Jane Wagner | 07/29/2009 11:00 pm

Jane Wagner Misses the People Just as Much as the Places Themselves

In response to: Trader Vic's, Horn & Hardart, Schrafft's … What now-extinct food establishment still tugs at your memory?

You just mentioned the very ones I would have thought of. Here in Los Angeles, there was also the drive-in Tiny Naylor’s, which I really miss, too. Now I’m thinking of all of them: the old Tick Tock in Hollywood, The Thistle Inn in Glendale. And, as much as the places themselves, the people you’d see there.

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The Brick Hut Cafe, Berkeley, California.

By Mugsy Peabody on 07/30/2009 2:38 am

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Oh, yes, Jane, the people. They’re sometimes more memorable than the food. When I was around 8 or 9, my father would occasionally take me to the Toddle House in Chattanooga for Saturday breakfast. They had the best pancakes and waffles in the world. But this one had something special. A wizened, wrinkled waitress named Jean, who, to my child’s eyes, looked to be about two years younger than God (and probably wasn’t a day over 40, but this was 1960 and I was a kid). She had one of those Camel- and whiskey-soaked Gravel Gertie voices. "How ya doin’, sweetie?" she’d growl, dealing black coffee to Daddy and milk to me rat-a-tat. One day, the coffee was really old and rank. Daddy choked and said the only thing it was good for was red-eye gravy. She scooped up the offending brew, dumped it in the skillet with Daddy’s ham and we were the envy of the entire place when she dished up his ham and red-eye gravy. Don’t remember if he’d actually ordered grits, but seems like they magically appeared under Daddy’s gravy. Probably explains why I still have odd hankerins for red-eye gravy on my pancakes. But Jean was my first introduction to people-watching. I loved to watch her bossing the regulars around — she was in everybody’s business. It’s harder and harder to find real diners any more, but most of them have a Jean—usually the oldest, the hardest working, most efficient and least-tipped waitress in the place. If you’re lucky enough to find one, sit back and enjoy the show! And oh, yeah. Leave her a big tip from me.

By Kate Russell on 08/01/2009 1:30 am

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Mario’s in Westwood. The best sausage pizza! The atmosphere was great with old wint e bottles hanging from the walls and murals of "old Italy". What a wonderful place. And while I’m thinking of Westwood, what about Chatam’s? Amazing mushroom salad. I really do miss them both!

By Kathleen Keon on 09/06/2009 7:03 pm