Drooper N. Snork

Was the Palm the same theater with the huge mural out front depicting Fort Bend? The actual military fort that the County was named after. Or was that mural on a Drive-In further out on 90... I would love to locate a picture of that mural.

Hi Annie. No way you’re getting old, because then I would be too. Jojo’s skillet breakfasts and the option to get a bagel are so vivid for me. Almost as vivid as the redheaded waitress who worked there in the mid 80’s (okay, breakfast may have been just an excuse to go every day). It was a Champ’s for a while too. Is that the name you knew it by? How about Jim’s? There’s a good thread here with posts from a Champ’s manager but I cannot post links yet, just created my account yesterday. (See? I’m not old after all. So neither are you...)

Hillcroft at South Braeswood hasn’t been mentioned yet. Primary source of S&H Green Stamps. We’d be warmly greeted by C.W. wielding a big broom, Mom’d chat with him but I only cared about scoring a penny to obtain a gum ball from the machine in the lobby.

“Pizza is to be eaten with the fingers” instructed the Shakey’s menu. The Capital P was even a little drawing of a left hand in pizza-holding formation (or was that the F in fingers?!?). I still remember the extra stretchy quality of the cheese and the smell of the sauced crust getting perfectly crisped in the hot pizza oven. The Bellaire location was “our” Shakey’s. It was more of a splurge to dine there, compared to the all-you-can-eat Pancho’s buffet nearby. Live music by a duo was replaced by that glass-encased player piano, but the Village Inn Pizza Parlor had full bands playing on their bigger stage for a while after (Westbury Square, perched in prime position on its front parking lot, next door to The Cheese Man). Someone else had the Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ with light show, up in Memorial City, but I really don’t think it was a Shakey’s.