Fizzle-Pop Eats: Red Robin
Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 2:39PM “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”
-Dr. Seuss
According to Jon Sayer’s article over at Crosscut.com, that phrase was printed out on a sheet taped to the door of the soon-to-close original Red Robin restaurant, next to the University Bridge here in Seattle. It’s a nice piece about memory and nostalgia, and ultimately what’s important, according to Sayer. His take is that when the location finally closes on March 21, it’s ok, because what it once was, it isn’t now. The local chain has evolved into a big business burger franchise with locations throughout the US and while significant for being the first, this original location has lost the thing that made it special, which is OK. Sayer’s stance is that our tendency to want to hold on to our sense of history is misplaced, because these historic locations aren’t what we remember them as anymore. Those memories are of places that no longer exist and we can let them go and move on from them.
I’m sure we all have those places in our past that we’ll always have fond memories of, those establishments that were present in many of our memories. I’m not from Seattle, but Sayer is and he writes about how Red Robin was a part of his childhood growing up in this area. He ends the article with “I'll still remember the simple pleasure of downing a tower of onion rings with my siblings in a family restaurant with crayons and kid's menus. The wooden walls may be gone, but the memories remain.”
What places have/had this impact on you? How would you feel if they were gone (if they aren’t already?)
Reader Comments (3)
I dare you to find a sports fan in Seattle who doesn't hold the same nostalgia for the King County Domed Stadium or Kingdome. Everyone remembers the urinals (Ok, maybe only the guys), the sticky floors, the water-logged ceiling tiles. Although it's now gone, I don't think anyone can say they miss it.
I used to frequent that Red Robin back when I was living across the bridge at the UW. I remember that even back then it felt like a chain restaurant squeezed into a tavern space. Not that it was a problem back then; I liked the food and knew what I was in for when I went.
I'm still a bit sad about Espresso Vivace being closed down to make room for the rail station. Their new location just doesn't cut the coffee shop mustard.
Red Robin has never felt like a local chain to me and I have two unfortunate memories from that Red Robbin that stick out in my mind. The first was when I was very young, maybe 5, and getting out the car and rolling down that steep parking lot almost into a bank of parked cars. The second, and more recent memory, was a few years ago ordering french onion soup and a burger. They forgot my soup until they brought my brother his dessert. Nothing like soup to finish a meal. Red Mill burgers is better anyway.