University Ave Turns Into Rodeo Drive North

Posh new shops and chain stores
destroy that ol' small town feeling

By Christopher Allen
Palo Alto Weakly Staff Writer

  Remember when the Varsity Theatre on University Avenue was a place that drew a large cross section of the people who actually live in Palo Alto?  Young and old, rich and poor, hip and not-so-hip used to frequent the old historic theatre that played an eclectic mix of new and old movies and offered some of the best in live local music: be it Jazz, Rock, Folk, Blues and even Punk (the Dead Kennedys!).

  No longer a movie theatre and for sure not the haven of culture it once was, the New Varsity is now a mecca of milk-toast merchandise, quasi-intellectual yuppies and mediocre espresso.

  The demise of the Varsity wasn't the first nor will it be the last casualty of the ongoing trend to make University Avenue reflect only the affluent and "worldly" among us.  Now & Then Clothing Store was run out of town last month.    When their lease came up for renewal they were told "off the record" that the people interested in the building next door to them didn't want Now & Then as neighbors.  To be fair, they were offered a renewal on their lease - but at twice the rate they were paying previously. 

  Needless to say, they chose not to renew and we lucky Palo Altans now have a much needed diamond jewelry store in their place.  The other good news is that we will also be getting, yet another, even more needed, expensive new restaurant right next door!

  An ironic twist in upscaling our downtown strip is the opening of an expensive cigar store just months after Palo Alto passed a strict anti-smoking-in-public law.  Now, if the police can only enforce the other new laws designed to get rid of the homeless downtown - we will be on our way to having our own small version of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

Stanford PHD Uses Sex to Sell Religion On Television

Dr. Gene Scott is back and in rare form
on his own secret satellite channel

By Kenneth J. Young
Palo Alto Weakly Staff Writer

  Many people have wondered what happened to that "crazy white haired guy" who talked about religion 24 hours a day - 7 days a week on local channel 38 in San Francisco.  Dr. Gene Scott (Stanford Graduate and P.H.D.) had become a cult personality, if not a cultural icon here in the San Francisco Bay Area.   Even the DNA Lounge nightclub in the popular "south of market" area of the City had his channel tuned in on television sets behind the bars upstairs and down.  One day the "Doc" just vanished and it has been years since anyone has seen him.

  Imagine my surprise to find his still familiar face staring back at me on TV the other day.  I was at a friend's house, who just so happens to have a huge satellite dish on his roof, and I was perusing the dial for the Playboy Channel, Spice, or any other sex channel I could find.  Imagine my delight as a camera zoomed in on a well-endowed blonde in a sheer, low-cut, skin-tight top and short skirt!  She announced in a sexy, breathy voice, "You're watching Dr. Scott's program which is already in progress."  I nearly fell out of my chair.

  I immediately thought back on when I was a kid watching channel 36 for hours on end, waiting just to see Carol Doda come on the announce, "You're watching the perfect 36 in San Francisco." 

  Carol Doda be damned!  This woman put her to shame!  When the camera finally backed up it revealed Dr. Scott and a bevy of beauties manning his phone lines - a virtual harem!  "Any man who doesn't enjoy looking at these women is an idiot… or a liar!"  Dr. Scott always had a way with words and his mouth wasn't failing him this night either, "I'm just saving the fundamentalists from having to switch back and forth between my channel and the Playboy Channel!"  I'm no fundamentalist, but he was saving me the trouble as well.

  If this is the future of religious television then I'm all for it.  In fact, I'm saving up enough money to purchase a satellite dish of my own.  Or better yet, I think I'll move down to Los Angeles and finally join the church.  I have seen the light!

IN THIS ISSUE:

Headlines
Hewlett-Packard Ran Escort Service
Palo Alto Cable Co-op a Sham

Palo Alto Goodwill Store
Investigative Report by P. A. Weakly
Follow-up: Suicide of Goodwill Executive!

The Demise of University Avenue
Rodeo Drive North

Stanford PHD Uses Sex to Sell Religion
Tits and Ass for Jesus

Palo Alto Police Gazette
Child Abuse Ignored by Police Dept.
Hit & Run Victim Ticketed by Cop.
Prostitution Sting or Police Entrapment?

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?

Palo Alto Weakly was published and distributed to local coffee shops, donut shops, train stations and libraries in and around the city of Palo Alto during the spring and summer of 1997.

The publishers moved on to bigger and better things (outside of Palo Alto of course).