Monday, December 20, 2004
Memories, all alone in the... sunlight....
Every so often I have a moment of clarity. Sometimes it comes with a reverie where I remember really random and meaningless things.
This morning I was driving and the sky was really blue and the leafless trees were a stark contrast and I felt a moment of lucidity. And I had a memory.
It was the memory of this restaurant in Fredericksburg VA, where I grew up. My dad loved eating there. It was called Hot Shoppes and was across Rt. 1/Jeff Davis Hwy from James Monroe High School. My dad always ordered a Mighty Mo hamburger which I think was sort of like a Big Mac.
The Hot Shoppes in F'burg was knocked down when I was still really young but I have this wavering memory of the inside of it.... all '70's-like with faux wood laminate and fake plants. It had big windows like any diner-ish establishment and probably some avacado green vinyl covered booths. I also remember the bank beside it which my memory tells me had the same sort of decor. There was also a Photomat nearby. It was all situated across from the Safeway where my mom shopped and down the road from the ubiquitous Park & Shop at Rt. 1 and College Ave.
In my quest to verify that my memories were correct I googled Hot Shoppes... found the recipe for the Might Mo... a lot of references to Marriott and the fact that there are still 3 Hot Shoppes in existance in the DC/NoVa area. And then I stumbled upon this.
While I have quite a bit of disdain for most of the people who currently live in my hometown (with the absolute exception of my mother and a few family friends)... they're all either ignorant rednecks or transplants who came there because its "so quaint and historic" and have turned it into a total cluster-fuck Northern Virginian annex (but I digress, that rage will have to be expressed at another time).... I did read some of the Fredtalk posts. OMG. The memories from my childhood:
Hambuger Haven -- which was a little burger stand in front of the bowling alley on Princess Anne St. The bowling alley is now some kind of country western place called Houston's. When I was in HS I think it was called the Yellow Rose or something like that. The Step Down, a biker bar, on Princess Anne. I thought it was still there but I guess not. I never went there but always heard it was a crazy place. When K-mart was at Park & Shop... Frank's Nursery is there now. Of course Frank's is going out of business. Carl's ice cream -- no need to describe it, its a legend -- chocolate on a sugar cone please. Sigh.
This morning I was driving and the sky was really blue and the leafless trees were a stark contrast and I felt a moment of lucidity. And I had a memory.
It was the memory of this restaurant in Fredericksburg VA, where I grew up. My dad loved eating there. It was called Hot Shoppes and was across Rt. 1/Jeff Davis Hwy from James Monroe High School. My dad always ordered a Mighty Mo hamburger which I think was sort of like a Big Mac.
The Hot Shoppes in F'burg was knocked down when I was still really young but I have this wavering memory of the inside of it.... all '70's-like with faux wood laminate and fake plants. It had big windows like any diner-ish establishment and probably some avacado green vinyl covered booths. I also remember the bank beside it which my memory tells me had the same sort of decor. There was also a Photomat nearby. It was all situated across from the Safeway where my mom shopped and down the road from the ubiquitous Park & Shop at Rt. 1 and College Ave.
In my quest to verify that my memories were correct I googled Hot Shoppes... found the recipe for the Might Mo... a lot of references to Marriott and the fact that there are still 3 Hot Shoppes in existance in the DC/NoVa area. And then I stumbled upon this.
While I have quite a bit of disdain for most of the people who currently live in my hometown (with the absolute exception of my mother and a few family friends)... they're all either ignorant rednecks or transplants who came there because its "so quaint and historic" and have turned it into a total cluster-fuck Northern Virginian annex (but I digress, that rage will have to be expressed at another time).... I did read some of the Fredtalk posts. OMG. The memories from my childhood:
Hambuger Haven -- which was a little burger stand in front of the bowling alley on Princess Anne St. The bowling alley is now some kind of country western place called Houston's. When I was in HS I think it was called the Yellow Rose or something like that. The Step Down, a biker bar, on Princess Anne. I thought it was still there but I guess not. I never went there but always heard it was a crazy place. When K-mart was at Park & Shop... Frank's Nursery is there now. Of course Frank's is going out of business. Carl's ice cream -- no need to describe it, its a legend -- chocolate on a sugar cone please. Sigh.
// posted by Stephanie Cake @ 12/20/2004 01:58:00 PM 
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