Five and dime store lunch counters?

Twinwillow
The best thing about (any) sandwich back in those days was, you didn't have to stretch your mouth wide open to take a bite.

 
And it's not as if it's the contents that have been augmented in the typical sandwich; it's just that restaurants have switched to buns and fancier, i.e. thicker, bread simply to create the impression that you're getting more for your money.
 
One of my pet peeves is actually the very bunny hot dogs served by almost all hot dog carts in Toronto when a Wonder Bread bun would be the ideal mate for the dog. The bun should present the wiener; it shouldn't compete with it let alone overwhelm it!

Hepcat
It was at the downtown Kresge store in 1961 or early 1962 that I first saw a Great Garloo. I was enchanted and pointed it out to my mother, but at a price of close to $15 it was just not to be.

Just to give some background for the younger folks, Hepcat's price was actually a good price for it; the list was north of $20. Now, to give you something to use as a barometer:
Candy Bar: 5 cents.
Gallon of Gasoline: 30 cents
Average cost of new house $12,500
Cost of a first class stamp: 4 cents
New York Times: 5 cents
 
So, essentially, the Great Garloo cost in real dollars on the order of what a Playstation or Ipod Touch costs today.
 
Bart

Hepcat...I saw you mention (somewhere) that Flowercat is having an issue with her old account...but would like to post. Maybe she can just come as close as possible to her Flowercat name...and join us! We'd love to have her!

I'm not sure if Flower_Cat would work. You'd have to check and see. I know Flourcat would work...but she may not want that.

Tell her to join in the fun! You're cool.

Tony Bad is working to get Flowercat back on this board. She's thought of registering under a new name but she'd rather not lose her posting history. She'll probably change her posting handle after she gets back on to one of her favourites anyway. In any event, I believe she'll be back on and posting soon!
 

bartl
So, essentially, the Great Garloo cost in real dollars on the order of what a Playstation or Ipod Touch costs today.

 
Yes, but the Great Garloo was green, scaly and a lot cooler in every way. That's why it's now regarded as an all-time classic and is highly prized by toy collectors.
 

 
Sadly though I still don't have one.
 

 
 
 

I found a picture from the eighties of the lunch counter at my actual neighbourhood Kresge store on Coxwell Avenue in Toronto! 
 
 
 
It's been closed since about 1992 though. Here's how the building looks today:
 

 
Very sad. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
 

To this day, my mother still talks about the coffee at Woolworth's being the best she's ever had (she's 84 now).  While in high school, I had a part-time office job in downtown Atlanta...and I had to make the "fried chicken run" to Woolworth's at least once a week for the office staff.  Best fried chicken ever...sold at a little stand in the middle of the store near the checkouts...smelling all over the store.  Very strange place to locate the stand, but boy, it was the best fried chicken ever!  Thanks for the memories!

Try Lyon's pharmacy in Elkto, Md

I miss the bittersweet chocolate ice cream sodas at Walgreen's.
 
Bart

Sadly--Lord's in Medfeild Ma--is now gone.
 

There is a drugstore in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, Pa with a very active lunch counter with a loyal clientele. The name is Adzema Pharmacy, and they serve breakfast and lunch. My uncle ate there almost every day as a widower.  He loved their specials, including fish on Fridays! See their website for their menu, and low prices. Also, it is has a working phramacy and drugstore too! Their prices are very reasonable too!
 
www.adzema-pharmacy.com/AdzemaPharmacy/Menu.asp
 

I used to go to the lunch counter at Woolworth's and People's Drug Store, both at Seven Corners Shopping Center in Falls Church, VA.  I got cherry cokes and french fries at People's, and hot, open-faced sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy at Woolworth's.  This shopping center also had an S&W Cafeteria that I went to a lot.  Sadly, none of those places have been around for years.

Janet took me to Corydon, the first capital of Indiana.....great history-my favorite? Butt Pharmacy. Spelled exactly that way...... While they didnt serve food, they had an old time soda fountain, and bulk candy counter. Very cool!

love2bake, Did you ever hit the Gino's on the way out, or Hot Shoppes Jr. down the street? Thanks, for the memories.

When I was very young, I took music lessons in downtown Knoxville and that was when downtown Knoxville was extremely busy.  On Saturday, the foot traffic downtown was very slow and all stores, five and dime and department stores were packed.
 
After my one hour music lesson, I often visited with Kresge and enjoyed their burger and milkshake.  I must have been about 8-9 years old and I had to get a bus downtown from our small rural farm.  Dad was a foreman for Alcoa and did the hobby farming on the side and I was forced labor 
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

You wouldnt  want the Greyhound........way uncomfortable..........however,  good to see people and kinda worth it!

ann peeples


You wouldnt  want the Greyhound........way uncomfortable..........however,  good to see people and kinda worth it!

 
Ann: I sold an antique motorcycle to a Army helicopter pilot about ten years ago.  He rode a Greyhound to Knoxville where I picked him up and brought him to my residence.  He told me that the ride was something everyone ought to experience once.   I gather that you may feel the same way  I have never done that but after experiencing picking up the pilot, I somewhat understand with some of the people hanging around..  A cheaper ride with some degree of not being comfortable.
 
The pilot left my home at 6:00PM and drove the motorcyle back to Ft. Bragg NC which was about a 9 hour ride at best.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN
 

While we're off topic, A week after I graduated Lawrence High School on Long Island in 1958, I took a Greyhound bus to Los Angeles to study acting. 
 
For an 18 year old, It was an amazing trip and quite an experience back then that I'll never forget.  

I remember eating at lunch counters at Woolworths as a kid.  I also remember many Sears stores had a decent snack bar with real good burgers.  Ahh memories

oh yeah, almost forgot.  Chock Full O Nuts had many lunch counters in NY during the 70s.  Almost forgot them

The bus ride, Paul and others, was interesting to say the least. On the way home was more interesting. Great bus driver-stopped at a McDonalds cuz he was hungry.My seat mate across the aisle was a heroin addict going to Minnesota for treatment.....interesting stories. My story was simple.
 

Speaking of lunch counters, we had a local pharmacy with one in the back of the store. Perfect malts, and the best egg salad I have ever had....

Wintahaba


love2bake, Did you ever hit the Gino's on the way out, or Hot Shoppes Jr. down the street? Thanks, for the memories.

Yes!!!  Definitely went to Hot Shoppes (regular and jr.)  My high school boyfriend worked at Hot Shoppes Jr.
I also went to the Hot Shoppes at Bailey's Crossroads a lot.   I think I stopped only once at Gino's.
 
When were you there?

Joisey


oh yeah, almost forgot.  Chock Full O Nuts had many lunch counters in NY during the 70s.  Almost forgot them

 
I was a regular at one of Chock Full O Nuts' coffee shops in Manhattan during the 60's.
In addition to their (then) great coffee, I loved the "crunchy" donuts they were famous for back then.

love2bake, Sleepy Hollow ES, Glascow Jr. HS, JEB Stuart HS....1967-Graduation-1977....moved back in 1981 until 1989....my letter jacket from Irving's Sport Shop in 7-Corners...loved those times...Thanks.

love2bake

Wintahaba


love2bake, Did you ever hit the Gino's on the way out, or Hot Shoppes Jr. down the street? Thanks, for the memories.

Yes!!!  Definitely went to Hot Shoppes (regular and jr.)  My high school boyfriend worked at Hot Shoppes Jr.
I also went to the Hot Shoppes at Bailey's Crossroads a lot.   I think I stopped only once at Gino's.

When were you there?

When I was a teenager, back in the 50's Hot Shoppe was our hang out.  I loved the Mighty Mo and the Teen Twist

Wintahaba


love2bake, Sleepy Hollow ES, Glascow Jr. HS, JEB Stuart HS....1967-Graduation-1977....moved back in 1981 until 1989....my letter jacket from Irving's Sport Shop in 7-Corners...loved those times...Thanks.

Haha!!!  I'll send you a PM so we don't get too far off topic here.

ChrisOC

love2bake

Wintahaba


love2bake, Did you ever hit the Gino's on the way out, or Hot Shoppes Jr. down the street? Thanks, for the memories.

Yes!!!  Definitely went to Hot Shoppes (regular and jr.)  My high school boyfriend worked at Hot Shoppes Jr.
I also went to the Hot Shoppes at Bailey's Crossroads a lot.   I think I stopped only once at Gino's.

When were you there?

When I was a teenager, back in the 50's Hot Shoppe was our hang out.  I loved the Mighty Mo and the Teen Twist

I think both of those sandwiches had a "secret sauce" with mayonnaise in it, and unfortunately I'm a mayo-phobe, so I missed them.   (It's not easy being a mayo-phobe, but I can't help it.)

aloysius50

rumaki

One of the department stores in Rochester, NY (where I had my first job after getting my law degree), McCurdy's, had a lunch counter like the one you described. This was in 1979-81; I have no idea whether it still does or not, or whether the store still exists. 

Sadly, not only is McCurdy's gone but most of downtown Rochester is now empty. Last year they tore down Midtown Plaza (one of the first indoor malls in the US) to put up office buildings.

And in fact as far as I know, they tore it down for nothing, the office building in question never got built and last time I checked, it was a big stinking hole in the ground. And you are right, it was one of the first indoor malls in the US, and I think the first one that was built "downtown" in any city in America.
 
I used to visit Rochester to see family.  Christmas-time was great,  I remember the windows at McCurdy's and Sibley's, rival stores, across the street from one another.
 
  I remember the Santa Mountain and the Monorail inside Midtown Plaza and the Clock of the World (or whatever that clock was called). 
 
And I do remember the old lunch counter at McCurdy's, though by the time I had a job in downtown Rochester it has been moved into the plaza.  And the plaza was already majorly downhill, lots of kids looking for entertainment or trouble or both wandered through it, making noise,. It was the hub where all buses met, and the school kids rode the city buses I guess.
 
Also I remember the Top of the Plaza restaurant was considered a fancy type place to go for lunch, when I was a kid and we were visiting, we got to go once, which was about our only occasion to ever go anywhere considered even slightly fancy, since we were poor at the time.
 
Anyhow thanks for bringing up the old McCurdy's, brings back some memories from several times in my life.