Early Railroad Postcards

Once again I decided to delve into my postcard collection and construct another historical posting to my blog site.  Since I’m a railroad ‘fan’…especially the old rolling stock…it was a natural topic for me to explore.  This is especially true when you consider the railroad industry’s impact on the growth of the United States.

The first postcard in this grouping shows a steam locomotive pulling a passenger train and crossing the bridge across the Hudson River near Mechanicsville New York.  This card was sent in 1906 to Miss Phoebe Millbank in Schenectady NY from someone with the initials H.M.F. in Mechanicsville.

Actually, it appears to me that The Hugh C. Leighton Co. Postcard Company got the spelling wrong.  Someone, perhaps their printer in Hamburg Germany, added an ‘s’ to Mechanicville NY.  I couldn’t locate any history regarding the railroad but Mechanicville was a major railyard and repair center into the 1920s.

Note:

The commercial development of US railroads began in the mid-1820s.  By 1880, the country had 17,800 freight locomotives and 22,200 passenger locomotives in service.  As the nation’s population only numbered about 50,200,000, that means that there was one locomotive in service for each 1,255 people!

This postcard, printed in Germany for A.C. Bosselman and Co. in NY City, shows a ‘new’ electric locomotive pulling passenger cars on the New York Central Railway.  It appears to have been mailed in 1909.  It was sent “From a friend” to Master Garrett Dillenback in Albany New York.

Electric trains were all about the environment…and safety.  Several cities passed laws in the early 1900s forbidding the operation of steam locomotives within city limits.  This was primarily because of severe accidents caused by terrible visibility in tunnels and rock cuts given the smoke and steam from coal fired locomotives.  New York passed such a law in 1903 and it went into effect in 1908…which ties into the date on the postcard.

Electric Locomotive #6000 shown in the postcard was built in 1904 and it was the prototype for the ALCO-GE S-Motor Class.  Believe it or not, even after being replaced by more powerful locomotives, old #6000 continued to operate, shuttling deadhead rolling stock and pulling the occasional shorter commuter train.  She actually wasn’t completely retired until the early 1970s!  To see a photo of her sitting in a field in 1912, waiting for restoration, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Central_S-Motor#/media/File:NYC-100-front-quarter.jpg.

This postcard showing Omaha’s second Union Station, was sent to Mr. E.G. Anderson in Chicago by an M. Leonard in 1909.  I suspect that the postcard itself is a bit older as there aren’t any automobiles shown in the picture despite all the street traffic.  By 1909, cars were showing up everywhere… FYI, the passenger trains came in under the rail shed at the rear of Union Station. 

This version of Omaha’s Union Station was completed in 1899.  It was replaced by the ‘new’ depot, which is now a museum, in 1939.

Take note of that packed trolley car in front of the depot.  By 1890, the Omaha metropolitan area has more miles of trolley track than any city in the USA except Boston.  By 1910, there were 126.5 miles of track with 600 employees and 445 trolley cars in service.  In 1907, it was estimated that the trolley system carried 51 million passengers throughout the Omaha NE -Council Bluffs IA metropolitan area.

The next postcard was sent in 1908 to Mr. E.G. Anderson in Room 7, 209 Adams Street in Chicago Illinois from HJB in Davenport Iowa.  It was sent in 1909.  The card shows the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Shops that were located in West Burlington Iowa.  Part of these maintenance and repair shops date back to 1882…and they still stand.  With over 570,000 square feet of space, as of February 2016, the buildings are mostly deserted but they are used and guarded by the Burlington, Northern and Santa Fe Railroad to store some locomotives.  Otherwise, the last 300 jobs here were transferred to other locations in 2004.

How pervasive were the railroads at their height?  A good example relates the heavily settled Midwestern Corn Belt.  Over 80 of all farms were within 5 miles of a railway.   This proximity facilitated the shipment of grain, hogs and cattle to national and international markets.  Actually, only the agricultural sector of the economy employed more people than the railroads did…

In our current environment with instant communications, social media and smart phones, it’s easy to forget what communications were like in the ‘old days’.  In effect, postcards were the e-mails or more appropriately ‘Twitter’ messages in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  This postcard was mailed on July 12, 1909 to Mr. E. G. Anderson on Park Avenue in Chicago. (Apparently he was no longer renting a room on Adams Street)

In any case, was apparently sent by Mr. Anderson’s father as the message begins with “Dear Children”.  It seems like mother got their letter and was expecting a visit from the children…so much so that father went down to the Rockford Railway station to meet the “Q” train from Chicago.  Alas, no family disembarked…

The card itself shows the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railway bridge over the Rock River at Janesville Wisconsin.  This bridge was originally constructed in 1896 and then it was widened in 1908 to accommodate 2 tracks.  It’s apparently still in use as I found several photos of it on line.

This card was sent by one humorous fellow in Davenport Iowa to his friend Mr. Eric Anderson c/o the CB and Q (Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad) Tel Offices at Adams and Franklin Street in Chicago Illinois.  I’m guessing that although this postcard was mailed in 1911, it’s the same ‘Anderson’ as previously noted via the preceding 3 postcards…  In any case, his friend tells him to “Stick to your word and study ‘wire work’.  You will never regret it.  There is a good future for ‘wire chiefs’ ahead”. 

I did have to determine what a ‘wire chief’ was back in the day.  Apparently, they were the ultimate decision-maker in assigning emergency tasks to linemen, installers, signalmen and splicers to remedy problems and restore services.

The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Passenger Station shown on the postcard is apparently long gone.  A parking lot has replaced it and apparently only one passes this spot today… If you can’t read our humorous senders notes on the front of the car, he states that the arrow (below the 2 people) “points to Walter Dan trying to sell a gold brick”.

My postcard saga with Eric Anderson continues!  At this point, June of 1914, he’s living at 1928 Park Avenue in Chicago.  Eric’s life is apparently moving forward as the card was sent to him from Harrisburg Pennsylvania, ‘With Love” by Ruth.  Her handwriting isn’t the best, and she’s had a hard time sleeping on the train.  Apparently she was on her way to Philadelphia and she sent this card at a stop along the way.

The postcard shows the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Rockville Bridge…the ‘longest stone bridge in the world’, at Harrisburg.  This bridge, which crosses the Susquehanna River about 5 miles north of town, was completed in 1902.  It still is the longest stone masonry arch railroad viaduct in the world.  Laurie and I have seen this impressive structure!  It has forty-eight 70 foot long spans and is 3,820 feet long.

When I purchased these postcards several years ago, I had 2 objectives.  They had to be old and they still had to have stamps on them.  I never realized until now that I was basically tracking Eric Anderson’s life for over 10 years!

 

This card was mailed on April 9, 1919.  Eric had moved again...  This time he was living at 1930 Washington Boulevard in Chicago.  Had he moved up in the world?  I’ll never know… In any case, this postcard was ‘long distance’ compared to the previous cards.  It was sent from Long Beach California from someone (can’t read the writing) who lived in Pasadena.  It reads “Greetings from this land of sunshine, flowers and beauty”.

The picture on the postcard shows the California Limited on the Santa Fe Railroad going up the Cajon Pass near Riverside California.  Even though it was a passenger train, it took 2 locomotives to get the job done.  The Cajon pass is a 3,777 foot high mountain pass between the San Bernardino Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California.  The rail line was built through the pass in the early 1880s.

The California Limited, advertised as the “Finest Train West of Chicago”, made its first run between Chicago Illinois and Los Angles California in November of 1892.  This run and its title train were withdrawn from service in June of 1954.  The California Limited featured “Fred Harvey Company” meal service and later trains offered air conditioning, a barber, beautician, clothing press and even a shower bath.

My last postcard for this posting 1) isn’t to or from Eric Anderson, and 2) it is relatively ‘new’, having been mailed to Mrs. Tuple in Reedsburg Wisconsin on Route 1 in September of 1954.  Pictured are the Vista Dome Twin Zephyrs that used to make the run between St. Paul/Minneapolis Minnesota and Chicago Illinois two times each day.  The Burlington Railroad operated a large number of distinctive, articulated stainless steel streamlined passenger trains that were known as the Zephyrs.  These trains were the most famous and largest fleet of streamliners in the USA.  The first of these trains, the Burlington Zephyr, made a famous ‘dawn to dusk’ run from Denver Colorado to Chicago IL in May of 1934.

In 1947 the Burlington replaced the old Zephyrs with these new dome-car trains.  Each train consisted of a baggage-club-lounge car, 4 dome coaches, a diner and a dome-parlor-observation car.  The latter included a private drawing room with 5 seats.  The dome coaches seated 54 people on the main level and 24 in the dome.

The Burlington Zephyr Chicago – Minneapolis route was canceled in 1971 with the advent of Amtrak.  Even with 9 stops between Chicago and Minneapolis, during the 1930 and into the 1950s, these trains made the trip in about 6 hours and 40 minutes.  Today, using the Interstate highways, the drive will take 6 hours and 10 minutes…without stops.  To learn more about the Zephyr train phenomena and to learn where you can see one on exhibit, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Zephyr.

The railroads helped build America, moving untold quantities of freight and millions of passengers over the years.  In 1900, the United States had a population of 76,200,000 and about 225,000 miles of track in operation.  As of 2014, we have about 332,600,000 million people and about 161,000 miles of track remaining including sidings, freight yards and other miscellaneous trackage.  About 134,000 miles of ‘route’ trackage still remains in service…but the population has increased by more than 400%.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

A Sampling of Local Craft Breweries

After a leisurely brunch at Balter Beerworks, one of Knoxville’s many craft breweries, our friends Norm and Linda led us ‘astray’, visiting a varied assortment of local breweries.  As you’ll see, they ranged from huge and fairly impressive to small and totally laid back.

We didn’t sample any of the Balter Beerworks’ beers when we stopped for our Sunday morning brunch…but that we did ‘go for it’ at each of our next 3 stops!

Our first stop for our short tour and sampling of beers brewed in the Knoxville area was at this faux ‘castle’ not far from downtown Knoxville.   This is the Schulz Brau Brewing Company.  They actually built this structure from scratch in order to evoke the feeling of being in a brewery in Germany…

Before we begin our tour, I would like to issue a disclaimer… I don’t drink much beer and my ‘go to’ brand is a US 'light' brand, so I do not offer opinions when it comes to types of beer.  At Schulz Brau as well as at our next 2 stops, I was happy because I told the barkeeps what I liked and they delivered beers that matched my bland beer taste buds…

This is a big place!  Even the outdoor Biergarten (beer garden) is huge.  It features an outside bar, fire-pits to provide warmth in winter months and a misting system to keep patrons cool in the summer.  The spacious courtyard with its large trees and the tall ‘castle walls’ are intended to make customers forget about what’s happening outside.  

As per Schulz Brau’s website, all of the tables, chairs and benches in the Biergarten were imported from Germany in order to provide their patrons the most authentic experience possible.  I did note that by the time we left, a couple of those fire pits were in use on this chilly day…

We entered Schulz Brau Brewing Company through the big doors under the tower.  The inside dining and drinking space is humongous!  Of course, when we arrived, it was just a little after Noon on a Sunday so there wasn’t much going on yet…

From my viewpoint, the ‘castle’ theme was hokey…an attempt to be something that it isn’t and can’t be.  The biergarten offered a more authentic venue for the serious beer drinkers… 

This is a very large craft brewery.  Schulz Brau Brewing Co. distributes their beer through 2 East Tennessee distributors as well as 1 each in Vermont and upper New York State.  The equipment used here to brew the beer is impressive and we did enjoy our sampling of 4 different types of Schulz Brau’s beers.  They do offer quite a number of their own craft beers to include hefenweizen, helles, black lager, dunkel lager, doppelbock and many more.

In my opinion, one positive for Schulz Brau is the fact that it does offer quite a spread of German food items through “Schulzes Schnitzel Kitchen”.  Schnitzel, a variety of sausages, sauerbraten, and fleischkase are all on the menu.  So are pizzas, one of which is a “Wurst” Pizza.  Sometime in the future we’ll have to return just to try their food. 

Schulz Brau Brewing Co. is located at 126 Bernard Avenue in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 800-245-9764.  Their website is found at: http://www.schulzbraubrewing.com/.    

It was a short drive to our next brew pub/craft brewery.  This is the Pretentious Beer and Glass Co.  As you can see, they took over an old building in Knoxville’s ‘old town’ area…and in comparison to our first stop, it is a very small venue.

Pretentious Beer and Glass does have a small covered and informal outdoor area for its patrons. 

As per their mission statement, the Pretentious Beer Co. wants to create a unique experience for craft beer enthusiasts.  Their focus is the profitable production and service of craft beer and soda in hand-blown glassware.  Yes…hand-blown glassware.  Laurie did take a photo of a glassed in wall displaying a wide variety of their hand-blown glassware, but with the glare it just didn’t come out well.

In any case, I’ve perused their beer (and bourbon) glasses on-line store and I’ve decided that I’m not a serious enough lover of the suds to indulge in the glassware despite their obvious quality.  Prices range from $30.00 for a “Da ‘Wobble” up to $66.00 for a Nuevo English Beer Mug (aka. Sparkles).  You can check out the variety of beer glasses at: http://www.pretentiousglass.com/store/c3/Beer_Glasses.html.

Indoor seating at the Pretentious Beer Company is fairly limited as it isn’t very big.  The brewing tanks/vats have a long narrow table alongside them on one wall with a number of stools for patrons.  Seating is available across the aisle at the bar as well.   However, when we were there, there wasn’t room for all 4 of us at the bar.

The owner of Pretentious Beer Company got into the business as a glass blower.  He’d decided to make custom beer glasses for a small drinking club he belonged to.  Then he started home brewing.  That eventually led to this brewery.  They serve the beers here in handcrafted glass…so it hurt when one of the patrons knocked one off the bar while we were there.  Sometimes, patrons can check out a live glass blowing demonstration while quaffing a brew…

I did appreciate the signs above the bar that colorfully listed the available brews for the customers to consider.  I informed the bar tender of my limited beer ‘likes’ and he correctly served me a “Chuggish Ruggish Bone”, a Munich Helles.  Other choices listed on the signs were brews such as “Fairy Floss”, “Hall and Oated”, “New Kids on the Floc”, “Smoki Bois” and, “Nude Beach”.  At our first stop we’d all sampled small beers but here I didn’t think before I ordered for everyone…and they were big enough brews that finishing them almost shut down the remainder of our tour…

Pretentious Beer Company is located at 131 South Central Street in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-851-7693.  To view what’s currently on tap, just go to https://www.pretentiousbeerco.com/on-tap.html.

For our next (and last) stop of the day, Norm drove us across the Henley Street Bridge to the Printshop Beer Company.  The Printshop brews a range of American-style craft beer that range from the very ‘hoppy’ to seasonal and small batch releases. 

FYI, Laurie and I realized that this was the first time in the over 10.5 years that we’ve lived in the area, that we’d actually crossed on the locally famous Henley Street Bridge… Built in 1931, its completion linked Knoxville with the newly created Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

It’s easy to visualize why this craft brewery is called the Printshop Beer Co.  Apparently they occupy a former print shop.  This is truly a basic former production/factory building with concrete floors and bare-bones décor.

However basic the Printshop Beer Company’s facility is, it is also obviously very popular with its fan base.  In the end, all of these pubs are much like a new version of the corner bars in many areas of the country.  Folks gather, gossip and relax while sipping a brew or two.

Some of the brews on tap included “Southie”, “Hand Crank”, “Karmic Rap Sheet” (2 varieties) and “Scattering Flock”.  We sensibly limited ourselves to small “sampler” size beers during our visit.

Printshop Beer Co. doesn’t offer food other than bags of pretzels and chips.  I did note that there is a food truck schedule posted behind the bar.  I’m sure that business is really good when the food trucks stop by.  A couple of folks also set up tables selling hemp products, silk screened t-shirts and this gal looked like she was setting up soap products for sale.

This dog was really enjoying all the attention he was getting.  He sat so nicely on the stool…but I don’t think he ordered a beer.  Laurie knows her dog breeds but she had to ask what type of spaniel this dog was.  His name is 'Dunker" and he's a Boykin Spaniel, the state dog of South Carolina.  They were bred to hunt turkeys and ducks in the delta areas of the state.  This is one of only 2 US dog breeds that were named for the family that developed them.

In any case, this dog was just one of about 4 that visited the Printshop Beer Co. while we were there.  There couldn’t be a more relaxed or less pretentious brew pub unless it was hidden away in the mountains. 

Printshop Beer Co. is located at 1532 Island Home Avenue in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-474-9591.  To review a list of their current brews and to learn more about the Printshop Beer Co., they are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/printshopbeer/ and their website is at: http://printshopbeer.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by! 

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Balter Beerworks – Brunch

Recently we joined our friends Norm and Linda for brunch and a short brewery tour here in the Knoxville area… They are ‘into’ craft beer and local breweries.  Laurie and yours truly haven’t visited very many of these establishments so we were looking forward to this new experience

The ideal place to start a Sunday tour of brew pubs was of course, a brewery that also serves brunch.  This is the Balter Beerworks on South Broadway near downtown Knoxville Tennessee.  This attractive building is a converted and rehabilitated service station.  Balter Beerworks has been open since 2016.  They serve brunch on both Saturday and Sunday.

FYI, the word “balter” comes from the Middle English ‘balteren’.  As per the Urban Dictionary, balter is a verb meaning “to dance artlessly, without particular grace or skill…but usually with enjoyment”.

The dining/drinking area is quite upscale for a brew pub…at least that was my conclusion after touring 3 more such establishments following brunch.  It’s the industrial look for sure but the lighting, panels and windows soften the overall impression…

Balter Beerworks opens at 10 am on Sundays and we arrived around 10:30 am.  As you can see, the place was already very busy!

There was a salad/snack bar open for all to partake as desired.  I helped myself to a bit of tasty coleslaw and some fresh fruit.   

However the real winners at the snack bar were the brownies, cookies and little muffins.  I had 2 of the little muffins and they were pretty good.  The oatmeal raisin cookies I had before we finished brunch were excellent.

Here are a couple of our little foursome’s pre-brunch snack/salad plates.  It was all fresh and it’s certainly a good way to impress your customers…

More than one of these cocktails graced our table.  This is a brunch house specialty, the Baltering Mary. ($4.00) These drinks are made with 360 vodka, Zing Zang (a bloody Mary mix), coffee oatmeal porter, and chili pepper with a salt rim and house garnish.  Laurie gave this drink two thumbs up!  Although this is a brewery, none of us actually ordered beer…after all, it was Sunday morning!  Thinking about the brew pubs to come, I stuck with coffee to start my day. ($2.85)

I convinced Norm and Linda that I ‘needed’ their photo for my post on Balter Beerworks.  Norm went for the Baltering Mary but Linda opted for Mimosas. ($1.00 each or $7.00 for a carafe)

The brunch menu at Balter Beerworks is quite imaginative with a wide range of choices.  These include items such as Avocado Toast, Chicken and Waffles, Fish Tacos, Salmon Salad plus Shrimp and Grits.

Norm decided to have the Fried Green Tomato Benedict for his brunch entrée. ($13.95) It consisted of a buttermilk biscuit, fried green tomato, pimento cheese, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, smoked paprika and parsley sided with breakfast potatoes.  He enjoyed his breakfast…

On the negative side, the kitchen was either slow or our orders got lost for a while.  Others around us who ordered after we did got their food but it took a long time before we got ours… Fortunately, we weren’t in a big hurry.

Linda ordered the Breakfast Tacos for her brunch. ($12.95) The tacos were made with scrambled eggs, sausage, charred salsa, pico de gallo and crema and they were sided with Balter Beerhouse’s breakfast potatoes which include onions and bell peppers.  Another happy diner…

Is it just us…or are we too fussy?  Laurie ordered the Southern Benedict. ($13.95) Her breakfast/brunch was constructed with a buttermilk biscuit, ham, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce and smoked paprika.  She had the waitress leave the onions and green peppers out of her breakfast potatoes.

Laurie didn’t care for the potatoes.  We both prefers hash brown potatoes.  That wasn’t the problem though as she knew about the potatoes when she ordered.  The big issue was that the poached eggs were cooked all the way through…no runny yolks as is the norm.  Also, her food was lukewarm at best.  Kudos to our waitress as she took Laurie’s entrée off our check…

OK…my turn.  I love good sausage gravy so I ‘had’ to order the Biscuits and Gravy Breakfast. ($14.95) It consisted of 2 buttermilk biscuits, house made sausage gravy and eggs sided with my ‘onion and green pepper free’ breakfast potatoes.

My plate of food had eye appeal.  It was my mistake not to ask for my eggs easy-0ver but I just didn’t think about it.  Easy-over eggs with their runny yolks would have enhanced my brunch experience.  I’m not big on scrambled eggs in general but they’re OK.  I did like those breakfast potatoes and our waitress did provide Tabasco.

 

First of all, my food was none too warm.  The biscuits were pretty average.  My big issue though was, to paraphrase Clara Peller from the 1984 Wendy’s commercials, “Where’s the sausage!?”  I certainly couldn’t taste any sausage although I could see a bit of it in the gravy.  In addition, that may look like a lot of gravy, but in reality, there was only enough for me to use with the top halves of my biscuits.

On the positive side, Laurie and I now had enough sustenance to move forward with our exploration of some Knoxville brew pubs!

Maybe we’re just too fussy… Balter Beerworks is obviously a popular place as is their Sunday Brunch.  Give a try and see what you think.  Balter Beerworks is located at 100 South Broadway Street in Knoxville Tennessee. Phone: 865-999-5015.  Website: https://www.balterbeerworks.com/#home-section.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Critters plus Big Ed’s – A Local Tradition

This post starts with birds and ends with cats…and in between, a trip to Oak Ridge Tennessee’s iconic pizza joint!

Laurie captured this bluebird sitting on our deck railing surrounded by its favorite food, meal worms.  This is also the ‘look’ our blue birds give her when they want her to give them more food!

These small members of the thrush family are year around residents in East Tennessee.  In really cold weather, several birds will roost together in one cavity or nesting box to stay warm…sometimes packing more than 8 individual bird in one nest or box.

Birds here in the southeastern USA can be quite eye-catching.  This male purple finch has been a regular visitor to Laurie’s bird feeding station.  Birds who breed in northern Canada migrate to the southern USA but others are permanent residents.  Sadly, purple finch populations have plummeted in the eastern USA due to the more aggressive house finch and in some instances, also by the introduced (invasive) house sparrow.

Our friends Norm and Linda chose the restaurant on this occasion.  This is the front of Big Ed’s Pizza in Oak Ridge Tennessee.  Big Ed’s has been in continuous operation at its current location since it was founded by “Big Ed” and his wife Ginger, back in 1970.  They took over Oak Ridge’s old Service Drug Store…and the rest is history!  Big Ed passed away in 1998 and his son David took over.  David passed away in 2013 and today, 50 years later, the restaurant is run by David’s wife Melissa and the restaurant’s general manager.

The above photos show the interior dining area at Big Ed’s.  ‘Unique’ would be the best word to use when describing the décor in this beloved pizza joint.  The booths came with the building when it was a drug store.  As you can see, the walls are covered with portraits, trophies, flags, military photos and souvenirs from all over the world.

Even the kitchen is unique!  It’s an assembly line affair as the pizza makers make the pizzas by hand, then slide them into the stone floor gas ovens to bake.  When they’re ready to serve, the pizza making crew cut the pizzas into slices using large scissors.  Big Ed had determined that this was the best way to cut a pizza.

As you can see in the 2 photos above, Big Ed’s menu is about as simple as it can be!  Customers can order pizza, pizza or pizza.  Beverage choices are soda/pop/soft drinks or beer.  The only real decision patrons have to make is the combination of ingredients they’d like on their pizza…

When we arrived on a Saturday, well before 5 pm, the lines had already begun to build.  We had about a 20 – 25 minute wait in front of the restaurant for a table.  By the time we finished our meal, the line was remarkably longer!

Norm and Linda ordered the classic “Big Ed’s Special” with ham, sausage, mushroom, onion and green pepper. ($22.68) They really enjoyed it and they ended up taking home almost half of this pizza pie for a future meal…

Both the dough and tomato sauce are made fresh each day using Big Ed’s original recipes.  They also make their own sausage and grind their own lean hamburger too.  The mozzarella cheese, made with Big Ed’s specifications, is shipped directly from Wisconsin and its shredded daily.

For our pizza, we stuck with our standard, a Large Pizza with sausage and pepperoni. ($17.49) Unfortunately, our pizza didn’t arrive when Norm and Linda’s did.  Apparently, another waiter picked up our pizza and gave it to another table.  We were told that the pizza would be ready in about 7 minutes.  Fifteen or more minutes later, our pizza arrived.

Pizza is a personal thing… Laurie and I think that while Big Ed’s restaurant is fun, and has a lot of character and tradition going for it, the pizza is just average.  The crust was thin enough for us and the texture was right.  However, the pepperoni doesn’t have much ‘pep’ and we couldn’t really taste the sausage.  FYI, when Laurie asked for a knife to cut the pizza slices into bite size pieces, the waiter brought her a pair of scissors... 

Taking out Big Ed’s Pizza or taking home leftovers?  No box here but rather a big bag & the cardboard the pizza arrived to the table on…low overhead and less waste.

FYI, the downstairs men’s bathroom reminded me of a decrepit medieval dungeon.  Use the upstairs family restroom.

Big Ed’s Pizza is located at 101 Broadway Avenue in Oak Ridge Tennessee.  They are open for lunch and dinner Monday through Sunday.  Phone: 865-482-4885.  Website: http://www.bigedspizzaoakridge.com/.

After dinner, we went back to Norm and Linda’s house for an after dinner adult beverage and a slice of cherry pie with ice cream… But was that the real reason for us to visit their home? 

While further visiting and dessert were important and appreciated, a visit to our friend’s home also allows us to get our periodic ‘cat fix’!  This sweetie is Molly.

Since Laurie is allergic to cats, visiting friends with cats is the best way to satisfy our love for these critters!  Laurie just washes her hands and takes a Benadryl when she gets home.  FYI, this big boy is Morris!  He’s Molly’s brother…

This pretty little lady is Miss Kitty!  She was an outdoor feral cat that hung around Norm and Linda’s home for a number of years.  They fed her so she was a regular.  Last year, she moved in and now she looks outside but, smart cat that she is, she no longer has any interest in foraging the great outdoors!

That’s about it for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave