
Megan Bennett:That's okay, though it's great, we need to know how the internet works Can people buy merch. They absolutely can. We have a merch store on the website itself, and we also have an Etsy store too, so they're just pretty easy to find you.
Lesley Meier:It's just gen x women on etsy and if you are listening to this podcast, presumably you found it somewhere and while you're there, give us a review.
Megan Bennett:Yeah, let us know what you think. Throw some stars at us, that'd be great. We'll take one, two, three, four, five, maybe ten, and also make sure that you are hitting subscribe so that you're notified whenever a new episode drops Most important. We also have a five minutes of fame that I think we should tell people about too.
Lesley Meier:Hell. Yes, we want to know your stories, your five minutes of fame stories. You can send those stories in on the website or you can call 1-888-GEN-X-POD and leave your story for us and we will play it live in our next episode.
Megan Bennett:We'll listen to it on a little red phone, just like Batman. That'd be cool. Let's get a bad phone.
Lesley Meier:I think that's it. I think you're right.
