JOHN PARKER story

[Corsairdeluxe]

A passing reference in another post to missing John Parker reminded me of a John Parker story that I better tell before all we geezers die out . John sold parts in the bulletin and his ads always started with "From the vast collection of John Parker".

A friend of mine started a 50's style restaurant in Irvine Ca. and chose to all it "Henry J's". He went to great effort to make it as Henry J as possible including a Henry J front end hanging over the counter. I had quite a bit  of Henry J literature, ads and spare script that adorned all the walls .It was well done.(pictures attached)


I tried for some time to get John to visit it with me and finally he said yes.
Before the visit I had labels made up that said "From the vast collection of Jim Brown".I put one on each of the Henry J items on display.
Saturday morning came and John and I went for breakfast. As he surveyed the items and saw the labels, a tiny, little  funny smile came over his face. That same smile happened through out the breakfast. He did not say a word!

Every time I met John after that he gave me that same smile


 
 

 

 

[BigDave LM6174]

Jim, do you know why it closed up?  Do you know what happened to all the stuff?  I still have a t-shirt from the diner?  That was a neat place while it was there.

[Corsairdeluxe]

The original owner said he was mislead by the Irvine company. He said they promised to rent to only full service restaurants(breakfast, lunch and diner, no take out or sandwich shops). Based on that promise  .he went full out with ammenites. Shorty thereafter he was surrounded with sandwich shops ,doughnuts and the like only open for breakfast and lunch .He could not meet their prices and had to get out. I got most of my stuff back. He gave me a menu. If I find it I'll post some of the items like the "HONKING HENRY OMLET".

I like 50's joints .This one was over the top. Kinda like "Johnny Rockets ",but more class. It had a Rockola Tempo ll juke box . The one that looks like a 50s car rear end

[BigDave LM6174]

Yes, it was a neat restaurant.  Well worth the drive for me from Whittier.

[bradgaston]

I went there when I had my Red 51 HJ. Gave the owner some framed ads to display. It was a neat place.