Writing these Sunday comments now for over a year has been an absolute labor of love for me. I am reliving my never-lost journalism roots.
With this installment, let's take a brief stroll down Our Town's memory lane concerning past restaurants and public schools.. In the early 50's when our family arrived from Falls Church, VA, Stillwater had virtually no chain restaurants. What it did have was absolutely delicious mom and pop establishments. What I will attempt to do is briefly acquaint readers with some of those places we frequented. I'm sure I will leave out a few eating places you older timers will remember, so my apologies to you ahead of time. Let's start with fast food for the day, the Moore Burger, and it's neat neon hamburger shaped sign advertising the huge, tasty hamburger it sold for a quarter, I believe? They had several offerings; the immediate two that come to mind are a Moore Burger and a Less Burger. It was located on the west side of Main Street, north of Hall of Fame (HOF). In those days, HOF did not run through Main Street, and I vividly remember the restaurant was in a low area where the creek still occasionally flows today. With the summer excessive moisture always came lots of bugs and mosquitoes to fight off while buying and eating your Moore burgers. Up the street a little south and on the east side was the nation's first Sonic, and it's "Service with the Speed of Sound" sign. This new concept in 1957 was a spin off of Shawnee's Top Hat restaurant. The car speakers for ordering and occasiobnal roller skating carhops were great features Their business model was an immediate success. When I was in high school in the early to mid-1960's, anybody who was anybody cruised the Sonic to be seen. If you were really fortunate on a weekend, you secured a parking spot for your vehicle, and you accomplished 2 things---1) definitely you were seen parked there, and 2) you got some of that delicious greasy, fried food to eat. The other end of the cruising connection then was Griff's Drive-In on the north end of Main Street, about the location of Arby's today. Enough fuel was consumed cruising between the Sonic and Griff's each night by the teenage drivers to probably fuel a bus to Los Angeles. The sight was truly a constant stream for several hours each evening, with an occasional driver screaming his tires on the street, or roaring his exhaust pipes incredibly loud to the delight of an assembled teenage crowd. Stillwater Junior High in that time frame had an open campus for lunch, which meant grades 7-9 could leave their school buildings during noon, walking a few blocks east to buy lunch at one of the downtown restaurants. Popular hangouts for us then were Horton's Cafe on West 9th Ave, across the street north of the current News-Press. Horton's was packed Monday thru Friday with junior high students and local townspeople. Their famous hamburger basket (deluxe burger with all the fixins') and french fries, along with a cold soda, could be had for about $1. Other immediate downtown area choices were The Malt Shop in the 100 block of West 8th Avenue, good for sandwiches, too, but the absolute best for ice cream, floats, malts, shakes and all dairy sweet things. An older married couple operated the little place, and it was immensely popular with the schooling crowd. If you wanted more of a selection of food and were willing to pay a little more, Skeen's Cafeteria on the nw corner of 9th Avenue & South Main Street fit the demand perfectly. It was in business for years, and also served as a coffee consuming area in mid-morning and again in mid-afternoon daily for older adults. My father, Col. Breedlove, was part of that coffee drinking crowd for years. Lots of yarns were swapped each day by that bunch for sure. For those of you who are still wondering where the junior high (7th & 8th grader) was located then, it was where the Stillwater Library is today. In fact, the northern extension of the library contains part of the original building we used for our education in the late 1950's, early 1960's. For the 9th grade, we were shifted to West 9th Ave. & South Duck St. where the Stillwater Community Center is today. In fact, that particular structure actually served as Stillwater High School until C.E. Donart (now SHS) was opened in the early 1960's on the north side of town. How about other Stillwater restaurants of the day? Well, we had the famous Lasso at the se corner of West 5th Ave. & Main St. They had the absolute BEST curly-q french fries! A few doors down from the Lasso on the same side was the Chicken House with its great family style food, especially chicken. On further south at the ne corner of West 6th Ave. & South Main St. was the classic Jim Smith's Cafe. It was opened extended hours, and always had a colorful crowd eating there. Completing the ones remembered on South Main Street was The Ancestor @ South 14th Ave & South Main St, an excellent place to take a date you wanted to impress with food and atmosphere. Going the other direction, north, were both the ageless Rio Cafe and Stillwater Cafe, both on the west side of the street across from Shepherd's Shell Convenient Store today, and farther north, the Villa., This one attracted lots of the noontime high school crowd, and was located where the Whataburger is today. The Villa was a great hanging out place after high school, too. The last place to mention of one of our earliest chain restaurants, the A&W Root Beer Drive-In. It also featured ordering like Sonic, push button speakers, and was located across the street, west from the Boomer Lake Power Station where another convenient store is today. Different times, different consumer expectations, much cheaper prices, great food, and an absolute lifetime of memories. Some Stillwater restaurants then, a long, long time ago........
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