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Showing posts with label Snacks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snacks. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 08, 2016

Go 'n Joy Stores

Outside of Vancouver, WA Go 'n Joy store, circa 1981. Image: WSU Libraries Digital Collection
From the outside of it, Go 'n Joy convenience stores looked like your typical early 1980s convenience store chain.
 
As well as the inside of it. They made fresh deli sandwiches, had a full selection of potato chips, beer, candy and soda. As well as various other quick must-buys like milk, bread and eggs. They had a cold soda/Icee fountain. There were a couple of arcade video games in the front of the store. Pretty average stuff for a convenience store chain in 1981.

Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary. Except that this chain literally went from idea to 17 locations that sprang up within a period of a few months in western Washington State in early 1981 (something even your most ambitious retail chain doesn't do.) They had further plans of expansion of up to 30 stores at this time.

What are these places?, people began to ask. And how did they get so big, so fast? It seemed pretty strange. But nothing to be concerned over really, just odd.

The Washington State Liquor Control Board wanted to know too, as they were licensing each store for beer and wine sales (Hard liquor was still sold in state-run liquor stores at that time.) Their concern was knowing who actually owned the chain.

But after wandering through a maze of various shell companies and people who seemed to change positions within the company on a dime, the investigations revealed one common link; the various operatives of Go 'n Joy, from distributors to several franchise operators revealed ties to Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church.

The Unification Church is a religion with a large worldwide membership (known as "Moonies"), but is still considered a cult by many. But this was a cult with a difference. While most cults were considered dirty Commie free-love hippies who are against capitalism by most people in post 1960s America, the Unification Church not only embraced capitalism, but made it front and center in it's various operations. They hated Communism. Members were clean and upstanding people.

One of my neighbours was a Moonie. He drove a nice car and owned a restaurant. At no time during my first two months of knowing him had I ever suspected he was a Moonie. But one day, religion snuck into our conversation and he casually mentioned he was a member of the Unification church. I wasn't upset or nervous about it. He didn't try to convert me. It was his thing, not mine.

But alternative religions were not looked upon kindly in 1981. We were a nation still in shock over the 1978 People's Temple mass suicide and anti-cult groups sprang up for families to "deprogram" other family members who were inducted into them.


The revelation of this chain being owned by the Moonies led to assorted accusations of the true intent of Go 'n Joy stores. Some parents believed the Unification Church was actively using the store chain as a front to lure young people into the religion.

While many young people (including myself at that time) occasionally stopped at a Go 'n Joy for a burrito and a soda, maybe played a video game, no one there ever gave me any leaflets. Nor do I remember seeing any. No one there ever asked me if I heard of Reverend Moon, that kind of thing. They wouldn't have lasted ten minutes if they did in that more religiously partisan time.

Unable to control the negative publicity, the Go 'n Joy chain was quietly sold. Some locations were sold to 7-Eleven, which used some locations as expansion outlets for their then recent acquired Hoagy's Corner chain of deli/convenience stores. Others to independent operators. In 1982, Rev. Moon was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.

The Unification Church still owns lots of businesses. But today, the same outrage there was in 1981 doesn't exist now as people today are less concerned with the religion of a business operator and more eager for a good deal.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon passed away in 2012.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Kenner Kiddie Fondue


I know I've been a little late on the posts again. But I've been working on one that'll be worth the wait. (I hope.)

Maybe you got this for Christmas in 1974. It seemed to be pretty popular. But not much has ever been mentioned on it.


Kenner Kiddie Fondue was an insulated plastic pot with fondue made with special packages of artificially flavoured melting chocolate inside a three compartment tray and heated by hot water in the red pot. Kids can then dip the mini-marshmallows in it and it was all fun and as close as they could get to those Saturday evening parties their parents would have when they would all smoke funny cigarettes with their friends in the living room around the real fondue pot.

This was made by Kenner when it was owned by General Mills. They were seeing some kind of synergy between both sides of their food/toy portfolio. (The Easy Bake Oven was another Kenner product.)
It came in chocolate, vanilla and cherry flavoured chips, which you poured into a three compartment tray.

Also see: Pizza Hut Electric Baking Oven.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

The Colonel Sanders Christmas Albums


Kentucky Fried Chicken holiday bucket and lid, circa late 1960s.
The 1960s and '70s will always be the heyday of the Christmas album loss leaderTire companies were using Christmas records to entice customers. Department and grocery stores too. If it was round with grooves and played at 33 1/3 RPM, you were likely getting extra business with it.

Colonel Sanders was also bitten by the Christmas vinyl bug. And released his own series of Christmas compilation albums through RCA from 1967 to 1969.

1967



1968






There was even an Australian pressing of the 1968 edition!


Here's the 1969 edition (the last in the series.)





Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Frozen Sodas



Ooooooh....What's this?

Chills & Thills was a cherry and orange flavoured (artificially of course) frozen soda concentrate made from 1967-68 that was apparently targeted to those hip young people that were probably influenced by Timothy Leary. Or wanted to be.

You mixed it with tap water, which made it fizz into a thick foamy (and judging from the film degradation on these commercials, possibly psychedelically bright coloured) goo you ate with a spoon.....


....and once you hit brainfreeze, you begin acting like this lady.

But Chills & Thrills wasn't the first frozen soda concentrate. That distinction belongs to an earlier Bird's Eye product called Sodaburst.


Sodaburst was a frozen instant ice cream soda fountain drink made from 1963-64. It came in four flavours. All chocolate, "Black & White" (chocolate syrup and vanilla), Strawberry and Pineapple. Plus a scoop of vanilla ice cream in each one. Just add tap water.

The problem here likely, as mentioned in the TV ad, was the price. If it was too pricey, mom was not buying it. And chances are, it probably didn't taste very good.

Monday, November 02, 2015

Danka Toaster Pastries



Danka was a tragically named breakfast pastry for toasters that existed in the late 1960s and early '70s.


From the advertising, Danka was for your square, sensible middle aged person who wanted their toaster pastries to do more than pop up. (Well, what do you want them to do then? Your taxes?)

Monday, February 02, 2015

Vintage Seattle Restaurant Menus

The Doghouse (1942)





Ivar's Acres of Clams



1940s Postcard
Skipper's (1950s)




Stuart's at Shilshole (early 1970s)



Gene's Red Carpet (1960s)



Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Shake-A-Pudd'n



Royal Shake-A-Pudd'n was an instant pudding mix from the late 1960s.



It came with four cups, four spoons, four lids and four packets of pudding mix. You just added water.


The line was later manufactured by Jell-O in the early-mid '1970s (as the more grammar-correct Shake-A-Pudding.) before being discontinued.


Saturday, November 08, 2014

"The Frito Twist" Euel Box (PAMS Recording, 1962)





Yours in a specially marked bag of Frito's corn chips in 1962 (The Year of The Twist).....



Thursday, August 21, 2014

Hellmann's Big H Burger Sauce

In 1979, Hellmann's introduced Big H Burger Sauce a product that was briefly on the market. It was a near perfect carbon copy of a famous burger "special sauce" used by a famous worldwide mega-conglomerate burger chain. And that might have been why this product disappeared as quickly as it came. But I could put that stuff on nearly everything - including hot dogs and it would just taste FANTASTIC. I know it was popular because everyone was talking about it back then.  So it must have sold very, very well.

But ever since then, finding anything about this product was next to impossible. It was like the product never existed. For years, I tried to describe it. But people would think I was talking about Thousand Island salad dressing (this was distinctly different.)

It was the only product marketed by Hellmann's on the West Coast that wasn't under the Best Foods brand name (as Hellmann's Mayonnaise has always been.) There were a few attempts to consolidate the name under the Hellmann's brand west of The Rocky Mountains. But we West Coasters FLATLY wouldn't hear of it and the idea never got off the ground. And we still won't. 

So to this day, Hellmann's mayo is still known as Best Foods mayonnaise west of The Rockies. And that's that. Period.

 

Monday, August 18, 2014

Eating Like A Trooper: 12 Days of MREs





An old friend of mine recently sent me a package - and a challenge: Review these MREs.

What are MREs?


They are Meals Ready to Eat. They are issued to army troops in combat or anywhere outside the mess hall. They are in nearly every army around the world.

And so, always up for any challenge that involves eating. Beginning tomorrow, I'm going to review each MRE. There are 12 of them in this box. Each one contains one meal. Plus other essentials in a vacuum sealed bag (necessary because soldiers do a lot of fighting in dirty areas.)

But to do this, we are not going to go on the battlefield front line (I'm totally missing out on the atmosphere and service, I know.)



My kitty, Sgt. Smokey Gato has already established his base camp....
So, I'll be eating these at home...

Stay tuned....