Seattlest: Seattlest Pix: 07Oct05

guest

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:16:46 -0800

Thanks for writing that, Tom. I felt maybe like I was all alone in my shed tears for our departed Dennys.. I guess we should be thankful we atleast have the memories of affordable eats and 50's architecture restaurants.

Seth

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:36:13 -0800

When I was a kid my mom lived in an apartment in Ballard. Money was not plentiful, so when we went out, it was to this very Denny's. With my Dad (his DNA hard-coded by generations of Norwegian frugality) we never went out at all, so this was actually--at 12 years old--my first consistent experience of going to a restaurant, being served by a waiter, all that stuff. Which all seems incredibly strange now, since I eat out as much as I eat in. The waiters seemed old to me, but they were probably all in their late teens and early twenties. They were unfailingly polite and, if they were slow, I didn't notice. You ordered what you wanted from a giant menu, they brought it, and they took it away when you were done. And you didn't have to do the dishes. It was an incredibly exciting experience. Thanks, Ballard Denny's!

ronaldholden

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:23:45 -0800

IIRC, it wasn't always a Denny's. Was originally a Manning's, part of a west coast chain of coffee shops & cafeterias. Grew up in Portland, fond memories of Sunday breakfasts at the downtown Manning's, first place I ever saw coffee "hottles" --carafes that held two cups. No Googie architecture, however.