Tell Me About Places that are Gone

In 1968, Valle's served TWO live lobsters for dinner with all the fixins' for $3.95. Not really surprised they are not around anymore??

quote:

Originally posted by essvee

Oooh oooh! I just remembered one-- Valle's, a chain steak house thingee. I remember a few in New England. My great-grandparents, in Kittery, Maine, considered Valle's to be the epitome of swank, and all special occasions convocated there. It was in a mall next to a Two Guys department store, remember those?

I do not know, however, if Valle's is still around or not.

Minotaur Room was actually at The Halle Brothers Company, on the ninth floor. Towards the end, it was remodeled and named the Geranium Room, after Halle's official flower. There were also Geranium Rooms at two of Halle's branch stores-- Severance Center and Westgate. Sadly, Halle's Downtown is now an office building and Halle's Severance Center and Westgate have been demolished.

Higbee's had another, probably more famous resturant, The Silver Grille on the tenth floor. It also had a resturant where for $1.10 you could get a quick meal, called the Pronto Room. Higbee's also had resturants at all it's suburban stores, but they all operated under different names: Westwood Room at Westgate; Hobnail Room at Severance Center; Attic and Midway Mall; Lakeland Room at Great Lakes Mall; Racing something at Randall Mall; Beachtree at Beachwood Place;Zodiac Room at Parmatown.

Closing out the Cleveland department resturant sceen was the Mayfair Room, fifth floor downtown, Heights, Parmatown (I think) and Southgate.

Here's a link for a picture of the wall at Halle's Minoutar Room--

http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/press&CISOPTR=466&REC=19

is the Wimpy's chain still around in chicago?

I grew up in Muskegon, MI in the 50's does anyone remember Nibble-A-Scrib-Nib? Very skinny building, downtown? Great food!!!

The venerable New York Spaghetti House in Cleveland, Ohio. Home of the famous and unique brown sauce. Open from 1927 to 2007. Bought by new owners and converted into a sports bar.

Brown Sauce: The famous brown sauce invented by Mario Brigotti when he first opened the New York Spaghetti House in 1927. This sauce is made with a vegetable base, meat ground very finely, and, of course, plum tomatoes and spices simmered to a smooth consistency. Meatballs are a natural addition for a one-dish meal. Where to Shop.

Fortunately, the brown sauce is still available in select stores in Cleveland, and can be shipped . Go to:

http://www.newyorkspaghettihouse.com/products.html

quote:

Originally posted by hungovergourmet

Funny to be reading the messages here and see somebody else who remembers the HoJo's in Willingboro and the Pennsauken Mart, as well as somebody else who knows of the Woolworth's in Cherry Hill Mall. Wow!

The Mart is in the path of the wrecking ball and apparently will stay open for business until the end of September 2004. It'll be a sad day for me when the Mart is no more. I have so many great memories of that place. Describing the Mart doesn't even do it justice, but I suppose we all have a place we hold near and dear to our hearts like that.

When the Mart comes down it will mean that two places that shaped my teenage years and young adult life -- Vet Stadium and The Mart -- will be no more. Boo-hiss!

quote:

Originally posted by hungovergourmet

Wow... thanks for the quick responses. I've just started posting to the forums here and I'm thoroughly impressed by the knowledge, enthusiasm and input from the group.

Do you guys mind if I use some of this input for the newsletter?

"Marine DIs on crystal meth," what a word picture THAT paints!

A favorite place of mine that's on its way out is The Pennsauken Mart in Pennsauken, NJ. It's an indoor flea market and they have this place in there called Italian Village that makes some of the best Italian hoagies in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area. There's also another place that makes incredible Philly Soft Pretzels. The Mart has a rep for beinbg a little "dirty" so the soft pretzel place is almost hermetically sealed!! They're tearing down the Mart to put up a convention and expo center.

The Italian Village is alive and well on Route 73 in Maple Shade (same owners, same hoagies).
The pretzel place has moved to Route 130 in Cinnaminson where 130 intersects with 73.
They have also opened up a pseudo Pennsauken Mart called the Willingboro Marketplace on Rte. 130 in which many of the Mart's shops have moved to. It's newer, but strangely enough, it has the same odor...

quote:

Originally posted by chef joe

Berry's Steaks at 2nd & Jackson Sts., in South Philly. A pile of grilled beef and fried onions on a small torpedo roll with just the right amount of grease dripping off them. The beef and onions had a touch of "burnt" to them and they had their own homemade steak sauce, tried for years to duplicate it, but I never figured it out. Pat's and Geno's didn't even come close to these, you didn't even need cheese on them - boy were they good! Also the Rendezvous in North Wildwood in the 70's the best cheesesteaks and snapper turtle soup at the Jersey shore.

I remember Berrys very well. When I was a kid coming home from my grandparent's house in South Philly we would beg our dad to stop at Berrys. Your right that sauce was out of this world, never had anything like it again. The sauce would soak into the roll, the steaks were great. You forgot the square cut onions and the pickle spear on every steak. Good Memories

In New Orleans,Louisiana...

The old FITZGERALD'S on Lake Ponchartrain...

Growing up in the 50's..our treat for willingly going to grandma's house in New Brunswick,NJ was to stop at the Howard Johnson's along the way for one of their hotdogs in that New England roll & their onion rings. Mom always got their fried clams...and we all had tall cold cokes...coke made, then, with real sugar not God awful High Fructose corn syrup....Of to have that meal at an Orange roof H.J. today!!!

Some details about the Duck Soup Restaurant that another poster got wrong...

The Chef relocated to Cheshire after the landlord got greedy. Otherwise the soup would have remained there.

I am the kid described in the writeup about the restaurant, also was busboy, dishwasher and eventually waiter before escaping to a better life (I am 40 now).

The description of Greylock Gardens as a David Lynch scene is apropos - I used to cringe! I guess it proved that the ambience or attitude of the Soup was entirely accidental (except the quality of the food of course).

Alas, dad became very ill and we lost everything. He passed away a couple years ago, but he managed to live his dream for a time at least.

While I'm at it, I should mention that many people came with their Roadfood under their arm and proceeded to order exactly what J&M described eating. We got a lot of orders for "lobster, roast duckling, cinnamon bread, blackberry pie and spaghetti al pesto." They didn't realize is that they ate several meals over a couple days.

Lee-
HoJo switched to their own recipe cola beverage from the Coke Brand in the mid-60's. HoJo Cola (catchy name, huh??) was slow to gain recognition by the customers. To me it tasted like a blend of cola and Moxie.. a learned taste appeal I am sure. One day while I was working for HoJo on I-95 in Mass., a customer asked me why they changed the name when the beverage seemed to be the same. I was amazed! There were some major differences in taste for sure! I like Moxie, but the HoJo cola was beyond my acceptance level.

Being a lover of Whole-Belly clams, especially while living on the 'North Shore' a few miles from Ipswich and the other Clam Meccas, I was always suprised at how many people preferred the HoJo Fried Clams, which were the cut-clam strips, not whole clams. We sold tons of them every week...even in the Winter.

When they rebuilt I-95 north of Boston in the 70's (or whenever it happened) They removed those two Hojos and the ARCO stations that were part of the 'service ares' on both sides of the Highway. They were an interest example of 'roadtrip culture' from that era. I wish I had saved some of the menus and other paperwork from my college years of working there.

Thanks, Al for the history. I did not know of HoJo cola...seems like a bad idea. Why bother.I agree,I wish I had an old HoJo menu...I'm sure I could find one on e-bay. I guess Howard Johnson's was already changing from the one I knew by the 60's.

My mom's sub shops, Trudy's Subs/Sub Shack. Best subs ever!!! Woolworth's, Kresges, Woolco, and Eatons all had places I liked to eat. Reddi Chef across from my apartment when I was growing up, best burgers and fries. A lot of convenience stores had lunch counters. There was a hamburger place across from a movie theatre in downtown Hamilton, Ontario that my dad and I used to go to all the time called Valos...great burgers. The Steak & Burger that was downtown and the Takee Outee for chinese food that was also downtown.

Does anyone remember a small 'burger chain in the MetroWest Ma. area called "Mr. Hamburg"? 15¢ hamburgers (great in my memory) and other "standard" burger joint fare. I believe the first location was on Ma. RTE 9 across from the west side entrance road to Shopper's World" next to another locally famous but gone landmark; "Giovanni's". There was another location in Marlborough, which they quickly renamed "Mikel's" (in the building that is now "Firefly's" (was "Royal Mandarin") on US. RTE. 20). I believe they also had something to do with another local chain of ice cream stands called "Brewster's" for a brief period before they all disappeared.

Anyone remember Farrell's Ice Cream Parlours? I think they were mainly located on the West Coast. Best place for birthday parties!

Does anyone remember the Judy's Restaurant Chain. They were around in the late 70's- early 80's. They were very similar to Wendy's, infact I believe Wendy's ended up suing them so they changed their name to Judy Judy Judy's I believe, before going out of business. I tried to google them on the net and can't seem to find any information.

Isleys...pickles in a barrel, ice cream and decent sandwiches. I assume a chain, before chains tasted like cardboard. Little League was the first act before ice cream at Isleys... win, lose or draw. This was the mid 60's when things seemed a lot simpler and we were entitled to our own opinions. A five cent cone was certain to migrate to your uniform. No problemo. Mom had to wash it anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by euclid

Isleys...pickles in a barrel, ice cream and decent sandwiches. I assume a chain, before chains tasted like cardboard. Little League was the first act before ice cream at Isleys... win, lose or draw. This was the mid 60's when things seemed a lot simpler and we were entitled to our own opinions. A five cent cone was certain to migrate to your uniform. No problemo. Mom had to wash it anyway.

Without a doubt, Isalys. I grew up in Youngstown, OH and we'd stop there every Sunday after church for lunch meat and ice cream and Bun candy bars. A good website: http://www.brianbutko.com/isaly.stpics.html

If you went to Monmouth College(University) in the late 60's-70's,you remember a small great local pup off 2nd Ave named Patty Murray's...it reminded me of many a small English pup I've seen...Patty always served court and enjoyed talking to the locals and college kids(drinking age was 18 then)..often a free glass of tap came your way...I remeber theellow music coming out of the juke box playing as nice background music...some soft9very soft) rock ballads,folk music...Roger William's instrumentals etc....I can't imagine that college scene today without that wonderful place!! Does anyone from that time and place remember Patty Murray's in Long Branch, NJ??

Great places gone but not forgotten in my life:

Troggio's Steak House, New Castle, PA.

Klein's Seafood, 4th. Ave., PGH.

(The original) Duke Ziebart's, ground floor of L @ CT, WDC.

Mel Krupin's, on the old premises of Ernie Young's, WDC (the closed premises were used for a great scene in "Point of No Return").

Whitey's, Arlington, VA.

La Caravelle, NYC.

Bish Thompson's Seafood, Bethesda, MD.

Fred's, Parole, MD (Annapolis).

Top of the Triangle, PGH.

The Palm Court Buffet Brunch at the Plaza when it was a Trump property, NYC.

Windows on the World ...

Dobbs Ferry, NY...1970's. There was a little Italian joint named Jimmy's, that has long since closed. Their garlicky baked clams & pasta fazoli are still the benchmarks that I use to judge other places.

I miss the L.S.Ayres Tearoom here in Indianapolis. They had the best chicken pot pie that actually came to the table shaped like a chicken. This place had so much history here in Indianapolis that they have opened a small tribute to it at our State Musuem. Oh, the memories as a child, waiting on a table and getting to ride the Santa train at X-mas time and the food was incredible.

I remember Woolworth's where my sister and I would ride the bus to downtown Houston and spend hours looking around.  She always bought me fountain drinks or sodas.  So much fun.
 
We also had a Walgreens with a grill at the Gulfgate mall in Houston, the first mall outside downtown which opened in 1956.
 
There they had another restaurant, coffee shop called One's a Meal.  They were a chain back then.  Those are closed but another greek group run a few with the same name still in Houston,  The old one had a great burger plate called the Texas Special, an open faced hamburger with cheese and fries and chili poured all over it.  I loved it.
 
The other sandwich was a homemade pimentoe cheese on wheat toast with home fries, so good.
 
Thanks for the remembrances.  Marc

Here are some Philly  "Places That Are Gone" Tshirts:
 
http://www.retrophilly.com/Neat-Philadelphia-Eats-s/29.htm
 
 

Hi, Conrado!  The Wharf restaurant belonged to my Dad and my uncle (Jim and Tom), and the other place they had was actually not "The Plantation", it was called "The Yardarm".  :-)