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ENLARGE
This mystery photo was taken of the Up-to-Date Dry Cleaners Holiday Party in a downtown restaurant. Let us know if you recognize the restaurant.
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ENLARGE
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Yellow Pages advertisements from the 1951 Mesa County Phone Book.
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Did you ever have something to eat and you never forgot about it and wished you could have it all over again? I have my fantasies and have tried to recreate this one in so many ways. It was a grilled mozzarella cheese sandwich from Pantuso's Italian Restaurant and most likely prepared by Ann Pantuso, the original chief cook. That soft, stretchy cheese that oozed from that crispy, grilled in butter, Italian bread, with a cherry pepper on the side, yummy!
As a family, we didn't really go out to eat that much. Not that we didn't want to, it just wasn't something the Brown Family could afford. Dinner at home ranged from brother Baird's favorite, round steak with mashed potatoes and gravy to fried bologna sandwiches where you had to cut little slits in the side so the bologna didn't curl up too much so you could get it on your white bread with catsup.
Pantuso's was one of the places that we would go. I'm sure one of the reason's Louie liked it was that the family could sit on the dining side to the north and he could hang at the bar with Auggie Pantuso and the boys. Everyone was happy, except Ruby, probably. Pantuso's sat at the corner of First and Main where Weaver's Tavern is now.
The other place we would occasionally dine was Mark's Cork ‘n Ember's. Mark Wagner was a friend of my father's. It was a very elegant atmosphere with its plush red interior and fine dining; prime rib was a specialty. They had live entertainment in the Macongan Lounge and my dad would play jazz on his big bass fiddle there once in a while. Louie was a renown dancer and in great demand with the ladies whose husbands didn't dance. I remember him teaching me to dance at the Cork n' Ember's. It was a special night and I'll never forget him telling me: “It's all in the knees, honey, it's all in the knees.” Each time I slow dance, I hear him saying that to me.
I can't really remember eating at the Café Caravan but I do remember being at the Jungle Bar with my dad and feeling sorry for those poor monkey's behind the bar. That was when you took your kid to the bar if you had to. In the '60s the Holiday Inn buffet was a popular place as was Dick Pond's Aeroplane Restaurant at Walker Field and the Ramada Inn. Anything out on Horizon Drive seemed worldly.
Gay Johnson's was your “round the clock” kind of restaurant. I only went there with Melanie Johnson Doody. We'd ride her horses all the way down First Street from her house on Second Fruitridge to the restaurant; tie them up at the back door where the dishwasher's would keep their eye on them. We'd go in and have lunch with Gay and his then wife, Lucille. Lucille didn't care that much for the whole situation, but we endured as we ate that Golden Brown Fried Chicken, compliments of Gay Johnson and Rosco the Rooster. We never ordered off the menu, we'd just be served whatever Gay wanted, family style.
As we got older, “lunch out” was an order of French fries and a Vanilla coke at Mesa Drug where Il Bistro is at Fourth and Main. Woolworth's had too many other things to spend our money on besides lunch, like real goldfish, 10 cent ceramic horses for my collection or four poses for a quarter in the photo booth.
Older timers will remember the Hotel ‘D' Café at 118 Main St. — Home of the Tic Toc Lounge; at the time they boasted being western Colorado's Finest Café and Lounge. They later became the Dream Café with its “Dream Food” and cocktails in the “Cloud 7 Bar.” They were closed Mondays, maybe that's where cloud's eight and nine were for the owners. I wish I could remember eating at Santy's at 335 Main with their French, Italian and American dishes. I have of memory of being in there, so I must have. The Manhattan Café and Lounge sat next to the US Bank Building at 345 Main St. An old advertisement reads, “There are no finer steaks than those prepared by Carl Swenson, Chef and Owner” and they featured men's luncheons. Bet more than one or two martinis were thrown back during those lunch hours.
The Royal Grill with its Pagoda Room and exotic oriental dishes occupied 209-215 Colorado Ave. where Horse in Sport and Hang-ups are now. I do remember going to the auction yard that was in the lot next to it and marveling at their marvelous and mysteriously Far Eastern, hand-painted billboard on the side of the brick building. The Flamingo was on the corner, of course, but they served up different kind of “dish.” The Beefeaters across the street from that at Second and Colorado, later became “The Office.” Clever place to tell your wife you had to go.
The magnificent Hotel La Court, The Bamboo Restaurant and Lounge in the old YMCA Building, later to be called the Uranium Building, The Finger Lickin' Chicken' on Orchard Mesa, The Far East, always on North Avenue (rest in peace), The Rainbow Grill, The Quincy (yes, it started out as a “Restaurant for the Discriminating”), The Blue Crane at 230 Main and a plethora of café's; The Alpine at 622 Main, The Oasis Grill at 350 North Ave. (this building still stands as Tropical Tan), The Western Café at 122 S. Fifth, The Chuck Wagon at 261 North Ave. and what about all those drive-ins? That's a whole other story.
I love to remember the past. I read phone books and city directories like novels. Imagining the interior of this and where this was located in relation to that. I imagine how the big wide Main Street looked before Operation Foresight with all its neon signs. The not too distant past is also intriguing and I am gathering memories of Grand Junction's early fern bars and discos…..I'm sure many of you were active participants so drop me a note or give me a call. Let's remember together. E-mail pmangnall@gjfreepress.com or dial 683-5642.
As a family, we didn't really go out to eat that much. Not that we didn't want to, it just wasn't something the Brown Family could afford. Dinner at home ranged from brother Baird's favorite, round steak with mashed potatoes and gravy to fried bologna sandwiches where you had to cut little slits in the side so the bologna didn't curl up too much so you could get it on your white bread with catsup.
Pantuso's was one of the places that we would go. I'm sure one of the reason's Louie liked it was that the family could sit on the dining side to the north and he could hang at the bar with Auggie Pantuso and the boys. Everyone was happy, except Ruby, probably. Pantuso's sat at the corner of First and Main where Weaver's Tavern is now.
The other place we would occasionally dine was Mark's Cork ‘n Ember's. Mark Wagner was a friend of my father's. It was a very elegant atmosphere with its plush red interior and fine dining; prime rib was a specialty. They had live entertainment in the Macongan Lounge and my dad would play jazz on his big bass fiddle there once in a while. Louie was a renown dancer and in great demand with the ladies whose husbands didn't dance. I remember him teaching me to dance at the Cork n' Ember's. It was a special night and I'll never forget him telling me: “It's all in the knees, honey, it's all in the knees.” Each time I slow dance, I hear him saying that to me.
I can't really remember eating at the Café Caravan but I do remember being at the Jungle Bar with my dad and feeling sorry for those poor monkey's behind the bar. That was when you took your kid to the bar if you had to. In the '60s the Holiday Inn buffet was a popular place as was Dick Pond's Aeroplane Restaurant at Walker Field and the Ramada Inn. Anything out on Horizon Drive seemed worldly.
Gay Johnson's was your “round the clock” kind of restaurant. I only went there with Melanie Johnson Doody. We'd ride her horses all the way down First Street from her house on Second Fruitridge to the restaurant; tie them up at the back door where the dishwasher's would keep their eye on them. We'd go in and have lunch with Gay and his then wife, Lucille. Lucille didn't care that much for the whole situation, but we endured as we ate that Golden Brown Fried Chicken, compliments of Gay Johnson and Rosco the Rooster. We never ordered off the menu, we'd just be served whatever Gay wanted, family style.
As we got older, “lunch out” was an order of French fries and a Vanilla coke at Mesa Drug where Il Bistro is at Fourth and Main. Woolworth's had too many other things to spend our money on besides lunch, like real goldfish, 10 cent ceramic horses for my collection or four poses for a quarter in the photo booth.
Older timers will remember the Hotel ‘D' Café at 118 Main St. — Home of the Tic Toc Lounge; at the time they boasted being western Colorado's Finest Café and Lounge. They later became the Dream Café with its “Dream Food” and cocktails in the “Cloud 7 Bar.” They were closed Mondays, maybe that's where cloud's eight and nine were for the owners. I wish I could remember eating at Santy's at 335 Main with their French, Italian and American dishes. I have of memory of being in there, so I must have. The Manhattan Café and Lounge sat next to the US Bank Building at 345 Main St. An old advertisement reads, “There are no finer steaks than those prepared by Carl Swenson, Chef and Owner” and they featured men's luncheons. Bet more than one or two martinis were thrown back during those lunch hours.
The Royal Grill with its Pagoda Room and exotic oriental dishes occupied 209-215 Colorado Ave. where Horse in Sport and Hang-ups are now. I do remember going to the auction yard that was in the lot next to it and marveling at their marvelous and mysteriously Far Eastern, hand-painted billboard on the side of the brick building. The Flamingo was on the corner, of course, but they served up different kind of “dish.” The Beefeaters across the street from that at Second and Colorado, later became “The Office.” Clever place to tell your wife you had to go.
The magnificent Hotel La Court, The Bamboo Restaurant and Lounge in the old YMCA Building, later to be called the Uranium Building, The Finger Lickin' Chicken' on Orchard Mesa, The Far East, always on North Avenue (rest in peace), The Rainbow Grill, The Quincy (yes, it started out as a “Restaurant for the Discriminating”), The Blue Crane at 230 Main and a plethora of café's; The Alpine at 622 Main, The Oasis Grill at 350 North Ave. (this building still stands as Tropical Tan), The Western Café at 122 S. Fifth, The Chuck Wagon at 261 North Ave. and what about all those drive-ins? That's a whole other story.
I love to remember the past. I read phone books and city directories like novels. Imagining the interior of this and where this was located in relation to that. I imagine how the big wide Main Street looked before Operation Foresight with all its neon signs. The not too distant past is also intriguing and I am gathering memories of Grand Junction's early fern bars and discos…..I'm sure many of you were active participants so drop me a note or give me a call. Let's remember together. E-mail pmangnall@gjfreepress.com or dial 683-5642.
