still-sound 216. Fahrenheit

Today I drove downtown to buy Fahrenheit.  It's always been one of my favorite fragrances.  The smell of it brings me back to the mall in the 80s.  I've always obsessed over scents.  I'd leave my mom to look at clothes in the department stores on a Saturday night and I'd creep over to the perfume counters and try on every fragrance.  I know only an old man would say this, but they really knew how to make 'em back then.  I am an old man - I know. But it's true. The original Fahrenheit was perfection.

I knew that I'd probably find an old bottle of Fahrenheit at Universal Perfumes on Los Angeles Street.  They have everything.  Tons of mall classics from all decades.  On my way there I crossed over the 7th Street bridge from Boyle Heights and noticed the new Silverlake Wines at Mateo Street.  I pulled over and stopped inside.  On my way back to the car I noticed a new store - the gates were up over the windows and two women were unpacking boxes and setting objects on to the counters.  The objects looked hand crafted and Japanese.  They saw me squinting through the windows and beckoned me to come in.

I looked at a lacquered wooden bowl that had been hand-lathed.  It was made in the Ishikawa Prefecture.  I bought it.  The women seemed pleased.  I may have been their first customer.  The shelves and cabinetry were gorgeous.  I asked who made them.  One of the women explained that a woodworker in Korea made everything and they had it shipped over.  Wow.  The store was called The Good Liver.  It's my new favorite store.

After the Good Liver I parked my car on Crocket Street, near Skid Row.  I walked over to Universal Perfumes from there because parking is a nightmare downtown and i know that you can park on Crocket Street.  I felt stupid walking past a campus of tents and homeless people with a hand made Japanese bowl in my bag and a (fake) Rolex on my wrist.  I reached Universal Perfumes and asked for the oldest bottle of Fahrenheit.  It smells like the gorgeous scent that I remembered from the 80s - pre reformulation.  I bought a bottle and sprayed myself three times.