|
|
Earl
Abel's, an Alamo City landmark since it began business in 1933 at
the depth of the Great Depression, will be closing on March 15 to
make way for a 25-story condominium.
Though it originally had several locations, in 1940 the restaurant
opened at Broadway and Hildebrand. That was long before I-35, when
Broadway served as the main thoroughfare into downtown San
Antonio from Austin
and points north. |
| Photo
courtesy Walt Lockley |
The restaurant,
started by theater organist Earl Abel when he couldn't get a job involving
his musical skills, became a regular stopping place for travelers
and a favorite of San Antonioans.
Mounted
on the wall over the coffee counter, where for a few weeks patrons
can still sit and ogle the restaurant's famous pies, are seven humorous
signs reminiscent of the now mostly forgotten Burma Shave signs that
used to line highways across the nation. I don't know when the signs
in Earl Abel's first went up, but they've been there since at least
the early 1960s, when I first remember seeing them.
Dating to when the restaurant stayed open 24-hours-a-day, one sign
says: |
Our Clock
Will Never
Be Stolen
The Employees
Are Always Watching It |
| Back then, inflation
didn't mean much to as many people, but whoever commissioned the signs
- probably founder Abel - clearly understood his macro economics as
well as macoroni: |
The Reason A
Dollar Won't Do
As Much As It Once Did, Is,
People Won't Do As Much For A Dollar
As They Once Did! |
| My
favorite sign is the one my grandfather first pointed out to me back
when I was in the sixth grade. "What does that say?" he asked with
a smile. I studied the words, but couldn't make sense of them: |
Seville Dar Dago
Tousin Busses Inaro
Nojo Demstrux
Summit Cows In
Summit Dux |
| If you haven't
figured it out, here's the translation: |
See, Willie,
there they go
Thousand buses in a row
No, Joe, them's trucks
Some with cows and
Some with ducks |
Whoever composed
the sign misspelled "buses" with one too many "s's," but it continued
to give me a smile every time I ate at the restaurant. Long after
my granddad had washed down his last piece of lemon meringue pie with
a cup of coffee, I got to pull the same stunt with the sign for my
daughter.
Another of the signs must have predated the creation
of Weight Watchers: |
| Earl Abel's doesn't
offer oysters on its menu. In fact, as one of the sign says: |
It Was A Brave
Man
Who Ate The First Oyster |
| Another of the
signs certainly is well aged: |
Its (sic) Tough
To Pay
$1.25 For A Steak
But 50 [cent] Steaks
Are Tougher |
Rather than steak,
on my last visit I opted for the "Petite" ham dinner with mashed potatoes
and one vegetable. I choose black-eyed peas. The waiter brought two
homemade rolls, but I could only hold one.
After all: |
Eating Good
Food
Keeps You Able
Eating Here
Keeps Earl Abel |
| Photo
courtesy Walt Lockley |
The
meal cost only $7 and change, but I charged it just so I'd get a printed
receipt with "Earl Abel's" on it as a souvenir of 45 years worth of
visits.
After I signed the receipt, I noticed that the Abel family had placed
two guest books on the counter for farewell comments from long-time
diners.
A quick look told me that not every customer had been taking the time
to leave a written sentiment, but I couldn't pass up the chance to
say good bye in print.
"I've been coming here since I was a kid, now I'm 57," I wrote. "Sorry
to see you go…"
Guess they'll be hauling off all the restaurant fixtures, including
the familiar signs, in trux.
© Mike Cox
"Texas
Tales"
- February 13, 2006 column
September 19, 2007 Update:
Happily, San Antonio businessman and long-time customer Roger P. Arias
re-opened Earl Abel's at 1201 Austin Hwy. inside of two miles of the
original location. He bought and has used most of the restaurant's
familiar fixtures, including the famous signs, and retained the basic
menu. For more information on the venerable eatery, check out their
Web site at www.EarlAbelsSA.com
Subject: Earl Ables article
Thanks for the memories. I was stationed at Lackland in 1957 and 1958
and sort of adopted by Dr Passmore and his family who were members
of First Presbyterian Church and who lived in Alamo
Heights. Earl Able's, which was not far from where they lived,
became a hangout for his kids and I. The restaurant and signs were
already there then and were not new. I would estimate that they had
been around from as early as 1950, although probably changed from
time to time. One I remember was over the door as you left. It said:
I EAT HERE TOO!
EARL ABLE
The food was great, but what I liked most was the welcoming atmosphere.
It reminded me of home and of Jack Trayer's on Moore Street in Bristol,
Virginia/Tennessee, where I grew up. Everybody's hometown should have
such a place. - John McDaniel, April 17, 2008 |
|
|
