My older sister and I stood on a sidewalk with our grandmother in downtown Postville, Iowa. I'm not sure why we were in Postville on that day. Perhaps my grandma was running some errands. Maybe she'd been to the bank or to Hanson's Variety.
My sister spied the coffee shop across the street and suggested to grandma that we should all cross the street and enjoy a beverage. I believe my grandma demurred, declaring that we didn't have time to stop for refreshments on that particular day.
"Come on, Grandma. It won't take that long," my sister pleaded.
I felt sorry for my grandma having to deal with my sister's strongarm tactics. In my memory, my grandma relented, and we did cross the street to have a beverage at the coffee shop. Of course, it's just as likely that my grandma was unwavering, and we simply drove home. I like the version where grandma relents, and we enjoy a beverage at the coffee shop.
I didn't know the name of the establishment across the street that day. To me it was simply a generic coffee shop. But the building space this coffee shop occupied would play a small yet not inconsequential role in my life. Though not central to my life, the space will always hold a place in my heart.
Over time the coffee shop space would be home to various establishments including a cafe, supper club and lounge, pizzeria, and other restaurants. During my high school years, it became a teen hangout. Sometimes it merely served as a rendezvous point - a jumping-off point. Teens would assemble at the restaurant and proceed to other venues like the youth center, park, sporting event, party, or someone's house. When I was a freshman, I often met my girlfriend at the restaurant, and we'd see where the night took us.
***
The coffee shop first opened its doors in 1949. The name of the establishment was Evans Koffee Shop. The Koffee Shop could boast about being the first establishment to occupy the restaurant space of the new two-story Louis Schutte Building in which it was located.
The first floor of the building provided space for a restaurant, clothing store, and doctor's office. The second floor held six apartments. The building boasted having a full basement and being made of materials that made the structure near fireproof.
The entire back bar and lunch counter is the focal point of our KOFFEE SHOP. It incorporates a new soda fountain and ice cream cabinet for your choice of malts, sodas, sundaes, and your favorite carry home packages in all flavors.
For Those Important and Special Occasions - you will find there is no place like EVANS KOFFEE SHOP. Normal seating capacity, using our family style tables, is forty-eight. However, for banquets, etc., we are capable of handling seventy or more. All tables are plastic covered, cigarette, acid proof. Chairs are all chrome, padded and upholstered.
The Evans Koffee Shop was sold about a year later to Vern and Jean Brouillet with newspapers stating they would operate under the name of the V. & J. Cafe. Interestingly, newspapers over the next several years refer to the establishment as both V. & J. Cafe and V. & J. Koffee Shop. They seem to have retained the name of the Koffee Shop. My research informs me that in October of 1965 the Koffee Shop was sold and opened under new management but continued to be called the Koffee Shop.
***
I find it interesting that a lot of pharmacies and cafes in the late 19th century and early 20th century boasted of having "complete fountain service" as one of their offerings.
In the film The Music Man, the character Marian orders a strawberry phosphate at a soda shop. Andy Hardy and Betsy Booth both order a chocolate soda with vanilla ice cream in Love Finds Andy Hardy. Sometimes Archie and his friends in Riverdale can be found at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe. A decade prior to Archie, the Sugar Shop was a hangout for the teenagers in Carl Ed's comic strip Harold Teen. And Scooby-Doo and the gang are often seen frequenting a malt shop.
***
When I was kid, I don't believe we had a Starbucks in Iowa. Starbucks began to take off in the 1980s and went public in 1992. We didn't have a Dunkin' Donuts nearby although I liked the funny commercials during the 1980s featuring Fred the Baker. I'd never heard of Horn & Hardart and their famous automats and coffee. I'd never heard of the Chock full o'Nuts coffee shops based in New York City.
But we did have coffee shops and cafes in my area. I recall names like the S & D Cafe, Red Owl Food Ranch Cafe, Humphry Cafe, and Cafe Deluxe.
I find coffee shops and cafes to be quite similar although some would say a cafe has a larger menu than a coffee shop. But for me the terms often seem interchangeable.
The designation of coffee shop used to be used quite often. In addition to freestanding coffee shops, so-called coffee shops were located in hotels, motels, department stores, drugstores, airports, hospitals, museums, bookstores, libraries, and even bowling alleys. Sometimes restaurants had a dining room but also an area referred to as the coffee shop. A coffee shop seemed to be a real perk at one time.
Many years ago, the Coffee Shop in the Sky Room at the Honolulu International Airport put it nicely by stating, "Air-conditioned for your comfort and geared to fast, efficient serving of light meals and lunches from counter or booth, for the rushing traveler. Open day and night our Coffee Shop is noted for quality food, whether it is our homemade cakes or pastries, our soda fountain goodies, specially designed sandwich plates, breakfasts, a regular dinner or snack or just a cup of our wonderful coffee. Children's plates and highchairs of course."
Some of the items on their menu were just what I would expect a coffee shop or cafe of that time period to have including three-decker club sandwiches, Monte Cristo sandwiches, poor boys, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, soups, salads, donuts, homemade pies and cakes, malts, shakes, sundaes, and sodas.
I guess for me a coffee shop will always be a place with tables and booths and perhaps a counter lined with stools. I imagine Formica, wood veneer, chrome, vinyl, and leatherette. I imagine a simple menu featuring sandwiches, soup, donuts, and of course coffee.
***
In late 1978, The Sugarbush opened in the former Koffee Shop location. When the city council was discussing a Class "C" beer and liquor license, the new business to occupy the former Koffee Shop location was referred to as the Sugar Bush Supper Club and Lounge. Most newspaper ads I've located refer to it as simply The Sugarbush or The Sugarbush Restaurant and Lounge. This would seem to be the first time the word lounge was associated with the coffee shop location.
The Sugarbush will cater to parties, meetings, clubs, etc. and has a newly decorated interior.
In April of 1979, The Sugarbush reopened with a new name and owner once again. The former Sugarbush location became Mitch's Restaurant and Lounge and boasted homemade pizza on the menu. Both The Sugarbush and Mitch's boasted Henny Penny Chicken on their menus.
Mitch's soon became The Sunshine Inn.
Mitch's and The Sunshine Inn both appear to have offered something called the Whatchamacallit Pizza. Did Mitch's loan Helen the pizza recipe? Actually, I think the entire menu may have been similar to Mitch's including lasagna and spaghetti. Helen too boasted of serving Henny Penny Chicken.
Broasted chicken at its best - always uniform in size - so it's never partially cooked - and made according to the Henny Penny Formula.
I don't seem to recall being in any of these iterations of the coffee shop location. I seem to recall being in the Koffee Shop and seeing the tables and booths. Did my sister convince Grandma to take us there that day in the 1970s? I recall a high school girl in the grade ahead of me once asking if anyone remembered Mitch's. I do recall at least being familiar with the name Sunshine Inn. The name Sunshine Inn always sounded so cheerful and innocent. I imagined it being a diner and yet it also had a so-called lounge. Perhaps not so innocent.
I recall being in that restaurant space in fourth or fifth grade with my buddy Chris. Were we just passing through on the way to his house? Did his mother work at one of those establishments? At any rate, Chris threw a hat or baseball glove or some object on top of a coat rack in there as I recall. Some friendly woman who knew him got it down for him. It's hard to remember being that young and that short. But, on that day we needed the aid of an adult.
Although the coffee shop location had always been on my radar to some extent, the location didn't really become significant to me until my eighth-grade year when I met a girl named Kandie.
***
A new seventh-grade girl was introduced at a school assembly held the first day of school in the fall of 1981. When she stood up in the gymnasium to be welcomed by our principal to her new school, I saw a smiling brunette beauty. Well, she was a beauty to an eighth-grade boy at least. I'd never known a girl named Kandie before. Her older sister was a freshman in our high school.
Kandie's family had relocated to Postville after buying the Sunshine Inn. They renamed the establishment the Postville University. Their print ads even featured a crest or coat of arms of some sort. Some kids immediately began calling it the PU. The pee-ew connotation seemed a bit unfortunate. But I actually liked the name Postville University and shortening the name to PU was simply convenient. The restaurant continued to sell pizza, spaghetti, chicken, and hamburgers. The lounge was rechristened the Stadium Lounge.
I recall being at the Postville University with my buddy Wade and seeing Kandie and her older sister. I wonder if her older sister played hostess and waited on customers?
One cold evening Kandie agreed to walk to a youth center called Paul's Place with Wade and me. Some others might have been in our group too. I recall Kandie wearing a somewhat puffy, insulated light blue winter jacket and mittens. We held hands on the 10-minute walk to our destination. We sat and held hands some more after getting to Paul's Place. It was an amazing evening.
Kandie had a birthday around Christmastime. So, I bought her two gifts. I think I bought her a necklace or an I.D. bracelet. The other gift was a bottle of Love's Baby Soft Cologne. She gave me a gold chain necklace for Christmas.
Early in the new year Kandie and her family moved away after her parents sold the business. She asked for a picture of me before leaving. I think she wrote a friend in Postville after moving and mentioned me. But I never saw her again.
A businessman named Jeff Olson bought the establishment and named it Lil' Ole's Restaurant and Lounge.
***
Jeff's dad Don owned the menswear store right next to Lil' Ole's. Don's Jewelry and Menswear had occupied the space since Anderson Clothing vacated the premises in the late 1970s.
As a freshman, I went to Don's looking for black slacks for part of my official FFA dress attire. I think Don's wife, or some employee knew just what I needed.
Sometimes I would look for school clothes at Don's. I think they kept their teen clothes in a basement area called the dug-out. I believe they employed a tailor for alterations who stationed herself down there. I recall trying on some items down there and always having Jan or some employee telling me, "You look great!"
Don's store was nice because the customer could buy on credit. I don't think they even charged interest for this perk.
I rented a tuxedo from Don's store for my junior prom. I looked through some catalogs and picked the one I wanted. Don measured me. I think he commented on my wide shoulders or perhaps I just like to remember it that way. When the tux arrived, and I tried it on I was a bit concerned with the waist. But Don adjusted the side tabs, and everything was fine. I looked as cool as James Bond.
Don had a lot of business savvy. He knew VCRS and VHS movies were the next big thing. He got in on the market early.
In February of my senior year, Don and Jeff opened Olson's Video Center advertising VCR & MOVIE TAPE SALES & RENTALS. You could even purchase a yearly or lifetime VCR and TAPE membership.
***
Lil' Ole's became an unofficial hangout for junior high and high school kids. At least that's the way I remember it. His menu still had pizza and burgers. He had video games like Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. I can recall hassling a waitress named Robin for quarters to play the games.
During my freshman year I would often meet my girlfriend Kari at Ole's. One cold winter evening a group of us kids walked a few blocks to the park. I'm not sure why we walked all that way in the freezing cold to share kisses in the park. We may have walked to Paul's Place youth center at times as well I imagine.
Sometimes if I arrived before Kari, I might run across the street to the arcade and play some video games.
The kids named a place between Ole's and an adjacent building the MOP. MOP stood for Make Out Place.
Until that freshman year, I'd never met a girl in town before for date nights. I guess my parents must have realized their little boy was growing up. My Mom would always drop me off at Ole's. Sometimes she and my dad would have a date night of their own and pick me up on their way home.
I remember checking my hairdo out occasionally (okay, a lot) in the rest room at Ole's.
"Damn, I can't believe how good I look tonight!"
One evening I opened the rest room door much to the annoyance of one of the lounge patrons. I think he was a bit drunk and not too happy about being disturbed. I guess he forgot to lock the door behind him.
I think I saw some naughty graffiti scrawled on the wall of the rest room one night.
I like to whistle
And I like to flirt
But it's not beneficial
Chasing too much skirt
I was supposed to pick two young ladies up at Ole's and transport them to a football game during the fall of my sophomore year. I'd picked up others like Jimmy and Brian at Ole's to take to football games. The young ladies decided they didn't want to wait for me to finish chores and caught a ride with someone else. I wasn't too pleased. I ran into one of my classmates outside of Ole's. Evidently, he had arranged a purchase of alcohol for the young ladies. I guess he knew I had planned on giving them a ride because he explained to me where this cache of alcohol was hidden. I didn't really understand his directions. It didn't really matter anyway because I had no intention of retrieving this alcohol and transporting it in my car.
I stopped into Ole's on my way to the autumn Sweetheart Dance my junior year. I saw a girl I'd had a romantic entanglement with a year earlier sitting with her boyfriend. I was happy to see I wasn't the only one who had decided to stop into Ole's before the dance and yet I was embarrassed about being alone while she sat happily with her boyfriend. I also wasn't too confident about the sartorial choices I'd made regarding my clothes that evening. I'm not sure if they even noticed I was in the restaurant. No matter. I quickly departed and soon found myself being hailed by my friend Heidi from a car on the street. I joined her in the back seat and as the driver sped away, she handed me a can of, er, root beer. I mentioned the concerns I had regarding my fashion choices that evening but she just smiled and said I looked fine.
I recall sitting in the restaurant one evening that same year when a certain young lady was in the place. She was an eighth grader at the time and some people found her a bit too flirtatious and provocative for her age. We knew one another from meeting at a basketball game one evening. But I was still a bit surprised when she turned to wink at me before walking out the restaurant door. The wink was more provocative than playful.
Do you know what I did in response to this racy display? Nothing! I just sat there being satisfied with the fact that a female seemingly found me worthy of her amorous invitation.
Only one other person seemed to notice the wink. "I saw that wink you know," she said. I think this girl applauded my response of staying seated because she thought the flirty girl was trouble.
During my senior year, I asked a girl to the Homecoming dance who happened to tend bar at Ole's. Although she was in my class, I think she was a bit older than most of us. I think she told me once that while attending a former school she'd spent too much time at the beach one year. So perhaps she had to redo a year. At any rate, I was in town one evening perhaps to work on our Homecoming float or perhaps during Moonlight Madness when merchants had their stores open in the evenings. At any rate, I decided to stop in at the lounge and see this girl who was going to be my date.
She was probably surprised to see this quiet boy show up at the cocktail lounge. I'd passed by the lounge many times when coming into Ole's through the back way. But I'd never taken a seat in there.
We didn't talk much seeing as she was busy bartending. She asked me if I wanted a Coke. I said that would be fine and she proceeded to dispense for me a small glass of Coke from her bar gun. She then told me I owed her fifty cents. What? Silly me, I thought she was treating me to a Coke. But no.
At some point she informed me that her shift was over. Then she jumped on the back of some dude's motorcycle and rode away, and I was left sitting there with some older dudes feeling very uncomfortable. I tried to discreetly get the hell out of there. At least that's how I remember it.
Jeff eventually sold Ole's to some couple. I don't know how things turned out for them.
***
"The teenager is one of the more unusual inventions of the 20th century. Humans have been turning 13 for tens of thousands of years, but only recently did it occur to anybody that this was a special thing, or that the bridge between childhood and adulthood deserved its own name. The term teen-ager dates back to the early 1900s, but the word didn’t stick. Even until World War II, there are hardly any instances of teenagers in the popular press." (Saturday Evening Post, Thompson 2018).
"Historians and social critics differ on the specifics of the timeline, but most cultural observers agree that the strange and fascinating creature known as the American teenager — as we now understand the species — came into being sometime in the early 1940s. This is not to say that for millennia human beings had somehow passed from childhood to adulthood without enduring the squalls of adolescence. But the modern notion of the teen years as a recognized, quantifiable life stage, complete with its own fashions, behavior, vernacular and arcane rituals, simply did not exist until the post-Depression era." (Time, Cosgrove 2013).
The rise of compulsory education, a postwar economic boom, and the invention of the automobile led to the "invention" of teenagers.
These teenagers desired locales to socialize, nurture friendship, and bond. In short, teenagers needed a hangout.
Yes, there were community centers, recreation centers, and youth centers offering various activates. Bowling alleys of course existed as did arcades and pinball emporiums. But teens get bored easily. What's going to keep us off the streets and out of trouble?
Today no one thinks of a pharmacy like CVS or Walgreen's as a hangout. But at one time the American drugstore did much more than fill prescriptions and supply health and beauty aids.
"Not only a purveyor of drugs and health-related items, the American drugstore was also a meeting spot, lunch place, and community social center. The first soda fountain patent was granted to Samuel Fahnestock in 1819. A soda fountain in Atlanta first served Coca-Cola to the public in May of 1886. In 1903 the front-service soda fountain revolutionized business, giving the public an insatiable taste for Cokes, milkshakes and phosphates -- delicious homemade concoctions of carbonated water and flavored syrups." (pbs.org).
Even my own father recalls hanging out at a Rexall drugstore and having a cherry Coke. He can also recall hanging out at the Humphry Cafe also known as the Humphry Dairy.
At one time there seemed to be a lot of establishments utilizing the word dairy. Newspapers write of establishments like Humphry Dairy, Waters Dairy, and Holt Dairy. When the Grill in Postville was close to opening an ad referred to the establishment as the Grill and Dairy Bar.
Some of these establishments truly were dairies with plants that processed and bottled milk. They may have offered milk and cream and other dairy products to their customers via delivery.
Some of the dairies realized it made sense to open a cafe or restaurant space enabling them to sell ice cream and malts as well as sandwiches and other fare. So, some of these dairies naturally became teen hangouts.
My generation never spent time in a drugstore at a counter sipping sodas because such places didn't really exist any longer. Fast food restaurants, supermarkets, and convenience stores had come along. We did still have places like the Whippy Dip to buy an ice cream cone or a slush. Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream became a bit of a hangout in a couple of nearby towns as I recall. I rendezvoused with one of my first serious girlfriends at a Happy Joe's to begin our enchanting evening. I spent time with the same girl at a youth center in her town.
Yes, we went to dances at ballrooms, dance halls, and clubs. My parents had gone to dances too although the dances were often called sock hops back then. My parents spent time at cafes and the roller rink. My freshman year was the last time I was in a roller rink but at least I didn't totally miss out on that experience. My parents had pinball while my generation enjoyed video games.
I'm glad the Postville University existed, or I wouldn't have met Kandie. I'm glad Lil' Ole's existed, or I might not have had fun evenings with Kari. I wish I could go back in time and have a soda and play a game of Pac-Man and meet up with some friends. One never knew what the night might have in store.
***
I seem to recall Ole's being remodeled a bit that summer after my senior year or perhaps after I headed off to college. The whole place became a big bar as I recall. No longer was there simply a tiny lounge tucked away by the back door. At least that's how I remember it. Perhaps they still had kitchen service.
At any rate, I recall being in the place and having a beer with a couple of buddies one evening during my college years.
It makes me smile a bit now realizing that the little boy on the sidewalk with his grandma gazing at the coffee shop across the street had grown into a young man old enough to buy alcohol in that same space.
***
Over following years, I think the space may have housed a catering service, rehabilitation center, mattress company, resource center for people in need, and thrift shop. I'm not sure what the old coffee shop or clothing store spaces house now though the onetime state-of-the-art building remains. The building has seen better days, but it endures.
The Louis Schutte building was rather impressive at the time especially in the small town of Postville.
A newspaper of the day read, "The new building is modern in every respect and is a proud addition to the main street of Postville. The work was undertaken by Mr. Schutte as a permanent improvement to the community."
And,
"We wish to congratulate Loius Schutte along with the well wishes of the entire Postville community. He has again looked into the future of the town and given us a new, modern business building for our main street. His example of building for the future of the town is to be highly commended."
***
Interestingly, a coffeehouse can refer to an event as well as a physical structure or business. A "coffeehouse" may be held at a coffee shop or cafe. But a coffeehouse may also be held at a school, library, or church as well as other venues. A coffeehouse may involve music, a discussion, or a lecture. A coffeehouse may be held to bring awareness to social issues such as racism or alcoholism.
Of course, people have held their own "coffeehouses" for millennia. People have conversed in coffee houses and coffee shops for ages. Some have plotted revolutions in coffee houses. Some groups have merely talked about the weather or local news. Coffee shops have often been a place for individuals to exchange thoughts and ideas. In fact, my elderly father still meets with a group for coffee and conversation on a regular basis.
And the restaurant space I recall fondly served its purpose all those years. Yes, it provided coffee and other beverages. Yes, it provided sweet and savory snacks. Yes, it provided nourishment. But it also provided a place for friends, family, and community members to spend time together sharing their lives. And that's what it's really all about.
