Magic Mountain Trolls

In 1969, the Newhall Land and Farm Company formulated the idea to create a more thrilling alternative to the Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm amusement parks. The company selected Valencia as its location, and construction began that year. The park was a combined effort of Sea World and NLFC and cost approximately 20 million dollars to build. It was also a sneaky way to get people to realize Valencia could be a possible real estate option. With plenty of land to sell and a hot new amusement park in its midst, the town of Valencia was sure to thrive. When the park opened on May 29th, 1971, there were 500 employees and 33 attractions. The admission price in 1971 was $5 for adults, and $3.50 for children between the ages of 3 and 12.

In the 1971 season, Magic Mountain obtained permission from Warner Bros. to use the Looney Tunes cartoon characters. However, the park did not begin using these characters for nearly ten years. Instead, in 1972, they began using trolls as the park mascots.
The trolls Bleep, Bloop, and King Troll, and the Wizard became a recognizable symbol of Magic Mountain. These characters were used until 1985. The trolls (and wizard) were the mascots of change. Disneyland at the time was using the ticket system. You received a ticket book upon entering Disneyland and had to surrender a ticket every time you wanted to go on a ride. The tickets were graded A-E. "E" being the most popular and also the fewest in the book of tickets. You were forced to buy more tickets if you wanted to ride all the good rides. The troll-filled park offered up a new option. One admission price-NO TICKETS. Once you paid to enter the park you could ride all day for free. The trolls represented freedom. Freedom to do whatever you wanted and not be taxed by the mouse. Magic Mountain's admission policy was one of the reasons Disneyland no longer works on the ticket system. The Magic Kingdom had to drop that policy in order to remain competitive. Bless you Trolls (and Wizard.)


They Always Come Back:
The Trolls will never return. They are gone forever. So... it looks like I'll have to force them back. You can get a Troll emblazoned shirt here. The troll shirt contains a very special message.

Vintage Ad."Gee his pipe is so appealing with that Prince Albert."

Kelbo's

In the ever shrinking world of Tiki bars Kelbo's was ranked among the best. While it didn't feature any truly original drinks and the food was sub-par the atmosphere was spot on.

The interior was the creation of Eli Hedley. "One of the weirdest businesses in California, where weird businesses are a perfectly normal thing, is run by a 42-year-old ex-grocer ... who makes a living out of things the Pacific Ocean throws back," began a story in Life magazine in January 1946. As his beachcombing decor found favor on Hollywood sets and in the homes of stars, celebrities often dropped by the San Pedro home. "They'd come down there and disappear from Hollywood," Bassham says of the stories he's heard from his mother and three aunts. "The way he was, he'd pull a copa de oro flower off the vine, fill it with champagne and say, 'Here, drink this.' " Actor Raymond Burr was a close friend, who at one point optioned daughter Marilyn Hedley's book, "How Daddy Became a Beachcomber." The business grew, and by the 1950s, Hedley was in demand as a tropical decorator. He worked on tiki-themed Los Angeles nightspots, such as Don the Beachcomber and Kelbo's. The hostess area of Kelbo's featured what could only be described as a glowing Lucite wall filled with crap. Matchbooks, forks, knives, starfish, you name it encased in a glowing wall. A monolith to be discovered by some future civilization lies in a landfill somewhere. The ceilings were draped in fishing nets that held a virtual museum of sea bounty. Yes, Fugu were included. The preserved blowfish with a solitary Christmas light in the belly. The Pico location had a dance hall called the Coco-Bowl. It was a great room, dark, with palm trees and tiki's and a bandstand at the far end. For a while, Kelbo's had Francis Ford Coppola as a dishwasher until he was fired. His mind seemed to be elsewhere.

Kelbo's was the creation of Thomas KELley and Jack BOuck. They opened two locations in Southern California. Kelbo's-Fairfax. 101 north Fairfax Avenue across the street from CBS Television City. (Home of the Twilight Zone series) That location featured an outdoor garden and wishing well. The wells first coin was dropped by Lucille Ball with Desi standing at her side.

The other location was Kelbo's-Pico. 11434 West Pico Boulavard. That location closed almost 20 years ago and is now the home of FANTASY ISLAND Gentleman's club. Nothing remains of the spectacular interior.

They Always Come Back:
Kelbo's sadly will not be resurrected. I wish there was better news. In honor of Kelbo's, They Always Come Back has created some products based on the Kelbo's cocktail napkin logo. You can find them here. (Along with some other goodies.)
If you would like a close approximation of what Kelbo's was like visit BAHOOKA in the city of Rosemead California. The creator of Bahooka learned the Tiki Restaurant business while working at Kelbo's for ten years. Bahooka opened in 1967. It is more nautical than tiki but the spirit of Kelbo' lingers there.
R.I.P. Kelbo's

Mexican Jumping Beans

In the 70's through the early 80's Thrifty's Drug and Discount Stores would announce the end of summer buy selling Mexican jumping beans. They were a seasonal item that would show up late August just as summer vacation ends. The name is really a clever marketing device as the reality of the bean and its need to hop around is repulsive and quite sad. First off they dont look like beans at all. They are some sort of pod segmented into thirds. Second they dont jump they just move. Third, its not the bean it is the creature inside that is doing all the work.

Lets take look into the sad life of the Mexican jumping bean.

The common jumping beans sold in novelty shops throughout the southwestern United States come from a deciduous shrub (Sebastiana pavoniana.) The jumping bean shrubs grow on rocky desert slopes and along arroyos in the region of the Rio Mayo in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua. One of the best places to see this shrub is in the vicinity of Alamos, Mexico, known locally as the "jumping bean capital of the world."

Just as pineapples are not apples, Eggplants are not eggs, and republicans are not publicans, the jumping bean is not a bean, nor is it a seed. It is actually a small, thin-shelled section of a seed capsule containing the larva of a small gray moth called "the jumping bean moth" (Laspeyresia saltitans). After consuming the seed within the capsule section, the robust, yellowish-white larva has the peculiar habit of throwing itself forcibly from one wall to the other, thereby causing the jumping movements of the capsule. Mexican jumping bean capsules typically separate into three parts or sections, some of which contain a moth larva. It is these separate sections (technically called carpels) that are sold as "jumping beans."

The "beans" jump as a survival measure in order to protect themselves from the heat which can cause them to dry out. The ultraviolet rays from the sun stimulate them to jump, even in cool temperatures, but leaving them in the sun for extended periods will dehydrate and kill them.

These creatures are doomed from the start.

They were harvested and packaged, usually in groups of four, placed into a foam-lined Lucite case, and shipped off to Thrifty's so they could be sold to kids. Kids who would toss them about, throw them, keep them in their jacket pocket for months at a time, and then, throw them away. Inside the larva, or as I like to call it, MAGGOT, is subjected to unfathomable abuse. It is just trying to become a damn moth. Now if they were sold with the name "Twitching larva from Mexico" I doubt they would be on the counter at Thrifty's next to the Bubble Yum.
Even though they are a disgusting form of life they still have the right to survive. To me, the idea of the" Magical Mexican Jumping Bean" is horrible. Buying an object with no indication there is a living thing inside is horrible. Imagine buying a punching bag that squeaked every time you hit it. Funny and kinda cute until you realize there is a living thing struggling to survive inside.
Since Thrifty's is now Rite-Aid they no longer sell these "beans."

They Always Come Back:
They are all over the internet. There are sites that never mention or bury the fact there is a living creature inside. If you need to buy some please treat them with the respect they deserve.

Trapped larva baking in the hot sun

Merlin

Merlin was a handheld electronic game made by Parker Brothers in 1978. Merlin is notable as one of the earliest and most popular handheld games, selling over 5 million units during its initial run, as well as one of the most long-lived, remaining popular throughout the 1980s.
Merlin was approximately the size of a primitive cell phone. It emitted beeping sounds that could creep into your nightmares. It was about as much fun as pressing the "No Sale" button on a cash register over and over until your finger calloused.
It was the first multi-game hand-held electronic game. It offered six not so challenging games. Tic Tac Toe, Music Machine, Echo, (a game similar to Simon), Blackjack 13, Magic Square, Mindbender, (a game similar to Mastermind.) Boy oh boy, just image the fun kids had on Christmas morning being able to play Tic Tac Toe with a computer in their very own hand! Imagine the parents horror as they realized the six AA batteries required to play Tic Tac Toe would not last the day. This was in a time where you could get more fun typing in 58008 on your calculator and turning it upside down.
The game does have its place in history.
The Music Machine game functioned as a musical instrument; in this mode each key was assigned a musical note, and sequences of notes could be recorded and played back. This made Merlin one of the earliest sequencers as well as an early consumer-level electronic synthesizer.
If you want a little retro reading material here is a pdf of the manual that came with the game.


They Always Come Back:
No need to scour E-bay to relive those fond memories of this really boring and primitive electronic game. You can play it now with Virtual java Merlin. If you forgot how annoying simple beeps can be, please, play the virtual game and share my pain.

Superelastic bubbleplastic

Superelastic bubbleplastic was toy product produced by the Wham-O toy company in the 60’s thru the 80’s. It was a very simple toy. It consisted of a toothpaste type tube filled with goo and a wide pink straw. The fun began as you squirt out a pea-sized amount out of the leaded tube and fastened the pea to the end of the straw. You then blew into the straw to inflate the goo, pinched the bubble off the end of the straw sealing in the air and then stared at it, knocked it around for a few minutes and then slammed it between your hands resulting in a spectacular pop that sent remnants of plastic goo into the carpet. The goo was made up of polyvinyl acetate dissolved in acetone, with plastic fortifiers added. The acetone evaporated upon bubble inflation leaving behind a solid plastic film. Acetate has been known to cause cancer and can enter the skin like DMSO and pull other chemicals along with it. Not a nice thing to give to kids but … what do they care, it was fun! The goo was multi colored and came out of the tube in bright red yellow and blue streams. In a time before this idea became commonplace with toothpaste the novelty of one tube producing multi colors was amazing. The bubbles hardened over time and if you were lucky you could have a semi deflated scrotal-like sac of balloon that could last days. The longer they lasted the greater the popping noise when you eventually smashed it.
The smell was something too. I'm pretty sure I was getting high off the stuff. The tube itself was the cause of many a cut finger. The screw top was plastic yet the actual threaded part of the tube was razor sharp. In addition the tube was soft metal that eventually was ripped open to get the last remnants of Bubbleplastic. That torn open tube was a danger as it was supersharp metal.
Superelastic bubbleplastic was taken off the market in the 80's due to concerns it may, MAY, be toxic.

They always come back:
It is still available but not by Wham-O. You can find it at your local .99 store under the name Fun Bubbles. It is made in Mexico and comes in a multi pack. It smells exactly the same and even comes in little tubes that I'm sure are made out of lead.
Good times!

Wham-O does not have one mention of this product in their official revised company history. See the lie by omission here.

Vintage ads.

Not feeling all too well. Taking a break from everything to get better. In the mean time enjoy these vintage ads via our friends at VINTAGE ADS.

The Automat

The Automat is a fascinating slice of Americana. There is a great book on the subject. Buy it Read it.


An Automat was a fast food restaurant where simple foods and drink were served by coin-operated vending machines.The automat featured what appeared to be completely automated food service, like a giant walk-in vending machine. The reality is there were no space "Robits" making your food. People worked at the automats. People like you and me. A cashier (A woman of course, as this was considered women's work) would sit in a glass-enclosed change booth in the center of the restaurant. Usually the booth was lipped by a wide marble counter with five to eight rounded depressions in it. She would serve many customers at once, taking their money from the depressions and dropping nickels in its place. The diner would insert the required number of coins and then slide open a window to remove the meal. The "machines" were filled via the human staff from the kitchen behind. The machines had a locking device that would ensure the food was in place before the front panel could be opened.
Unlike modern vending machines, food was served on real crockery with metal utensils, and drinks were served in glasses made of real honest to goodness glass.
Inspired by the Quisiana Automat in Berlin, the first automat in the U.S. was opened June 12, 1902 at 818 Chestnut St. in Philadelphia by Horn & Hardart.The automat was brought to New York City in 1912 and gradually became part of popular culture in northern industrial cities. Horn & Hardart was the most prominent automat chain. During 1940s and 1950s, there were over 50 Horn and Hardart’s restaurants in New York City, serving about 350,000 customers a day.

The format was threatened by the growth of suburbs and the rise of fast food restaurants catering to cars (with their drive-thru windows and car hop service) in the 1950s; by the 1970s their remaining appeal was strictly nostalgic. Another contributing factor to their demise was undoubtedly the inflation of the 1960s and 70s, making the food too expensive to be bought conveniently with coins. This was way before the invention debit card swiper or bill acceptors that are commonplace on todays vending equipment.
Another form of the Automat was used on some passenger trains, the last United States example being an Automat car on Amtrak's short-lived service to Janesville, Wisconsin in 2001. These were limited by mechanical problems, since the machines weren't necessarily intended for the bumpy ride on the rails, but mainly because state laws that prohibited alcoholic beverages from being sold by a machine.
They are still very common in The Netherlands, but outside of there, few exist. The last real, non-Mobile Automat closed in the United States in 1991. However...

They Always Come Back:
in 2006, an automat opened in New York City's East Village with a very rocky start. Mired in bad blood, and legal problems stemming from a business partners actions, the American Automat struggled to stay alive. One of the partners, Robert Kwak, alleges in court papers that David Leong and "Nobu" Hai Nguyen blocked his access to the store's cell phone and e-mail accounts, tried to "terminate" him, and banned him from the premises. The other side says Robert tried to steal from him. They worked out their personal issues and the Automat survived.

The difference between automats of the past and this new incarnation is the dining space.

None.

Bamn! serves food to go.
Half a concept is not always better than no concept at all.

Visit Bamn!

If you would like your own automat machine contact these people.

If you have a hankerin' for some post depression era food and would like to make Horn & Hardart's Baked Macaroni and Cheese ... click here and go to "Recipies"

Fruit Stripe Gum

Fruit Stripe was an artificially flavored fruit chewing gum that was notorious for its great, but fleeting, fake fruit flavor. In the 70's the gum was packaged in colorful" zebra wrappers ." Fruit Stripe is the only gum with painted on stripes. Yes the stripes were added after the gum was formed. This gum didn't squirt, sparkle, crackle or fizz. It just had stripes.
Fruit Stripe gum was invented by James Parker, and launched in the early 1960s as an extension of the Beech-Nut gum line.
The line was sold to the Hershey company then in turn sold to the Farley's & Sathers Candy Company, Inc. The mascot for this gum was an animated fruit-striped Zeba that went by the name of "Yipes."
" Yipes the fruit-stripes zebra."


They Always Come back:
Your tastes have changed but Fruit Stripe Gum has not. Aside from the packaging the gum is still the same. It still loses its flavor in a record 5 minutes 27 seconds.
Try it for yourself Buy the bubble gum version on Amazon quick before it goes away.

WHY?

Sometimes I feel like an Internet version of Jacques Cousteau. I search the vast Internet sea in search of some sort of long lost rare Americana. I do have to admit there are some subjects that seem to only exist in the polluted Wikisea. I cannot avoid using Wiki as a source as some of the featured subjects simply do not exist in accessible Internet waters. Sometimes my Calypso must occasionally drop it's anchor in the middle of Shamu's tank.
Apparently This is frowned upon by other Internet trollers.
Nuts to you I say. I'm not typing or cutting and pasting this blog for you. I'm doing it for me. I'll do my best to ensure the information is correct and as up to date as possible. Finding something lost from my past is the little bright spot in my now sunless day. I find something and I post it here. I am guilty of cutting and pasting info that I find simply because the info does not need to be rewritten. That apparently is a crime. So I have placed on the sidebar an ugly little disclaimer for all to read. If you feel I have infringed upon you I will remove the post. If you feel I have infringed upon someone else and you feel offended vicariously... I don't know what to say. I appreciate the concern. I will be more diligent in posting links back to reference material.

I welcome all comments and greatly appreciate additional info on the posts. For instance Marko let me know there is a crappy Trader Vic's up in Portland. Thanks! I had no idea! An virtual anonymous poster hipped me to the Naugles commercial and pointed out that it was not Roger C Carmel but Avery Schriber. Thanks! Now that's not to say Roger C Carmel did not do the Naugles commercials. In fact he did them to his death and Avery took over. I'm trying to figure out why I need to do this blog at all. I think my reasoning is to answer the question "what the hell happened to...?" Places like LOVE'S ribs? What the hell? What happened? Once I have an answer I can move on. There is nothing wrong with looking for answers is there?

Love's

Love's was family friendly chain of restaurants that featured ribs. It was popular in the early to mid-seventies. There were many locations throughout southern California. Love's was famous for their special BBQ sauce. The Hollywood Blvd. location, just a stones throw from Fredrick's of Hollywood, was popular into the mid-Eighties until it became a hang out for drug dealers.The Woodland Hills location was popular despite the fact it was tucked away in a parking lot behind RB Furniture. Love's big Television debut was in the 1979 T.V. movie "Like Normal People" which starred Shawn Cassidy as a mentally challenged man who worked at Love's Pico Blvd. location. A very convenient location as it was across the street from 20th Century Fox. All Love's restaurants featured the same dark wood interior and "Like Normal People" showcases that interior well. Stand-alone Love's locations all features the same unique architecture similar to Pizza Hut's 1980's design. Around that time the parent company of Love's, Butterfield, decided that the dark interior was a drawback. The trend at the time, was lighter meals in an open well lit atmosphere. Far from the dim dark rooms filled with the smell of Barbecue. The chain was sold to Butterfield in 1983 and they simply screwed with it. Trying to reformulate and reinvent the rib house was a losing proposition. Love's, as a chain, closed in the late 1980's. If anyone has any information about the history of this chain please let me know.

They Always Come Back:
The only listed franchised location left on the planet is, get this, WAY OVER HERE.
Love's BBQ sauce is still available here.

Please Stand By

I am experiencing some blogging difficulties. I will return soon.
In the mean time...
Enjoy this completely random picture:

The Lost Language of Diners.

It's like Latin, A dying language.

Why did diner slang disappear?

There are several reasons, among them the disappearance of the brassy, sassy waitresses and countermen who made the colorful jargon part of their working routine during its heyday in the '30s, '40s and early '50s.
At several diners around New York, managers said, employees don't use slang, partly because there is no one to teach it, but also because orders to cooks are increasingly complex and thus require more exact terminology.

And some slang has gone mainstream — among it, O.J., BLT, stack, mayo, over easy, hash browns, sunnyside up and blue plate special.

Primarily the loss of these terms is due to the prevalence of fast food chains and the use of computerized order systems has eliminated the need for wait staff to "call" orders. However, the use of restaurant diner lingo is still present in small towns as well as retro-style restaurants and is a colorful part of Americana

The following list is extensive and by no means complete.
Here is your diner slang primer:

A blonde with sand: coffee with cream and sugar
A Murphy: a potato, so called because of their association with the Irish diet of potatoes, Murphy being a common Irish name
A spot with a twist: a cup of tea with lemon
A stack of Vermont: pancakes with maple syrup
An M.D.: a Dr Pepper
Adam & Eve on a raft: two poached eggs on toast
Adam's Ale: water
All hot: baked potato
Angel: sandwich man
Angels on horseback: oysters rolled in bacon on toast
B and B: bread and butter
B.L.T.: bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich
Bailed hay: Hot Pockets
Balloon juice/Belch water/Alka Seltzer: seltzer, soda water
Beef Stick: bone
Billiard: buttermilk
Birdseed: breakfast
Black and white: chocolate soda with vanilla ice cream
Bloodhounds in the Hay: hot dogs and sauerkraut
Bloody: very rare
Blowout patches: pancakes
Blue-plate special: a dish of meat, potato, and vegetable served on a plate (usually blue) sectioned in three parts. This can also refer to the daily special.
Boiled leaves: Tea
Bow-wow/Bun pup/Tube steak/Groundhog: a hot dog
Bowl of red: a bowl of chili con carne, so called for its deep red color.
Break it and shake it: add egg to a drink
Breath: onion
Bridge/Bridge party: four of anything (from bridge the card game)
Bronx vanilla/Halitosis/Italian Garlic: garlic
Bubble Dancer: dishwasher
Bucket of cold mud: a bowl of chocolate ice cream
Bullets/Whistleberries/Saturday night: Baked beans, so called because of the supposed flatulence they cause.
Burn one: put a hamburger on the grill
Burn one, take it through the garden and pin a rose on it: hamburger with lettuce, tomato and onion
Burn the British: toasted English muffin
C.J. Boston: cream cheese and jelly
Cackle fruit/Cackleberries: eggs
Canned cow: evaporated milk
Chewed with Fine Breath: hamburger with onions
China: rice pudding
Chopper: a table knife
Coney Island chicken/Coney Island: a hot dog, so called because hot dogs were popularly associated with the stands on Coney Island.
Cow feed: a salad
Cow paste/Skid Grease/Axle grease: butter
Cowboy Western: a western omelette or sandwich
Creep: Draft beer
Crowd: three of anything (possibly from the saying "Two's company, three's a crowd")
Customer will take a chance: hash
Deadeye: poached egg
Drag one through Georgia: cola with chocolate syrup, probably a reference to the fact that the headquarters of Coca-Cola is in Atlanta, Georgia, and dragging anything is likely to get it muddy, i.e., darker, which would be the same result as adding chocolate syrup. Carbonated drinks such as Coca-Cola were originally served by pouring concentrated syrup into a glass and adding soda water, so they could be made to whatever strength the customer preferred.
Draw one/A cup of mud: a cup of coffee
Draw one in the Dark/Flowing Mississippi: a black coffee
Dog and maggot: cracker and cheese
Dog biscuit: a cracker
Dough well done with cow to cover: buttered toast
Dusty Miller: chocolate pudding, sprinkled with powdered malt

Eighty-six: "Do not sell to that customer" or "The kitchen is out of the item ordered". "To remove an item from an order or from the menu". Article 86 of the New York State Liquor Code defines the circumstances in which a bar patron should be refused alcohol or '86ed'. The Soup Kitchen Theory: during the depression of the 1930s, soup kitchens would often make just enough soup for 85 people. If you were next in line after number 85, you were '86ed'. The Eight Feet By Six Feet Theory: A coffin is usually eight feet long and is buried six feet under. Once in your coffin you've been 'eight by sixed', which shortens to '86ed'. Chumley's Theory: Many years ago, Chumley's Restaurant, at 86 Bedford Street in Greenwich Village, New York City, had a custom of throwing rowdy customers out the back door. During Prohibition, Chumley's was a speakeasy owned by Leland Stanford Chumley. When the cops were on the way, someone would shout "86," and they would all exit through the back door.

Eve with a lid on: apple pie, referring to the biblical Eve's tempting of Adam with an apple. The "lid" is the pie crust
Eve with a moldy lid: apple pie with a slice of cheese
Fifty-five: a glass of root beer
First lady: spareribs, a pun on Eve's being made from Adam's spare rib.
Fish eyes or Cat's eyes: tapioca pudding
Flop two: two fried eggs, over easy
Flop two, over easy: fried egg flipped over (carefully!) and the yolk is still very runny. That means the other side is cooked for a few seconds
Flop two, over medium: turning over a fried egg and the yolk begins to solidify
Flop two, over hard: fried egg, flipped and cooked until the yolk is solid all the way through
Fly cake or Roach cake: raisin cake or huckleberry pie
Foreign Entanglements: plate of spaghetti
Frenchman's delight: pea soup
Frog sticks: french fries
Fry two/Let the sun shine: 2 fried eggs with unbroken yolks
GAC: Grilled American cheese sandwich. This was also called "jack" (from the pronunciation of "GAC")
Gallery: booth
Gravel train: sugar bowl
Graveyard stew: milk toast; buttered toast, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, and dropped into a bowl of warm milk
Hail: ice
Hemorrhage: tomato ketchup
High and dry: a plain sandwich without butter, mayonnaise, or lettuce
Hockey puck: a hamburger, well done
Hold the hail: no ice
Honeymoon salad: lettuce alone
Hot top: hot chocolate
Hounds on an Island: franks and beans
Houseboat/Dagwood Special: a banana split made with ice cream and sliced bananas
Hug one/Squeeze one: a glass of orange juice
Ice the rice: rice pudding with ice cream
In the alley: served as a side dish
In the weeds: a waitress/cook that can't keep up with the tables. Refers back to chefs' military roots, where being in the weeds would cause your army to be slaughtered.
Irish turkey: corned beef and cabbage
Jack Benny: cheese with bacon (named after the famed comedian)
Java/Joe: Coffee
Keep off the grass: no lettuce
Ladybug: fountain man
Let it walk/Go for a walk/On wheels/Give it shoes: an order to go, a takeaway order. It’s to go.
Life preservers/Sinkers: doughnuts
Lighthouse: bottle of ketchup
Looseners: prunes, so called because of their supposed laxative effect.
Love Apples: tomatoes
Lumber: A toothpick
Machine Oil: syrup
Magoo: custard pie
Maiden's delight: cherries, so called because "cherry" is a slang term for the maidenhead, hymen
Marry: bring items together for cleaning up, i.e. marry the salt and pepper.
Mayo: mayonnaise
Mike and Ike/The twins: salt and pepper shakers
Million on a platter: a plate of baked beans
Mississippi Mud/Yellow paint: mustard
Moo juice/Cow juice/Baby juice/Sweet Alice: milk
Mully/Bossy in a bowl: beef stew, so called because "Bossy" was a common name for a cow.
Mystery in the alley: a side order of hash
Nervous pudding: gelatin
No cow: without milk
Noah's boy: a slice of ham (Ham was Noah's second son)
Noah’ boy on bread: a ham sandwich
On the hoof: any kind of meat, cooked rare
One from the Alps: a Swiss cheese sandwich
One on the City: a glass of water
Paint a bow-wow red: a hot dog with ketchup
Paint it red: put ketchup on an item
Pair of drawers: two cups of coffee
Pigs in a blanket: a ham (sometimes a sausage) sandwich
Pin a rose on it: add onion to an order
Pittsburgh: something burning, toasted or charred, so called because of the smokestacks once evident in Pittsburgh, a coal-producing and steel-mill city. In meat cookery, this refers to a piece of meat charred on the outside while still red within.
Pope Benedict: an eggs benedict, but fit for a pope
Put a hat on it: add ice cream
Put out the lights and cry: an order of liver and onions, "Lights" is a term sometimes used for the edible, mainly internal organs of an animal
Quail: Hungarian goulash
Rabbit food: lettuce
Radar Range: microwave oven, from the Amana Radarange, whose parent company, Raytheon, was the first to manufacture and market the microwave oven.
Radio: tuna salad sandwich on toast (a pun on "tuna down," which sounds like "turn it down," as one would the radio knob)
Radio Sandwich: tuna fish sandwich
Raft: toast
Sea dust: Salt
Shake one in the hay: strawberry milkshake
Shingle with a shimmy and a shake: buttered toast with jam or jelly, hence the reference to 'shake'.
Shit on a shingle/S.O.S.: minced dried beef with gravy on toast, mostly because it was a reviled standard fare in army messes
Shivering Hay: strawberry gelatin
Shoot from the south/Atlanta special: Coca Cola, probably a reference to the fact that the headquarters of Coca-Cola is in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sleigh Ride Special: vanilla pudding
Smear: margarine
Soup jockey: waitress
Splash of red noise: a bowl of tomato soup
Stack/Short stack: order of pancakes
Sun kiss/Oh jay (O.J.): orange juice
Sunny-side up: the eggs are fried without flipping them, so the yolk looks just like a sun on white background
Sweep the kitchen/Sweepings/Clean up the kitchen: a plate of hash
Throw it in the mud: add chocolate syrup
Two cows, make them cry: Two hamburgers with onions
Vermont: maple syrup, because maple syrup comes primarily from the state of Vermont in the U.S.
Walk a cow through the garden: Hamburger with lettuce, tomato and onion
Warts: Olives
Wax: American cheese
Well-dressed diner: codfish
Whiskey: rye bread, as in rye whiskey
Whiskey down: rye toast, the 'down' part probably comes from the action of pushing down the handle on the toaster
White Cow: vanilla milkshake
Windmill Cocktail/Adam's ale/City juice/Dog soup: glass of water
Wreath: cabbage
Wreck ‘em: scrambled eggs
Yum Yum/Sand: sugar
Zeppelin: sausage
Zeppelins in a fog: sausages and mashed potatoes


They Always Come Back:
It's up to you to keep these terms alive. Use them well.

Trader Vic's

Victor J. "Trader Vic" Bergeron packed more excitement, enjoyment and exotica into his 82 years than any other man.
It all started when Victor Jules Bergeron was a waiter at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel (home of the Tonga Room) and owned a grocery store on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland. His son - Victor, (Jr.) - grew up loving the food business, living with the family in an apartment above the store and helping out downstairs. A childhood accident cost him a leg, but left him with a penchant for telling colorful stories.

In 1932, with a nest egg of $700 and carpentry help from his wife's brothers - plus his mother's pot-bellied stove and oven - the ebullient Victor built a cozy pub across the street from the store and called it Hinky Dink's. His pungent vocabulary and ribald air made him a popular host, as did his potent tropical cocktail concoctions and delicious Americanized adaptations of Polynesian food.


Soon one of the most popular watering holes in Northern California's Bay Area, the place attracted sophisticated urbanites like writers Herb Caen and Lucius Beebe. By 1936, when Caen wittily wrote that the "best restaurant in San Francisco is in Oakland," Vic had become "The Trader" and Hinky Dink's had become "Trader Vic's," complete with a showpiece Chinese oven. Its South Pacific theme "intrigues everyone. You think of beaches and moonlight and pretty girls. It is complete escape," Vic said at the time. Among Trader Vic's more tantalizing legacies is the original Mai Tai, the bracingly refreshing rum cocktail he created at the restaurant in 1944 and introduced to the Hawaiian islands in the 1950s. Tahitian for "the very best," Mai Tai became the slogan for his entire operation.

In creating his new cocktail, Trader Vic employed what was becoming the ever-present hallmark of all his food and beverage recipes: a light touch, meant to enhance but never disguise nor overpower the fine original taste of his main ingredients. All of his recipes reflect the man's own personality: distinctive, lighthearted and memorable.

By 1946, the world had beaten a path to Vic's door, prompting Lucius Beebe to write in an introduction to "Trader Vic's Book of Food and Drink" published by Doubleday that year: "Trader Vic's is ... more than an Oakland institution. Its influence is as wide as the Pacific and as deep as a Myrtle Bank punch. Vic's trading post is long on atmosphere, and it is possible for the ambitious patron with a talent for chaos to get into more trouble with obsolete anchors, coiled hausers of boa-constrictor dimensions, fish nets, stuffed sharks... Hawaiian ceremonial costumes, tribal drums, boathooks and small bore cannon than the waiters can drag him out of in a week."

The Trader eventually opened 25 Polynesian-style restaurants around the world, and several Señor Pico Mexican restaurants. His son, Lynn Bergeron, eventually took over the restaurant operation and remains Chairman Emeritus of Trader Vic's Restaurant Company.

The Trader's eldest daughter, Jeanne B. Hittell, is retired, having served for many years on the Board of Directors and as Secretary/Treasurer of the Trader's companies. Daughter Yvonne E. Seely, is also retired after decades of dedication to charity work on behalf of Trader Vic's.

Sadly the Bay Area Trader Vic's closed last week. The Beverly Hills location closed last year. Trader Vic's is on its way to becoming just another memory.

They Always Come Back:
Several incarnations of the Trader Vic's Mai Tai formula can be found here.

The Trader Vic's Mai Tai mix is no longer being sold at Von's grocery stores. The entire Safeway chain is affected as they claim it has been discontinued, which is bad news indeed. As of today the mix can be found here.

Pic 'N' Save

pic 'n' save
Originally uploaded by organdonor

William Zimmerman founded Pic 'N' Save Corporation in 1950 by Culver City, California. By 1985, it operated 90 stores in California and six other Western U.S. states. It later expanded to the Southwest and the South, and left both markets in the late 1990s.



In 2002, Big Lots (formerly Consolidated Stores Corporation) bought out the remaining Pic 'N' Save stores and converted them into the Big Lots brand.


They Always Come Back:
The merchandise is exactly the same. In fact, you can see Pic 'N' Save tags under current Big Lots tags on some of the larger white elephants. (quite literally )

S.S. Adams Company

Soren Adam Sorensen was born near Aarhus Denmark in 1879 to Hans and Sofia Sorensen, and immigrated to the U.S.A. with his family at age four, and grew up in Perth Amboy, New Jersey where his father operated a saloon. In 1904 Adams found himself employed as a salesman for a dye company. One of the products he sold caused workers to sneeze, and Sam found a way to extract this derivative from the dye and called this new powder Cachoo. He was inundated by requests for this product from his friends and so, he decided to sell his interest in a hotel in York, Pennsylvania, and used the money to launch the Cachoo Sneezing Powder Company in Plainfield, New Jersey.
Within a few years, the sneezing powder craze that swept the country had subsided, and Sam set out to innovating new products. He also changed the name of the company to S.S. Adams Co., to reflect that he was no longer a one product company. The Exploding Cigarette Box , the Snake Nut Can, Itching Powder, the Stink bomb, and the Dribble glass all entered the Adams line in the next decade.
In 1928, Sam invented the prototype of what was to become the Joy Buzzer, a mechanical device placed in the hand, which emitted a loud vibrating buzz, when a button on the buzzer was depressed. This would usually occur when two people shook hands. He took the prototype to Dresden, Germany, where a tool and die maker created the tooling to make small parts for the item, which was now just 3.2cm (1-1/4 inches) in diameter and 1.8cm (3/4 inch) thick. The final item was copyrighted in 1932. The success of the item allowed him to greatly increase his staff and purchase a stately new factory building in Neptune, New Jersey, all during the Great Depression.
Sam and S.S. Adams went on to create many more successful novelties: The Bar Bug in Ice Cube, The Money Maker, The Squirting Nickel, The Jumping Coin, Laughing Tissue as well as an extensive line of magic tricks and puzzles. He claimed to have devised over 600 different items, and patented about 40 of them. He continued to lead S.S. Adams Company until his death in Asbury Park, NJ in 1963 at age 85. Along with super hot candy and soap that turned your hands black Adams novelties were sold throughout the United States with the help of the roadside chain Stuckey's. The SS Adams products were an affordable line of pranks and magical items sold in the magic shop of Disneyland. Children of the 1950's through 1970's were very familiar with the entire line of SS Adams. Today the product line has faded into obscurity.

They Always Come Back:
S.S. Adams products and history are available online.
Disneyland , to this day, proudly features S.S. Adams products.

Orange Julius

The drink grew out of an orange juice stand opened in Los Angeles in 1926 by Julius Freed. Sales were initially modest, about $20 a day (over $200 adjusted for 2007 inflation). In 1929, Bill Hamlin, Freed's real estate broker, developed a mixture that made the acidic orange juice less bothersome to his stomach. Freed's stand began serving the drink, which had a frothier, creamier texture. The sales at the stand increased substantially after the introduction of the new drink, going up to $100 a day. People began lining up at the store and shouting, "Give me an Orange, Julius!" Eventually, the new drink would simply be called "the Orange Julius".
During the 1950s and 1960s, Orange Julius was sold at a variety of outlets, including state and county fairs and freestanding Orange Julius stands.This Orange Julius was a fruit smoothie, created by blending frozen orange juice, crushed ice, and a mixture of powdered sugar and dairy creamer.
An Orange Julius restaurant existed in London for a short while in the early 1970s. It was situated in the suburb of Golders Green, but despite its apparent popularity, Orange Julius did not really take off in the UK and the Golders Green branch was gone by about 1976.
Originally, and through the 1980's, a raw egg blended into the drink was offered as an option. This was seen as a good source of protein for body builders. However, the option was later dropped for food safety reasons, and bananas were offered as a substitute.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Orange Julius beverage stands used the image of a devil with a pitchfork, similar to that of the Arizona State University mascot, Sparky around an orange, with the slogan, "A Devilishly Good Drink". The company later dropped the logo and slogan after threats of a lawsuit from the ASU alumni association. The chain suffered after the loss of its slightly infringed mascot and sales began to drop off.

In 1987, the Orange Julius chain was bought by International Dairy Queen. IDQ, and by inclusion since 1999, Berkshire Hathaway, owns the rights to all Orange Julius stores, and have "expanded" the chain so its drinks are included in many of their Dairy Queen mall stores, called Treat Centers.

An odd bit of trivia:
Orange Julius' were also referred to as Orange Johnson's in the Southeast, specifically Tennessee.

They Always Come Back:
In 2004, Orange Julius launched a line of Premium Fruit Smoothies to compete with smoothie competitors such as Jamba Juice, Robecks, and Smoothie King.

While the name remains...sort of, little remains of the original drink made famous by that little red devilbaby. Try it for yourself and see.
Orange "Really went out of business when we were bought out by Dairy Queen " Julius

Quisp,

Quisp and Quake were two sugar-sweetened breakfast cereals originally released in 1966 in the U.S. by The Quaker Oats Company and generally advertised together (during the same commercial) as products competing against each other.
The very successful ads were cartoons created by Jay Ward of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame, and used some of the same voices, including Daws Butler as the voice of Quisp (an alien) and William Conrad as the voice of Quake (a miner).

In 1970, a contest was held by Quaker Oats to see whose cereal was the more popular of the two. In 1972, Quisp won, and Quake retreated underground.

Quake, the cartoon character, reappeared in a new cereal called Quangaroos where he obtained an Cary Grant-esque orange kangaroo as well as putting his mining helmet down in favor of an Aussie motif.
In the late-1970s, Quisp was removed from grocery stores due to low sales. It re-emerged in the mid-1980s and was quickly pulled due again to low sales.

They Always Come Back:
Quisp was re-introduced in the 1990s as the "first Internet cereal" and is still in limited distribution. You can buy it direct from their website here.

Chicken Delight

The company was started in Illinois in 1952 by American entrepreneur Al Tunick a pioneer in fast food franchising. Tunick purchased some deep fryers from a restaurant that was going out of business. He and some friends tried cooking different foods looking for a product other than french fries. At that time, chicken was pan-fried, steamed or oven-roasted. Due to the long cooking times, it was not a good fast-food item. Tunick coated some chicken in a spicy breading and lowered it into the hot oil. The chicken cooked much faster while the juices remained sealed inside. Thus, Chicken Delight was born.

He decided to market his method through small take-out and delivery locations. It was near the end of the Korean War when many women were working outside the home and had no time to cook. The slogan 'Don't Cook Tonight . . . Call Chicken Delight' became a household phrase throughout North America.

Chicken Delight quickly grew to more than 1,000 units throughout the United States and became the biggest fast-food company of its kind in North America. Chicken Delight is one of the oldest, if not the oldest chicken fast-food franchisor in the world. In 1958 a group of local businessmen in Winnipeg purchased the Chicken Delight trademarks and franchising rights for Canada and started the first store in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. In the same year another outlet opened its doors in St. Boniface, a location that is still in operation to this day.

By the mid 60's there were more than 50 units under Chicken Delight of Canada Ltd. About the same time, franchisees across the U.S. challenged the franchisor in court with the practice of requiring franchisees to buy their equipment and packaging from head office. Under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act stating the head office could not sell products above fair market value, the case was won by the franchisees. Consequently, the franchisor's main source of revenue dried up. The number of units declined significantly in the U.S. and the impact was felt in Canada as well.

Unaware of the possible consequences of the case, local entrepreneur Otto Koch purchased his first Chicken Delight franchise in 1969. Seeing the potential of the chain in Canada, Koch built and acquired additional franchise locations and in 1976 bought Chicken Delight of Canada Ltd. A big task lay ahead to rebuild an ailing franchise system. Koch concentrated on revitalizing the system in Canada by updating the stores and recreating the Chicken Delight name and brand image. By providing quality service and cleanliness, the Canadian operation once again began to prosper. This success led to Koch's acquisition of the U.S. and International arm - Chicken Delight International Inc. in 1979. For the first time the total Chicken Delight system was under one roof. Since then, Chicken Delight has continued to prosper under the guidance of past and current President and Owner Mr. Otto Koch. Meeting ever changing consumer demands with system improvements and the introduction of new menu items has led to the long lasting success of the company.
In Canada.
In the lowley United States Chicken Delight has faded from view thanks to chains like Popeyes, Churches, and the Vatican of fried chicken...
K.F.C.

They Always Come Back:
Chicken Delight franchises in the United States are few but they do exist.
If you are in New Jersey you can try your luck with these last known stateside locations:
Dumont
404 East Madison Ave.
201-385-2400

Hillsdale
100 Broadway
201-666-8828

Jersey City
731 Montgomery Street
201-433-3012

416 Central Avenue
201-659-4690

North Bergen
7718 Bergen Line Avenue
201-869-4900

Rahway
1685 Street George Avenue
201-388-3513

West Paterson
McBride Avenue & Rt. 46
201-256-8863

I'd call for you to see if they still exist but... clearly I'm lazy.

Earth Shoes

She was a free spirit. A child of nature. She turned on, tuned in, and dropped out of Berkley. She ate only natural foods. Fruit from the co-op. She never ate animals. She hated the idea of animals raised to die for her meal. She wore only cotton as it made her feel closer to the earth. Mother earth. She was the world and world was life.

He was a rebel. Out to save the world from destruction. His draft card burned and a pocket full of tabs he headed up the coast eventually settling in on the beach below Mount Tam. That’s where he met her. She was an enigma. Carly Simon hair and lace shawls.

She loved his free and easy spirit. He played the guitar for her for hours. The dropped two tabs each the day they met. Each became a swirling kaleidoscope of freedom.
He just wanted some strange wool and she was it.
They giggled as they made love on top of the serape in the back of his VW van. At one point he said she felt like mashed potatoes and she giggled. Bright starbursts of light appeared as the van rocked and the curtains shifted. The acid now surging through them in waves controlled their lovemaking. They would go at it for a 5 minutes and then get distracted by each other. She fell into his eyes and he chewed her hair. As each surge passed the focus returned and the would go at it again. Finally, after what had been hours they both fell into the universal void of passion he said “We are one now.” He collapsed and wept in her arms. She could only think of how the doctor told her she has a tilted uterus and how that didn’t stop her from enjoying getting banged by a guy who looked like Cat Stevens but sounded like Arlo Guthrie.

In reality the LSD did more than provide a good trip. He released his genetically altered seed into her genetically damaged girly bit.
His albino tadpoles, with their razor sharp fangs, were rapidly moving towards her damaged “grade A” pre-omelets. She lit a joint and passed it to her weeping tunesmith.
Just then a tiny voice yelled “eureka” as a tadpole settled in for breakfast.

8 ½ months later she lay in back of the same van, this time just outside of Monterey. She was bummed that the baby decided to come on the last day of the music festival.
He, a proud father to be, circled the van banging on his ceremonial drum to alert local Indian spirits to the arrival of his new child.
She gave birth on that same serape they conceived the child on. As the baby crowned she yelled “I AM MOTHER EARTH.” And with a grand push the child entered the world. Next to her was a metal cooler filled with Brew102 and ice. The cooler was there to keep the placenta fresh, as she would ingest that later, somehow, because it has a lot of nutrients. She never finished that chapter so she figured she’d keep it on ice until she found out how to prepare it.

These were your parents.

Eventually they wore EARTH SHOES.


Earth shoes are for Hippie Idiots.
Hidiots.

Earth shoes were an unconventional style of shoe invented in the 1970s in Scandinavia: unlike other shoes, the soles were thick and the heels were thin (Negative Heel Technology), so wearing them one walked heel-downward. The advertisements said that it was like walking on the beach, where one's footprints are this way.

The Always Come Back:
Earth shoes are still in existence, and has recently re-introduced shoes with negative heels in a variety of styles ranging from sandals to running shoes.
They actually boast on there website the following:
"We have been manufacturing in China for the past ten years, which allows us to be competitive with the rest of the shoe industry, and to provide you with the very best value. Family members and executives go there frequently to watch operations and working conditions. Our Company operates with the highest standards. We are proud to say we have been a factor in changing the workers way of life. The factory and offices are up to par with many US plants, and our workers enjoy a lifestyle above Asian standards. In short, Earth, and other US companies operating in China's special industrial zones, have created a new life for Chinese workers. We are pushing the envelope and raising the bar; fighting for better living and a better environment. We have and will continue to influence changes to improve people's quality of life everywhere on Earth."

Pea Soup Andersen's

The area of Buellton California began to change rapidly after the turn of the century. By 1911 Danish settlers were pouring into the area starting farms and businesses. William Budd, brother of Mrs. Emily Buell, opened a post office and it became an official United States Post Office in 1920. When the highway was diverted through Buellton in 1924 and electricity was brought to the valley, Anton and Juliette Andersen purchased a small parcel of land and building from William Budd and opened a restaurant.

Anton, who was trained in exclusive restaurants in Europe and New York, put his tuxedo in mothballs and donned a bib apron, soon to become his personal trademark. He and his charming wife, Juliette, opened a tiny restaurant and named it "Andersen's Electric Cafe," in honor of their prized possession, a new electric stove.

It was a complete about-face for Andersen, who had just come from New York, where he had been associated with world-class establishments such as Marguerey, Voisin, Louis Sherry and other notable establishments and restaurateurs of the day. He helped open the Los Angeles Biltmore until he tired of the rat race (as he put it) associated with city hotels. So, from catering to the gourmet trade, Anton and Juliette began their new venture by serving simple, wholesome everyday foods. hot cakes and coffee, ice cream sodas and such, to highway travelers. Their first customers were the salesmen, tourists and truck drivers who drove the main highway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The cafe was on the road to the fabulous Hearst Castle at San Simeon and as this was the heyday of Hearst's newspaper empire, many of the Hearst writers and reporters, such as Arthur Brisbane and 0.0. McIntyre developed the habit of stopping at Andersen's. Their praise of excellent food and hospitable atmosphere was carried in their newspaper columns throughout the entire country.

In 1928, the Andersen's sank a well and built a hotel and dining room for their now quite popular cafe. They named their new establishment the "Bueltmore," a play on words referring to Anton's days with the Biltmore.

Anton was quite a character, especially famous for his extraordinary capacity to remember faces and names without error. Soon celebrities were stopping for a meal on their way up and down the coast. Apparently the young Victor Borge was among the famous people who visited Andersen's in the early days. When he would enter the cafe the two men, Victor and Anton, would let out a whoop followed by rapid fire Danish at full volume, much to the amazement of the other customers. At the same time, Santa Barbarans and other Southern Californians were discovering Andersen's and learning to plan their outings and trips to enable them to make the stop.

Juliette was devoutly Catholic; she and young Robert attended mass in Solvang at Mission Santa Inez, one of California's original missions. She was a gracious woman, warm and friendly to all those around her. Juliette was from the east of France and an expert cook, so she prepared many of the recipes she had brought with her; the most popular with the customers was her split pea soup. Many special dishes now appear on the large Andersen menu, still the most popular specialty of all and the one which finally changed the name of the restaurant is Juliette's tasty and nourishing split pea soup.

With the demand for their split pea soup increasing steadily, the Andersen's soon had to locate large suppliers of peas far from their area. Just three years after the first bowl was served, they were amazed to realize they needed to order ONE TON of peas! When Anton faced the problem of what to do with one ton of peas, he solved it by putting them in the window, proclaiming the restaurant, "The Home of Split Pea Soup," the slogan it carries to this day.

Though a ton of peas seemed a staggering amount then, Andersen's today "splits" many tons of peas every month, transforming them into the famed soup. ..averaging thousands of bowls a day!

In recognition of the restaurant's pre-eminence as probably the world's foremost pea purchaser, the pea growers of Idaho have named Andersen's the location for the start of the annual "National Split Pea Soup Week" every November, to honor the pea and the delicious soup it makes.

There's no secret about the Andersen's Soup recipe...quite the contrary, for Andersen's even has bags of split peas with the recipe included in their specialty foods department. But, even with the recipe, many find that their soup just doesn't taste quite the same as the restaurant's. Perhaps it's the magical touch that Juliette lent to the cauldrons and ladles so many years ago!


During World War II, the restaurant closed to the public. The hotel rooms were used to house military personnel stationed locally and meals were served to servicemen and their families. Robert Andersen also purchased a small building across the street from the hotel and converted it to a canteen. The canteen was operated by the American Women's Voluntary Services (A.W.V.S.), patterned after a program begun in England. The canteen was called "Co Na Mar Corner," representing all the services: Coast Guard, Navy, Marines and Army. The local Valley members took turns providing meals for the servicemen on weekends.

After the war, Pea Soup Andersen's opened with a flourish. Robert commissioned Disney-trained artist Milt Neil to re-draw the two cartoon chefs to use for promotion and they became Pea Soup Andersen's trademark. The big fellow is shown having all the fun and the easy side of the work, as the little one holds the chisel, looking sad and a bit frightened, always in danger of the big mallet. A contest was held and from thousands of entries the names Hap-pea and Pea-Wee were chosen.

Animator and comic artist MILT NEIL died in October,1997. In the 'thirties and 'forties, Neil worked for Disney on Fantasia, The Reluctant Dragon, Dumbo, Bambi and Saludos Amigos. After World War II he ran his own commercial shop on the East Coast, and he was a long-time instructor at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon Art. Anyone who has ever driven Highway 101 between Oxnard and San Luis Obispo has seen Neil's cartoon logo for the omnipresent Anderson's Pea Soup billboards.


Robert "Pea-Soup"Andersen decided he needed a break from the high paced family business and in April of 1965 sold the Buellton restaurant to Vince Evans. The new owner of Pea Soup Andersen's was a larger than life personality, well known and already an established leader in the Santa Ynez Valley. At the end of World War II, Vince began a career in acting and developed a close friendship with fellow actor Ronald Reagan, who later purchased a ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley. Vince and his wife Margery moved to a 900-acre ranch south of Buellton in 1959. They raised cattle, grew alfalfa and operated a feed store. When he purchased Pea Soup Andersen's, he jumped into his newest adventure with the same high energy and enthusiasm that he displayed for many other ventures.

The business thrived under Evans' hand. By then the restaurant was purchasing 50 tons of peas each year, enough for three-quarters of a million bowls of soup! He built an aviary and filled it with parrots, he installed a train for children to ride that went from the restaurant to the area where the motel now stands, and even had a miniature wild animal park for two years. The park was discontinued in 1970 to make way for the addition of a Danish style motel in 1970. The Evans were very active with the renowned Rancho Vistadores, Santa Barbara Symphony and constantly supported the Valley children's 4-H projects. In 1979, Vince purchased an English Pub that had stood for over 100 years at the Liverpool railway station in London. The Pub was reconstructed in Buellton and opened as a bar and entertainment center. The 1970 also brought more locations as Vince added two more by the same name in Mammoth Mountain and in Santa Nella, south of Stockton.

Vince had expansive dreams and the energy to make the dreams a reality. Unfortunately, neither dreams nor energy could change the cards fate dealt him. On April 23, 1980, Vince, his wife Margery and their 21 year old daughter, Venetia, were tragically killed in a small plane crash just minutes from the Santa Ynez Valley airport.

After Vince died, the company fell into the hands of a bank's estate department. In 1982, a fourth Pea Soup Andersen's restaurant was added, along with a hotel, in Carlsbad just off I-5 at Palomar Airport Road. The following year, Pea Soup Properties and PSA Management were formed by a group of financial planners to acquire the estate's assets.

The ill-conceived Carlsbad property was the catalyst for filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1986.

That was the end of the Travelers Special.

However...

They Always Come Back:
The original Location is still open and serving their famous Travelers Special. (Half of any sandwich and a bottomless bowl of Split Pea Soup)

Visit PEA SOUP ANDERSENS