Woolworths menu from the 50's

[Mark Davis]

[Tele Fan]

Hmmmmm what to eat what to eat . . .

[Just-Jim]

Awesome flashback! I remember a drug store diner in downtown Long Beach CA I would go to with my parents in the 70's. I thnk it was the last time I ever saw a soda jerk (not being harsh - but that was what they were called back in the olden days)!

[Mark Davis]

Ya back then you could say extra butterscotch syrup or anything and get it.

We had a Woolworths in my hometown used to go in there and get malted milk balls they sold them by weight so you could get just a few or alot. I used to buy 15 cents worth and that would last me along time.

I remember getting grilled cheese sandwiches with a super sour dill pickle spear man those were good.

[emu!]

As an elementary student in the late 60's, Mom would give me 10 cents every day to use as I pleased at the candy counter. My usual:\

1 soda pop (10 oz glass bottle) - $0.05
6 home-made cookies (3 for .01) - $0.02
9 jaw busters (3 for .01) - $0.03

[boris bubbanov]

The food wasn't bad, but I saw no joy in eating in that kind of environment.

Half of the fun of going to Vic's Pizza was the sawdust on the floor and the opportunity to sit at the booth with your friends' older brother and his cool friends. The pizza was just a bonus.

Nobody seemed cool once they walked in the door of the 5 and Dime; the girls (!) didn't even seem all that alluring. Ever make a date at the butcher's shop? (what we used to call a "meat market" before that word was purloined)? Neither me. The same girls were almost irresistible at Vic's.

Context!

[Fendrcaster]

The last time I ate at a Woolworth's lunch counter was in Billings, Montana, in 1969. I remember there was a sign stating that if the server didn't ask you if you'd like a strawberry shortcake for dessert, you'd get one free. I sure did enjoy that free dessert!

[unclearty]

Woah...when I was little, a friend of my mother's would take me to town to run her errands once or twice a week. I hate to think of how many of those grilled cheese sandwiches I ate...with pickles, of course.

[FirstBassman]

"Pressed" ham?

[davidge1]

Man, Im bummed I can't try the "Super De-luxe Ham Sandwich."

[markothefish]

Originally Posted by unclearty

Woah...when I was little, a friend of my mother's would take me to town to run her errands once or twice a week. I hate to think of how many of those grilled cheese sandwiches I ate...with pickles, of course.

+1 Same here , Downtown New Bedford , The Woolworth's was right across the street from the planter's peanut shoppe

[voodoostation]

Still have a handful of lunch counters around these parts, but they're a dying thing. Got an apothecary just up the road that still has a soda jerk working there.

[boneyguy]

My granny would take me downtown on the bus to go shopping at Woolworths and Kresges. We would usually have lunch at the counter at Woolworths. That would have been in the mid sixties though. A whole lifetime ago.

[Cassidy]

Very cool, I remember my mom and dad taking us to the Woolworth's or Kresge's and what a big treat it was to eat there. Mmmmm, a cheese sandwich and a banana split. Once I found a twenty dollar bill on the floor. My mom took it straight to the checker and turned it in (much to my chagrin). A few minutes later, a woman asked if someone found a twenty... I got a five dollar bill reward and mom let me spend it... I bought a ton of stuff and had a couple bucks left over.

Back then, the five and dime stores were like our K-Marts. Speaking of K-Mart... remember when K-Marts had a lunch counter? Good burgers and fries, for like $1.19.

But the best memory was when dad took us to white castle for a whole bag of 12 cent burgers... little square burgers with something similar to meat and a whole mess of teeny onions (that I painstakingly picked off). Still, they were great.

Cassidy

[neatone]

ah woolworths! in nyc!
bought many a tropical fish at woolworths
and in the 60's, bags of cut/out 45's for 99 cents
maybe 20 in a bag
kinks, wayne fontana, dusty springfield, cool jerk!!
hahaha

and sittin on a blue naugahyde swivel chair at the counter
havin a banana split
and to pay u'd pick a balloon
from dozens of balloons suspended all around the counter
and whatever amount was on a piece of paper inside the balloon
was what u'd pay
and sometimes
FREE

theres was a great big old woolworths
on powell st in sf ca that lasted into the 80's
that was a real time machine

there was a similar type 5& 10 store
called mccrorys
that died a much earlier demise

[Fendrcaster]

The local Woolworths in my hometown of Frederick, Maryland closed about 15 years ago. I was sad to see it go, but I got some great deals on a bunch of fishing stuff that was on sale. I was somewhere in Georgia a couple weeks ago (Savannah?) and saw a Woolworths sign over a downtown storefront. I don't know if it was still in business or not.

[jonzer]

There's a pharmacy in downtown Fredericksburg with a menu like that (not the prices), but it's still pretty cheap. You can get a sandwich, chips, pickle and a coke for less than five bucks.

And I'm with the guy above who asked...."pressed ham"?...

[casterway]

We still have a store like this here. It's an old Army & Navy store, built in 1939. Still pretty original, walking through the old oak and glass doors, and down the wide, creaky stairs, there is still the old store cafe in operation. Not gourmet by any stretch, but you can sit at the counter and get a grilled cheese and a glass of milk and pretend you're in 1964.

[woodman]

man, i was there. a dime and a certain number of soft-drink bottle caps would get you into the triple-header western, with cartoons in between. then you'd spend the rest of your quarter on a hot dog and a big orange drink at Woolworth's. yeah baby! life was good then!

[B Valley]

I ate breakfast at one the last Woolworth's in the Bay Area. The same women had worked there since it opened, and now they were little blue haired ladies with hair nets. I ordered pancakes and while I was waiting, two roaches walked across the counter in front of me. I ate most of the pancakes, and when the third cockroach walked across the counter, I smashed him with my spoon and left him on the plate.
This is not to say they were all like that. They were actually decent places to eat. But this one, like the waitresses, was old and run down.

[Telehackster]

I never ate at a Woolworth's, though my hometown did have a few drug stores with lunch counters where I used to go as a kid. The main things I remember are the five-cent sodas and huge, thick milkshakes.

Now I'm in the mood for a BLT. . .

[Mark Davis]

Glad this brought back some old memories.

Fish tanks and little turtles with painted shells 45's of Elvis songs the 50's were cool.

[xStonr]

Me and my friends would buy those little turtles and then have turtle races in the bathtub much to our parents chagrin. Good times!

[tazzboy]

Yeah I remember eating at Woolworth in the 1980s. God how times have change.

[stantheman]

You're makin' me cry Mark
Seems like if I just turned my head just right I'd be there again.
And don't forget all the cool Diners and Sangwich Shops.
In Lawrence where I grew up it was Bea's Sandwich Shop on Broadway for a Veal Cutlet and an Orange Tonic, or Lawton's "By The Sea" (next to the canal - the only joint I ever knew that expanded to include a fire hydrant in the building) for a Hot Dog.
Cars with tailfins and Dalton's and Ford's Coffee Shop.
Meville's for coffee and pie and The Cedarcrest for a serious lunch.
Panheads and Flatheads everywhere along with "The DA's".
The comb in the pocket and Ronnie & The Daytonas for a nickel.
The Drive-In and the chicks on roller skates at A&W RootBeer.

I'd chuck everything these times have to offer to journey back 40-45 years.
Hey - "The Secret Weapon!"

[toadman]

i remember my dad taking me to the soda counter at the Franklin Pahrmacy in Glastonbury, Ct after sunday school a couple times. it was cool. definately cooler than when he took me to the VFW!

[casterway]

Hey Chet...how do ya like these record prices???

[cowboytwang]

Back in the '40s my Family(grandparents and their 10 kids) owned a beer joint/cafe called "THE ROCK CAFE"(the building was made out of rocks and fossils), just outside of Lone Grove, Oklahoma.
They had a menu like the one above just a little cheaper.


The Cafe had the first TV in the county and the only jukebox.
My dad would always say how he was a bartender when he was just 12 years old. He also rigged the jukebox so it would just play Bill Monroe's "Rocky Road Blues" no matter what song someone wanted to play.

My Grandparents in front of "THE ROCK CAFE".

[bowman]

Great memories - I wasted a lot of time in Woolworths when I was a kid. The town I grew up in had many soda fountains and lunch counters downtown, as well as 2 movie theatres. I spent a lot of time in all of them, and every one of them is gone now. I'd like to go back for a week or so, just to re-live those times and feelings.

[stantheman]

Originally Posted by bowman

Great memories - I wasted a lot of time in Woolworths when I was a kid. The town I grew up in had many soda fountains and lunch counters downtown, as well as 2 movie theatres. I spent a lot of time in all of them, and every one of them is gone now. I'd like to go back for a week or so, just to re-live those times and feelings.

The "progress" we've made in the last 45 years feels like anything but...
I'm starting to think we really ought to change Our name to - The United States Of High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Back then an obese person was a "sight".
And I don't remember anyone on Prescription Meds.
And Old Folks weren't as feeble like middle aged people are today.
And Heartburn - never even heard of it.
There were no artificial sweeteners.
And nobody was on a "low salt diet".

I'm believin' that we are in an age of really bad science.

And what's with all these FAT kids?????!!!
I weighed 96 lbs. when I was 11 and was considered "big".

[doster]

One of my favorite memories at Woolworth's was ordering a chocolate milk shake. The waitress would take a tall steel container and add the fresh ingredients and put it onto the mixer. I think six milkshakes could go on the mixer at once.
The best part was when you were just about done with your milkshake, she would come over and pour what was left in the big steel container into your glass,
Now that was heaven and I loved those waitresses!

[zombywoof]

Originally Posted by FirstBassman

"Pressed" ham?

Oh yeah, but the Woolworth's price is pretty exorbitant on that. Back in High School I used to wander over to the deli for lunch and get a get Pressed Ham on a roll for 25 cents. Soda was a nickel as was a candy bar. Pretty good eating for 35 cents.

[mudbean]

Originally Posted by doster

One of my favorite memories at Woolworth's was ordering a chocolate milk shake. The waitress would take a tall steel container and add the fresh ingredients and put it onto the mixer. I think six milkshakes could go on the mixer at once.
The best part was when you were just about done with your milkshake, she would come over and pour what was left in the big steel container into your glass,
Now that was heaven and I loved those waitresses!

+1,000,000!!

Thanks for the stroll down Memory Lane, Dr. Mark!

mud

[Johnny Isaacs]

of the Woolworths here too! I used to eat at them with my dad often.

But did you guys notice the Fender fonts all over this menu?!!? Great stuff!

Johnny Isaacs

[Mark Davis]

I remember those old malts and milkshakes that mixer was built like a tank and when they poured the extra in it was a sugar blast good enough to send a man to the moon.

My biggest Woolworths memory was the Monday at noon after the Sunday night when The Beatles first appeared on Ed Sullivan.

They had Beatle cards Beatle scarfs Beatle Wigs Beatle albums mass marketing at its best there was so much Beatle stuff we were blown away.

My sister has my Beatle cards and she has a scarf she kept all these years.

[djdeacon]

I worked at Woolworth's in the 70's. The technical term for "lunch counter" was "340 Unit".

[beep.click]

Originally Posted by Cassidy

Back then, the five and dime stores were like our K-Marts. Speaking of K-Mart... remember when K-Marts had a lunch counter? Good burgers and fries, for like $1.19.

I remember eating at the K-Mart, thank goodness, because I don't think I ever ate at the Woolworth's. Dunno why, but lunch counters just weren't part of growing up, in my family.

I remember the Woolworth's store, though. If you were up for a looooonnnggg bike ride, you could go to our little shopping center, which had Woolworth's, the Rexall Drugs, and another five-and-dime called W.T. Grant's. You'd buy your comic books at the Rexall, and you'd look at the plastic models (Revell, Aurora, etc.) at the two drug stores. Can't remember if all 3 places had the Matchbox cars -- I know the Rexall did (they were behind the counter).

(BTW the K-mart food was surprisingly good...)

[studio1087]

Originally Posted by FirstBassman

"Pressed" ham?

Indeed. When pigs are cut into chops and steaks and bacon, etc. there is a great amount of meat left over in the joints and major bones. These pieces are sold to processing plants that steam the remaining meat away and press it into pressed loaf. Hence; pressed ham. I work in packaging engineering and I've been through a large factory near Milwaukee that does this every day. Factory workers at a pressed ham factory will remind you that the best meat often comes from near the bone (like when you eat a T-Bone steak). It's really not as odd as it sounds. The meat-on-bone product is sold by the rail car full (packed in corrugated pallet gaylords). It's huge business. The same cold cut is often called "chopped ham".

I remember getting plates of french fries at Woolworths. I also remember the photo booths.

[Paul in Colorado]

But where is my favorite, The Hamburger Sandwich and French Fried Potatoes?

We had TWO Woolworths in my town. One downtown and one at the new Mall they built out by the freeway. When I was little we ate quite a few meals at that lunch counter. When I was in high school the one at the mall was where you'd go when you ran into a girl you knew and wanted to take her to lunch. Either there or Sears that had a snack bar kind of place in the basement.

When the local Woolworths closed here in Fort Collins, we bought eight of the big heavy serving platters from the lunch counter (I wonder how many meals were served on those plates?) and the fainting counch out of the womans rest room.

[reverbbb]

I was always amazed at how emplty the lunch counters were at all the places that I knew. The drug stores, Woolworth and even the K-marts just never seemed to attract the people during the 1970s and 1980s. The fast food franchises stole away all their business with the specialty food themes (tacos, pizza, hamburgers, fish-n-chips, etc.). Time sure did change. I miss the lunch counter era. The latest end of cycle now is the Cafateria dinning. There is only a few left and they have become very expensive.

That menu is in great condition. I am reminded of a map that my wife had kept since 1963. That was the opening year of original Six Flags Over Texas. Nearly all the rides look very dated and most are gone now (like the Little Mexico Train Ride).