Yoda’s Big Boy (Salem, VA)

Restaurant_YodaApparently, Yoda’s Big Boy was one of the earliest Shoney’s restaurants. It later merged with Lendy’s, also of Salem. Back when it was Yoda’s competitor, Lendy’s was simultaneously a Big Boy and a Kentucky Fried Chicken. Confused? That makes two of us.

I got the above info from the Lendy’s section of oldroanoake.net, which contains plenty of pictures. This page shows Col. Sanders (in person and in sign form) in front of a Big Boy, along with a newspaper ad for “Shrimp, golden fried the Yoda way”. For a picture of the actual Yoda’s building, scroll down this page. Spoiler alert: not as cool as the drawing, but it does have a Big Boy statue.

Most importantly: YES, they gave out Big Boy Comics!

I’m not sure who drew this one. I seem to remember the artist’s last name was Yoder, but maybe that’s just me seeing “J.Y.” in the signature and wanting a Yoda drawing by a Yoder. Ideas, anyone?

Dante’s Furnace (Pompton Lakes, NJ)

Restaurant_DantesFurnaceNew sketchbook theme, as promised. These are restaurant names I found in a 1966 edition of the National Restaurant Association member directory. The Association still exists, but no longer publishes a list of members.

Dante’s Furnace seems to be long gone. The only evidence I was able to find of its existence was this 2-sentence observation  from a 1964 New Yorker article.

As for the artist on this one: I’m not sure. All I remember is that I met him that same day, and he was pretty excited about getting to make a literary reference.

BUTTER RING: “It looks cool. We are proud of its shape.”

Candy_Butterring

by J. Meyer

I feel like I ought to know who drew this, but neither the drawing style nor the signature are ringing any bells for me. I’m pretty sure it says J. Meyer, but I’m not even 100% sure about that.

UPDATE: The artist has been found: It’s Joe Meyer. Check the comments below for Joe’s response and links to more of his work.

Butter Rings aren’t too hard to come by. In fact, you can “Enjoy the Fun Shaped Butter Ring with Your Family and Friends!”

“…And there’s this in it too.”

PUDAE ZZIGAE: “It’s o.k. whenever and wherever water is at hand.”

Candy_PudaeI’m going to assume that “pudae zzigae” is a variant spelling of the stew more commonly romanized as budae jjigae; and that this product was a powdered, just-add-water version of said stew. I can’t find any evidence of it ever existing, but I’m sure it did, and it was probably pretty okay.

The artist on this one is a mystery to me. If you have any ideas, let me know.