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Ship Wrecked
Life is weird
I am growing nostalgic for an entire era of Rt 1 restaurants I would never in a million years have eaten at nor which are even near where I live or grew up. Yet dammit, I want to be able to drive up Rt 1 and see the cactus and the ship and the giant temple looking Chinese place, etc... And the old Diplomat sign.
I do appreciate the dinosaur now has an even more prominent location and that the cactus remains but will they be there in 10 years? I doubt it.
Side question - is the Fontaine's sign sitting in storage somewhere?
I think so
A guy named Dave Waller from Malden bought the sign and put it in a Lynn warehouse back when the restaurant closed (he's gotten more notice of late for buying the Graves Light lighthouse).
Valle's
Everybody remembers the Hilltop with it's cactus and cows, but fewer remember the adjacent Valle's steakhouse, a sort of mid-century looking building that I thought added to that certain Route 1 style. I think it was considered somewhat secondary to the Hilltop and usually caught the overflow.
Valle's, Braintree
Interestingly, the Valle's in Braintree - somewhat of a minor landmark as people drove south on Rte. 3 - was taken over by Hilltop for their second restaurant (which also went the way of the dodo.)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Valle's
I remember Valle's, and the Santoro's sub shop (one of the few places on that stretch of Rt. 1 where I actually ate) that was on the other side of Pier 1 (i.e. just before Hilltop as you drove south). Then there was another place on the northbound side called "Santoro's Sub-Villa". I always wondered what the story was with those two places.
Karl's Sausage Kitchen. Godfried's (ate there). Caruso Diplomat. The original, small Weylu's (ate there too). Augustine's (occasionally ate there for special occasions). Most of those weren't giant icons like the Ship or the cactus but they certainly contributed to the strip's overall character.
A little further north (Peabody?), there was Yoken's with the giant whale sign and Deerskin Trading Post.
Yoken's was in Portsmouth NH,
Yoken's was in Portsmouth NH, I believe.
I have fond memories of all those restaurants you mentioned. We got to pick birthday dinner places to eat for our special day and I always picked Augustine's to my fathers dismay. Valle's was a favorite of my parents and Red Coach Grill.
I doubt the orange dinosaur will be there long. If they are trying to sell upscale living quarters, a dinosaur isn't actually fitting in.
There was also a Yoken's in
There was also a Yoken's in Peabody/Danvers, near the Deerskin.
Don't forget Lum's
Hot dogs steamed in beer.
Valle's in Newton
Used to be on Rt 9 at Florence St. I felt quite grown up when my folks decided that my deportment and table manners were good enough to be taken to dinner there (or Tony's Italian Villa across the street).
Come on in!
And the
Duende Lounge.
Here's the plan
I say we all attend any public approval meeting related to the new restaurant that wants to open where the Spring St Cafe used to be and demand in no uncertain terms that any approval to open a new restaurant at that intersection must include restoration of the Fontaine's sign.
Route 1
About 20 years or so ago, Alan Richman wrote a column about the restaurants on Route 1 for GQ magazine. Wish I had saved it.
Ate at the Ship once on a Sunday night, the seafood was fine, but there was no one in the place. Always chanted "We're going to the ship," like Gronk, as we drove by.
The one and only Adventure Car Hop
My go-to place was Adventure, shilled by Arnie Woo-Woo Ginsburg:
Adventure car hop
Is the place to go,
For food that's always right;
Adventure's food is always just so,
You'll relish every bite
Out on Route One in Saugus,
Come dressed just as you are;
Adventure's food is always so great,
And you never get out of your car
So sad. Is the dinosaur
So sad. Is the dinosaur going to be displayed someplace?
We used to go to Rye/Wallis Sands Beach for the day when we were kids. We would go to 9:00 Mass first; we would have our bathing suits on under our Sunday clothes (we thought that was so cool!).
We would be at the beach all day. My mom would pack sandwiches and dry clothes to change into after we rode the breakers.
We would stop at Prince Spaghetti for supper, and my dad and brother would go to the batting cage right next to the dinosaur.
It's all coming back to me now....
Yes, and in roughly the same location
The developer's committed to that. For that matter, the cactus is being preserved in place as well.
Hallelujah! Thanks for the
Hallelujah! Thanks for the info.
Dinosaur
The dinosaur is now atop a very tall retaining wall next to the site. Maybe 50' higher than previous locations so you can see it from farther away but not right when you drive by.
The Ship
I remember back in the day when The Ship was an ocean liner with big smoke stacks like the Titanic. Then they switched to masts.