A friend recently talked about her love of classic diners and if you’re like me, as soon as you hear those words you instantly think of one from your childhood or young adulthood. Mine was
Mine was Dawson’s.
It was on the main drag of our tiny town. I could walk there from my mom’s office or the middle school. It had the long counter with spinning stools that ran almost the entire length of the building plus it had about 8 booths. One side was the eating and the other side was the shopping. I think it was a five and dime or maybe a drugstore? That part is hazy but I for sure remember looking at comic books and candy and getting Push Ups in the summer.
I also remember having a real fountain Cherry Coke there before Cherry Coke was a real thing (then vanilla at a later date). They had things like a grilled cheese or egg salad sandwich for $2.30 and even back then I knew that was cheap. And if you ordered a shake you’d get the whole silver cup with the extra in it—as a kid that was THE SHIZ.
That was a loooong time ago and they’ve since changed names slightly and removed the five and dime part of it (and added more seating and a museum) and I’m realizing it’s been too long since I’ve been there and our kids have never been so this summer–hopefully this summer if we can travel–that’s where we’re going. I can already taste it.