The Bootery

2015-09-18 120 N Main St_1186I’ve probably been in Broussard’s a dozen or so times when a Cajun craving hit, but I never noticed “The Bootery” set into the entrance before this visit.

If you click the photo to make it larger, you can see my reflection in the glass. It was a warm day, so I didn’t commit the terrible fashion faux pas of wearing socks with my sandals.

Search came up empty

Fluroscope at The National Museum of Nuclear ScienceA search of The Missourian archive for “Bootery” turned up empty. I turned to Google next. It took me to a 1959 Life Magazine ad for Roblee shoes. The word “bootery” was used by a lot of shoe stores, but the only listing for Cape was C.S. Gaylor.

Gaylor’s was where we usually went to buy shoes. I was always disappointed that Mother wouldn’t let me play with the neat fluoroscope that let you see your toes inside your shoes (while delivering a mass of x-ray radiation to your gonads). You can read more about the machine here.

What was at 120 Main?

1938-08-15 Missourian AdMy next trick was to search for the store’s address, 120 North Main street. Still pretty much dry except for a 1938 ad for The Smart Shop. The building next door at 118 North Main was being vacated by Vogelsanger Hardware Company.

The Smart Shop was showing furs from St. Louis, but you could buy a quality rayon Giana crepe for $6.50 at Hecht’s. (I don’t know whether you’re supposed to eat, hang or wear a crepe, so you’ll have to tell me if that’s a good deal.)

Follow Santa’s Trail

12-06-1939 Missourian contest adThe Smart Shop was mentioned in this Christmas contest ad in the December 6, 1939, Missourian. It’s fascinating to see how many businesses were still around 30 years later. You’re definitely going to have to click this one to make it larger to read the names.

Bootery mystery

2015-09-18 120 N Main St_1179Someone else is going to have to fill me in on the background of The Bootery. I couldn’t come up with any information about it.

Wimpyburgers Went Flying Out

Wimpy's Day at Centerary United Methodist Church 09-19-2015I never expected so many people to show up for Wimpyburgers made using the original recipe and cooked by members of the Lewis family. The folks at the Centenary United Methodist Church told me they were printing 600 tickets good for two burgers, fries and a drink, but I thought they were being optimistic.

Running late

Wimpy composite 8x10Brothers Mark and David converged on the house Saturday morning to talk strategy about how we were going to tackle Mother’s house next week with the help of Laurie Evertt of Annie Laurie’s Antique Shops. That made me miss the 11 a.m. start of the burger fest.

(It also meant that I have a bunch of my iconic Wimpy’s left prints that you’ll be able to pick up at Annie Laurie’s and at the Cape County History Center on the square in Jackson in a couple of days. They are $5 each.)

Photo gallery of the Wimpy extravaganza

I didn’t have much of an opportunity to wander around taking pictures. In fact, I got one of the last burgers off the grill just as everything was winding down. Fred Lynch did a nice video interview with Freeman Lewis that is worth watching. Click on any of these photos to make them larger, then use your arrow keys to move around the gallery.

Wimpy’s and Other Prints

Wimpy composite 8x10If you were lucky or quick enough to get one of the 600 tickets to September 19th’s Wimpy’s Day at the Centenary United Methodist Church, look for me if you’d like a photo of what Cape’s iconic hangout looked like in the day and night of 1966. An 8-1/2 x 11″ print will go for $5 (with 10% of net going to the church).

Here’s one in the stack

Teen dance in bank lot 8-21-64I’ll also have a bunch of 11 x 17″ photos from Cape, Perry and New Madrid counties for you to look through. I know you’ll recognize SOMEBODY in at least one of them. I’m tired of hauling them around, so I’ll part with those for $10 each. Here’s where this photo was taken. Click on it to make it large enough to see if you were dancing in the bank lot.

Here’s my earlier post about the event.

 

Wimpy’s As We Remember It

Wimpy's Ticket 09-07-2015A couple of young newlyweds stopped by the house to talk about buying Mother’s 1977 Datsun pickup truck. Mother would tell us that she could count on two or three lookers a year for as long as it’s been parked there, but she’d always tell the prospective buyers that she was going to be buried in it. When the time came, we measured the truck, then we measured the available plot and decided that it wouldn’t work.

Anyway these kids were real Datsun fans and promised to restore it for actual driving as opposed to cannibalizing it for parts. Mark, David and I said we’d consider selling it to them on the condition that when it was in running order they’d drive by the cemetery and give Mother and Dad a couple beeps to let them know it had found a good home. But, more about that later if and when it’s a done deal.

Another visitor showed up

While the kids and I were swapping Datsun stories (I can’t remember if I owned three or four of them), another car pulled into the driveway. It was Terry Rose Crowell, from CHS Class of 1965. She asked if I was going to be in town Saturday, September 19.

I’m getting to the age where I don’t feel comfortable making plans that far in advance, but I allowed as how the possibilities were good.

She asked me how many tickets to the Wimpy’s event I needed. I said the only Road Warriorette close enough to go with me was Friend Shari in St. Louis, so I wouldn’t need more than two.

(When I called Friend Shari, she said she wasn’t sure if she could make it. Something about washing her hair.)

Lewis family to cook from original recipe

Wimpy's Ticket 09-07-2015Here are details about the event that were posted on the Centenary United Methodist Church website:

Save the date for Wimpy’s night at Centenary and open house. On Saturday, September 19 from 11:00am to 2:00pm, the Lewis family and Centenary will be bringing back the original recipe, hometown favorite hamburgers. $10 will get you two classic Wimpy burgers, fries and a drink. Spread the word, bring your friends and family, then take them on a tour of our newly renovated campus. Volunteers are needed. Please contact Terry Crowell at 573-382-1123 for information.

The CHS 1960s email list said you could also contact Billy Sisco at Sisco’s Barber Shop (573-335-3545) for tickets. I saw somewhere else that only 600 tickets will be sold, so you’d better get yours while you still can.

I might have prints available

Wimpy composite 8x10If I can find someone in Cape who can make some prints at a reasonable price, I may bring some to the event. I’m thinking of an 8×10 composite print of Wimpy’s as it looked in 1966. I won’t know a price until I find out how much they cost to produce.