Rusty’s Blog

The original Waffle House opened in Avondale Estates, Georgia on College Avenue in 1955. It was later sold and converted into a Chinese restaurant, and has since been purchased back and restored as a museum with furnishings very close to what the original restaurant looked like.

It usually isn’t open to the public, but was open today. We were told it will soon be open to the public two days per week.

We learned some other tidbits, like that this sign they have out front isn’t the same design as the original sign:

It’s actually a late 50s or early 60s design. The letters are supposed to look like dripping syrup. The original sign design isn’t up to current DeKalb County code, and they’re working on getting permission to use the original (or a sign with the same design as the original). The original is currently stored in a warehouse.

Also:

• Filet mignon was served instead of T-bones originally. The urban legend goes that the switch to T-bones was made after a Waffle House location ran out of filet mignon and bought some T-bones from an A&P, which proved to be very popular.
• Other menu ideas — such as the code words for hash brown toppings — permeate up to be corporate standards from flourishes of particular Waffle House locations.
• Originally, everything was made fresh on location except for saltine crackers, Coca Cola and Heinz ketchup.
• The founder Joe Rogers was (and still is) obsessed with not wasting movements, space or materials. At the original location, when they were finished with a paper cash register roll, they’d put it back in the register the opposite way and print on the back. Now, this translates into constant efficiency studies that attempt to cut down on the movements that Waffle House employees make.

You can view the full set of photos here.

Amber also has a photo set here and a blog post here.

If you live in DeKalb County as I do, there’s at least one important race to vote in today: the Democratic run-off for CEO. Your choices are Stan Watson and Burrell Ellis, and it’s a no-brainer who you should vote for.

Watson has been a no-show for several debates, choosing to attend fundraisers instead. He has campaigned illegally in front of polling stations. And he has not denounced the distribution of a race-baiting anti-Ellis flier.

I am concerned that Ellis is a little too cozy with Sembler, a company which builds suburban-style developments in places that would be better-served by true mixed-use developments. His election would make the construction of a controversial shopping development on Briarcliff and North Druid Hills roads a near-certainty. But by all other measures it appears he would do a good job. There’s nothing illegal or unethical about taking campaign contributions from Sembler, which is more than I can say about Watson’s activities.

There’s also a snoozer of a U.S. Senate run-off between Democrats Jim Martin and Vernon Jones. It doesn’t really matter who you vote for. To lose, incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss would need to be caught killing a baby, pulling out its entrails and wearing them as a headband—while a young male intern was blowing him. Sadly, I think the second part would be more shocking to people around here.