Lunch counters and store cafeterias

[Bertha Venation]

Did you ever have a meal at the cafeteria in K-Mart or another store? I mean before McDonalds and Subway and the like. How about the lunch counter at Thrifty Drug or Woolworths?

[Betsy Ross]

1. In the 60s

whenever I traveled around the US, I would eat grilled cheese sandwiches at Woolworths. I would go there for the familiarity when far from home.

[mcar]

3. Woolworth's grilled cheese was the best!

I remember going there in the 70s. I don't think current store cafeterias come close.

[NV Whino]

10. Woolworths grilled cheese and a cherry coke

Food of the gods. Well, of my childhood anyway.

[winter is coming]

12. +1. n/t

[olddots]

2. I had a mysterious liquid at a Woolworth's cafeteria decades ago

They said it was iced tea .......Woolworths stores used to smell good so we tried the food ( hey we were 14 year olds )

[sharp_stick]

4. We used to eat at the cafeteria in the local Woolco

I think the cafeteria's were called The Red Grille or something like that. I remember it being pretty OK for generic cafeteria food but I was a kid and I thought red Jello cut into small squares was haute cuisine.

[HappyMe]

5. I remember eating at the Woolworth's lunch counter

with my grandma.
The Walgreen's on Michigan Avenue had a restaurant in it. Good memories, good times.

[LiberalEsto]

6. Woolworth's, yes. Root beer floats and grilled cheese sandwiches. nt

[RILib]

14. another person who remembers grilled cheese sandwiches and root beer floats.

[LiberalEsto]

21. I always got a giggle when there was a rookie counterperson

who poured the root beer over the ice cream so it turned into a big foaming mess

[rug]

7. The one around the corner had a string over the counter with ballons attached.

If you ordered a banana split you'd pick a balloon and pay the price inside it.

[winter is coming]

13. Me, too! Good times. n/t

[kcass1954]

8. Lunch at whatever the local five and dime was wherever we lived was always a treat.

And when we went to visit my grandparents in Virginia, Grandma always took us to lunch at Thalhimers. Now that was a special day out - lunch and shopping.

[haele]

9. The Bon Marche in downtown Seattle, 1969.

The basement (?) had a lunch counter with Frango-mint shakes, and a pretty decent patty melt with fries. Typical grill/fryer sandwich and soda type of counter food, with a small bakery attached for pies and cake. They had "fine dining" resturant (linen tablecloths and napkins and naugahyde covered chairs) on the sixth or seventh floor, right above the designer clothes and salon area.

I've also been to Woolworths and K-Mart lunch counters before as a kid, and I seem to remember some J.C. Penny's had lunch rooms that served typical diner/Americana type food (meat loaf, turkey and gravy, fried chicken, hamburgers - that sort).

Christmas time - all the windows were decorated around the street with toys, animatronics, and a S-scale model train set-up (through villages, mountains, etc) that went the length of one storefront. And you could see Santa visiting with the children from the street, too.

I'm old.

Haele

[MiddleFingerMom]

11. Woolworth's for grilled cheese or tuna salad sandwiches with a Coke.

.
.
.
There was a low-to-medium-end several-story department store
downtown called Field's with a sit-down restaurant in it. It was a
HUGE deal when MiddleFingerMomMom would take us kids out
clothes-shopping and she'd treat us all to lunch there.
.
Probably the onliest thing to make clothes-shopping tolerable
for me.
.
.
.
I remember one Christmas season when she took us there to
buy presents for each other. I bought my little brother a gerbil,
despite the "no live animals rule". I leaned over at that lunch
table to stick my finger in its box to make sure it was OK and
it nipped me. I covered by saying that I had caught my finger
on a staple.
.
A few days later, I had hidden it in MiddleFingerMomSis'
bedroom closet in a terrarium filled with moss. MFMM was
cleaning her room in preparation for her coming home from
college for the holidays and when she looked into the moss,
the gerbil poked its head out at her and scared her half to
death. MiddleFingerMomDad went running in only to break
down helplessly at the stereotypical sight of her standing
atop the bed pointing at the closet and screamimg out
"MOUSE!!!!"
.
.
.
I was eventually forgiven when she realized how cute it
(and I) was.
.
.
.
(edit to add) I remember eating at a Horn & Hardart's
automat several times when we visited relatives in Philly.
Now, THAT was exciting!!!!!
.
.
.

.
.
.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

24. When I was a kid, growing up in Brooklyn,

the Automat was a special treat! Loved dropping the coins into the slots and getting exactly what we wanted!

[nytemare]

15. Kmart used to have "The Eatery".

It was similar to say a Perkins or Denny's. It was pretty good. Bygone era.

[mrmpa]

16. I remember Woolworth's Diner..........

and having a cherry coke and a BLT. Sears also had a cafeteria, (the father of my sister-in-law managed one). I remembe my mom taking us to a place called Donahue's in Pittsburgh, it was attached to the Murphy's 5 & 10. They had great cole slaw and fish sandwiches.

These stores weren't haute cuisine, but they were memorable.

[Libertas1776]

17. Woolworth's in the city

Grilled Cheese of course and either a milk shake or an egg cream! And the decor, this was in the lunch counters waning days, but the best I can remember was that it looked like the Price is Right set. Lots of lime green and orange, and big bulbous clear incandescent lightbulbs. I'd much rather eat at a simple lunch counter any day, than at a crapplebee's or some weird, overpriced food network chef themed culinary dumping ground.

[grilled onions]

18. I wish they were still around

As a very young kid I remember enjoying a blt at Woolworth's in Chicago. I was fascinated by the fact the sandwich was cut into four pieces and each one held together with its' own toothpick! In the winter I always got hot chocolate. At that time you could not buy great hot chocolate for home use and besides they put a squirt of real whipped cream on top! In the summer a Coke was a big deal because many families did not buy such things as soda on a regular basis.
I can't remember enjoying two items they were famous for(that the recipes can be found on line) and that was their mac and cheese and their chop suey.
Walgreens was another cafeteria that was well known in Chicago and they had several down town. What could be more fun,as a kid, then to be able to actually pick your food? Jello,cakes,puddings all dazzled a child's eyes! I just can't imagine getting as excited at today's food choices.
Another interesting feature at one of the Woolworth's was a hot dog bar near the front entrance. You had to stand and they only offered two things--hot dogs and root beer. But the dogs were to die for and the root beer had an inch of foam on it. At that time it was difficult for a kid to get a hot dog so this was the first thing you smelled when you walked into the store.

[HeiressofBickworth]

19. In the early 60's, a major grown-up treat

was to go to Rhodes Department Store in downtown Seattle. They had a restaurant on mezzanine level (do they have such levels any more?) to have a Shrimp Louie.

I recall having lunch at Woolworths a few times. When I had my first job downtown Seattle, there was a drug store (don't remember the name) next door that had a lunch counter. I had lunch there quite often -- cheap food.

And yes, I remember fine dining at The Bon Marche. There was such a dining room at the Northgate store, The Legend Room. I remember taking my little daughter there for dinner when we were stone broke between paydays because I had a Bon credit card that wasn't maxed out. We took home left-overs, too. That was in the early 70's. It was the only credit card I had at the time. There was also a bakery. I stopped there occasionally to use the credit card to buy bread when I needed to.

[rrneck]

20. Cherry Coke at Ben Franklin.

It was the holy grail of shopping perks.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

22. When I was a kid...

The lunch counter at Woolworths! Chicken salad on rye... I thought it was great!

[Kali]

23. Wallgreens

strawberry pie!!!

[nolabear]

25. Oh yeah, New Orleans had some really good ones back in the day.

Walgreens on Canal had a mezzanine with big windows overlooking the street and a nice counter. And there was some drug store in the Quarter near Canal that I loved too.

Heck, lunch counters were at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement. The Greensboro sit in was amazing. Before I was old enough to know but amazing.

[kwassa]

28. I met a woman who participated the Greensboro sit-in. Great civil rights history.

[nolabear]

31. We went to the museum that's now there with the counter as part of it. Gives you chills.

That is one hell of a tour through a terrible time. I was incredibly moved. Can't believe I hadn't been before, though it's not really that old.

[MrsBrady]

26. you can still get lunch at this drug store in my home town.

http://www.bigstatedrug.com/

[Still Blue in PDX]

27. The high point of any shopping expedition downtown was a hot dog at Newberry's.

There was something magical about those toasted hotdog buns.

[kwassa]

29. Woodies Tea Room

a destination in DC.

My mother-in-law bought up flatware from the tea room at some sale, and gave it to us.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tlPfyxeaVRE/UCHRSlhRRcI/AAAAAAAAaDU/F4OLbcRGJns/s1600/f+street+2.jpg

[OriginalGeek]

30. The K-Mart in my town had a diner

my high school friend and I would go there all the time for meatloaf, mashed potatoes and brown gravy, green beans and corn - all for about 4 bucks. We weren't pretending it was mom's home cooking* but it was pretty good and I think my friend liked a girl that worked there. She always gave us an extra dinner roll.



*It wasn't his mom's cooking. She knew what she was doing. It probably was the same as my mom's - came out of the same cans only they were bigger cans at Kmart...

[Bertha Venation]

32. I am thoroughly enjoying this thread!

Grandma would take us to K-Mart and buy us lunch. (Grandma loved the Blue Light Specials.)

[Hangingon]

33. Drug store fountains are still around

Last edited Tue May 14, 2013, 12:28 PM - Edit history (1)

There are a couple in Corpus. The counter at Hamlin's Drugs is old fashioned, great and crowded. There used to be a couple in Austin. Highland Park Pharmacy in Dallas - http://www.highlandparksodafountain.com/html/menu.html - is famous.

I think you have to look for them.

[Ikonoklast]

34. Woolworth's in Cleveland on Euclid Ave.

I would take the Rapid downtown after school, eat at the lunch counter downstairs, and then go to work at the old New Central Market.

Got two chili dogs and a Coke for $0.99.


The building is now the House of Blues in Cleveland.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/otherstream/7174209846/

[gejohnston]

35. At a locally owned drug store

when I was a kid. The police chief had lunch there most days. Much better than the K Mart cafeteria years later.
our Woolworth didn't have one.

[hunter]

36. My grandma would take us to the lunch counter at Thrifty Drug in Los Angeles.

That was one of the reasons we liked visiting her.

When we were kids our parents rarely took us "out to eat" so it was always a big treat.

In the summer we'd get five cent ice cream to eat as we walked back to her house.

By the time we got there one or two of us would be a sticky mess.

[Bertha Venation]

37. Piston-shaped ice cream cone, right?

I loved Thrifty ice cream.

[hunter]

38. Yep! Every scoop the same size...

... served up on a "cone" of melts-in-your mouth edible Styrofoam.





http://welovejam.com/aij/?p=300

[Iggo]

39. lol..."edible styrofoam"

That made my day. Thanks.