Hey, did anyone else ever go to an ACE Diner in Milwaukee? I have clear memories of being taken to a restaurant where all the interior was clad in stainless steel, all in a diamond pattern.
My mom has no memories of the half dozen times I remember jumping in the car to go for a burger and ice cream “in a real diner…oooh…”, but that would’ve been in the late 50s. It might have been about 50th St and Blue Mound Road, which’d be the Story Hill neighborhood.
Tower records is another brand that’s dead and gone in the US, but still thriving in Japan (and elsewhere).
This is a perfect description of Derby Square books in Salem, MA – except the piles of books were six feet high. The tables some of the books rested on were held together with bungee cords, and the aisles were really narrow. You had to pay for the books through a tunnrel made in the pile of books stacked on the counter.
A couple of years ago the store was sold and they cleared away that huge mass of books, including a huge moldering decaying mound of them in the basement. It’s now cleared away and has walkable aisles and no enormous stacks of books, with a perfectly accessible counter. It’s now Wicked Good Books, and sells both new and used books.
(They carried my YA novel briefly on consignment – or which privilege I paid them, but now they’ve discontinued the practice. I’d hoped tat they would carry my new book because I wa a Local Author and this book has been featured on TV and in the local papers. But they say they can’t afford to showcase local author books – even though they have other books out with “local author” affixed to them. Grrr.)
Bamberger’s in Morristown NJ had the closest Ticketmaster terminal to us in the '70s. There weren’t many around back then. Upstairs at customer service. Much joy was had there.
I loved Tower Records in New York. It was one of my obligatory stops whenever I went there, along with the nearby Strand Bookstore. In particular, I liked browsing their International/World Music section. I found so many new artists I liked there. I find trying to browse music on line much harder.
When I was a kid (1944) I loved the Twin Tee Pees restaurant near Greenlake in Seattle. At each booth there was a lighted box with a music list. You put in a nickel and a voice asked for your selection. Then a guy in the back put on a record and played it over the loud speaker.
Depending on how much Tower Records means to you, you might enjoy this 90-minute documentary about their rise and fall:
Watching Fast Times at Ridgemont High the other day reminded me of Perry’s Pizza and Licorice Pizza(record store). I was searching the background for other typical 80s mall stores but couldn’t see the background well.
This is the only online info I can find on Ace Diner. Crazy Path – Creatively adapt to life’s illusions. - Richard Wilberg: Creativity Coach and Musician
I was never there myself. Though I did visit my grandparents in the neighborhood of 27th and Kilbourn back in the late 50’s and early 60’s.
Tower Records had a huge (4 story) store at the corner of Newbury Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, not far from the Berklee College of Music. a great place that sold books and comics (and only a few doors down from Newbury Comics!). Now, sadly, gone of course.
I used to like Licorice Pizza in San Diego, how big was the chain?
Tower Records of course was awesome. I went to the San Diego one frequently and the huge one in LA once. (or was it in San Francisco?)
Even just a simple “I was at the ACE diner” is huge, after my mom and sister going “Reeeally? I don’t remember that at all…”
And it WAS at 50th & Bluemound! Close to where Story Hill BKC is now, a funky hipster place with great multi-ethnic breakfasts…
I used to go to Tower Records in Japan, but I didn’t know they still survived in Japan.
Aww, I miss seeing that place. Demolished in 2001.
We used to go to Howard Joihnson’s. There was one on Route 46near our house that we occasionally went to, but we usually stopped at HoJo’s on road trips. I literally always got the fried clams and one of their more unique ice cream flavors like butter crunch.
My mother worked at Britnell’s for many years. You might have met her if you frequented Britnell’s back in the day–she sold books, but did other things in the office as well.
It was a wonderful place. No, it was no Chapter’s or Indigo, with their stationery, or candles, or cute teddy bears, or blank journals–it was better; it was a bookstore. Floor to ceiling books, inviting displays of books, themed window displays (Mom took much pleasure in helping to select the “banned books” to display in the window, as they did annually), old wood shelves, creaky floors, and a staff that knew their stuff. If you’ve ever seen the movie, 84 Charing Cross Road, then you have an idea of what Britnell’s was like.
I miss it. Last time I was in Toronto, I saw it was a Starbucks. I resisted the impulse to go in. That little building will always be Britnell’s to me, and I don’t want to sully my memories of Canada’s finest bookstore.
Thanks for the photo!
We lived around the corner at 7315 Winona. I assume it’s an apartment building now.
Howard Johnson’s used to have the contracts at a lot of turnpikes and interstates, so if you travelled ,in the 1960s you got to eat at a lot of them. That role has since gone to McDonald’s and other fast food franchises.
There’s still one Howard Johnson left, and it seems to be surviving COVID. It’s at Lake George, NY. When we vacationed there a year and a half ago I made a point of eating there. My wife didn’t want to go, but she missed something good. The food was far better than I remember it being in HoJo’s heyday.
I used to live a few blocks north of 75th and Bluemound. Near Gilles custard, Fruit Ranch, and Heinemann’s restaurant. Not far from Balistreri’s and Glorioso’s. That was back in the 1980s. Wonderful place to live!
Great that you had such inside first-hand experience. I completely agree with your assessment of Britnell’s, it was a world-class bookstore and its demise a great loss for the city. The genericization of the venue by a Starbucks is cartoonishly ironic and symptomatic. I wouldn’t go in there either.