Breakdown on Paradise Boulevard
Audio recording by Hunter S. Thompson and Oscar Acosta, Las Vegas 1971.

“Testing, one, two. It is now 11.30am. Moby Dick is pulling away from Building Number Nine. Oh fuck I forgot my sunglasses. I have to buy some more on the way … that’s alright.”
“We are going out again in search of the American Dream. We have yet to find it.”
“Let’s get some coffee somewhere … uh uh tacos.”
“Right up here. Tacos. Terry’s Taco Stand. Five for a buck.”
“Five for a buck, that’s like … five hamburgers for a buck.”
“Don’t judge a taco by its price. It’s just a cheap place that’s all.”
“Go bargain with them.”
“…Hello.”
“May I help you?”
“Uh yeah, do you have tacos here? Are there five for a dollar? I’ll take five of them.”
“Anything to drink?”
“Beer. No, we have beer in the car. Tons of it. The whole back seat is full of it.”
“We’re looking for the American Dream. We were told it was somewhere in this area.”
(laughing) “The American Dream? On Paradise? Is that it?”
“Well, we’re here looking for it. They sent us out here all the way from San Francisco to look for it. That’s why they gave us that white Cadillac there. They figured we could catch up with it in that.”
“Hey Lou! Do you know where the American Dream is?”
“What is it?”
“Well we dunno. We were sent out here from San Francisco to look for the American Dream.”
“Are you guys serious? Because….”
“Do I look like…?”
“Could that be the old psychiatrists’ club? The discotheque place?”
“All we were told was go till you find the American Dream. Take this white Cadillac and find the American Dream, it’s somewhere in the Las Vegas area.”
“Are you taking pictures of it, or …?”
“No, no pictures, just ….”
“So someone just sent you on a goose chase.”
“It’s sort of a wild goose chase more or less, yeah”.
“It has to be the old psychiatrists’ place but the only people who hang out there is a bunch of pushers, peddl ers, uppers and downers and all that stuff.”
“Maybe that’s it.”
“Dopers.”
“Could be it. I think this place you’re talking about, the way you’re describing it, well maybe that’s it.”

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter S. Thompson, 2008. Director: Alex Gibney