Established by a travelling showman named Mack McClung in 1967, The Snake Farm was a roadside tourist attraction of snakes, reptiles, and other exotic animals, located off of Interstate 35 near San Antonio, Texas. Renamed “Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo” in 2007, the business is still in operation today. Dee Dee Ramone bought the shirt when the Ramones visited Snake Farm while on tour in Texas in the late 1970s (probably in February 1978 while on tour with the Runaways).
In 2006, Texas blues country artist Ray Wylie Hubbard wrote and recorded a song called “Snake Farm” about a fictional employee of the site who is named – interestingly enough – Ramona. The lyrics include the lines:
“Well Ramona’s got a keen sense of humor
She got a tattoo down her arm
It’s of a python eatin’ a little mouse
Wearin’ a sailor hat that says snake farm
Snake Farm – it just sounds nasty
Snake Farm – well it pretty much is
Snake Farm – it’s a reptile house
Snake Farm – Uuuggghhhhh…”
