Best of 2003: Best Place To Get Dead Drunk

Hiram's Guns and Spirits
660 South Magnolia, El Cajon
619-442-5353

Remember the Rugburns' "Suburbia"? "I'm dancing naked on my street...I think I'll go to Hiram's Guns and Liquor just for fun...And pick me up some whiskey and a shiny new black gun...." In the old days, when El Cajon was Main Street and not much else, that's just what folks from places like El Centro would do -- come into town, pick up their liquor and bullets, and wagon back home. Today Hiram's still sells to loyal El Centro customers. But most are "mainstream clientele." Sporting guns. For home defense. As for the liquor? "Next door. We just sold that side," says Paul Malzahn. But you still get a frisson of the wild old days going in. And you might meet some Swedish or Japanese Rugburns fans, humming "Suburbia."