I guess things "progressed" (if you can call it progress) faster here in the west. My folks told me about soda fountains from their youth, but by the mid '50's, when I was a kid, they were all gone.
Had a couple of "dime stores" (one was a Ben Franklin), that had bulk candy in a wood cabinet with glass front. Had one kind of candy called "Chocolate drops", I think- shaped like a bon-bon, thin chocolate covering over a center made of stuff like the middle of a Mountain Bar- most were white centers, some strawberry and lemon, and once in a great while, you got one with a maple or chocolate center. SCORE!
We had 2 A&W's- I dated a car hop from one in the mid 60's. She got off shift at about 11 PM on weekends, and always smelled like a cheeseburger. Fine with me, I didn't much care what she smelled like, as long as it wasn't a cow! Got plenty of that on MY day job on the farm. Those are gone, too, but now A & W is in with Colonel Sanders- I guess they sell root beer still, don't know about "papa" and "mama" burgers- heve never stopped in.
Jiffy Lunch Cafe- motto "Watch it Cook". Coupla booths, coupla tables, and a counter with swivel seats. The grill was behind the counter, and it even featured "Peaches" Corbin, the owner, complete with ample belly, white T shirt and dingy apron, and a cigar in his mouth. Great guy, made a great burger. Married to a sweet, trim, prim little lady who was the school secretary and organist at the church- world's most unlikely couple.
Cobbler shop that smelled like real leather and polish, operated by Wayne Blue, who also raised really good polled Herefords.
Pioneer Feed and Seed, which smelled like an old fashioned feed store should. Ottmar and Jimmy Voegel ran it. When I started raising cattle when I was about 12, bought all my grain there. Ottmar convinced me I should get a checking account- would make things easier. I did, and felt pretty cool. I broke a piece of lab equipment in Science in 8th grade- had to pay for it- 35 bucks. Pulled out my checkbook and wrote a check to the science teacher (I happened to be pretty flush at the time!)- it took some convincing before he'd take it.
Had my account at the bank in Tenino, small town where I went to school. Got a note from the bank one day, when I was about 15- from Carol, a girl a year ahead of me in school, who had a summer job at the bank (she was the school supt.'s daughter)- "You had a check that was going to bounce- I covered it- Please pay me $7.xx next time I see you. And you need to deposit some money, quick." Saw her at the fair the next week and settled up.
Phone guy came out to disconnect the phone one summer day- mom apparently misplaced the bill. He wouldn't take a check from a 12 year old, but asked if I could cash one somewhere. I knew my dad ran a tab at the gas station out by the freeway, so he took me there (about 2 miles each way)- I told the owner my tale of woe, and would he cash a check, he said don't bother with the check, and just handed Mr. Bell what he needed, out of the till.
A kid wouldn't have any place to do that today, but it wouldn't matter, because the phone guy wouldn't take you there anyhow. Say what you will about all our modern conveniences, I miss those days.
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Today's Featured Article - An Old-Time Tractor Demonstration - by Kim Pratt. Sam was born in rural Kansas in 1926. His dad was a hard-working farmer and the children worked hard everyday to help ends meet. In the rural area he grew up in, the highlight of the week was Saturday when many people took a break from their work to go to town. It was on one such Saturday in the early 1940's when Sam was 16 years old that he ended up in Dennison, Kansas to watch a demonstration of a new tractor being put on by a local dealer. It was an Allis-Chalmers tractor dealership,
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