Before we moved to the Orinoco
Apartments at 3647 Main from Independence, Missouri, Mr. and Mrs. Patch had a
small diner at 38th and Main.
It was an alternative to Valentine’s Drive-In several doors north of
where Mom had her beauty shop. In the
1950s Main Street was lined with what the politicos call petite bourgeoisie or
small business owners. Most people just
call them Mom and Pop businesses. Our
introduction to Kansas City began there.
America’s Baby Boomers entered grade
school by the millions and their parents got jobs in the big cities and stayed
there – for the most part until their children finished their education. Stable people and hard work made Main Street a
prosperous place and within a couple of years Patch’s Restaurant changed into a magnificent modern glass and
steel structure replacing the old diner.
Eight foot glass windows accented by ceiling-to-floor curtains formed
the east and north side of the one story building. Along the north side there were padded
stools below the counter which helped retain the appearance of a diner. Once in a while during the week Mom would
send my brother and me for hamburgers and fries; there was no McDonald’s in
those days.
The east section of the building was
all formal dining and on Sundays the place was packed with church goers, of
course, on a much smaller scale than Kansas City’s popular downtown Forum Cafeteria. Mr. Patch would greet the folks and Mrs.
Patch would man the cash register. The
lead cook was Jim and he looked amazingly like George Fenneman, Graucho Marx’s
announcer on You Bet Your Life. As the business grew the Patch’s hired more
staff and among them, Wanda, the restaurant’s most popular waitress.
Mom liked Sundays because eating out
was a rarity in those days and she could socialize with other people besides
her customers. She always enjoyed
talking to Mr. and Mrs. Patch who, through hard work and discipline, transformed
their old diner into the jewel of the neighborhood. Mom’s favorite waitress was Wanda who was
single and had a little boy and as much as Mom admired the Patch’s, she was also
a single mom who with two little boys had more in common with Wanda the Waitress.
