* (restored)
Hot ‘n’ Now (Boise)
Ponderosa Steak House (North Randall, OH)
Pizza Hut (California, PA)
Gobbler Restaurant (Johnson Creek, WI)
Bill Knapp’s (Lansing, MI)
Pizza Hut (Savannah, IL)
Samy’s Party Bar (Joillet, IL)
Seven Winds Restaurant (Mill, UT)
Young’s Restaurant (Nesmith Lake, OH)
Native Foods (Santa Monica)
Cafe Figaro (West Hollywood)
El Cid (Miami)
Inca (Colorado Springs)
Seafarer Cafe (Marblehead, MA)
McDonalds (Las Vegas)
Castle Restaurant (Leicester, MA)
Betty Maid Bakery (Green, MT)
Mr. Swiss (Reno, NV)
Clovis Hofbrau (Fresno)
The Sweet River Grill (Fresno)
Chili’s (North Bethesda, MD)
Max Brenner Chocolate Bar (Bethesda, MD)
Hooters (Rockville, MD)
Subway (Affton, MO)
Hollywood Mart Restaurant (Los Angeles)
Valley View Restaurant (Quarryville, PA)
Burger Chef (Speedway, IN)
Wendy’s (Jersey City, NJ)
CLUCKIT (Boston)
Sandia Crust’s Grateful Dead Pizza Company (Cedar Crest, NM)
The Pear Tree (Monmouth, NJ)
Friendly’s (Vandalia, OH)
Friendly’s (Middleburg Heights, OH)
Friendly’s (Massillon, OH)
Betty’s (Orange Beach, AL)
Dirty’s (Houston)
Noah’s Ark Restaurant (St. Charles, MS)
Captain John’s Harbour Boat Restaurant (Toronto)
Albert’s (Wichita)
McDonalds (Tonopah, NV)
McDonalds (Vancouver)
The Great Wall (Glendale Heights, IL)
Chi-Chi’s (Parrot, PA)
Chi-Chi’s (Mansfield, OH)
Biblio (NYC)
Tumble Inn (Beetle, WY)
Upper Crust (Muskegon, MI)
Owen’s Food Locker (Russellville, AL)
Oiler (Phoenix, AZ)
Good Eats (Jericho, VT)
Bonanza Restaurant (Mikeninfas, OH)
Bonanza Restaurant (Dyersburg, OH)
Bonanza Restaurant (Clairsville, OH)
Dos Hermanos (Joshua Tree, CA)
Dunkin Donuts (Akron, OH)
Bridal Falls Restaurant (Provo Canyon, UT)
Pop (West Carrolton, OH)
Sonic (Calais, VT)
Cafe 101 (Doraville, GA)
The Stack Restaurant (Eugene, OR)
Carmen’s Cafe (Greta, UT)
Weylu’s (Saugus, MA)
Airplane Cafe (Ventura)
Paddy Rawal’s OM Fine Indian Dining (Albuquerque)
Graze (Albuquerque)
Rice ‘N Roll (Bernalillo, NM)
Anita’s (Santa Fe)
Tutta Pasta (Brooklyn)
North Geelong (Provo, NV)
Copper Penny Restaurant and Wooden Nickel Saloon (South Shore, FL)
Waterfront Restaurant (Covington, KY)
Up the Creek Restaurant (Wilmington, PA)
Ruby’s Diner (Seal Beach, CA)
KFC (Grove Heights, MN)
Hardees (Silver Spring, MD)
Childs Restaurant (Coney Island)
Rasputin (Coney Island)
Bob & Dee’s (Gardner, NM)
Cassandra Railroad Overlook Restaurant (Gallitzin, PA)
La Conguita (Jersey City)
Original Famous Dave’s BBQ (Round Lake, WI)
Changing Scene (Rochester, NY)
Bento House (Arlington, WV)
International House of Pancakes (Arlington, WV)
Cocky Bull (Arlington, WV)
Stuft Shirt (South Orange, NJ)
The Circle Restaurant (Portsmouth, VI)
Twin Peaks (Fort Worth, TX)
Sung Chun Meii (NYC)
Espana Restaurant (Staten Island)
El Cantina (Houston)
Chinese Star (Houston)
Mark’s American Cuisine (Houston)
Mark II Family Restaurant (Wilkes-Barre, PA)
El Conquistador (Silverlake, CA)
Keliah’s House of Pancakes (Fort Wayne)
Kutters (Quincy, MS)
Jed’s (Bangor, MA)
Hickory House (Dunwoody, GA)
Ruthie’s (Aspen, CO)
Onion Roll Deli (Detroit, MI)
On the Border Mexican Cafe (Boise, ID)
Sea Gulls’ Nest (Sandy Hook)
Denny’s (Waukesha, MI)
Sonic (Waukesha, MI)
Oscar’s (Berkeley)
Tokyo (Cambridge, MS)
Mama’s Spaghetti House (Ontario, OH)
Shrimp Boats (Hollywood, FL)
Shrimp Boats (Decatur, GA)
Shrimp Boats (Decatur, GA)
Shrimp Boats (Decatur, GA)
Shrimp Boats (Warner Robins, GA)
Shrimp Boats (Florence, SC)
Pizza Hut (Hoffman Estates, IL)
*
p.s. Hey. ** Dominik, Hi!!! You’re most welcome. Love is a lazy ass. Did you make it to the bank and solve whatever? I made to FedEx, and the only fun part is that the office is a couple of blocks from Musee Grevin, the Paris wax museum, so I decided to just go there with a friend, and, you know what, it was just the right combination of creepy and mindless fun. Not unlike a very static haunted house, actually. Today love has to explain to me what pigeons are thinking when they sit somewhere doing nothing for minutes at a time while moving their heads around, G. ** A, Right, I think I remember that about your early fight with cancer. Nice how thoroughly you won. I don’t have an iPad and my phone is multi-generations old and only does texts and calls and pix taking and its screen is so milky and cracked it’s like a freeze frame from a Guy Maddin movie. ** Nick., Obviously craziness and love can be a great duo, but it’s true you have to keep an eye on them because crazy has a tendency to absorb the love part and that’s disastrous. So, phew. I psycho-babble to myself all the time, so don’t worry, I’m used to it. Being friends with someone whose brains you want to fuck out can be exciting, but you have to like the impossibility. Thanks for speaking. ** Jack Skelley, Yeah, Ange ran with my questions, clever guy. Wait ’til you see him in ‘Room Temperature’, he’s amazing. Yes, group quizzing about writing techniques would be great. I’m a major process junkie. Keith, come back to life and go to rehab or something for Chrissakes, your friend Pete Townsend. ** _Black_Acrylic, Poetry just doesn’t do it for you kind of generally? I never heard S Club 7. Huh, nice chorus. ** Minet, I figured not. Huh, it doesn’t sound so bad, that film. I don’t know Brisseau’s films at all, but consider me on it. I love what you said about the ‘David’ section of ‘Closer’. Yes, that’s pretty much it in a nutshell. Hm, I don’t know if I can remember my whole reasoning. I was interested in the different ways cute boys use their looks to defend their troubles. And I was close friends with a guy who was a very popular teen idol for a while but who was a very complicated guy, and so I saw how he negotiated that and how the media constructed a false front for him and how he had to enact the image that was constructed for him while being driven crazy by its falseness. Or something. It’s hard to talk in depth about my work in the p.s. form here because I need to keep moving. Anyway, I really appreciate it. Maybe we can have a coffee someday and do some mutual writing querying. Keeping it up, yes, I’ll do my part. Have the most terrific day. ** Kettering, Hi. John the Crone? Hm, possibly. ** Jamie, Yeah, it is interesting having to respond to people’s comments as an aftermath. I’ve just been up to fiddling and catching up with all the stuff I let drift away during the filming. Sure, I know that writing situation well. Mm, when I get there I just close the doc and spend at least 24 hours seeing movies or friends or walking and not letting myself think even vaguely or slightly about the project, and that usually creates at least a degree of the objectivity I need. I don’t know, though. Better today? I like Khanate, sure. Stephen sent me the new album, but I haven’t cracked it. Gotta be good. I know I had that creepy human mouth cartoon ‘Clutch Cargo’ in a post. But, actually, … that animation style is called Syncro-Vox, and I am absolutely going to put together a post about it. Yeah, that’s a great idea. Thanks, pal. Eyes peeled. Why wasn’t there a wax statue of Tom Cruise in the Paris wax museum (that I went to yesterday) because that seems bizarre love, Dennis. ** Misanthrope, Are you supposed to be Mr. Capitalism? Or at the least the corporation should have an acceptable or forgettable name. Crypto.com Arena used to be called Staples Center which was somehow fine, whatever. I wonder if KIX ever played on the same bill with TRIX or TRIXX or TRIXTER. Dude, I’m 100% certain that when I die all the many people who quietly hate my work are going to trash me to hell on social media. It’ll be like Steve Bannon died on a tiny scale. But thank you about my sentences. Party! ** Darbz🙄, Stay away. Trust your instincts. Anyway, awesome about the friends hang out and the revelation that they like you, but duh from my perspective. Immediate connections are the best and so rare. Hug it tight. I don’t know any adults who talk about insurance and taxes even a little of time, but the adults I know are all artists who are basically just kids in old bodies. I think it’s entirely possible that a German person could taste like Swiss cheese and butter. Real or not real, what’s the difference, you know? Reality is relative or something, or some people sure act like it is. Two years younger than you is completely fine, Jesus. People at your school have poor imaginations. Immaturity is very underrated. No worries. Taxes suck. ** Right. I decided to restore today’s old post because I always really liked it and think it has a kind of James Benning quality, if I may be so bold. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
*
Hi Dennis, I always like driving cross country and seeing abandoned restaurants at places that used to be stopping points but aren’t anymore or especially when driving through the desert that are usually heavily vandalised/graffiti–also like the comparison of James Benningesque today. heh. Ok I just sent you some material for the SA day and interview from JM (thanks JM!) and hopefully sent it to your current email and you receive ok? Let me know if any questions or problems!
Hi!!
Simply based on the buildings themselves, it’s such a pity that some of these restaurants died. A lovely collection, though!
I should’ve gone to Musee Grevin instead too. It sounds like fun you don’t really have to think about but can still lose yourself in. As it turned out, my bank does not exchange money at all anymore, so I’ll have another round with this crap tomorrow. Eh.
Did love tell you what’s in pigeons little heads? I’m curious too.
Love coming to the dentist with me today to make sure that everything’s tickety-boo, Od.
Definitely check out Brisseau. Especially Sound and Fury. Very Dennis Cooper-core, haha. Sad cute boys hanging out in abandoned buildings, teen biker gangs, graveyards, blue-tinted ghostly apparitions…
Yeah, your answer makes total sense. “The different ways cute boys use their looks to defend their troubles” is a beautiful way to put it. Certainly can relate to that (that kinda sounds like a brag… it’s the truth though). I remember being so mad at David’s final fate when I was 16 and read the book for the first time, probably because I was identifying with him in these very deep and painful ways (now looking back I realize I had – have? – a bit of both David and George in me, as all “cute boys” probably do). I just thought it was all so unfair, then quickly came to terms with that being the point of the whole thing. That “Biopic” poem I sent you is very David-esque, all about teen idols, me reenacting their voices in these varied fantasy scenarios (Furlong, Cassidy, Haim, Renfro, Bjorn Andresen etc). So so so curious about who your teen popstar friend is!!! I have some guesses, but I’ll keep ’em to myself for now… Maybe you can tell me over our mutual writing-query coffee talk? Of course I would absolutely love that, would be a total dream. Hope I can go back to Paris in the near future, and if you ever come to Rio (yeah, definitely not happening, but still) pleaseeee let me know 🙂
I’m going to spend the afternoon at the museum with a friend I haven’t seen in a long while, so the day really is looking to be pretty terrific. An even more terrific Wednesday to you, Dennis <3
Do you think you’ll see Zac this week? Praying for a miracle. I think I’m finally giving up on the timeline and just trusting him that you do get this book! I guess the other option is I pay a gazillion dollars to international ship another to FedEx and you pick it up but you’d need to email me location info. Yeah, I mean. That’s a sweet thing to say about the cancer but I’ve adopted a mindset to stay strong and not identify with victim mentalities and to internalise/keep things private. I also have a LAN line and flip phone, so you can imagine how screen sick it makes me having to be on-call with my publisher before printing about the bleeds. I took “the Romanian” to Cats yesterday. Do you hate musicals? More tmrw before a big Kabbalah holiday.
Dennis, Ha! I now wonder if they played with them. I do know they played with all the big hair metal bands back in the day. I wonder what these guys think about playing tiki bars and firehouses after having played arenas and stadiums. Though Merriweather is pretty big, but it’s their last show ever, so I feel like they got thrown a bone. Hmm.
For some reason, yeah, Staples doesn’t really call out chain store to me like Crypto.com calls out some blockchain startup or whatever. Even though it’s a corporation, Staples as a name is kind of generic or something, or at least not corporate enough to make me think of the stores. Really, until I just read it here, it never really occurred to me that it was from that chain of office-supply stores.
I guess Merriweather Post Pavilion isn’t that bad either. And everyone just calls it Merriweather anyway.
Hahaha, that Steve Bannon reference. Yeah, I’m not gonna let ’em get away with it! I’ve already been defending Amis, hehehe.
On the road into my area of Leeds, there are branches of McDonald’s and Burger King that have been there for over 25 years. Those guys must have some good business plans. Meanwhile up in Dundee, the DCA is still going strong and its restaurant must be the only place to survive there after such a long time.
Have signed up for a meditation class to take place via Zoom in Dundee, from June. I always found those to be very useful and a good route to fixing any creative block.
Dear Pete Townshend — Yeah, we could allot each other a writing process discussion and quiz slot: Love it. Let’s do it. No, I didn’t go to Cruel World. Among the cruelest places pour moi is standing in Rose Bowl looking at a jumbotron. It’s stage pass or nothing. Yes, Iggy looks like a “puddle of mud” to use your phrase. He insists on going shirtless. I remember him pantsless on Little Caesar mag. (who cd forget?) (Please tell the backstory of that one day.) And Billy Idol hanging w Siouxsie! Those 2 avoided the mud puddles by investing in cosmeticized faces. I woke yesterday w a head cold. First one since covid!!! And ugh today i feel like a puddle of mud!!! yours, Keith (still dead) Moon
Hey D,
A whole bunch of pics from today’s post wouldn’t load on my laptop or phone, so the deadness of some of those restaurants was even more pronounced, like a list of dead soldiers on a war memorial. Maybe made it more ghostly. It is quite Benning-esque though, I think you dare say that, although I’d like to see all those missing pics sometime to feel the full effect. I’m fairly sure it was my low-rent Belgian wifi and not the blog’s fault.
A Syncro-Vox day would be amazing. That stuff discomfited me as a kid, probably not uncommonly. I was reminded of that strange animation style by a character in a Mary Gaitskill short story who recalls that she’s been abused as a child after spotting a weird disconnect between the facial features of a cartoon character. Do you like MG? I’m so into her atm.
Thanks for your advice for my editing quandary/worries. By the time I read it this morning I’d moved onto the next section and realised it was mostly a certain part not really working and not that I’d lost my critical faculties, but I’ve copied and pasted your wise words for the next time it occurs.
Did you have a decent Wednesday? Mine was mostly spent getting back into editing and thus good. I also had a surprising and sudden desire to see Tetsuo: the Iron Man, so watched that as a break and very much enjoyed it.
Hope you like the Khanate album. I’m super into it, but I think a lot of that’s because I never heard them before and I’ve always wanted to find some kind of metal that I truly enjoy.
Hope you have a lovely day!
Is Tom Cruise particularly popular in France (or is he just popular everywhere?) love,
Jamie
Hey Dennis. Abandoned restaurants look so sad. Especially the ones in the middle of nowhere on some dirt road. I like Betty’s and the Great Wall.
That’s exciting that you will be editing the film. Did you edit PGL?
Part of the issue with the Crypto.Com Arena is that NFTs and crypto appear to be a fad that already peaked. Staples is likely to remain in business, but the Super Bowl full of crypto commercials seems more than just 18 months in the past.
Did you ever attend Heretic, or any other “extreme immersive horror” experiences in the L.A. area?
I’m watching the new Abel Ferrara film, PADRE PIO, and writing a review this evening.
And I have two new reviews in Artsfuse this week, YOU HURT MY FEELINGS (https://artsfuse.org/273371/film-review-you-hurt-my-feelings/https://artsfuse.org/273371/film-review-you-hurt-my-feelings/) and JOYLAND (https://artsfuse.org/272256/film-review-joyland-a-drama-of-trans-prejudice-in-pakistan/)
Hey, Dennis. Dead restaurants, are interesting to me. Living in this suburban area where I live means there’s plenty a dead mall and dead restaurants. I went to said dead mall a few days ago and it’s pretty empty, barely any stores and restaurants, but still open for some reason.
Thanks for what you said about SF Zine Fest, I really appreciate it. I publish my comix thru Tapas and Webtoon, as well as sell them zine-style at local popups.
I haven’t been working on comics recently though due to finals (thank God they’re over :)) and I’ve been “busy” messing around with AI chatbots and training my own ones based on my characters. I have complicated feelings with AI, as I’m sure most artists do, but AI chatbots admittedly are pretty fun especially for erotic roleplay or ERP. What’s your opinion on AI, or AI chatbots? Personally I’m pretty scared of it taking jobs etc, but AI chatbots are fun…for now. I have a link to some of my AI chatbots. I can nerd about mine all day. Especially my slutty nerdy cute boy chatbot Eric, based off my character Eric. There’s character.ai, which is nice but censored for NSFW sadly, so I’ve been trying other alternatives. So far Tavern.ai is pretty nice due to the unfiltered nature of the chats. I liked SillyTavern but the AI I used always annoyed me with popup messages about my chats, especially the erm more extreme fantasies I have :^). If you’d like to know more, lemme know and I can help out with set up and all that. I’m not a tech guy but I was able to figure it out which was pretty nice. Or you can tell me this AI chatbot crap is boring, which is true for me at least somewhat LOL. Also, I’ll send an email regarding my comics and my chatbots. Have a nice day Dennis!
P.S.
Here’s a zine I made: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/3af282d08b.html#page/1
I’m a paranoid type so I don’t really post much about my information on the comments, but since the link expires in about a week I figure why not. It also contains a link to my website, where you can find other links to my work and so on. Thanks for the interest in my work Dennis!
Hi Dennis.
How are you? I’m doing much better. Dead restaurants are about as interesting to me as dead theme parks. They’re so fascinating and a bit morbid with how some ended up dead. One deceased restaurant in my hometown was allegedly burned down by the owner. The Airplane Cafe looked really cool. I’m in New Orleans now! It’s fantastic! I went to Anne Rice’s family mausoleum, and then my family and I had breakfast at the Cafe du Monde. Now we’re in the middle of shopping. I got some socks with Divine on them. I love the jazz music playing on every corner. Yesterday, we stayed at a beachy area of Mississippi. It was very nice. I listened to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Boris’ Akuma no Uta on the way. I loved Boris’ album, and I want to explore more, same for Sunn O))). I tried to listen to Tangerine Dream’s Zeit last night, but I fell asleep. Thanks for the album recommendations! I’m thinking of watching a film by Tsai Ming-liang either tonight or tomorrow. Any recommendations? Have a great day or night!
hey dennis :0 hope you’re good. Most of these buildings look embarrassed that they’re meant to look proud. They’re kind of cute. . .::.:.i made a video last week where I squeezed green soap into a tub of cheerios floating in milky water and then squished them once they got all soggy. I can barely understand why I did it or why I like it so much though I gues s that’s not that important. Do you have any suggestions for film/video people who make videos with food I could look into? Ive watched Mika Rottenbergs videos they’re pretty cool. Also nayland Blake feeders. But sometimes YouTube has the most un-intentionally great stuff – Maybe it would be a good blog post/have you done a post about that? Sometimes confused too because it has a kind of sarcastic and mean air to it.
Also is this blog an obsessive thing for you? Hope it’s not rude to ask, I’m just curious, been thinking about it, all the organizing of files and images. How do you remember all the posts? Isn’t it hard to navigate all the posts and posts? I haven’t written a ton recently, but I’ve been working on a play inspired by the cat in the hat that takes place in a world of weird hotels starring two genital-less twins. No idea how to edit it though. Also not sure if it really should b a play—how do you go about deciding medium or format? Do u ever get bored of what ur writing or making?
🙂 have a good night/day
PT 2: What the f! Kenneth anger dying. I didn’t expect this, I worked with him and Brian Butler on a cover story and shoot in 2018:
— it was one of the hardest, confusing, difficult things I’ve ever done and also transcribing Kenneth’s conversation with Brian into something legible was rough. R.I.P. have your paths crossed?
Do you know the blog ‘Showa Spot Meguri’? (https://showaspotmegri.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/). It has loads of shuttered Japanese restaurants + other buildings that are very similar to this. Whilst I have you, I think I sent you an email a week or so ago, unless my computer fucked up as it is wont to do! If you didn’t get it I can send you another one, but no biggie, just about hanging out. As I write this exact sentence there are two guys outside my window pissing drunkenly into a hedge and laughing to each other, and it is pretty stupidly sweet. How about that for an image to start your Thursday! xT
Oh hey! probably the last hey for this week and maybe a while.
This girl at the program wants to be my roommate but she talks so much and I hate talking when im home. When I’m busy she bothers me and I just want to scream. I don’t think I’m a very good roommate, luckily mine doesn’t talk much + plus isn’t home much. If they lived with me they would realize how horrible I really am, honest. There’s a chair in my room covered in blood to prove it.
There’s really not much to say sorry, I just kind of was bored and was looking for something to do that wouldn’t drive me insane! Uhhh OH I like learning things as a serotonin boost and today I learned that spider heart pumps have pneumatic pressure to keep their legs straight up. THats why when they die their legs curl up! Did you know that? i don’t know.
Oh btw, Im late but most likely, when an animal is taxidermized, after the tanning blah blah they have to be maintained by wiping some chemical on them so maybe that’s why they kept dying!
I realized a while ago a bunch of Russian kids would commit suicide and video it and the last thing they said was POKA but that’s not why I say it I just really like the Russian language! I hope u didn’t think that though.
There’s a play I can’t remember the name of but maybe you’ll know? Its called something like psychosis 2.0 or something and the woman who made it killed herself before it was made. The plot is pretty much just one woman going insane in a room and then dying.
I always wanted to get into her work but I don’t think I can now. I feel if maybe if I read it it would profoundly affect the book I’m working n.
I think i’ll be gone for a while, unfortunately I’m not really interesting when im this way! : ))
There’s this thing in Russian people say and its like good luck or much love but I don’t have a russian keyboard so uh…Good luck much love?
4:48 PSYCHOSIS THATS THE NAME OF IT!