Late nights were always hopping at the Koffee Kup
Koffee Kup Cafe
The Koffee Kup building was originally a house where Doc and Bonnie Baines lived. The side porch next to the kitchen was enclosed to create the seating area of the cafe. This was a long narrow space with knotty pine walls, a long, curved lunch counter at the front and two small booths for the soda fountain in the back. They served breakfast, lunch, and early dinner during the week. On weekends they closed after lunch, then opened around midnight for the after-bar crowd.
When Mom and Dad were out drinking on weekends, with me in tow, we often stopped there for an early breakfast or late dinner, especially on nights when Bonnie served her famous fried chicken. It was usually pretty lively, since most everyone, including Doc and Bonnie, was drunk.
In the mornings, many of the business owners gathered at the counter for coffee. While Mom and Dad opened up the bar, I liked to go to the Koffee Kup to talk to Sam Stevens, who ran the liquor store kitty-corner across the street.
“Hi Cathy,” he’d say as I climbed up on the stool next to me. “Would you like to play the punch board with me?” He handed me the pick to push out the rolled up sheet of paper with a number on it. If the number matched a prize, it was a winner.
“OK,” I said, and chose the hole to punch then handed him the paper. “Did we win anything?”
“Not yet; do it again.” So I picked another hole and handed him the paper.
“Is it a winner?”
“You bet! We just won a steak knife set.” Sam was not yet married so he handed it to me. “I bet your Mom would like this.”
“Oh boy!” I chirped, hugging the box to my chest.
Bigfork Garage and Mobil Gas Station
Because the Koffee Kup was on a corner, at River Street, I was not allowed to go any farther up the street without an adult. But I could see the Bigfork Garage on the other side of the street. It had a flying red horse sign for Mobil Gas in the front, and a pull-through driveway for those who wanted to gas-up. The building, which had once been a livery stable, housed an auto-repair shop.
The summer before I started fifth grade, the Gustafson family moved to town and ran the Bigfork Garage. They had two sons who were in my class; their names were Allen and Arlen, but everyone called them, and their Dad, Gus. That got confusing sometimes.
Barber Shop (under stairs at the Mountain Lake Tavern)
Just past the Mobil gas station was the Mountain Lake Tavern, but on the station side was a wooden stairway to the second floor of the tavern (which Mom said had been a ‘house of ill repute’ in the not-too-distant past).
Under those stairs was the barber shop, with its lighted peppermint stick-like barber’s pole out front. It was the only barber shop in town, and where my Dad went to get the 6 hairs across the top of his head trimmed, and his neck shaved in back.
To be continued.