Lyric discussion by christchin910 

Cover art for Steal Smoked Fish lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

I just wanna give some input that some may not know. It may add a little clarity to the song.

The burnside bridge is in Portland OR. Burnside is the street that divides the city north and south, so it is a pretty main street. Also, the thing about shooting films, I believe it was in the 90s when people, especially Gus Van Sant for example, shot films in Portland. In fact, his movie Paranoid Park (which was filmed much later, but still) was filmed in the Burnside Skatepark, underneath the east side of the Burnside Bridge.

Also, Plaid Pantry is a really prominent gas station chain in Portland OR. They tend to be not well maintained though.

Finally, the other bridge thing... The bridge north of Burnside is the Steel, and then just north of that is the Broadway bridge