Eric, are you old enough to remember the blue laws, when malls couldn't be open on Sundays in El Paso

You betcha, although the law was actually much more restrictive than that. It was a Texas State Law, and it said you couldn't buy anything anywhere on Sundays, except for food. All non-grocery stores were forced to close on Sunday, and even the grocery stores could only sell food. No coffee filters, no razor blades, no shampoo, no tampons, no toilet paper...

I remember my mother once had to improvise because she ran out of diapers for my little brother on a Sunday and wasn't allowed to buy more.

I remember my mother once had to improvise because she ran out of diapers for my little brother on a Sunday and wasn't allowed to buy more

Yes, I remember the Blue Laws too, vaguely. They were a bit of a pain, as in your mother's dilemma. On the other hand, I did carry a bit of a fondness for them, I guess because they were a sort of benign anachronism.

Later on, working in retail for awhile in college, I really missed the Blue Laws. It was partly their legacy that almost all non-food stores would not open on Sundays, even after the laws were rescinded. That was slowly eroded away by the big chains. In fact, there was a current of thinking/conspiracy theorizing at the time that the big retailers (KMart, Target, Wal-Mart, etc.) were the ones really behind the abandonment of the Blue Laws, since it allowed them to open on Sundays. And of course all the smaller regional and local retailers had to follow suit to even have a chance to compete. Which (selfishly) translated to me having to work Sundays while alot of my friends were going to the beach or the river or wherever. I missed the Blue Laws then.

The only thing that approached trying to figure out what you could and couldn't buy on Sundays in the Blue Law days was later on trying to decipher the Byzantine liquor laws in Texas, when you could buy the stuff. How Late? How early? What liquor was available in what types of stores? Crazy.

You guys talk about blue laws, but I remember them in reverse. Until the early 1990s, you couldn't buy package liquor in New Mexico on Sunday. I remember many a Sunday making a dash to the Texas border to get beer for football.

Liquor in Texas is under local jurisdiction, and so buying it has never been a problem in El Paso, which is probably the most liberal city in the state. (Austin being the other contender.)

Some Blue Laws actually still exist in Texas for certain kinds of businesses. For example, car dealerships still have to follow the Blue Law regulations.

And for those of us a little farther east...Oklahoma sells 3.2 beer (at least, outside of liquor stores). So, many trips to the Texas panhandle to buy real beer and bring it back over the state line.

I wonder which US "big city" is farthest from another US "big city?"

Honolulu or Anchorage.

Gotta be Honolulu. It's a five hour flight from Hawaii to LA. It's a five hour flight from Chicago to Anchorage (depending on which direction you're going), so I'd imagine that Seattle is a heck of a lot closer.