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10th Avenue’s industrial atmosphere makes a perfect setting for pop car washes and impromptu mechanic services, “Only in El Alto.”
“Only in El Alto” is a phrase I hear often among local friends, in local businesses, at the local bar. Every now and then, someone will find or refer to something so classically El Alto, that they must credit its existence to the neighborhood.
They’re people, places, and things that seem only possible in these streets. The range is wide; it can be food, a drink, a type of music, a well-publicized house party, a park meet-up. Whatever it is, after it’s all said and done, we look around and say, “Only en El Alto.”
My “Only en El Alto” moment came this week when I was in desperate need of a car wash.
Yes, I drive. I’ve mastered Alto driving through careful practice and the rhythm of a good soundtrack, but we’ll leave that for another column.
So when my wheels needed cleaning this week, I decided to do it “Only in El Alto” style, because only in El Alto you can find a ‘pop up carwash’-- compressor machine, cleaning products, power washer and all. Set up on a street corner on 10th Avenue in Inwood, these guys have mastered the craft of a ‘pop up’ operation, which, according to one of its workers, has been around for about ten years.
The atmosphere along 10th Avenue can seem quite industrial. Also home to an MTA train yard, a gas station, and the old sanitation plant, the avenue’s industrial feel is perhaps what allows for this ‘pop up carwash’ to seem so fitting.
Also along the avenue are what to me appear to be car mechanics offering their services to anyone who might need it. As you walk along Tenth sometimes you’ll see the sidewalk littered with tools, wrenches, and grease covered cardboard boxes used to slide underneath the cars, only in El Alto.
There are no signs, no drive-through machine contraption with giant brushes. No multicolored foam and no aisle of air fresheners to browse while you wait. At the ‘pop up car wash’ the guys, dressed in work clothes and well-tanned from hanging out outside all summer long, await for potential clients to roll up.
“How much?” I asked.
“Bueno..[well], if you want vacuum, ten dollars, ok?” is the answer.
A steal. And just like that, a team of four guys took over the car, vacuumed each crevice in the back, cleared weeks’ worth of newspapers, plastic water bottles and magazines. Then, the floor mats were hosed down and shampooed while I waited on the curb and watched them in action. Windows cleaned, rims shined, and wheels waxed, I drove away not just with a clean car but a new appreciation of “Only in El Alto” occurrences.
The only word I can think of is “rebusque” – a Spanish slang meaning ‘hard search, hard work, and a struggle to make it.’
The guys told me that their best customers are cab drivers and clients of the nearby car shop. The group sets up during the summer and will likely be gone in a few weeks when summer is snatched from us.
For now, I appreciate their hard and honest job.
One of the workers summed it up pretty well: “We work. Day by day, we never know what we’ll get or what will happen. But this is what we do.”
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