EMERGENCY! Freemont Street, Las Vegas 1967
Someone has either lost all their money at the Golden Gate Casino or gotten some serious indigestion at Denny’s! Whoever they are and what ever is wrong with them they are being well taken care of. A lipstick red fire truck, policeman and two men wearing white have come to their rescue. The streamlined Chevrolet panel delivery truck makes a stylish ambulance. The siren is like a cherry on top of an ice cream sundae.
Like the International House of Pancakes, McDonalds, Jack-in the Box Taco Bell, and many other food franchises the world has Southern California to thank for Denny’s. Yes, Denny’s is yet another Southern California original. The legendary coffee shop chain began in Lakewood in 1953 not as Denny’s but Danny’s. And not as a coffee shop but as a donut stand. By the time the name was changed to Denny’s in 1959, lest it be confused with then rival Coffee Dan’s, they were serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and were “Always Open.”
In 1977 America’s waistline began to expand a bit when Denny’s gave the baseball term “grand slam” another meaning: a big, deluxe breakfast of eggs and pancakes with not bacon or sausage but bacon and sausage. Why bother choosing one or the other when you can have both.
Today, Denny’s is the biggest sit-down restaurant chain in America.
Here’s to the rescue team, the stylish ambulance and having both bacon and sausage!
Thanks for the 411 on Denny’s. I’d been wondering if it started in Seattle since Denny was the last name of one of our earliest European-American settlers. The last time I ate there was when my kitchen sink was backing up. Not many places were open Sunday evening in that neighborhood. I also like them for pancakes any time of day on a road trip.
That stirred some memories when you mentioned Danny’s being changed to Denny’s in 1959; I can almost remember that subtlety happening. The Golden Gate hotel/casino also was the first hotel to be erected in Las Vegas and is still there today at Fremont and Main Streets.
Diner Delightful Charles!
It would be a shame if a visit to Denny’s led to such a dire situation! One minute you’re enjoy Moons Over My Hammy and the next … you’re on a stretcher. Perhaps the ill party suffered a bout of bad dining etiquette? Did he/she propose dividing the check instead of asking for a separate check for each person in the party? Wander aimlessly around Denny’s looking for her/his friends? Let’s look to _The Seventeen Book of Etiquette and Entertaining_ (1965) for help and advice! Could this tragedy have been stopped? Read on, inquisitive good-etiquette seekers …
– If you are meeting friends, wait for them near the door, unless the restaurant is so empty that the waiter or headwaiter offers to seat you. In a coffee shop you might walk through to see if your friends have arrived and are seated, but in the sort of restaurant which has a real or imaginary velvet rope barring the door you should ask the waiter to do your searching for you: “I’m meeting a redheaded girl about my age. Is she here please?” It’s unbecoming to cruise through a restaurant alone. (Perhaps our intrepid diner, panicked by the lack of a searcher to whom she could entrust her friend search, ran out into the street?)
– Dividing a check with other girls can be a nightmare. When you are going Dutch with friends, ask for separate checks. It’s no more trouble for the waiter, and you’re spared a session of “You had the sundae with nuts but I had the whipped cream and another cup of coffee so I probably owe more than you …” (Are we seeing the result of an argument over pot roast and a soda?)
– If there is a guest of honor, she sits in the choicest seat at the table and should be spared as much of the check negotiations as possible. It takes the edge off a party to hear its cost caroled down a table: “Everyone but Marge owes $2.32.” Do the dividing quietly or have one girl pay the bill, then tip, and settle with the others later. (Hmmm … is this the aftermath of a violent face-scratching by the slighted guest of honor?)
– If you are in a restaurant with an older woman, let her have the best seat. (Oh dear. Is that patty melt splattered in the street? Did someone take offense?)
Our poor Denny’s patron! My fingers are crossed that he or she will forever look for friends appropriately, pay the check separately, and seat the guests appropriately. Now get out there and enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich with a side of delicious fries!
xoxo!
Miss Sharon
Let’s hope the patient turned out ok. I remember seeing a similar model of the ambulance in the picture in reruns of Dragnet and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
I just happened upon this slide on your site…. It’s my NEW FAVORITE. You are the funniest, most original man in America…. God Bless You, Charles Phoenix. Come back to Denver soon! luv, Dana