LA’s Historic 75-Year-Old Irv’s Burgers to Reopen With New Roadside Stand
A rendering for the new open-air Irv’s location. Off the Menu
From Eater|Los Angeles: Some surprising (and well-timed) weekend news to know about: Irv’s Burgers is coming back to life, for real. The longstanding roadside burger stop closed forever in 2018 after a tumultuous half-decade that spanned two locations and one heartbreaking final photo, but now a benefactor has stepped in to restore owner Sonia Hong to her rightful place in LA burger lore.
The shocking news is dropping today because, well, it’s National Burger Day apparently, and as a result Hong is currently (as in right this moment) running a one-day pop-up at Employees Only in West Hollywood. That party is being put on by Lawrence Longo and his company Off the Menu — which just happens to be the group that is now backing Hong’s move into a new, permanent Irv’s Burgers stand in West Hollywood.
History: Cody’s Cameron Center in Palm Springs captured Googie style
Roadside signage of Aloha Jhoe’s at 950 S. Palm Canyon Drive. Courtesy Of The Palm Springs Historical Society
From the Desert Sun: “The Cameron Center has the ‘Look of Today’ with the Huddle Springs being termed ‘America’s Most Beautiful Restaurant,’ and the groundbreaking…for the new, completely modern Mayfair Market (completes)…architect William Cody’s sketch of the future.” The plan included hundreds of parking places and a variety of additional shops and offices. A sign reading, “Dedicated to the Parking Convenience of Palm Springs Shoppers” was planted on the site during the opening ceremony.
George Cameron’s eponymous center was being contemplated when he had a surprise wedding to Daphne Myrick. The bride and groom were going to live happily ever after, splitting their time between their Thunderbird and “palatial” Beverly Hills homes upon returning from their honeymoon. In the after-the-fact newspaper account of the wedding in January 1955, Cameron was identified as a “Texas oilionaire (sic) who is going to build the five-million-dollar Cameron Center in Palm Springs.”
Route 66′s historic U-Drop Inn reopens diner after a quarter century
From KFDA: AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) – Route 66′s historic U-Drop Inn in Shamrock is set to open its diner for the first time in over a quarter of a century.
The building was built in 1936, and the diner was visited by millions of Route 66 motorists, including Elvis Presley as he drove from Memphis to Hollywood.
As international boarders reopen and travel down Route 66 is expected to increase, the city plans to open the U-Drop Inn Cafe by late July.
“Route 66 is basically our heart and soul” said Crystal Hermesmeyer, director of Shamrock Economic Development and Shamrock Chamber of Commerce. “We needed something to fill a void, we ended one more thing that would bring people in and help Shamrock and our area.”
Repairs underway for damaged Paul Bunyan and Babe statues in Bemidji
Marcia Larson, Bemidji’s parks and recreation director, gets a closer look at Paul Bunyan’s arm damages with Rob Jensen, of Jensen Conservation Services, on Monday, May 24, 2021, in Paul Bunyan Park. Jillian Gandsey / Bemidji Pioneer
From the West Central Tribune: BEMIDJI, Minn. — Bemidji’s most iconic duo is getting a much-needed makeover, from the top of Paul Bunyan’s shoulder to the bottom of Babe’s hooves.
Crews have been hard at work in Paul Bunyan Park, making multiple repairs to the two statues in Bemidji’s downtown. The work had been scheduled for this later summer but was moved ahead of schedule after the Paul Bunyan statue sustained damage earlier this month.
Video obtained by the Bemidji Police Department of the incident caught individuals hanging on the arm of Paul Bunyan that resulted in the damage. The concrete on the arm gave way, and it was held only by the statue’s internal rebar.
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The good and bad times of Tiny Town, Colorado’s fantasy attraction returning this summer
Engineer Dave Christopherson drives the diesel train ‘Mary Ross’ across a bridge on Friday, May 14, 2021 at the Tiny Town and Railroad in Morrison, Colo. Tiny Town will be re-opening on Saturday, May 29th for the 2021 season. Katie Klann/The Gazette
From The Gazette: MORRISON • Throughout last summer, the 71-year-old woman in charge of Tiny Town would come by the place she always knew as “happy and magical.” It was “a wonderful, miniature world,” Elvira Nedoma wrote in her book chronicling the roadside attraction’s 100 years.
Nedoma started “If These Tracks Could Talk” like this: “Somewhere over the rainbow, preserved fondly in one’s memory, is a place where time stands still and you can be a child forever.”
Amid the stark reality of a global lockdown, it was hard to maintain the illusion.