I realize that some of my posts have been really BAD...but...
THIS POST IS AWFUL-AWFUL!!!



What you see above is from the days when smoking wasn't politically incorrect. Indeed, there are all kinds of smoke-free laws now in bars and restaurants, but it wasn't that long ago when restaurants actually handed out matchbooks. The matchbook advertises, of course, the old Brunswick Cafe, which was located (roughly) where the Iron Horse Restaurant is now, on Sherman Avenue in Coeur d'Alene.

I haven't eaten there in ages, but someone told me not so long ago they'd had an "awful-awful" in the Iron Horse. The "awful-awful" is a huge hamburger that's been on the Iron Horse's menu for ages. Well, on the fold of the matchbook pictured above, you can see the words "awful-awful". I can imagine more than one customer asked a waitress, "hey, what's this "awful-awful thing?" And I'll bet a lot of 'em were sold that way. Anyway, it seems that particular burger has been around a long time, longer than I'd thought. (Now I'm getting hungry...again.)Anyway, this matchbook could've been printed up anytime during the 60's or early '70s...and maybe earlier than the 60's.

My own little story about the Brunswick is as follows: It was the winter of 1968; over 100 inches of snow fell that year, burying our fair city. The snow berm in the center of Fourth Street was so high, that drivers put red flags on their car antennas so they could be seen. School was out for over 3 weeks in a row; all they could do to us later that year was take away our 2-day "Spring Break"...I thot that was a fair deal! Anyway, after shoveling out the driveway at our house, I'd take the snow shovel and walk all over Coeur d'Alene, looking for sidewalks and driveways to shovel.

With my snow-shoveling money, I'd go to Woolworth's (where Sherman Park is now) and see if they had any of their "4 for $1.00" 45-rpm singles for sale; I used to also go over and shop at P & L Vending, which was located in the Priano building near 2nd and Lakeside; I'd buy "juke-box" 45's there for a quarter each. I still have some of those 45's I bought way back then. After that, I'd go into the Brunswick Cafe, and I'd have a "Shirley Temple", which sorta tasted like a mixed drink, but of course it wasn't; it was a coke with a cherry or two in it, and there might have been some cherry syrup in it as well. Ah, the small pleasures in life. But I've never wanted for much, ever. Just let me buy "musical things" and I'm happy.
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Yep, time to extricate myself from the gloominess of postings past. Writing this entry was fun. Memories like this make me smile.