Matchbook Treasures
Well, not treasures really. But it's still interesting browsing through a couple boxes of matchbooks given to me recently by my sister-in-law. They were given to her by her own in-laws who are in their nineties and don't want them anymore.
Most of them come from restaurants and hotels they visited over the years. Some include handwritten dates and notes as to whom they were visiting if it were in a distant city.
But there are lots of matchbooks from area restaurants which is why I got this collection, since I've been collecting matchbooks from restaurants I've visited for many years as well. And with a no-smoking policy going into effect in Michigan restaurants beginning May 1, chances are slim I'm going to find new matchbooks at local bars and diners.
Hmmmm, here is a matchbook from Dominos Pizza with a list of their outlets in Michigan, all eleven of them. That's gotta be an oldie. Hea, here's one in the shape of the iconic maize 'n blue Wolverine helmet with the 1979 football schedule!
Though the traveling days for this couple are over, they sure saw their share of sights: San Francisco, Boston, London, New Orleans, Hilton Head, New York, etc. I'm looking at one from Williamsville Inn in Williamsville, New York, near Niagara Falls. The cover advertises rooms with wall to wall carpeting, private baths and color television. Sound like an oldie? Let me see if I can Google this place.
Demolished in 1999. A Rite Aid drug store now sits at its former location. Don't you love Google? You can find out so much so quickly.
I guess those matchbooks I decide not to keep I could sell to Spartans over in East Lansing since they've displayed as arsonic (word?) penchant for lighting couches on fire when they've suffered a tough loss in athletic competition. [Not tonight though. Dang!]
Sometimes the messages inside the matchbook are more interesting than what's outside. Check out what I found inside a "Chevy's Restaurant" book:
A correspondence course for open heart and brain surgery? Wonder if it's for real. I Googled and there is actually a University of Matamoros in Mexico. I took some Spanish in high school and college. I could handle a correspondence course, I think. If ever there were a time to change careers, maybe this would be it. With health care reform, you never know. This could be legal.
But if I go for it, I won't forget all my blogging buddies out there. You'll get ten per cent off at Big Dave's Brain Surgery Center. I'll do even better than that. You find a better price for your aneurysm repair, I'll match it AND give you ten per cent off.
It pays to have friends on the internet.
posted by Big Dave T @ 5:59 PM
8 Comments:
Firsties!
Basketball isn't tiddlywinks or brain surgery, Dave. MSU and U of M were a good match tonight. But oh, how I enjoyed our one point victory against your skunk bears!
No need for a match to ignite a couch tonight; I have a penchant for champagne instead.
GO GREEN!!!
BABETTE--Nurse Bonnie is johnny on the spot with the salt. Since you're so up to date on the Spartans, certainly you've heard that two more members of the Spartan football team were arrested this week in the aftermath of that attack at MSU.
But did you hear now that future recruits to the MSU football program are now required to understand their Miranda rights? Or did you hear that head football coach Mark Dantonio is thinking of going to a no-huddle offense so that players on the football team can keep their distance from known felons?
The old match books are not sitting by the cash register in restaurants any more. Not for a long time huh. When I smoked I had a lighter that I refilled, a little gold color one. So I wouldn't pick up the matches but I knew plenty of people who collected them and used them. That is interesting that the hotel advertised wall to wall carpeting and private baths much less color television. I would say it sure sounds like a long time ago. Demolished in 1999 so it had be around quite awhile before that huh.Kinda fun for you to inherit the matches from seasoned travelers. I bet they have some good stories of the places they have seen.
Cool! Will you do brain surgery via email/long distance, as well? That wold be greatly convenient for me, and I'm ready to schedule as soon as you have an opening.
we used to do that to Dave-then we realized that we were afraid of those paper ones and that the wood ones were too short for the BBQ! we decided to toss them all.
heartless aren't we?
TECHNOBABE--I thought that Williamsville matchbook dated to the 1970s, since I saw others with a 1970 date.
LYNILU--I'm not sure I could do brain surgery via e-mail. Some day my wife and I would like to make a trip out west. We could fit you in then maybe.
CARINE--I'm too a patsy when it comes to striking a match. I use fireplace matches to light our BBQ.
Hi Dave ~~ Interesting lot of Matchbooks, as they are a thing of the past now. I used to use a lighter, but gave up smoking in 1986.(after 40 years.)
The brain surgery is scary if that could really happen, sorry cross me off your list.
I hadn't heard that George Burns quote about the smaller swimming pool.He was very funny and left so many great jokes for us.
Take care, my friend, now back to your studies!!! Regards, Merle.
I told several people at work about the brain surgery correspondence course, and they didn't believe me. Seems real to me.
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