2/25/02
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PHS Bulldogs On-Line
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Feb 25, 2002
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7 Bulldog notes today & a tavern mystery solved:
Jean Bishop Ryckman (62)
Dave Whitmire (62)
Gary Baumgartner (62)
Sheldon Spadafore (65)
Marcia Bailie Plows (66)
Tim Gray (66)
Michael Williams (70)
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From: Jean Bishop Ryckman (62)
Paul,
I would like to add my thanks for your work on this site. It's wonderful!
The rumors are correct - the class of `62 is busy planning our reunion for August 16-18. We are finalizing the letter this week and I'll be sending you all the info when it's done. But for now, just know "You STILL can't outdo `62!"
Jean Bishop Ryckman (62)
Pasco, WA
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From: Dave Whitmire (62)
I believe that the place everyone is trying to figure out is a little greasy spoon called the Pasco Buffet. It was a tavern disguised as a restaurant. It was always open because of the train station across the street. It wasn't very big. Long and narrow with the bar on the right as one walked in and booths on the left. Not a whole lot of seating. Hope this settles the question. The Dew Drop Inn was on the Eastside of the underpass. Early Pasco had more taverns than churches. Wonder what that tells us?
[See entry from Gary Baumgartner below re: the mystery tavern. - Paul]
Does anyone remember the Pasco theater serials? My favorite was Rocketman. I would run my Saturday morning route of "bottle" collecting (Soda and beer) to make enough money to go to an extra matinee. We generally got to go once a month because it cost so much. Fifteen cents. Case of "stubbies" made you 25 cents if they were all in the case. That is what one could call "recycling" for that period of time. Saturday matinees were great. Kids everywhere watching the "Newsreel of the Day," and then an episode of Rocketman or something else, and finally the first of a double-feature. Go in at one and come out about 5:30 or 6:00 PM. What a life.
Adults and the older kids went to the Liberty. It had "loges" and a "balcony." Oh yes, the balcony. Nice, quiet, dark place to take one's date. A few of my buddies eventually found out that they showed movies there too. Wow!
I have to ask a question because I'm sure that this still goes on with today's kids. On the Westside over here, we have the "Best in the West" every year for restaurants, Chinese food, Mexican food, Most Romantic Getaway, etc. At least for the guys (and ladies) that I went to school with, where were your favorite "Parking Spots" to take your date? The river, the airport, the water reservoir, Inspiration Point, the Dunes. Where did you go to "talk?" Most of the places probably have a subdivision on them now. The grapes were nice in the autumn. At least that is what Bill Keller said. Did you like to "watch" the grapes grow, or "see" the races on the river? Don't be shy. The closest one was usual my favorite.
Dave Whitmire (62)
Olympia, WA
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From: Gary Baumgartner (62)
Re: Tavern on Tacoma Street
That was called the DEPOT LUNCH.
Gary Baumgartner (62)
Kennewick, WA
[BINGO! The Depot Lunch - that's it! Another of my mind's (not what it once was, you understand) fuzzy cobwebs has been swept away! Thanks, Gary! - Paul]
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From: Sheldon Spadafore (65)
To anybody living in Pasco:
I've been wondering how the old Homestead looks these days. If anyone happens to have a digital camera could you take a pic of the house at 1102 West Margaret St?
Would also be interested in how Pasco looks these days as it has been 28 years since I have been there.
Thanks.
Sheldon Spadafore (65)
Booragul, New South Wales, Australia
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From: Marcia Bailie Plows (66)
Wow, Paul lost me on his search for the elusive tavern. There was a Do Drop Inn, but I think is was on the East side of the tracks. I was in Pasco this weekend, but didn't get much of a chance to go for a site seeing tour of the past. My mom had plans when I got there. We went out to the TRAC for the Home and Garden Show. Nice facility. It is so strange to go places in the Tri-Cites, because I always expect to see someone I know. But it has grown so much that I rarely see a familiar face. Maybe we have just gotten older and now look like our parents did.
After a great time with family at my sister's home, Mom and I headed back into Pasco from the North on Highway 395. Lights of the 3 cities stretched as far as I could see. Finley, Kennewick, Richland, West Richland, Pasco all just run together. Mom says there is another big project coming into Hanford that will bring in thousands more. More change is for certain.
Just a thought. Kids can't hooky bob anymore. No REAL bumper on the cars.
The Side Track...I don't remember that one. I remember a club that was in the basement of a building downtown. It might have been 1965-66? Does anyone remember that one? It was a no alcohol place. No alcohol, right!?
This site really tries the old brain. Memories just sort of pop up out of nowhere. Thanks Paul for your time and effort.
Marcia Bailie Plows (66)
Sisters, OR
[The place in the basement was called Mario's. On the corner of Third & Lewis, across from the old post office, I think. They served espresso instead of alcohol. - Paul]
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From: Tim Gray (66)
Re: Old Pasco Taverns
I can't remember the name either, but it was right next to Frenger's Harley-Davidson shop, which of along with the train station across the street, isn't there now either. All the other places people have mentioned sure ring the memory bell. The Side Track, not the one in Lake Wobegone, rocked for a while in the early `70s. I think I spent my 25th birthday there. Let's also remember the Holiday Tavern across from the old Dog `n Suds. Dennis Bartha, class of '71 (I think), remodeled it and opened it up as Sneaker's Pub, which is still there. The Pasco Club just south of 4th and Lewis was one hoppin' place when I came home from Viet Nam in 1970. They had a house band called the Food Stamp Review. Alas, a year later when I finally got out of the Army, its glory days were about over. It had a very eclectic clientele, which caused some consternation in the "straight" world. A very derogatory letter to the editor, complaining of the pimps, prostitutes, hippies and other undesirables alleged to have been the primary customers, caused Zenas "Bud" (Zeke) Hanson, `66 (RIP) to answer with a scathing letter to the editor regarding the freedom to associate that many of us had gone to war for. While there may have been some like elements, I was always proud that Pasco, though segregated as has been pointed out on this site, provided an opportunity for people from different walks of life to come to know one another. This background has helped me in the military and elsewhere, when dealing with racist, misogynist people who should know better. The "Club" was next to another old time Pasco bar, which was in turn, next to Walker's barbershop. The name escapes me now.
While I'm rambling, I have been thinking of a post from Alan Taylor, after the news of Dave Cherry's passing. He brought up a trip with the Pasco High Stage Band to Bremerton to perform at the Olympic College Jazz Festival. Alan was in the Class of `67, and went to Bremerton 2 years. I remember the first year. We didn't make the finals, but Mr. Herbig, in his first year at the High School, made it well known that we were expected to be at the finals. Alan, myself and Ron Bailey, `68, all Drum Corps people, decided to take the ferry and see Seattle's First Avenue, which was still original. We were cruising down from the Market and spotted a movie theater, with fare that didn't play the Liberty. Ron stood on his tip toes while paying for his ticket. The movie wasn't anything racier than a weekly "Sex and the City" episode, but sure made us sit up and take notice. We made it back to Bremerton after curfew but never heard a discouraging word. Later, when I began playing in the Pendleton Roundup Mounted Band, led by Mr. Herbig, I found out he knew all along.
Adios.
Tim Gray (66)
Lexington, OR
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From: Michael Williams (70)
Hearing Joe Boyd's descriptions of some of the many cool cars reminded me of how important it was to drag the gut, and see and be scene. Was the 36 Ford the one that belonged to a guy named Storey? Joe or Dave or something like that. You guys were all older than us, but I remembered a few of the cool cars. Pat Dronen owned a nice `55 Chev, just stock, but with a nice paint job, and in the end my Dad bought it for my sister, and then it came to me. I remember a few trips out of town on the North end of town to some place where we used to watch a drag race. Wasn't the typical cruising scene from Speedy's Restaurant to the A&W? And if you wanted to hang out, you just pulled up at Volunteer Park, and sat on the slope of the lawn right across from the hospital. What are the high school kids doing in that vein these days?
Michael Williams (70)
Shanghai, China
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