@ MollyAnne - It was only 39 cents if you popped that balloon unwisely! I once got banana split for one single penny! That meant I still had 49 cents from my half-dollar to spend on other cool stuff. Like...Tiger Beat Magazine!
I loved the HoJo's lunch counters. Heck, I just liked lunch counters. I feel sorry or my nieces and nephews who did not have this experience. Lunch counters are so far and few between. There is still ONE left in my hometown as part of an old candy store. Now, it is rather like a museum in to itself and is quite trendy. Not the same. A Ginny doll is just adorable. How cool that you kept it.
@ CraigC - I adored Lums hot dogs that were steamed in BEER. It made me feel quite grown up. *preens*
I love Birch Beer, but I had to have the RC with a moon pie. We have White Castles back toward home. When I was a child, they were the forbidden food....heck, with my mother, they still are.
@ Mimi - My aunt worked at the Five and Dime. It was actually called that on their sign. Woolworths was across the street from it. I also remember Kresges in the town to where my parents moved. It's lunch counter was nice enough but, not being in a tiny town, it did not have the same feel. That being said, I would love to go back even to Kresges!
Auto-mats were just the most awesome thing on earth. I remember getting a piece of pie on a glass plate with a metal fork! I mainly remember it at a train-station. I was pretty young and absolutely starving. The pie was from heaven as memory recalls.
@ LAJ - You do plan to share a recipe with us, don't you? I miss the Mom and Pop Bakeries too. One still exists where my parents live, but the owners and recipes changed. They would make these small iced cakes - larger than petit fours. The icing was very thin, perfect, and decorated daintily. It almost cracked and melted when bitten into and the cake was pure magic. I have never seen anything like it since. Big Boy restaurants....I had not thought of them in ages.
@ LindaZ - I had you pegged as the flavored lipstick kind of girl.
My first tube of flavored liptint was strawberry glaze. It smelled like strawberry and tasted like strawberry. Who cares if it made my lips gooey? A small price to pay for beauty.
That Jackie just sounds like a bad influence.
Chocolate malts were awesome.
@ chopper - They had specials for lunch and dinner all of the time. I seem to recall chili too and remember getting it with two packs of saltine crackers. It was meaty with beans. Loved it. Perhaps it was another lunch counter, but I picture it at Woolworths. I'm jealous, b/c Grandma made me sit in a booth instead of the twirlie stools.
There is an A&W drive-in still operating in the town where my parents live called Dogs-N-Suds. They have a coney sauce. A recipe that tastes pretty close to it was given to me by a friend. It differs from Pops (which is my heart's favorite.) That being said, I'll not turn down a coney dog from Dogs-N-Suds ever. I got the footlong. The onions were minced and the dog was steamed as was the bun. How does one get the mug frosty?
Here is the coney sauce recipe as it was given to me.
Dogs-N-Suds Coney Sauce
1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon of tabasco sauce
1 small onion, minced
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
Catsup as needed.
Brown ground beef with onion over a medium heat. Break up the meat into fine crumbles. Drain off the fat. Add everything else except for catsup. Mix well and then add enough catsup to keep mixture loose. Simmer partially covered, 1 hour. Add catsup as needed. Serve on steamed hot dogs with a side of A&W root beer. Don't forget to tip the carhop.
