Don's Drive-In was top spot to hang out

(There is a certain age group around town that has a unique reaction when they hear the words, Don’s Drive-In. First, there is the knowing smile followed by a twinkle in the eyes. Any observer of these “kids of yesterday” expects that any moment they will join Bob Hope in a rousing round of, “Thanks for the Memories.”

Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Helen Brown. She was born and raised in Montana and in 1943 came to Sandpoint with her husband, Roy Kindt. While Roy was working as a printer at the Sandpoint News-Bulletin, Helen started working at Don’s Drive-In.

Roy died in 1966 and Helen later married Ellsworth Brown. Below, Helen shares with us some of her memories of the special place she worked)

“Before I got married to Ellsworth Brown, I worked in a restaurant called Don’s Drive-In. It was a fun place to work, I met a lot of people, and I watched a lot of kids grow up.

“We got to know customers from Canada that would come down at a certain time of year to stock up for the winter, and buy school clothes for their kids. They would get to know us too because they had been coming down here for so long a time.    

“The best memories I have about Don’s are the people I worked with. Some of them just lasted two or three years but there were others that stayed for a long time. All of us that worked inside wore a white uniform and our hair was always done up. Now you go in a restaurant and they wait on you in a pair of farm shoes and jeans with holes in them — things have changed.

“The carhops had their trays that hooked onto the car window. They would go out to a car, take the order, and when it was ready, they would bring it out on their tray and put it on the car window. Those were the good old days.

“There were a lot of high school kids that would come by Don’s on a date. One night there was a big brawl going on outside the restaurant and they were fighting and all that kind of stuff. The carhops were afraid to go out and they were crying.

“I went out and said to them, ‘Hey, the cops have been called and they are coming — you guys had better get out of here.’ They said, ‘OK, we will go across the bridge.’ They all took off and headed for the bridge to finish their fight.

“I recall the day that some Indians came in and sat down. They put their bottle on the floor and I had to do the same thing I did with the kids that were fighting.

“I said, ‘Look you guys, drinking is not allowed in here. It is time for the cops to come in for their coffee so you better get it out of here — and they did.’

“We had a lot of kids come in to eat, we also had families, and the people who worked around town would come in for lunch. The menu consisted of burgers, French fries, chicken, and fish. A hamburger cost 35 cents and they were good hamburgers.

“We didn’t have a lot of steaks and things like you would find in a big restaurant. We did have fish and shrimp baskets and we had broasted chicken.

“A two-piece chicken dinner was $1.25 and a four-piece dinner was $1.65. Coffee was 15 cents. We opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 10 p.m. On Friday and Saturday, we closed at midnight.

“Don was a good guy and everyone seemed to like him. I remember a time when I asked him to get me a new mop because the old one was not doing the job.

“Some time passed and I still did not have my new mop. I would remind him but he would either forget it or put it off. So I decided to make my point another way. I wrote this Ode to a Mop for Don.

A sad, sad tale of woe,

I’ll tell it once before I go.

I started out to clean the floor.

The mop that once was is no more.

A few decrepit strands still cling.

Will it withstand one last wring?

I’ve done my best, can’t do no more.

Need a new mop to clean this floor!

Upon the floor that once I swept

Those loose old strings have really crept.

It looks much worse than it did before.

I need a new mop to clean that floor!

I’ll just give up and try no more.

A losing battle, no need to fight

Although I tried, with all my might.

Now! Into the garbage can, I flip

That old mop for its last trip!

I got my new mop plus a new bucket.

I worked at Don’s until I married Ells (Ellsworth Brown) and I really started working then. We had the farm, a mill, a planer, and a lot of machinery to take care of out at Gypsy Bay.”