Remembering the cafés

As long as Charles “Big Chuck” Dickens doesn’t complain too much I can call this missive “A tale of two cafés” Two breakfast nooks in Lancaster that do not exist anymore.

Both memorable for me for very different reasons. The first was on Lancaster Boulevard approximately a block from the high school and I don’t know if it even had a name. I remember that it had two very small tables and a lunch counter that could seat only two people — and not very comfortably. But it had a local panache and thrived for many years.

Another café, many years ago, had a name, Waldrips, on Sierra Highway, a steamy, stinky and forgettable little cavern. Also extinct now. Memorable for me only because the lone waitress had a holster on her hip clutching the biggest, baddest looking revolver I’ve ever seen. And a demeanor that suggested that she would use it with very little provocation. Kenneth Nickel

Lancaster