Deep in the heart of Texas… before there was McDonald’s…. before there was Sonic…. before there was In-N-Out… there were Pig Stands.
Do you remember? If not, you can read all about it here. Or, read on if you – and your coronary arteries – dare:
A Dallas entrepreneur named Jessie G. Kirby built the first Pig Stand along the Dallas-Fort Worth Highway in October 1921. It was a roadside barbecue restaurant unlike any other. Its patrons could drive up, eat and leave, all without budging from their automobiles. (“People with cars are so lazy,” Kirby explained, “they don’t want to get out of them.”) Kirby lured these car-attached customers with great fanfare and spectacle. When a customer pulled into the Pig Stand parking lot, teen-aged boys in white shirts and black bow ties jogged over to his car, hopped up onto the running board—sometimes before the driver had even pulled into a parking space—and took his order. (This daredevilry won the servers a nickname: carhops.)
Soon, the Pig Stand drive-ins replaced the carhops with attractive young girls on roller skates, but the basic formula was the same: good-looking young people, tasty food, speedy service and auto-based convenience.
That first Pig Stand was a hit with hungry drivers; it soon became a chain. (The slogan: “America’s Motor Lunch.”) Kirby and his partners made one of the first franchising arrangements in restaurant history. Pig Stands began cropping up everywhere. By 1934, there were more than 130 Pig Stands in nine states. (Most were in California and Florida.) Meanwhile, the chain kept innovating. Many people say that California’s Pig Stand No. 21 became the first drive through restaurant in the world in 1931. Food historians believe that Pig Stand cooks invented deep-fried onion rings, chicken-fried steak sandwiches and a regional specialty known as Texas Toast.
(O.M.G: So much nutritional goodness!)
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Pig Stand Restaurant #41 on Calder Ave. in Beaumont, Texas – demolished in 2012 to make way for a convenience store.
But wartime gasoline and food rationing hit the Pig Stands hard. After the war they struggled to compete with newer, flashier drive-ins. By the end of the 1950s, all of the franchises outside of Texas had closed. By 2005, even the Texas Pig Stands were struggling to survive—only six remained in the whole state. The next year they had all disappeared.
On This Day in History, November 14, 2006, state officials closed the last two of Texas’ famed Pig Stand restaurants, the only remaining pieces of the nation’s first drive-in restaurant empire. The restaurants’ owners were bankrupt. They owed the Texas comptroller more than $200,000 in unpaid sales taxes.
In 2007, state bankruptcy trustees found a way for one Pig Stand, in San Antonio, to reopen. It will probably never be as popular as it once was. Customers now have to get out of their cars and go inside to eat. Yet the restaurant remains a sentimental favorite of many Texans.
I love a good puzzle. It’s a trait I inherited from my mom, one I’ve passed on to my kids. When she did them, mom used a pencil and a well-thumbed paperback copy of Merriam Webster’s Crossword Puzzle Dictionary for those hard-to-decipher clues favored by sadistic puzzle constructors everywhere. Nowadays most of us do our crosswords online and the urge to Google such stumpers is nearly overwhelming. A paperback crossword dictionary? It’s a collector’s item.
On this the day as we welcome the first paying guests at our West Sacramento Airbnb, we also remember This Day in History, 1988 – with all the gory details herehere and here.
Not to worry though, 392 Midstream Lane looks nothing like Dorthea Puente’s Victorian at 1426 F Street.
Sacramento police and coroners remove a sixth body from the yard of the property on November 14, 1988.
A sign at the notorious house reads: ‘Trespassers will be drugged and buried in the yard’
Dorothea Puente at her trial.
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Photos and booking info for non-lethal Airbnb here.
I’m reading a novel called “gossip” by Beth Gutcheon. I’m always pleased and surprised when I find the origins of a word are not what I expected. From the book, p. 18:
“Did you know that the origin of the word gossip in English is “god-sibling?” It’s the talk between people who are godparents to the same child, people who have a legitimate loving interest in the person they talk about. It’s talk that weaves a net of support and connection beneath the people you want to protect.”
That’s a far cry from the usual understanding of the word as “trifling talk, groundless rumor” or “to talk idly about the affairs of others.”
<The full etymology of the term “gossip” can be found here.>
Easiest quiz you’ll ever see on This Day in History, October 31st.
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Question #1:
On this day in 1941, Mount Rushmore is completed after 14 years of work. Can you name the 4 Presidents carved on it? Hint:
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Question #2:
On this day in 1517, the priest and scholar Martin Luther approaches the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. There he nails a piece of paper containing how many revolutionary opinions (or “theses”) that would begin the Protestant Reformation?
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Question #3:
4 + 95 = ?
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“All Hallows Eve” – or Halloween – is celebrated October 31st, the evening before All Saints Day, November 1st. Halloween is a time for trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving, dressing in costume, and telling scary stories.
Bonus Question:
What’s your favorite scary movie? (Trailer for mine, here.)
For those whose Hemoglobin A1C (a marker for Type II Diabetes) is in the normal range (<5.7%), this story is for you. For those, like me, above 6.5%, enjoy your oatmeal. Still, they do look good, don’t they?
Nope, not Chicago, not New York, and not L.A. Also not Boston, although tip of the hat and a hearty high five on your World Series win last night, Beantown!
My Kinda Town, Denver, CO
No, it’s Happy Birthday today to “The Queen City of the Plains.” You can read all about it here. I love that the name derives from a shameless ploy to curry favor with the territorial governor of Kansas. I love that it was built at the confluence of two non-navigable rivers – the South Platte and Cherry Creek. And I love that, before the 100-mile spur to Cheyenne was built, it was totally isolated from transcontinental rail traffic.
All’s well that ends well. Today, the state of our fair city would do Bill Larimer proud. Construction cranes dominate the skyline. Tech-boom Millennials are are driving rents and real estate sky high. And the Broncos, Rockies, and Nuggets… well, let’s quit while we’re ahead, shall we? 🙂
Thanksgiving will be here before you know it. In that spirit, this item caught my eye recently. RIP Dorcas Reilly. You made the world a better place.
The 2 Thanksgiving must-haves at our house (besides turkey, of course) are mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Recipes below.
Dorcas Reilly’s original recipe for Green Bean Casserole.
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. soy sauce
Dash of pepper
4 cups canned (drained) or frozen green beans
1 1/3 cups canned french-fried onions
Mix soup, milk, soy sauce, pepper, beans and 2/3 cup onions in a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until hot. Stir. Arrange remaining onions around edge of casserole. Bake 5 minutes longer.
Makes 6 servings.
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Mashed potatoes a la Dan.
Peel potatoes with a paring knife, slice thin, then boil in water on stove top for 1 hour – use as many potatoes as will fit in whatever sized pot you have handy.
Drain hot water, then mash potatoes well adding as much salt, milk or cream, and butter as your cardiologist will allow. Optional: Whip to creamy perfection with electric mixer.
Serve with gravy made from meat drippings. Use fork or spoon to indent the top of your personal mound to hold the gravy. Think: “Volcano crater filled with molten lava” and you won’t go far wrong.
Schedule followup appointment with cardiologist in three weeks.
Remember: You don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving to enjoy!
