When I was growing up going out to dinner was really a fun time and only has good memories for me. Most of the time it was on a Friday night after Dad and Mom got home from work. Dad liked going out for hamburgers and eating in our Rambler station wagon

at a place called Jim Dandy in northeast Portland Oregon. The waitress…I mean carhop…would come out to your car and take your order;

after the food and drinks were prepared, the car hop would bring your order on a special tray that hooked to the outside of the drivers side window. From there Dad would hand the food out to each of us in the car. Dad even made a folding table for the inside of the Rambler so us kids had a place to sit our burgers and drinks on. Not only was the food good but the cars that came in were cool too. There were hotrods, customs, and from time to time a Harley, BSA, or maybe a Triumph motor cycle would roll in.

Triumph

BSA

Harley

Back then you didn’t even know what a Honda was.
I looked up Jim Dandy on the net. It’s still there. Next time I’m in Portland I’ll go back in time and get a burger at Jim Dandy.
When it was Mom’s turn she liked going out to a sit down restaurant; most of the time it was to a place called Bill’s Steak House. It was just down the road from Jim Dandy and it’s still open for business too. I always got the hot beef sandwich, Mom would get the veal cutlets, and Dad a giant steak. Rick would get a big hamburger or maybe a peanut butter sandwich with a side of fries.

Bill’s décor was neat too. It had a lot of cowboy stuff on the walls and a big set of horns from a Texas longhorn over the door going into the kitchen.

I always thought it was special to get my coke from the bar. The waitress would bring it out on a tray with Mom and Dad’s dinner drinks. My coke always had two thin red straws. The waitress would always place a napkin down under the drinks first. Printed on the napkins were jokes with cartoons, although, at the time I didn’t understand any of the jokes.

Back then there was no 205 freeway, Rocky Butte was known for the jail, and next door to Bill’s Steak House was the Wigwam surplus store with it’s big teepee out front….. am I jogging any memories yet? Well, how about Yaws, Scotty’s or A&W, and let’s not forget the Sandy drive -in.

Where did you go?

Grandpa Tom