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Matrimonios – Divorcios

  • August 17th, 2007

I love this place. Ambling back to the hotel (near Pershing station in the financial district of LA city) at 11 pm not much is open. But here is light streaming from store front doors wide open.
From the bright signage (just the words of the heading above) we decide it must be an instant marriage parlour. How do they stay in business when you can now register at a hotel without being Mr and Mrs Smith?
Inside are a row of desks, one behind the other, with pairs of seats in front of them, plainly waiting for interviewees. One desk is manned by a weary looking man in a suit.
On his left through a heart shaped door opening is a chapel, decked out entirely in pink, bedecked in tangled vines of rose type artificial flowers.
On his right is another “chapel” this one in a cool blue, lit by harsh white light. Could it be where divorces are ‘solemnized’?
Apparently not. “It is for people who do not like pink” the man explains seriously ” we do not usually have ceremonies for our divorce customers”.
The customer is indeed king here. I wish I’d stayed to ask more questions. For example, has the ever vigilant consumer law drafter imposed a cooling off period for marriages contracted at hours when normal judgment might be impaired? What a winner for that kind of business.

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