Hal Linker reminisces, part 6

Thus begins Week 2 of the Hal Linker papers, which could have been donated to Chaffey College but instead were sent via e-mail to me. Resuming where we left off Friday, today he focuses on burgers, fried chicken and tacos:

Let’s not forget The Towne House, a burger hangout on Towne and Holt from eons ago.

Also A&W in Chino, on Riverside Drive and Wright. Too bad about the Ontario A&W carhop location closing in 2006. Bummer! But they weren’t serving the old cuisine of Mama, Papa, Teen and Baby Burgers anymore anyway. Still they had Coney Dog Tuesdays. Damn! The Chino location still stands and is an Andy’s Burgers — no carhop service though.

With regard to other Ontario eateries, on Mountain Avenue there was the extremely short-lived Minnie Pearl’s Chicken which became The House Of Omelettes which also didn’t last long — too limited on the cuisine maybe? I think the building is still there but I don’t know who’s operating out of it currently. I think Mexican food, maybe.

With regard to Mexican food: I dug Mingo’s on Mission and Reservoir where I would always order the Gringo Burrito and Colorado Kool-Aid among the dangling pinatas. Also in Chino on Central near Riverside Drive was Mr. Taco, a takeout joint with no drive-through. They used to have a fire pit out front, back in the fearless days. Sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s it was renovated and turned into a KFC. They had the bomb burritos back when we didn’t use that slang.

Whatever happened to the many Winchell’s Donut locations? Chino had one on the SE corner of Central and Riverside Drive (torn down for street widening). There was also one on Euclid in Ontario around Francis which is now a Juan Pollo.

There was a Pup ‘N’ Taco on Mountain and Philadelphia which got absorbed into Taco Bellsville.

Everybody remembers Henry’s — It was THE hang out. I used to cruise it with my older brother and sister. Those were the days! Souped-up cars and leaded high-octane gas at about 25 cents a gallon. Only drawback — smog as thick as molasses. Musta been the factories — couldn’t have been the cars. And that Googie space age architecture! Yeah!

Other chicken joints were Unruh’s on N. Garey and Litte Bill’s on S. Garey just up the street from Pomona Lanes on the opposite side of the street.

Next time: teen clubs.

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