Alien Fresh Jerky
At the Eastern end of the “Extraterrestrial Highway” (otherwise known as Nevada State Route 375) sits the empty and quite possibly burnt remains of a building. Its shape, being that of a large yellow rectangle, is not particularly interesting to behold. What actually catches isn't the “building” so much as the tattered and faded sign out front. A piece of vinyl which still hangs by the roadside proclaiming “Alien Fresh Jerky”. Knowing nothing about the unusual sight which we now found ourselves gazing upon, it was decided that the best course of action would be to stop and grab a few photographs. Upon our return home to the East coast we did conducted some research to try and figure out what the old structure in the desert was. Turns out... there's not much of a story to tell.It seems that a common misconception is that the jerky shop was run out of the old yellow structure behind the sign. In reality “Alien Fresh Jerky” was simply a small road-side stand. The yellow building was abandoned before the jerky shop was ever set up, and they simply utilized the sign posts from the disused building to hang their banner. A banner that they left behind in 2002 when the business moved to its new home in Baker California. Since then tourists driving past area 51 through the Nevada desert via the Extraterrestrial Highway have been greeted with this enigmatic sign and abandoned building at their journey’s end (or beginning depending on which direction you're coming from).
The yellow building, from what little information we have found, seems to be the ruins of a long abandoned casino. Any physical clues to what it really was have long since been destroyed or gone missing. Still, it seems people find the place interesting enough that it has become a kind of unofficial tourist spot. During our short bit of research we came across numerous images of people posing in front of the banner and snapshots of the building from out car windows. That being said – We believe that the popularity the site receives based upon its sheer strangeness is reason enough for us to create this short entry.
It's a dry heat...
