Let me start by saying that I don’t eat beef jerky; I only came here because I enjoy hanging out with plastic aliens in scolding hot heat.
This legendary jerk hut is one of those classic roadside attractions that monopolizes the promotional billboards between Las Vegas and LA. It’s basically a beef jerky emporium/tourist trap that's riddled with colorful space creatures, oddball merchandise, candy, aliens driving cars while dressed as cowboys, and plenty of dried meat. Sign me the fuck up!
The place is pretty gnarly, especially for that special breed who are both extraterrestrial believers and jerky enthusiasts.
Aside from the kitschy decor, there are over a hundred flavors of dried meat– colon cleaner, abducted cow and space cowboy pepper, to name a few– and enough space puns to fill an entire galaxy ten times over.
While some of the jerky contained such exotic spices as "Moon Rock" and "Galaxy Dust," I decided to spend $4.50 and buy the Invisible Jerky, which was just an empty bag (and some cheap laughs).
If this isn’t your kinda place, or if you think aliens do more harm than good for the world, at least come by for the air conditioning. It's excellent and much needed for the extreme temperatures of the Death Valley desert area. Worth the trip for that alone, trust me.
Beam me up, Jerky.
HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?
Founded in 2000 by Luis Ramillo, his wife Susana and son Martin, the Alien Fresh Jerky concept was cooked up to put a creative dent in the billion dollar a year jerky industry.
With a dream to sell "healthier" snacks to motorists cruising on Route 15 (the store also contains nuts, dried fruit and honey) the family went to work, eventually growing the business from an 800-square-foot storefront to a 5,000-square-foot concrete building. As time went on, an unsuspecting public realized the importance of mixing dried beef with space creatures, and business really boomed.
Nowadays, you don’t even need to go to the mojave to get your fix, as you can order jerky from anywhere in the world via their online jerky emporium. Things were good and life for the Ramillo family.
After putting Baker's economy (though let’s not downplay the impact of that thermometer) back on the map, the Ramillo's have even bigger goals in 2015 and beyond— building a large, UFO themed hotel! Yes, you heard it correctly. They’re now taking donations for what might be the greatest roadside attraction of all time. Stay tuned for that one.
