Missing the Joke

As I started reading Jonathan Gold’s “Frank Appraisals” (On the Town, Oct. 30) I soon realized that he was talking about Julio’s Bucket. I first went to this renowned Eagle Rock dive about seven years ago, and though it is far from where I live and work, I go there when I can.

Gold missed the point of Julio’s politically incorrect humor. Julio plays on his customers’ prejudices until he draws them out to face their own racism. Almost every time I have visited the diner, Julio has made it a point to bait unsuspecting racists, drawing them along with his anti-immigrant diatribes and ending with his Hitler statement. The last time I heard it, I almost gagged on my burger, but when I looked at Julio in shock, he winked at me. I am of mixed racial heritage, and he was letting me in on the joke.

I’m sure he insulted Gold’s lesbian friend, just as he insults me and every other minority who walks through his doors. He expects you to insult him back. I think that Julio believes that people like Hitler get ahead when people stop being proud of what they are and start trying to blend in. He wants people to stand up for themselves.

David Green

Castaic

My wife and I attended Occidental College, virtually across the street from the Bucket, and we always make a point of going there to have lunch when we are in the area.

We go there to enjoy the garlic-laden cheeseburgers and the bacon-wrapped shrimp. Gold’s “Frank” is a gourmet chef from the Basque country and one of the best lunches he ever made for us was breasts of chicken sauteed in cognac. But we also go because of his outrageous political ejaculations. Most of us certainly don’t agree with what he says, but we understand that his outbursts are mostly for shock value.

Hoo Tjhiang Han

Moorpark