Word: neon
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...yellow fluorescent glow. "If we had known how big Airborne was going to get," says Wilmington Mayor Nick Eveland, "we might not have been so welcoming." As Airborne grew, so did Rombach Avenue, the commercial strip that links the overnight-mail complex to downtown. Rombach became "Hamburger Alley," a neon riot of fast-food outlets and discount retailers like Wal-Mart. Eveland, who has held the part-time mayoral post since 1984, now says he wishes Wilmington had imposed design standards on Hamburger Alley to limit the blight, but at the time he feared doing so would slow the town...
Above all, though, the tongue-in-cheek chapter titles and neon-lit campy details capture the novel's overarching irony. As humor is Hartley's means of survival, it is also his means of narration: "Just when I'd decided I had the soul of a drudge, just when it came clearest I was the muddy flower-peddler, not her aftermath-princess, just when I felt that Immortality would only know me as a helpmeet, just when I'd gained six pounds, Farce, as it will when your happy-quota shades off into urban gray, intervened: all pinks, oranges, reds...
...decor leaves a lot to be desired, unless one is a fan of neon signs, plastic tablecloths and tacky wall murals. Don't expect to find chopsticks (without a special request) or matching silverware either. If a patron survives the steep staircase down to the basement, the bathrooms are even more repulsive, stinking of human fertilizer...
...about the locales, a minute-by-minute account of a typical Real World day, snippets from the cast member's personal journals and a dictionary of Real World terms so that enthusiastic fans can even talk like their MTV heroes. Replete with candid photos, semi-coherent quotes and lush, neon-colored design, The Ultimate Insider's Guide reads like a cross between a fanzine and this month's issue of Seventeen. The end of each section even includes a quiz so that you can test your knowledge. And had you read the "Last Word" section, you would have known that...
...there was an effort to humor an impatient local television news camera operator. The counter staff simulated the Tasty closing for film by shutting off the bright neon sign and locking the door...