Don Day: Cha Cha Cha. The sequel’s as good as the original

”Let’s do the time warp again”

Published December 14, 2022

We walked into the place singing a little Rocky Horror ditty. 13 years had gone by and nothing had changed. The same whitewashed walls in a room best described as a garage. The same mismatched furniture. The same in-your-face tablecloths. The same iridescent colors here, there and everywhere. The same Virginia Creeper crawling over the ceiling. The same papel picado hanging from it.

“But I think the streamers were paper the last time we were here. Now they’re plastic.”

CC, one half of the husband and wife team that runs the place describes the interior as, “Una decoracion muy original”. Others may simply call it tacky. I call it exactly the look I dreamed of when, 40 years ago, I decided San Miguel was where I wanted to spend my senior years.

The place is called Cha Cha Cha. I’d always liked the name of the place. It reminds me of when, as a fourteen year old, I used to try to cha cha to Della Reese’s “Whatever Lola Wants”. And foolishly do it on a shag rug.

Read more […]