Woolworth's Luncheonette

 

  

click photo to enlarge		 We were passing though Bakersfield around lunch time one day so I looked on tripadvisor to see what I could see. What? They have the last Woolworth's luncheonette in the country???  Hey I'm there.... it is housed in the original Woolworth's store but it is now an antique mall. I have never seen a Woolworth's quite so large either. It is 3 stories tall with a basement. As a young kid my allowance was $0.25 a week and a hot dog was $0.29. So if I saved some of my allowance from one week to the next I could get a hot dog. They used the old New England style bun which was split on top. They would butter the sides of the bun and grill it on the flat top. Then grill the hot dog. To me it was the most amazing thing I had ever tasted.

click photo to enlarge		 The only thing they served here is hot dogs, hamburgers and chili. The day we stopped they were doing a very brisk business too. Alas they did not use the old style buns and did not grill the dogs so I opted for a cheeseburger with grilled onions. It was a really fun experience eating at the old lunch counter among the antiques. I have very fond memories of those old hot dogs and I did not want to spoil it by getting one that did not measure up. I would certainly stop here again if we are going through Bakersfield. The F. W. Woolworth Company (often referred to as Woolworth's or Woolworth) was a retail company and one of the original pioneers of the five-and-dime store. It was arguably the most successful American and international five-and-dime business. When I was a kid they were simply called dime stores. The  Woolworth Co. had the first five-and-dime stores, which sold discounted general merchandise at fixed prices, usually five or ten cents, undercutting the prices of other local merchants. Woolworth, as the stores popularly became known, was one of the first American retailers to put merchandise out for the shopping public to handle and select without the assistance of a sales clerk.

click photo to enlarge