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Duane Jackson (1965)

Just found out and it is a bit late, but I want wish the "Hooker " brothers a belated Birthday.....................Who knew we'd all (Most of Us) still be around............These guys are some of the nicest fellows I've ever known........

Don Hooker (1965)

Duane, thanks for the compliment and birthday wish, July 22. Glad to hear Vicki is feeling better.Don H

Dan Myers (1962)

Hey Greg, Don and all classmates before and after 1962..  Glad to see some of us still around..  I check out what is going one sometimes and you all have some interesting things to say about old times, IE Dentists etc- however I have seen no one mention Dr. Friesen (?)  He mainly got noticed around 1958 when he saved a baby that was almost born still..  He also operated on me in the 8th grade- two weeks before graduation..  Anyway nice to see some of the posted items on here..

Justene Manchester (Lipphardt) (1963)

I remember Dr. Friesen.  Seems like he did a home visit to us one time during the big flu sickness.  Saw him a couple of times when Dr. Morrison wasn't available.  Wasn''t he in wih Dr.'s Morrison and Nichols on First St.?

Darlene Hooker (Kirch-Brown) (1965)

I have to agree with you, Duane.  Don & Ron Hooker were some of the nicest guys in high school and are the same today.  Of course, I am a little prejudice.  They are my cousins.  Proud to have them as relatives.  Happy birthday Don & Ron:)

Greg Kareofelas (1962)

Hi Don

I know that, but for some reason, I have always called the Corkwood Restaurant, the Corkwood Lounge :-) and yes, it is the restaurant that is closing. I just could not miss the irony of Woodland's track record of most restaurants not making it a year, that the new owners would close the Corkwood that has been there for ever and start a new restaurant. Want to bet how long it will make it? Anyway, only 10 days to get in for one last meal there, then they have the big garage sale of everything inside the reataurant!

Greg Kareofelas (1962)

Hi Dan

You are so right, it is good that there still are some of us around, I guess our next big reunion will be the "60", I will have to ask Mom, but the name "Dr Friesen" sounds familiar. Remember when those Drs would still do house calls! I can remember a big Black Caddie and the Doctor coming to the house with a big black bag.

cheers, greg

John Kimura (1962)

Greg, with the closing of the Corkwood, which opened like in the very early 60's, I wonder which Woodland eating establishment has been opened the longest.

Don Murdoch (1962)

John,  I would think that the oldest is the Chicago Cafe on Main between College and Elm.  I can't thnk of any others that were operational in the 60s.  And with the closing of Tony's, the only bar left is the Stag.

Duane Jackson (1965)

I remember eating at the Hong Kong lots.......First with my Mom and step father, then making the lunch run with Steve March (for breaded veal cut-lets) during my senior year of Hi-School, then with Vicki and I during our going steady time and marriage, then finally being a police reserve for lunch or dinner during the day.  Never really got in to the Chicago, altho my Bro Jim Calibro loves the place and goes all the time to it when back in Woodland.  My fav place to eat was Al's or Kents, what ever you choose to call it, they never failed to have great food.  Vicki loved the Pizza burgers from there...............I never got into the Corkwood, I guess it because I never drank.....only went there a couple of times with my brother in law, who is dead now..........

Theresa Eve (1964)

The A&W was the best place for that cold rootbeer and sub-sandwiches and hamburgers.  I remember riding our bikes over there and having a treat for lunch.  Sometimes in the evening Dad would drive us over to the A&W to have one of those frosted mugs of rootbeer.  Those glass mugs were collectables.  So refreshing in the hot summer days.  We did not have central air  in the house in those days.  I just remember how fun that place was, with all the cars driving around.

Tuni Gravink (House) (1964)

Theresa E-I can remember my dad taking us to the A&W for those really cool root beer floats. I remember the car hops. I also still have the Mama , Papa, and baby mug glasses. Yes, collectables, and up till about the early 90's in Redwood City and A&W (old fashioned one like what all of us grew up with) was still in business. Not anymore unfortunately.  I know we went there maybe once a month and had our mama , papa , and baby burgers , and the floats to match. That was such a treat and we thought so cool.  I think Sonic trys to copy that period of time. I do not eat there , but have seen several in different towns.  We used to eat at Fong's also. We would come in the back door, cut through the kitchen, and they would say hi to dad, and we would go sit down. The Chicago was a good one too. But we did not eat out much .Does anyone remember the name of the old cafe that was by the State Theater?  Tuni

Don Murdoch (1962)

Tuni,  The cafe next to the State Theater was called the State Fountain.  How ironic, eh.

Mary Cassel (Mailloux) (1967)

The restaurants "Chicago", owned by family named Fong, was brother to the owners of "Fong's" restaurant.  Amy Fong is "Chicago" Fong's daughter, and Burke Fong ('67) is her cousin, not sure in "Fong's" son or not.  Burke now married to Andrea Fernandez.

The State Fountain---did that later become the Stork Shop?

Jon Neumann (1969)

Did we not grow up in the best of times and the best town? I cannot believe all those restaurants are closed and closing; is The Shanty still there? Went there only once; not into the bar scene but not in a high-minded sense; it was and still is to me an icon; it was so popular with my friends. In Battle Creek, a very depressed city in a very depressed state, the same thing has happened to restaurants here and the new restaurant (there are that many in Battle Creek; have to go to Kalamazoo, Jackson, Lansing or Grand Rapids for good eats) goes out of business every other year; don't really understand all this or a lot of other things today.

Aileen Jull (Martinez) (1964)

You can still find A&W's.  They are now located in KFC restaurants.  Probably bought out by KFC years ago.  However, I was very disappointed with the Mamaburger.  They don't use the same delicious sauce I remember from the 60's.  Either they've change their recipe or my taste buds aren't the same.  Gee, I wonder which is it?

Duane Jackson (1965)

Talking about A&W's...we got one here in Modesto that is still in business....I think every Fri and Sat nite they have a oldies program.  Me thinks it's run by the same guy for years.......Small outfits like it hard to stay in Business next to the chains...............Remeber to buy your Root Beer by the gallon jug!!!!

Tuni Gravink (House) (1964)

Mary Casteel M, and Don M- You are correct it was the State Fountain, the cafe next to the theater. My girlfriend Cheryl Johnston (no longer alive) and i used to go eat there on either a Friday /Saturday night before the movies would start. We would actually get dressed up sort of and totally enjoy ourselves. I believe it did become the Stork Shop after that. If i remember their burgers were pretty good too.

Out here (AZ) there is not one A&W within my driving that i choose to do. After living in the Bay area all those years and commuting either to San Francisco, or San Jose, i do not choose to be driving any further than i absoloutely have too! My main commute is down to the mail box at the end of the our hilly driveway, and only traffic are the quails and rabbits! Occasional Road Runner or snake or two. I know i have not seen them in the area's around here. Now i will be looking for one!

Yes, towns change, and businesses die out. Sad, but that is what happens. I remember the owners of Fongs,lived by us, and his neice Rosevina Yee came to live with them in Woodland as a exchange student. Man, everytime you went to their house and they were there, it smelled like good food. They were very nice, and they also were a very business minded family in general.

Last Sept. when we had the decades class reunions, does anyone know who was sponsoring the agility trials that were going on , on the main green area (where the carnival usually is for the fair)? I am trying to track that down to get info about their agility challenges and equipment they had, and maybe some of you might know who did it, or who to get in contact with, as i would love to find out who they order their equipment through, and were they pull their judges from. I have and agility area down here ,but would love to up grade, and bring in competition. Not just service dog level.

Tuni

Gail Smith (Maxwell) (1964)

Aileen, do you remember that Eddi used to work as a car hop at the A&W?  On weekends when we would go cruising, It was a continual loop through A&W, down Main St. to the Foster Freeze, turn around and do it again!  When Eddi was working we'd stop and have a root beer.  Craig, I do not believe that the car hops were on roller skates...think they just walked to the cars, but I could have that wrong.  Crusing was a time honored tradition and we could do it for hours.  We'd hope to get stopped at a light so you could chat with the people in the car next to you. What wonderful times we lived in!

Theresa Eve (1964)

Oh yes, the best of times in Woodland!  Tuni girlfriend, I think the State Restaurant was on the left of the State Theater and the Stork Shop was on the right, as you came into the lovely Theater.  Boy, I loved that Theater and remember seeing the Wizard of Oz in that Palace.  So much for the 60s in my view, as I was not into the hippie thing at all.  But, I must say the folk music that came out of that time was wonderful.  Loved and still have the albums of The Kingston Trio - Tom Dooley; Brothers Four; Glenn Yarbrough, etc.!  However, somethings do come back!!!  I was just watching Austin City Limits and learned about The Milk Carton Kids - now there is some wonderful music and great looking men, which took me back to the 60s.  Great team of musicians.  If we all had a million dollars, maybe we could all get together and rebuild Woodland to the way we remember and keep it hopping as the best town in the Country!!!  Just a dream.   (A few words of greatness to James Gardner, another great actor of our time who always made me laugh.  Rest in peace good man.)

Burke Fong (1967)

Keep seeing everyone posts, but haven't decided to post until I saw all the discussion about restaurants in Woodland in the 60's.  In regards to the Chinese restaurants, I know them well because most of them were owned by "relatives". 

My parents and one of my uncles opened Fong's in the 50's.  When my uncle died (after my dad opened a new restaurant - see next paragraph), my cousin, Cowboy, ran the business until he retired.  

In the mid 60's, my dad, Charlie, decided to open another restaurant, Min's Cafe, which was located at the corner of Cottonwood and West Main (the current location of the Taco Bell).  After my dad retired, my uncle Felix and his wife Brenda took over the business until they retired in the 90's.

The Chicago Cafe was opened by my Grandfather and one of my great uncles in the early 1900's.  It's been owned by the Fong family since the day it opened.  The current owners, Paul and Nancy, are my cousins. As a kid, I started a fire in the storage area at the back of the building playing with matches. 

After my parents passed away, Paul bought our family home on West Gibson Road because it had a restaurant grade wok in the kitchen and he didn't want to see it go to waste.  It's kinda funny, in the 30+ years we owned the home, I would say the wok got used less than a dozen times.  We ate mainly at the restaurant and about the only time we cooked at home was Mondays when the restaurant was closed and my parents weren't visiting San Francisco (which was almost every week).  After my parents retired, they cooked very little at home because they did a lot of traveling.

One of my uncles, Sleepy Toy Fong, was the part owner of the Hong Kong Cafe and I hung out there too with my cousins. There was actually another Chinese restaurant in Woodland which was owned by the Lim family (I'm somehow related to them too), I can't remember the name of it (it was located in the spot currently occuppied by the El Charro Mexican Restaurant).

As far as I know, we are not related to the owner of the Corkwood Restaurant (my dad actually worked there for awhile before he opened Min's Cafe). 

Don Murdoch (1962)

Gail,  My girlfriend at the time, Pat Phipps, also worked as a carhop at the A&W.  Her  mother was the cook during the week.  I spent many hours there just trying to protect "my property".  They were never on roller skates.  Roller skates were used at Mel's Diner in Sacto when we were in high school.

Janet Long (Levers) (1966)

Burke, it's really great to have the information about the different cafes and family connections of them. Now we need to get your famous sister Maedell to tell us why there's a picture of her in the Encylopedia Britanica; she was in (my) Class of '66, and we were together all the way thru Latin 4 with Mr. Hefner (RIP), Stan Heard, Ken Zobel---and I'm sorry I can't remember the 5th person.

Joan Richter (Lucchesi) (1960)

Don is right. They skates were at Mels in Sacramento and Modesto. They did it one night at our A & W to see if they could but with the sidewalk 5-6 inches above the asphalt it was difficult to serve a tray. Then the asphalt was not smooth enough to skate on.

The Stork Shop was on the West side of the State and the fountain on the East side.

Thanks for all the information on Fong's and the all the other restaurants in town. Nice to know the history and have it written down.

George Duncan (1965)

There is a A&W in Lodi.  I believe it was one of the originals. My Daughter lives there and I always come home with a gallon. Usually gone in a couple of days