White House Visit (Now Gainesville Nostalgia . . . LOL!) Back To White House At #361

I prefer whataburger

 

There are none in Cali. Just checked.

btw, the Gainesville Ale House is one of my favorite places to eat and I know there are a lot of them.

well I don’t know a lot but definitely one in Winter Park. (Orlando).

 

Chinee Takee Outee was adjacent to Burrito Bros

 

Burrito Bros was da bomb! I also loved El Indio right across the street from BB for their hard shell tacos.

 

That was where places went to die.

 

I also heard that. The signage was exactly the same and they did have decent burge

I spent some time in Albuquerque and Austin in the early 1980's and loved Sonic burgers with jalapenos. We had a few Sonics in Gainesville (now down to one) and the jalapeno burgers are not the same. Way too wimpy.

 

Two sonics again. New one on archer, one older one on 39th.

The in n out logos were different. The gainesville one was like a head with a chef hat. The cali one is like an arrow that takes a 90 above the words.

 

Gainesville

 

Cali

 

A&W Root beer! Never forget - Frosty Mugs to die for back in the day..............................

 

Amen. And Royal Castle with the frosted-glass root beer and Florida OJ, fresh-squeezed in front of you.

 

My memory of Burrito Brothers occurred after I came back from Christmas. I wandered in and had a $100 bill (Christmas gift from my grandmother) a $10 and a dollar. The attendant was a real hipster and caught me waving around the $100 bill like I was Howard Hughes. Bottom-line-I paid for my $2 dollar order with what I thought to be my $10 and received corresponding change. Later that evening I could not locate my Franklin but the $10 was readily available. When I arrived at BB the following morning to lodge my protest, the hipster turned trickster/grifter had fled according to the disgruntled attendant pressed into duty because of the grifter's rapid departure. Further Bottom Line- Notwithstanding my deep grief inspired by the loss of my grandmother's Christmas gift, I discontinued ab initio the practice of waving large (back then) currency in show of braggadocio!

 

Bandito Brothers!

 

There was a place just south of the Pizza Palace location on 13th Street that made authentic Chicago dogs. It didn't last long. The guy that ran it was a former school bus driver from Chicago.

I am guessing that he was thinking that if anybody had an authentic Chicago dog they would want many more.

Didn't work for him.

It didn't help that he didn't hide his displeasure if somebody asked for ketchup. It is a Chicago thing.

I have been to several places in Gainesville that claim that they make authentic Chicago dogs. None do. But I have been at a place in Cedar Key that does.

Added in rant: Chicago dogs have been taken over mostly by big corporations. In Chicago Portillo's and Gold Coast Dogs have taken over most of the market. When I was a kid most of the places were small mom and pop stands and each one was distinctive and all good. Everybody had their favorite. Long gone times. There are still some larger venues that live on like Plush Pup. Far from where I lived and went to school so rarely ventured there.

And this char dog thing from Gold Coast is an abomination.

 

Old G'Ville Restaurants:
Chandler's across from McDonald's-what was the back story on Chandler's? Better than McDonald's!
Alan's-In the small center near Shelly's
Shelley's-Still remember the blonde hotty with ring through her nose before anyone had rings through their nose!
Donigan's-a true institution (not food) that can never be replaced! More to come...

 

On behalf of all proud former Donigan’s employees, I say thanks for your lovely sentiment. Mr & Mrs Donigan smile down from heaven.

 

Anybody else go to Georgia Boys on Archer Road back in the early to mid 1980's? The story I heard that one of Sonny Tillman's former employees stole his BBQ sauce recipe and he was so pissed off that he opened a Sonny's very close by.

They made an excellent Brunswick stew.

 

A short lived place in the location was called Pole Benders. They specialized in Alaskan halibut. It was really good but three guesses why they failed.

 

Not an eatery but a long lost Gainesville tradition was Pablo's Tunnel at 34th and Archer. I used to go there to get cases of empty Bud long neck deposit bottles because I was into home brewing big time. There was a second drive-thru beer place at Depot and Main but I can't remember what it was called. Pretty much where the Cade Museum is now.

 

Threads reminiscing of times and places past are fun. They cropped up in the Pub on occasion in the past, but it's been years since the last one had any contributions and I think it fell off the last page into the Internet ether. So when I learned of this one I dropped in to check it out and possibly contribute to it. I'm a Gainesville native and a bit older than most of you and remember when the original College Inn on West University was torched by an arsonist. Gainesville has never been a dull place.

It did catch fire in 1988, but did not burn down completely, was closed for a time for repairs, re-opened and closed again ... with thefts, suits and counter suits. I haven't been back to Gainesville since December, 2018 so found the linked article from the Ocala Star Banner summing up its status in 2008. It is followed by a link to a google earth photo of the property taken in June, 2024. It appears as though not much has changed. A very valuable piece of land considering the development of 13th street properties in recent years ... vacant and available?

Pizza Palace returns to Gainesville

"Long before Satchel's Pizza became the Gainesville phenomenon it is today, the Original Pizza Palace was a popular hangout known for its laidback atmosphere and fresh Italian food.

"'It was a hippie-fied restaurant back in the day,' said Duane Olsen, a former manager and now owner who quietly reopened the restaurant for dinner Tuesday night after it sat empty for nine years.

"But Olsen is worried about the restaurant's karma because of a conflict involving two men who had planned to open the restaurant before he got involved.

"Jim Goethals and Bob Hardee spent four to five months renovating the building last year before they say owner Jim Larsen refused to sign a lease."


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