Another one of the my great recollections and landmarks in El Paso were the Alligators in San Jacinto Plaza. I went downtown often when I was a kid, sometimes with my parents and sometimes on the Government Hill bus by myself. They taught me to ride it when I was quite young, catching it on Rosewood and Montana Streets and getting on and off at the Plaza. We probably all did the alligators in by making a wish and throwing pennies into their pond. There has been many controversies regarding the removal of the alligators and the desire to bring them back. They have actually been venerated in the form of a public art piece by celebrated El Paso artist, the late Luis Jimenez. My parents let me go downtown on Sunday afternoons to watch movies at the Crawford Theatre. The movies were usually what I like to call "Sunday Sagas," sword wielding knights and pirates on horseback and wooden ships. It was cheap, with a quarter I could get on the bus, go to the movie (they
