Mighty Mouse The New Adventures

In 1987, the animated television series, Mighty Mouse, The New Adventures debuted on Fox Kids. It was a revival of the mighty Mouse cartoon character from the 1940's. This version aired on CBS on Saturday mornings rom fall 1987 through the 1988-89 season. I loved this show back then, and would get up early every Saturday morning to record the show on VHS (which I still have). As was the norm with new cartoon series at the time, Wendy's offered kids toys for their kids meals based on the characters from Mighty Mouse, The New Adventures. I just found the cards that came with three of my favourites, Bat-Bat, Petey Pate and The Cow. I also managed to get the window cling from my local Wendy's that advertised the kids meal toys. Its still stuck on the piece of glass I stuck it to back in 1989.
Here are the fronts and backs of three of the cards that came with the toys.

Dairy Queen's Refreshing Ice Drink, Mr. Misty

When I was a kid, I loved slushies, but 7-11 Slurpees were not common in my area, so I got my slushies at Dairy Queen, and they were called Mr. Misty. In the 80's I had a Dairy Queen right across the street from my house, and I spent lots of time there watching this little sign spinning on the top of the Mr. Misty machine. I remember asking one day, "if you ever change that sign and are getting rid of it, please put it aside for me as I would love it!". Sure enough, one day they changed the name of their slushies to Arctic Rush and the Mr. Misty sign was gone from the top of the machine. When the girl behind the counter saw me, she quickly started digging around under the counter and pulled out this sign and handed it to me. She wasn't sure why I wanted it, but thankfully she had remembered me asking about it more than a year earlier and saved it for me.

After googling Mr. Misty, I know really want to head to Dairy Queen for an orange Mr. Misty (Arctic Rush) ice cream float! Yum!

New Denny's Location Is Open for Business

I've been wanting a Denny's to open in my neighbourhood for years. Apparently all my wishing has made it happen, as the old Pantry location on King George Boulevard which has been vacant for some time, has now become a Denny's. They opened on May 2nd, 2016, and I was there to enjoy a Super Bird sandwich with seasoned fries and a Cherry Coke. I've been back a few time since and even stopped by last night at midnight for a Grand Slam breakfast (with one modification, mine came with chocolate chip pancakes). I wasn't sure how busy they would be at midnight, but turns out I'm not the only one who was hungry at midnight last night.
Sadly, one of the evenings recently when we stopped by for dinner, they were closed, with a sign saying they were 'closed for filming'. I initially assumed they were filming a Denny's ad, but after thinking about it, I realize that I don't remember seeing ads for Denny's on TV in the last few years. With all the movie productions in the area, it could as easily be filming for a TV show or movie. It's possible I will be seeing Sam and Dean eating at a greasy spoon that looks really familiar on an upcoming episode of Supernatural.
As thrilled as I am with a new Denny's in my neighbourhood, I do wish that this one had the retro look of their older restaurants. Even the sign out front is still in the shape of the old Pantry sign. I guess i will have to go with the old saying that "whats important is whats on the inside", and so far I have been more than happy with what I have had "inside" this Denny's location.

Brownies Recipe Fried Chicken

Who remembers Brownies Chicken? I Do! While growing up I remember Brownies Chicken restaurants being everywhere. In my mind there may have been more of them than there were Kentucky Fried Chicken locations. I see from the back of this menu that there were at least 18 locations that I could have visited on a pretty regular basis growing up! The location that I remember the most is not even listed on this menu which is from 1989. The particular location I remember was one of the last ones to close. Back then I remember thinking that the Brownies Chicken restaurants were probably closing due to the 'political corectness' that was becoming a big thing in the world at the time. I had heard about the same sort of thing happening to the Sambo's restaurants many years before and figured that was probably what was going on with Brownies. But who knows, maybe they just weren't that popular to anyone but me.
What you see here is a near mint Brownies Recipe Fried Chicken menu that my wife found while helping her mother clean out her home recently. Of all the stuff my wife brought home, this is the one item that I was really excited about. Obviously one persons trash, is MY treasure!

Denny's Celebrating 60 Years Retro Style Menu

I love collecting ephemera, and restaurant menus are a favorite of mine. They are something you see all the time, but you don't generally have the opportunity to add them to your collection which for me makes them all the more desirable. Yesterday when we visited our local Denny's I noticed they still had their very cool celebrating 60 years menu. Denny's seems to change their menu more often than other restaurants, so I figured they may be close to getting rid of these ones. I took a chance and asked our server if I could have one. She seemed very surprised that I would ask, but thought it was very cool when I told her that I collect menus. She went and asked her manager, and a few minutes later she came back and handed me this menu. It has now joined my small but very cool collection of menus. My favorite being the Disneyland Hotel's Monorail Cafe which sadly no longer exists.
Here are the photos of all the pages of the menu. It is filled with lots of great Denny's trivia such as "It began with a donut stand and a promise. Denny's made its start in Lakewood, California in 1953 as a donut stand called Denny's Donuts. The owner, Harold Butler, started his business with this commitment: "We're going to serve the best cup of coffee, make the best tasting food, offer the best value and stay open 24 hours a day." In 1959, the 20-location chain was renamed Denny's Restaurants to avoid confusion with another chain, Doughnut Dan's.
Today, with over 1,700 restaurants in 10 countries, we're committed to keeping that original promise - from our new, better-tasting coffee to our ever-expanding menu of American diner classics. We're America's diner. And we'll continue to serve our guests with the same emphasis as Harold Butler did some 60 years ago.

Pizza Hut Pete

On June 15, 1958, brothers Frank and Dan Carney took advantage of the "pizza craze" sweeping the country by opening the first Pizza Hut in Wichita. A year later the first Pizza Hut franchise opened in Topeka, and the move to become a national chain was on.
One of the first symbols of the company was "Pizza Hut Pete," shown here in the form of a plastic sign that was part of Pizza Hut oven toy for children. I found this one at a local thrift shop. Too bad they didn't have the toy oven to go with it. I'm sure my son would have loved it, as we love going to Pizza Hut every Friday afternoon for the "All You Can Eat" pizza buffet. Pizza Hut was one of the first things Kaden learned to say!
"Pete" was used by the company into the mid-1970s, when the familiar red roof logo began to appear. "Pete" might simply have outlived his usefulness, or perhaps he was seen as too much of an Italian stereotype to be an effective image for the company.

Fast Food Tray Liners

Tonight I bring you yet another of my favorite items to collect... Fast food tray liners. You know, those pieces of paper that fast food restaurants place on your tray to keep your food from touching the tray - and to get you to stare at their advertising. Since I love fast food signage and advertising, it was just natural that I would start taking home the tray liners. I started collecting them over 20 years ago and am always happy to add a new one to the collection. I just love some of the great graphics and slogans that can be found on a good looking tray liner.
Here is something I found about tray liners on a web site that prints them: "A properly executed tray liner quietly provides more marketing punch. It re-enforces the image of freshness and quality on each tray with every order, and is a visual tie-in to your advertising and radio campaigns"
unfortunately for my blog, tray liners tend to be larger than the scanner bed on my scanner, so it means I must do two scans of each tray liner and then stitch them together. So this may be the only tray liner I display on my blog unless I can find an easier way to get them into my computer.
And just in case you think its strange that I collect tray liners... how about this The Original Condiment Packet Museum. And YES, I do have a bunch of these in my possession!

Buster's Texas Style Barbecue

If you're looking for a genuine taste of Texas you've found it! Buster's makes the best barbecue this side of the Rio Grande, dry-rubbed with spices and slow cooked for six to twelve hours in Texas style smoke pits stoked with real Hickory. It's a labor and time-intensive process, but you won't find better barbecue anywhere! Made you hungry yet? For some reason I started thinking about Buster's the other day and can't get that mouth watering grub outta my mind!
I have visited the Tigard, Organ location of Buster's Texas Style Barbecue on two separate Drive In mini vacations, and both times I left with a huge smile on my face! I was drawn in the neat old neon sign outside. Once inside, I was surrounded with the great Texas outdoors. That is to say they have done some nice theming to make it look like a chuck wagon line outside, with a camp fire, trees, etc. The kind of thing you would expect to find at a Disney park.
Then there was the food. As their web site into says "we make the best barbecue this side of the Rio Grande" and they aren't kidding!
Now if only they would add a few new locations in Washington State that we could drive to in a few hours, instead of an all day drive to the state of Oregon, then we would be all set!

Riverboat Club member

Continuing with yesterdays restaurant theme, I found my Captain George's Riverboat Club card from the 70's. The two things I remember about the Captain George's Family Restaurant was; 1) the outside of the restaurant looked like a big pink paddlewheeler ship, and 2) they had a "make it yourself" desert bar where you could dispense your own soft serve ice cream and then add all the toppings to your hearts content - a pretty amazing treat for a 7 year old kid back then! This membership card certified that I, Ronnie, was a member of Capt. George's Riverboat Club, and entitled to a free Sport Cola, Rooti Root Beer, Bubble Up, or C+ Orange anytime I bought a sandwich, snack or platter at any Captain George's Family restaurant, and was valid until 1980. The Captain George's restaurant that we went to, closed some time in the early 80's, and the building remained unused for many years, leaving just the shell of a large pink paddlewheeler to drive by everyday. The building has since been converted into a 7-11, but I'll always remember the big pink boat and the all you can eat ice cream!

The Great A&W Root Bear

When I think of A&W, I think of the Root Bear and his trademark tuba music, in television commercials showing strange characters falling in step behind the bear down deserted country roads with the slogan, "Follow the great Root Bear to A&W."
I have always loved fast food, and A&W was the top of the fast food chain when I was a kid. Going to a Drive In A&W was always a real treat. I also remember the first sit down A&W in my area. It was about a 45 minute drive, but it was worth the drive, because as well as being able to eat in your car, this A&W had a huge dining room with a fireplace right in the middle. We used to drive the 45 minutes out of our way just to eat at the 'dine in' A&W, because it was something special. Then in the 80's as they started closing most of the drive in restaurants and converting them into dine in only restaurants, we started going out of our way to visit the remaining few drive in restaurants. The last remaining A&W drive in was in Langley, BC, and happened to be just a short drive from the Hillcrest Drive In (our last remaining drive in theater), and it was always great fun to have dinner at the A&W drive in and then take in a double or triple feature at the Hillcrest. They finally closed the last remaining A&W drive in about 8 years ago (we were there on the last day). I sure miss that cool tray they would hang on your window with all your food on it! I started collecting A&W memorabilia many years ago. It started with the mugs and then moved on to just about anything I could get my hands on. Here are a few photos of my collection. The two items I really want to add to my collection are; 1) one of the trays that hung on your car window, and 2) one of the A&W Root Bear portraits that hung in every restaurant in the 70's and 80's. Every restaurant had the same photo of the Root Bear, in an oval frame and beveled glass. As a kid I remember thinking that these pictures looked so cool and sophisticated.