
DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997                TAG: 9704200060

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY HOLLY WESTER, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   79 lines

SPEEDY'S IS CENTER STAGE FOR WILD WEST SHOW

Taco Bell may have Los Angeles Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal, but Speedy Gonzales has Virginia Beach enchilada-eater Rick Baer.

He's no big basketball player, but Baer has something almost as distinguished on his resume: a real love for the 20-year-old Mexican restaurant, known to regulars as ``Speedy's.''

Baer, event coordinator for Hampton Roads Historical Reenactments, put his passion for the private enterprise to work Saturday, when he and three re-enactors put on a living history display and Wild West show at the Great Neck Road establishment.

Baer organized the event not only to educate the public about historical happenings, but to get folks to visit the place he and his buddies have frequented for 15 years.

``I don't want to see the restaurant go down the tubes,'' said Baer, an aircraft rescue firefighter at Norfolk International Airport who says he's worried about the restaurant's future.

Speedy's, which has a 26-year history that included locations on Virginia Beach Boulevard, Tidewater Drive, Hampton Boulevard and Indian River Road, is a mom-and-pop taco joint that was started by Jim and Pat Tait. They retired at the first of this year, but their son, Brad, works as a manager.

``I think this is pretty neat,'' said Pat Tait, who attended the show. ``I wish they hadn't waited until we retired to do it!''

Baer decided to plan the event after a Taco Bell popped up across the street. ``Unfortunately, big business is moving in and trying to boot the little guy out,'' he said.

He gathered together some re-enactors, including another Speedy's fan, retired Army Capt. Marc Meisner, to play poker in the restaurant foyer and stage shoot-outs in the parking lot.

When replicating time periods such as this, the re-enactment group's core and associate members do research and use as many authentic props as possible. They network with history buffs, collectors and war veterans all over the country to get information and resources.

Raising awareness is the organization's primary function, but the 7-year-old group also hosts private events for re-enactors to engage in their hobby.

Saturday's show focused on the late 1860s to the early 1880s. The fellows, sporting hats, lapelled vests and a few days' worth of stubble, pulled their chairs up to a round table, covered with bottles, dominos, wooden dice, numberless playing cards and poker chips.

They threw back shots of whisky (OK, iced tea and soda) and played a few rounds of cards. A pistol sat atop the tablecloth, a Southwestern-style blanket, to ensure nobody acted up.

Just after high noon, the game moved to the parking lot, where two lawmen gunned it out with a couple of Army deserters. Among the weapons were an 1875 Remington center-fire pistol, an 1861 Army Colt and an 1847 Walker Colt, which empty weighed in at four pounds, 11 ounces. A tomahawk and bowie knives were on hand as backups.

``I'm glad these guys are doing this today,'' said Tom Aten, a manager at Speedy's. ``It goes along with the restaurant.

``(The Old West) is part of our history, and this restaurant is part of Tidewater's history.'' MEMO: For information about Hampton Roads Historical Reenactments, call

473-1418 or 857-3497. ILLUSTRATION: L. TODD SPENCER photos

Rick Baer, left, Lloyd Spencer and two other re-enactors put on a

living history display and Wild West show at Speedy Gonzales at

Great Neck Road in Virginia Beach on Saturday. Baer organized the

event not only to educate the public about historical happenings,

but to get folks to visit the place he and his buddies have

frequented for 15 years. ``I don't want to see the restaurant go

down the tubes.''

When replicating time periods such as the Wild West, the

re-enactment group's core and associate members do research and use

as many authentic props as possible. They network with history

buffs, collectors and war veterans all over the country to get