Topic: BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL OR NOSTALGIA CONTINUED (Read 20993 times)

bk · « **on:** June 25, 2013, 12:31:25 AM »

Well, you've read the notes, the notes had the smell of burnt oil, and now it is time for you to post until the cows come home - they're currently burning the midnight oil and reciting Joyce Kilmer's Trees.

bk · « **Reply #1 on:** June 25, 2013, 12:32:00 AM »

And the word of the day is: INSELBERG!

singdaw · « **Reply #2 on:** June 25, 2013, 01:21:03 AM »

~ ~ ~ PAIN-FREE VIBES ~ ~ ~ for DR Sandra!

singdaw · « **Reply #3 on:** June 25, 2013, 01:22:44 AM »

singdaw · « **Reply #4 on:** June 25, 2013, 01:23:11 AM »

Ipsy-Pipsy!

Doug R · « **Reply #5 on:** June 25, 2013, 01:33:52 AM »

I saw a bee stuck in a cobweb at the top of my conservatory this morning. A spider was crawling towards it but I managed to rescue the bee and send it outside.

Doug R · « **Reply #6 on:** June 25, 2013, 01:39:39 AM »

It's a bright sunny day. I'm driving to the south coast of England for a spot of sightseeing and later will call on friends Dawn and Mark who I haven't seen for a while.

Ben · « **Reply #7 on:** June 25, 2013, 02:38:02 AM »

Morning all.

That is all.

elmore3003 · « **Reply #8 on:** June 25, 2013, 03:30:53 AM »

Good morning, all! I awoke at 4am and could not go back to sleep, so around 5:30 I got out of bed. There will not be enough coffee today to keep me going, I fear.

First stop, post office, then barber, then Toyland, where I will finish packing the music and fill out the customs form before I head home.

Michael · « **Reply #9 on:** June 25, 2013, 04:52:26 AM »

good morning to all

Michael · « **Reply #10 on:** June 25, 2013, 04:52:49 AM »

Vibes to all those that need them.

Kerry · « **Reply #11 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:18:46 AM »

Oh yes, vibes. Many, many vibes to everybody. Because it's Tuesday. Because it's June.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #12 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:26:27 AM »

Good morning, all.

More sleep needed here, for sure. I might just crawl back in for a bit of same.

John G. · « **Reply #13 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:28:01 AM »

Good morning, all.

And ipsy-pipsy to you, Slaphappy!

John G. · « **Reply #14 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:28:12 AM »

Off to work.

singdaw · « **Reply #15 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:31:36 AM »

DR elmore3003 -

Is Toyland air conditioned?

singdaw · « **Reply #16 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:32:07 AM »

Sam · « **Reply #17 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:35:17 AM »

Sam · « **Reply #18 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:35:33 AM »

Good morning.

Sam · « **Reply #19 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:36:42 AM »

I'm late, off to work.

Mega vibes.

Great stories and pictures.

Sam · « **Reply #20 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:36:59 AM »

ChasSmith · « **Reply #21 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:56:23 AM »

More wonderful illustrated notes. What a pleasure to see these places. A few observations...

Kiru looks just great. Love the design on the playing cards.

I have a couple of Kentucky Boys-type of hamburger jernts in my distant memory, too. One didn't even have that distinctive a name; in fact, I haven't yet found the name! But can I still taste that burger? Yes! And I have a good sense of what the fries looked and tasted like, which is much more unusual.

Oh my, that Wan-Q. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. There it is, that semi-Tiki aspect. The Kowloon looks wonderful, too.

Biffs! Do I remember Biffs? And why am I not sure? It sounds, and looks, so familiar. But it should indeed "look" familiar, because of the menu cover design credit! From Wiki: George McManus (January 23, 1884 – October 22, 1954) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Irish immigrant Jiggs and his wife Maggie, the central characters in his syndicated comic strip, Bringing Up Father. Yes!

I loved discovering the Vine St. Ontra, but never knew the others. I have no problem at all picturing one on the Miracle Mile. It would just fit right in. The Beverly Drive one threw me because I have no memory of that kind of building being there. I suspect it was gone by 1974 when I was getting to know B.H.

More to follow, in a bit...

Druxy · « **Reply #22 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:59:37 AM »

TOD:

I used to love going to Pancho's in Seattle.

It was owned by my uncle and they had a ground beef sandwich there, "the Special," that was to die for.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #23 on:** June 25, 2013, 06:10:42 AM »

I remember my first time in the Hollywood Blvd. Diamond Jim's as clearly as I remember anything. It was on a weekday evening early in my life there, and I was just looking for something new to eat. I had the spinach omelet with more spinach on the side, probably with fries, and it was just one of those places that made me feel like a million dollars eating there.

I didn't know that Wilshire one, either, but there was another on Wilshire in West L.A., a little west of the 405 freeway -- my memory places it on the south side of the street, around Barrington Ave. or maybe as far west as Bundy. That was in the late '70s, possibly after the Hollywood one had closed.

singdaw · « **Reply #24 on:** June 25, 2013, 06:14:39 AM »

You are quite right, DR ChasSmith, and I forgot to say it, earlier - another wonderful set of illustrated notes today! Most enjoyable.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #25 on:** June 25, 2013, 06:26:04 AM »

Oh, my beloved Hamburger Hamlet. I'd forgotten about the menu being in a spiral binder. From the looks of it, that's the one I knew in the early/mid '70s. I'd give anything to see every page, for all the descriptions, and to help in recreating a few things.

The Hollywood Blvd. Hamlet was my first one -- actually, my first food, LITERALLY, in Hollywood. I'm 99% certain that my friends and I went in there on our first walk from the motel on Sunset around to Hollywood and Highland, and we said, "oh, a hamburger place, let's just try this...". And history was begun.

Favorite locations were that one, Westwood, Sunset Strip, and I think the one on Wilshire that was I believe a little east of the Ambassador. Just far enough down there to be considered a "downtown" one. Oh, and Bedford Drive in B.H. But hell, though laid out differently, they were all comfortable and welcoming.

I flipped through the entire Marilyn Lewis book, and was (as I nearly always am in such matters) disappointed that there wasn't a lot more detail about some of the locations and menu items. But there are a few choice morsels. The book does cover a broader view of their lives together, and it seems to do so pretty well.

Druxy · « **Reply #26 on:** June 25, 2013, 06:36:37 AM »

I used to love Diamond Jim's. Also, Hamburger Hamlet.

Druxy · « **Reply #27 on:** June 25, 2013, 06:36:59 AM »

For all dog lovers. This is LOL funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw1C5T-fH2Y

ChasSmith · « **Reply #28 on:** June 25, 2013, 06:44:07 AM »

I knew Big Boy food and decor from the Frisch's and Manner's versions in Ohio -- and whatever it was called in Michigan (DR Ginny helped me on this once, and already I forget what it was there!!). In California it's Bob's, of course, and I only remember eating at a couple of them: on Wilshire near Highland or Rossmore , and one on Hawthorne Blvd. in Torrance. My occasional visits to these two in the mid/late '80s were always a nice trip down memory lane.

But the magnificent one in Burbank, which BK and I drove by it on our way to the Smoke House, is the be-all and end-all of Big Boys. Simply magnificent. And I still have yet to eat in that one.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #29 on:** June 25, 2013, 06:53:43 AM »

Didn't know Nickodell's, unfortunately. It looks great. The only place I remember wandering into down there, after seeing some movie at the Continental, was diagonally opposite the original Paramount gate on what looks like a street called Marathon before Paramount swallowed up that block. It was probably a Mexican jernt, since all I remember is the yummy quesadilla.

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Author Topic: BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL OR NOSTALGIA CONTINUED (Read 20993 times)

Ben