[Vision2020] Moscow (1966)

Tue Oct 18 21:36:03 PDT 2016

Holy Moly!

This photo shows the front of the Varsity Café, as I must have seen it in
1966.  Blast from the past!  In several connected ways, as revealed
below...  For example, Moscow's (once upon a time) Joel Foy, guitar player
extraordinaire!  And commentary from the former owner of the Varsity Café!

I've often thought that if they just left this sort'of 1950's styled café
as it was, and restored it maybe, instead of tearing it up, it might now be
a big hit, like the 1950's styled Tilt'n Diner in Franklin, New Hampshire,
where I ate in 2001:
http://www.thecman.com/restaurants-and-menus/tilt-n-diner.aspx

The Varsity Café had booths with push button little juke boxes you could
put change in for music.  Don't believe me?  I just found a reference to
this, allegedly from the former owner:

http://www.photocritique.net/g/s?0iJj1c

*Comments by **Michael Meek*
<http://www.photocritique.net/g/phtg?xx+MICHAEL+MEEK> on Fri, 07/29/16
19:43

*Takes me back for sure. I once owned a restaurant in the 70's in Moscow,
ID where every booth had a coin-op juke box mounted on the wall that
patrons could flip through to get the song they wanted to play overhead.
Well-used they were. We had a full menu, breakfast through dinner, but
hamburgers were the biggest seller. Had a counter, too and full-fat ice
cream sundies and shakes. The tables had pretty much the same
accountrements as seen in this photo. Coffee and pie, too. Man, sometimes I
miss that place, the old Varsity Cafe. Had a lounge in back. I drank way
too much, but there were good times!. Then the fast-fooders came to town
with their lousy food and cardboard milkshakes. People flocked to them and
I bailed out in disgust. Like Mencken said, "Nobody ever went broke
underestimating the taste of the American public." Good to see this little
business making a go of it. *
------------------------------------------
I was close friends with some who worked at the Varsity in the 1970s...
Barbara Buckland, Grog (as he was called, not his "real" name, I think, or
hope).

*And below is a photo of Barbara, once a waitress at the Varsity in the
1970s, from 2005.  It could be a different Barbara Buckland, but that face
is unmistakable. And she was a guitar player/songwriter in the 1970s.  The
plot thickens when reading Barbara's website, where she mentions studying
guitar with Joel Foy, another former Moscow musician, who was/is an
incredible guitar player!!!!!  He shared his guitar wisdom with me numerous
times, for free!*

*I heard through the grape vine that he ended up in Dallas, Tx.  as the
"Blues King."  Well, this fits: I'm pretty sure this is Joel on YouTube:  *
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL2x11gTmcs
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL2x11gTmcs>*
*More on Joel Foy:  https://www.reverbnation.com/joelfoy
<https://www.reverbnation.com/joelfoy>*

*Note reference to MySpace on Barbara's webpage... In digital time scale,
this is like referring to the Cretaceous:*

*http://barbarabuckland.org/ <http://barbarabuckland.org/>*

*http://barbarabuckland.org/hopvine%20archive.html
<http://barbarabuckland.org/hopvine%20archive.html>*

*Monday, 10-03-05*

*8PM Barbara Me <http://barbarabuckland.org/mainwebsite_html/bio.html>*

*Writer/singer/musician living in Seattle, WA. Influenced by everything, I
have a great love for the mystery of self-expression. *

*I enjoy answering the question, "What if?" whenever possible.*

*-----------------------------------------*

*Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett*

On Mon, Oct 17, 2016 at 11:44 AM, Saundra Lund <v2020 at ssl1.fastmail.fm>
wrote:

Great photo!  Thanks for sharing it, Tom & Ghazi!
>
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> *It was interesting to me to see parking meters on Main!*
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> *Saundra Lund*
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> *Moscow, ID*
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> *Life is life -- whether in a cat, or dog, or man.  There is no difference
> there between a cat or a man.  The idea of difference is a human conception
> for man's own advantage.*
>
> *~ Sri Aurobindo*
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> *From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com <vision2020-bounces at moscow.com>
> [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com <vision2020-bounces at moscow.com>] On
> Behalf Of Tom HansenSent: Monday, October 17, 2016 8:36 AMTo: Moscow Vision
> 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com <vision2020 at moscow.com>>Subject: [Vision2020]
> Moscow (1966)*
>
>
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> *Greetings, V-Peeps -*
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> *My most recent acquisition, and an awesome one it is, was donated to me
> by a good friend of Moscow, a friend who, just a few years ago, moved to
> Georgia to be with family.  This photo was taken by him after he and his
> spouse moved to Moscow (the one in Idaho) from Pullman upon completion of
> his education at Washington State College (now "Washington State
> University").*
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> *Without further ado, here is an excellent photo of . . .*
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> *Moscow (1966)*
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> *http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Moscow/Moscow_1966.jpg
> <http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Moscow/Moscow_1966.jpg>*
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> *Sidebar:  Milwaukee may have had the Fonz back in the 50s and 60s, as the
> sitcom "Happy Days" suggests . . . Moscow (the one in Idaho) had Ghazi.*
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> *Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .*
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> *"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)*
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> *http://www.MoscowCares.com <http://www.moscowcares.com/>*
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> *Tom Hansen*
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> *Moscow, Idaho*
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