Fire-Breathing and Cliff-Diving Aren't Your Typical Waitressing Duties

When I was 19, I came to Casa Bonita with friends because we saw it on South Park and were curious about the place. But when the show started, I was kind of disappointed to see that I was a better diver than the guy who was performing. I had never really thought about diving as a job of any sort, but I started picturing myself up there as a badass diver. So I called the restaurant the next day, and asked if I could come in and audition.

At first, I only auditioned so that I could say that I dove off the famous Casa Bonita cliff without getting arrested for trespassing. But after I auditioned, I ended up liking the job a lot more than I thought I would, and it ended up sticking. Now it's been three years.

The job interview was interesting, first of all, because when I showed up there were homeless people bathing in the fountain out front of Casa Bonita, so that was my first impression. I was just standing out there by myself, waiting to be let in. The guy interviewing me was a super tall and intimidating guy who was the entertainment manager at the time. For the interview, he had me read out loud a few lines for him, and then it was time for me to suit up and go for it. When he was first trying to teach me to climb the rocks, I fell off, and it was a pretty intimidating interview but I learned a lot from it and ended up getting the job.

Honestly, I just learned to dive by hurling myself off a cliff. I did some natural cliff-diving in Thailand, and Peace Rock, Pennsylvania, and Green Mountain Reservoir in the mountains of Colorado. I really got my start diving professionally at Casa Bonita, but there was another dive show that I'd done as well. I got to play a diving princess who lived in a castle at this place called Dutch Wonderland. And the theme of that show was that a bunch of dudes dressed as frogs would be doing dives to try to make the princess fall in love with them.

During the summer there are about 12 of us, and during the winter there can be as few as five. Some people only come in one day a week, just for fun. It goes through phases. When I first started we were all best friends, almost siblings, that's how close we were. But there were other times when the divers don't hang out outside of work at all.

For the most part, kids almost view the divers as heroes, or celebrities. I think everyone is really excited to watch the divers. People don't come to Casa Bonita for the food; they come for the entertainment. There are some really great divers right now—like Abdul Yacubu and Travis Sims, who are just all-around good performers.

The hardest part is climbing those rocks. Those damn rocks take so much energy to climb. There was one girl who fell off of the cliffs and crashed through the fence below. Those rocks will get you. They're really sharp. You could definitely hurt yourself if you don't know what you're doing.

I came to Casa Bonita as a kid, so being back here just brings back old memories; thinking of what seven-year-old me would think of the divers and what it would feel like to be a kid there. The biggest attractions are the caves, the caverns, and the Treasure Room. In the Treasure Room, there are fish tanks and little gifts for the kids hidden in this treasure chest. There's also Black Bart's Cave, which is famous. It's meant to be kind of a haunted house. It's not overly scary—it's just a maze through some caves—but you hear kids screaming and crying sometimes. There are things that jump out at you, and you walk through the mouth of a snake.

One of the other things that divers learn to do is breathe fire. It's kind of dangerous. You put Everclear or a little bit of lighter fluid in your mouth and pretend you're playing the trumpet, and it just blows out fire. The first time I fire-juggled, I ended up burning myself really badly, but the next night they wanted me to go out in front of the busy Saturday crowd and do it in front of everyone. But I did it, and that's how I got better.

None of the managers there know how to juggle or dive, so you learn on your own. They just lend you the stuff. Sometimes I fire-juggle in crazy costumes. I've done it dressed as a princess, as a banana, in lederhosen. In a beautiful lacy dress, dressed as a caveman. I love dressing up as a character.

One of my favorite memories from Casa Bonita is of going on stage in my server uniform and juggling fire. That always helped with tips. Other times, we disregarded the scripts and made up our own shows on the spot. That always made things interesting. There have been a few times I ended up on stage wearing a banana costume for no reason. There's this one show called "The Golden Idol" where the divers play headhunters. The first time I did it, they didn't explain it very well, and I ended up running around the restaurant with this giant fire torch while diners dove out of the way, terrified.

Casa Bonita's not famous for the food, but the best thing to order would be that Deluxe plate. The thing that I love most about Casa Bonita, though, is the people. One of the managers, Rob Hall, is amazing. He does a great job of managing the place. Not to mention that Joe Fierstos, one of the entertainment managers, is one of the funniest people I've ever met. Getting to work with him is always fun.

I guess there's the risk of being injured, but that's just part of the job.