SPOTLIGHT ON THE SPOKANE REGION
Hi, Everybody! I am Kris Krell, and I am
preparing to entertain you with interesting stories about the Spokane Region
through the EWGS Blog.
So stay tuned, and send any comments, kudos, or
suggestions to me at krellkb1@gmail.com.
I am excited about this Blogging opportunity, and I
look forward to getting to know and work with all of my fellow EWGS members!
Kris
Do you know
what Googie architecture is? I didn’t
have a clue—never even heard of it until I researched for this week’s
article. Turns out, we have an example
right here in Spokane!
Dick’s
Hamburgers was built in the Googie style which is a form of modern architechture
and a subdivision of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, jets, the
Space Age, and the Atomic Age. The style
later became part of the Mid-Century Modern style.
Googie
architechture was conceived during the late 1940’s Southern California through
the mid-1960’s. Motels, coffee houses, and gas stations were built Googie.
We all know
about Dick’s Hamburgers and their amazing staff who somehow memorize the
customer and order without writing anything down!
Have you
noticed the rooster or the Panda on the sign?
I hadn’t remembered them. The
rooster was added sometime in the 1970’s, and the Panda added in the 1960’s, when
the drive-in’s name was changed to Panda Self-Service Drive-In Restaurant. The Drive-In was originally named Kirk’s in 1954, and
finally became Dick’s in 1967.
Dick’s has
been an iconic, local business since 1954.
Since back in my junior high days, I’ve always believed if you have a
great product to sell and you charge less than your competitor does, in the
end, you will sell more product and make more money than the other competing business(es).
Elmer “Abe" Miller, Dick’s founder, also held that same belief, he said,
“better to make $.02 each on a thousand hamburgers that a dollar on a few
hamburgers.”
I moved to Spokane
in later summer 1970 just before I began my senior year at West Valley High
School. I’ve only been to Dick’s a
couple of times. My husband, though, who
grew up in Spokane, with about 4 years after college in Wenatchee, used to
frequent Dick’s a lot. These last years,
he goes only occasionally. I asked him
what made Dick’s such an icon—he said, “hand-cut french fries, great value for
the money, unique to Spokane, survived all these years.”
Next time you
drive by Dick’s Hamburgers, check out the sign, and notice the red Rooster and
the neon Panda—is the sign the way you remember seeing it?
Source: Spokane Historical app, Wikipedia
