Atlantic Wayback Machine - fast food

I'm still listening to "Q is for Quarry", the Sue Grafton book set in the 80's. It's been kind of fun going down memory lane as the book progresses. One of the characters in the book is recovering from cancer and has a hankering for fast food. He' an old guy who hasn't experienced it before - oh, you know what I'm talking about. Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

Yeah, the golden arches had made it to Atlantic, Iowa by the 80's - but I was no longer living in town by then. In my golden era, the 70's we had Lally's! It was down by Sunnyside Pool, right on Highway 6 by Pizza Hut. The restaurant was owned by a family named Mullally - Mike and Judy, originally from LeMars. The restaurants were burger joints - the food, was good in my recollection.

I know a little bit about Lally's because my high school boyfriend Mike McCauley worked there...so I hung out there a bit...flirting, ya know. He looked so cute in his little white cook's hat. He had to wash his hands with salt and lemon to get rid of the onion smell. I gave him my beloved class ring to wear on his pinky...he lost it. No...it didn't end up in someone's burger Phew! It was found in the parking lot. Needless to say I got that sucker back. (Meanwhile I still wore his all wrapped in yarn - so romantic!)

In the book I'm listening to, Kinsey orders a pizza. I couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't a Pizza Hut pepperoni. Or thin Supreme? Oh Pizza Hut, why won't you just go retro and return to your original menu. (keep the wings though). Pizza, Hoagies, Salads. Damn good. #whymesswithsuccess

They had updated this logo by the time a store opened in Atown

I remember when I was a lifeguard - I'd buzz over for lunch and purchase a nice sandwich -  creamy Italian salad dressing, lettuce, several type of meat on an Italian hoagie bun toasted nicely. Delish and all for like $2.75. Plus a Dr. Pepper - my drink of choice back then....when I could slurp down 300 calories of sugar and not consider the consequences...another boyfriend (ah but it was very brief) Rick Ortiz, worked there along with the rest of his fam - dad and sister Renee.

Check out this Pizza Hut commercial from 1975.

The next place east was a fave - but not normally for real food. Dairy Queen was for creamy delicious softserve ice cream with a curly cue on top. I remember when the prices started at $.10 or for a vanilla cup for our doggie Jud. When I went to DQ with other families I always suffered the dilemma - should I go big and expensive or just get a slush, which is pretty much sugar, color and ice. What was the name of the family who ran that place? Their daughter is a couple year older than I am. Gail? Later they gave up the expensive franchise.

Crossing Olive Street on Highway 6, briefly Quick's had a place along Highway 6. My sister Cindy says they had the most delish Maidrites with frigid cold milk. I myself loved their donuts. They had a place downtown for a time too - I don't know which was first.

Next came the A&W - which later became Town and Country. Damn you franchises and all your fees! I missed the Mama Burger, Papa Burger, Teen Burger and even the Baby Burger. Those little tiny root beer mugs were so cute! That restaurant had window ordering and carhops. My friend (no not boyfriend this time) Mona worked there. She would make me extra special Pepsi Floats. The food was pretty good too. The poor owners - a young couple with children -  lived right by the restaurant and had no life...except for the restaurant.

That was pretty much it for what I consider "fast" food. There were other places one could carry out from. The "Bowlocks" would order carryout from the Pines (we call it The Pin due to an unfortunate burn out of the neon during a period of time), across Highway 6 and a bit east from the A&W - best broasted chicken in SW Iowa. I'd sometimes ride along with Dad to pick up the food. we'd sit at the bar - he'd order me up a Shirley Temple while our food was finished up. I think Dad drank something else. My drink came with fruit and one of those animal shaped swizzle sticks. Yay - a new toy.

I love the word swizzle

Each order came in its own little box and we'd get a special order of their signature relish tray item - cheese, corn relish, pickled herring. I would get legs and wings with a baked potato. Plus a salad with their special salad dressing - they bottle it today. I need to stop and get some. Yumm. My Aunt Jeanie love their Oinker' Sauce.

The mother of Reinvention

My sister Betsy posted this poster on Facebook today. It's oh so true, right? You can't stop it. Change can be like a tidal wave - something big. Or change takes place as subtly as the tide. You're enjoying sunbathing and the next thing you know, waves are lapping up against your towel.

That's why, in my opinion, we need to learn to reinvent ourselves - or that tide just might go over our heads. It's true for individuals, teams, restaurants, towns, anything really. You can't stay the same and expect to succeed just because you are successful right now. It's likely others are checking you out aiming to overtake you as you read this!

I was pondering this while driving recently. I thought about Pizza Hut. The restaurant used to be IT in Atlantic, Iowa, my hometown. It was our town's first restaurant franchise, I think - opening in the early 1970's on Highway 6. It was run by the Ortiz family. Rick Ortiz (unpolitically correctly called "Taco" by classmates) was in my class. His father, he and his sister Renee all worked at the restaurant. Rick and I briefly "went together" in about 9th grade. I don't think we even held hands or went to a movie. Guess it didn't take! He worked a lot. At Pizza Hut.

I loved Pizza Hut! Thin and Crispy Pepperoni and a salad with Italian dressing. Betsy liked that creamy Italian so much she licked the bowl. The other prime menu offering was their Italian Hoagie sandwich- crispy Italian bread with pepperoni, Canadian Bacon lettuce and that same dressing - put through the pizza oven. Dang that was good. They'd wrap it in a foil bag if you purchased it "to-go".

Pizza Hut was king of the hill. There was no competition. I liked the oil cloth table coverings - old Italy look. They featured frosty mugs for beer. Of course I was about 15 years old - beer was out for a while. But I lusted in my heart. Pizza Hut rested on their laurels and they could afford to back then. Then in the 1980's few other companies came out that hawk pizza. PepsiCo purchased Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut discontinued the Hoagie (knucklehead idea if you ask me), but continues to come out with new and different types of pizza. They added wings - yum! Restaurants need to continually reinvent themselves. The chain has had some staying power. Look at Olive Garden and Red Lobster - struggling. And they're much younger chains. People still pack them in here in DSM at those chains - but they must have lost their luster elsewhere. By now, Pizza Hut has too. Too much competition. And no Hoagie.

Betsy works as a sales rep for the Longaberger Company. That company started by marketing wooden baskets - I first became aware of them in the 1980's. That company has branched out to many other types of products through the years. I have their pottery and several baskets. Betso gave us a very nice knife for Christmas. Nice stuff.
http://www.longaberger.com/ourProducts.aspx

People reinvent themselves too. Often it's by necessity - the stages in one's life. College graduation, marriage - and a big one: parenthood. Hey, knucklehead - you're someone's mommy now. Start acting all, um, parental. Too bad there's no nurture switch to flip.

I should have had a makeover - reinventing my hair. Oooh that mullet

I enjoyed the makeover to "empty nester". Beyond those defined changes in my life, there were other times that I knew I needed to change. After Jud was born,  I decided my career as a banker was over - I would work part time and stay home with the kids. I delivered oxygen to people in their homes and in nursing homes for a friend's business. Hey - it wasn't something I'd ever dreamed of doing, but it helped us make ends meet. We could send the kids to the sitter less often. (that's probably why they're a bit off kilter now that I think of it...) haha.

Through that time period I knew I needed to find "my calling". I visited our community college to figure out just what it was. I took a test to point me in the right direction and briefly considered attending grad school for a masters degree in library science. Then I looked at those two kids who would also need college degrees someday and decided spending lots of $ on more school for me wasn't the thing to do. Luckily I fell into a job as an environmental educator - and invented a career for myself in that industry.

When I went to work in the big city I upgraded my landfill clothes and hair too. But I'm still me - I'll never be a high maintenance kinda gal - so most people didn't even notice the change. The next two weeks I'll be taking classes in WordPress. I like to keep learning. I even dragged Paul into the Ballroom dance thing.

Yes, sometimes I'd like things to stay the same. I get pissy about change. I've not adapted to Netflix. We've got changes coming at work with two sections joining the Land Quality Bureau. That means more people are moving onto our side of 5th Floor of the Wallace building.  While I get to stay in the cubicle I moved to a few months ago, nearly everyone else in our section is moving around me. Everyone I work with is a buzz with talk of the changes. Theresa Stiner was coughing today and jokingly, Mike Smith said, "if you croak, I get your cubicle." Yes, we're all pulling together...