Reminiscing is a familiar action that is fun. When two or more individuals meet together, it is not long before someone says, “Do you remember…?” Suddenly the participants are picking through an array of memories involving people, places or events nestled in the recalled past. The commonality of these mental keepsakes are precious souvenirs of one’s life and are freely recalled, often with others. The thrill of reminiscing never fades.
The experience of recalling the past may include any topic but the most common selection is usually places we have dined. Most individuals in Bowling Green enjoy many hours a week away from home eating or snacking. This city has often been referred to as having an excess of eating places, with new ones opening regularly. Thus the topic of reminiscing is often eating sites. This was true in the 1940s also.
Let us go back in time nearly a century (some eighty years ago) and check the choices available. We are downtown near the square and wish to get a bite to eat. We can go to the Helm Hotel Coffee Shop but it’s past the coffee hour with pastry time and the Lunch Plate Special will not be ready. Or we could go across the street to the Orange Bar or next door to Van’s Cafe. We can get a hamburger, hot dog, ham and cheese – several easily-prepared foods – any time of the day. The décor is simple, the atmosphere friendly.
You may prefer the Princess around the corner. Light sandwiches, soup… similar items. I don’t think we will go to the Parakeet Inn today, maybe tonight. Fine dining there and we just want a snack. Our next possibility around the square will be the Dixie Café, with its full menu of many choices. Here we can dwell a little longer, have a meal, a short-order item or dessert. Popular little spot in this area for visiting and eating. If you want just a Coke or RC, coffee, tea, a sandwich or even a dip of ice cream, we may want to stop at the snack bar in Pearson’s Drug Store. Almost everyone that works or visits the square will end up in here sometime during the day. Across the square is the snack bar at Woolworth’s Five and Ten Cent Store with the same type of culinary offerings. Get there early for lunch or you will have to stand in line for the next seat available. It gets busy quickly. One block west of the square will bring you to The Burger Basket, one block south will lead you to CDS Drug Store with its ever-popular lunch counter featuring sundaes, sodas (an all-time favorite), or sandwiches.
You may prefer to drive or walk south of the square to obtain a bite to eat. Within a couple of blocks there is a smorgasbord of selections as you near several educational sites: the BU (Business University), Bowling Green Junior and Senior High School and Western Kentucky State College. First you will see the Cardinal Cafeteria, a convenient place for a quick in-and-out to get a variety of food choices. The line moves fast and the food is a comfortable selection of culinary items. If you want a more lively setting, go around the corner to the University Inn. Here you can enjoy a lot of camaraderie with others, get a bite to eat and enjoy music stimulating the atmosphere. You can take a spin on the dance floor if you wish. This is one happy place to visit. If you want the setting quieter or quicker you can enter the Duck Inn Cafe, White Tray or the College Inn nearby. These have active clientele so you won’t be disappointed if looking for a morsel to satisfy your hunger. There are several private homes that rent rooms to students and/or provide meals served in the home. For example, Sine Dining Room is on 12th Street near the Baptist church. She houses many Cuban girls that attend BU and serves meals regularly in her home. There is “Mammy” Ore Dining Room, Mrs. Vance’s Student Dining Rooms, “The Pickle House” and a host of others whose information is posted on most college bulletin boards.
You may want to journey to the hill across from Western’s state of Dr. Cherry to the ever-favorite The Goal Post. You can obtain a meal ticket here and plan your eating as a routine habit or just drop in for the day to savor the intellectual atmosphere or join in on some college spirit. Of course, the dining rooms on campus are available if you so choose.
Get the car and let’s go visiting places outside the heart of the city. Drive along College Street until you get to the popular College Street Inn and its famous foot-long hot dog, the best you will ever eat. Pile up with the sides that go with the sandwich and you will be blessed with a Bowling Green favorite. You can top off your meal by going up the street to Brown’s Dairy for the very flavorable ice cream selections. Yum, yum good!
If you wish to wait until the evening meal to eat or continue your lunch possibilities, the choices are interesting on each side of the city. Near the bridge there is the ever-interesting Manhattan Towers. Examining the map, we also find the Kentucky Colonel, The Old Fort Restaurant, Freddies, Bewley’s Steakhouse, Ferguson’s Sandwich and Bill Hardin’s Sandwich Shop. On around the by-pass we see the CDS #7 lunch counter and also Murray’s Restaurant, a popular place for breakfast, lunch, dinner or late snack. You will surely see the area’s public leaders around the tables in lively discussions if you visit during morning coffee time. Closer to the end of the by-pass you will find some mouth-watering barbeque at Hunt’s One Stop Service. Further south of the city will bring you to Ferrell’s Restaurant and The Boots and Saddle Club, an interesting nighttime escape.
Perhaps your favorite away-from-home dining retreat has not been highlighted in this brief article. In a city like Bowling Green one is blessed with so many enticing choices available, it is easy to overlook other culinary opportunities. A visit to your local favorite will always please the providers of the menu listings and satisfy the receiver as well. So eat out, support your community and enjoy the offerings, not of 1940, but of 2021!
-by Mary Alice Oliver
About the Author: Mary Alice Oliver is a Bowling Green native who is a 1950 graduate of Bowling Green High School. She retired from Warren County Schools after 40 years in education. Visiting familiar sites, researching historical records and sharing memories with friends are her passions.
Photos courtesy of Western Kentucky Museum Special Collections
KRYSTAL, USE THE FILE NAME UNDER EACH PHOTO PLEASE.
