Summary

In “Ruby Chow’s (1962),” present day Ernest meets Gracie and Juju at Ruby Chow’s. Ernest asks Gracie if she remembers anything about the first Seattle World’s fair, if she remembers “our friend from those days” (156). Gracie nods and says she’s been looking for their friend--we later find out that this friend is Maisie. When Rich and Hanny arrive, Rich asks Ernest about being a chauffeur for famous people and growing up around the red-light district. Rich says, “I guess before Las Vegas there was always Chinatown. Bootleg booze and gambling going all the way back to Prohibition…” (158). Gracie corrects Rich, telling him the nighttime entertainment was not “Chinatown or Japantown” but “a parlor joint called… the Tenderloin” (158). Rich asks if the Tenderloin is where Ernest and Gracie met, joking, “Don’t tell me you were a...