As you drive down the main drag of the town I currently live in and grew up in there is a little place with a big hot dog sign out front. You know those hot dogs with sunglasses on? Yep, it's one of those kind of hot dog signs. The parking lot is small, just like the building, and there is always a car for sale out front. The inside is covered with movie memorabilia and kitschy collectibles. (When I say the inside is covered, I don't mean the cute Max & Erma's kind of wall hangings, I mean every free bit of space on the walls and ceiling is covered with something. I've been going there my entire life and every time I notice something I haven't seen before.) There is only room for a few people at a time, 5 booths and 6 stools at the "bar" total. The menu is simple, coneys, burgers, grilled cheese, and fries cooked up right in front of you. You can also get a Vernors float or a chocolate milkshake with sprinkles. This place is Walt's and I promise you, they serve up the BEST coneys. Coneys and memories...
When I was a kid, every once in a while my Bumpa would pick me up from school. (Bumpa is my grandfather, in case you're wondering.) Whenever I would come out of school and see his red GMC Jimmy, I knew it was coney time. We would always go to Walt's. The order was always the same, two coneys with everything for Bumpa, a coney with no onions for me, and an order of chili cheese fries to share. We would sit and talk about things, sometimes big things like what was going on in my family or at school, other days it was simple things like the weather and when spring would come, sometimes we would just sit and look at all of the stuff hanging on the walls. To me, Walt's was our spot, my favorite place to spend an afternoon with my Bumpa.
These lunches with my Bumpa at Walt's continued through college and into adulthood. If we couldn't get to Walt's, then we run through their drive thru. (The Walt's drive thru is really just a window that opens and a sign on the outside of the building, but it works!) Just a few weeks ago I went through the drive thru and delivered the goodness right to Bumpa's favorite chair.
Nowadays, Walt's is one of little V's favorite spots. We go there whenever she has a half day. The order is always the same, a plain hot dog for little V, a coney with no onions for me, and an order of chili cheese fries to share. We sit and talk about things, sometimes big things like a new baby, sometimes small things like the weather and if it is ever going to snow, sometimes she asks me about all of the stuff on the walls. I hope that Walt's will always be a special place for her too.
Whenever we go I think about those afternoons with my Bumpa, how much I learned on those afternoons, how much I enjoyed those afternoons, how much I now cherish the memories of those afternoons. And I always notice something new amongst the stuff on the walls, today it was a signed Mohammed Ali photo.
