My Skanky Button-Mashing Hideaway
Drawings From the Now-Gone Pak Mann Arcade in Pasadena
Pak Mann Arcade, on Colorado Avenue in Pasadena, seemed to be on a downward slide for its entire existence. It was always skanky. Sweat- and Big Gulp-soaked linoleum. The place smelled like a wet bag of loose change. In the early 1980s, when I was in high school, the place felt dangerous—lots of older kids with bandannas dominating the popular games. You had to watch your stack. But nobody had a bigger selection of games in the San Gabriel Valley. This was before you could spend hours in your bedroom playing alone, …
