It’s time to think about traveling again! The long, long, long winter has, it seems, finally given up its strangehold on us all, especially here in Northern Utah. In Logan, Utah, the most northern metro area of the state, many tourists travel through town on their way to various parks and recreational areas. If you want to take the scenic byway through beautiful Logan Canyon on your way to Yellowstone, the Tetons and Jackson Hole Wyoming, then you should also take a moment to stop and have breakfast or lunch at a little diner known as Herm’s Inn.
Herm’s Inn. Photo by the author.
Getting There
Located at 1435 Canyon RD in Logan, UT, Herm’s Inn isn’t the easiest place to find. If you are traveling north from Salt Lake City or Brigham City, you will enter the city of Logan. Stay on Main Street until you get to Center Street. Turn East on Center and continue through the lights until the road dips down over a small hill. Then turn left onto the next street named Canyon Rd. Then simply remain on that street until you arrive at Herm’s at the mouth of the canyon.
History of the Building
When Herm’s was built in the early 1900’s it was on the only route from town to Logan Canyon. The road passed by it on the way to the Bear Lake and Yellowstone HWY 89 route. Herman and his wife Lizzy Johnson immigrated from Sweden. They built the diner since it was the last place to fill up on gasoline and get a quick lunch before heading through the canyon. That made it also the first place to get gas and a bite once you drove the long distance through the canyon.
The cafe stayed in business for years. The roads changed, however. HWY 89 shifted to the hill above the store, bypassing it completely. Now people drove on a four lane street onto the bench of Logan, passed Utah State University and then into Logan Canyon.
Business dwindled and the diner/store eventually closed due to lack of customers. It had been a staple of Logan dining from 1926 to 1948. The building remained empty following the closing. There had been talk for quite some time of tearing it down. But, instead it remained, decaying a little each year.
Rebirth
In 2012 Ryan Bird, a Salt Lake City man who had been working in restaurants for over ten years, took a gamble and decided to bring the place back to life. It took a lot of work to restore the building, but eventually it was reopened and has become a gathering place for locals as well as tourists who are looking for a unique place to have breakfast or lunch.
I go there for breakfast almost every Sunday morning. Unlike “Angie’s”, the other favorite diner in town, “Herm’s seems to cater to the university crowd. A much more liberal, intellectual, organic clientele meet to talk about their travels, or the ever heated political climate.
I’ve found that you need to get there around 9 am or 9:30 at the latest since it gets busier as the morning progresses. At 10:00 it explodes. Since Herm’s doesn’t take reservations the wait can be up to 45 minutes.
The inside is like stepping back in time. It offers two room in the upstairs. Both are good. There is also a basement with extra tables. I try and avoid sitting down there since I always feel cut off from the activities. It feels more like a cave there and is now as pleasant. It does work for larger crowds, however.
Photos by the Author.
Parking in the residential neighborhood was a big problem in the beginning. The homeowners around the diner were constantly complaining, even posting “No Parking” signs in front of their houses. That has all been fixed when Herm’s bought one of the homes and tore it down. They built a parking lot in its place.
Hours and Menu
One drawback to Herm’s is that they are only open Sunday Thru Saturday 7:00 AM to 1:50 PM. They do not serve dinner. They often do private parties or university events at night. They recently added a nice outdoor sitting area with lights and a fireplace. You can only really enjoy it during one of these parties since there is never a fire going in the day. Herm’s is also available for catering.
The food I haven’t mentioned yet. It is always good. I usually build my own breakfast, but there is a big variety offered. Here is their MENU.
Happy Travels
I write this blog in mid-April which means that travelers and tourists and adventure seekers will soon be hitting the roads again. Thousands of people pass through Logan, Utah on their way to various sightseeing excursions. If you a passing through this area and want to see the spectacular scenery in Logan Canyon on your way, stop at Herm’s for your breakfast and lunch on the way. It will be a place you will remember and look back on with fondness. Happy Travels Everyone!
Driving around Hollywood and West Los Angeles there is a changing landscape. History is important in the city, but not as important as money. Little by little the Hollywood of yesterday is being torn down so more mega-mansions and high end boutiques can take there place. It’s becoming more and more difficult, but if you look hard enough there are still remnants of what has been constant throughout the years. There are still some holdouts that can be enjoyed by a new generation just as they were in Tinseltown’s bygone era.
Nestled in between neo eateries I was able to find a few restaurants that have stood the test of time. They were once a place where starlets met with agents and seven figure deals for movie went down. Mostly they are places that had some importance in the entertainment world. I am writing about five places that should take tourists or film lovers back in time. One can imagine the Hollywood elite dining for a glamorous Saturday night on the town, or taking a break from filming to catch a bite. So lets step back in time and dine with the stars.
Barney’s Beanery in Hollywood opened in 1927. Photo by the author.
There are several Barney’s Beanery’s around southern California, but the one that sets along Historic Route 66 on Santa Monica Blvd is the original. Actually the very first location was opened in Berkeley in 1920 by John “Barney” Anthony. Seven years later he decided to move his restaurant to the historic highway running through Los Angeles as it headed to the end of the line at the Pacific Ocean.
Celebrities, artists, writers, and movie production workers began frequenting the bar. In the 1930’s through the 1950’s it was a frequent hangout for some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall considered it “their” place. Judy Garland, Clark Gable, Rita Hayworth, Errol Flynn were all regulars.
In the 1960’s the clientele shifted. The nearby Sunset Strip had become a haven for the hippy culture. Just a few blocks away, Barney’s attracted several rock stars. One was Jim Morrison, leader of The Doors. He visited often. One time he was even kicked out of the place for urinating on the bar.
Another regular was Janis Joplin. She even carved her name into one of the tables. That table top is still there and on display on the ceiling over where she sat. She actually ate her last meal here. She was seen dining shortly before she headed back to the Landmark Motor Hotel on Franklin Avenue where her body was found dead the following day in Room #105 of a heroin overdose.
In the early 1990’s filmmaker Quentin Tarantino sat at his favorite booth and wrote the screenplay for his film Pulp Fiction.
The Beanery isn’t without its share of controversy. The exact date when the trouble started is unsure, probably just prior to 1953. The owner put up a sign behind the bar among the various license plates. The sign read: ‘Fagots – (sic) Stay Out! ” John Anthony had regularly let his hatred of gays be known. Ironically, Barney’s Beanery is right in the middle of the heavily gay population of West Hollywood. The sign came and went, finally being taken down permanently in 1984 when the mayor of West Hollywood, the City Council and a group of activists walked in and physically removed it.
Pop Culture: Parts of Oliver Stone’s The Doors was filmed here. There is also an illustration showing the restaurant on the Big Brother & the Holding Company’s album Cheap Thrills. On TV “Columbo ” Peter Falk often ordered a sandwich from the restaurant, though it was never featured on camera.
Just north of CBS Studios and Farmer’s Market is Fairfax Village. A staple of the area since 1948 has been the famous Canter’s, a Jewish-style delicatessen. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week except on the Jewish holidays of Yon Kippur Rosh Hashanah.
Walking into Canter’s is like stepping back in time. The interiors look like it hasn’t been updated in decades, which is one of the great appeals of it. Sitting there I could easily imagine the late night crowds that frequent the place.
Because of its location and hours, it quickly became a hangout for people involved with the entertainment industry. In the 1960’s it was a place where rock stars and hippies held late night gatherings. In the bar area adjacent to the deli musicians such as Fiona Apple and The Wallflowers got their start. The current owner Marc Canter wrote a book about his high school friend Slash and his band Guns N Roses. In 2014 President Obama surprised the guest when he stopped by for a bite to eat.
The Canter’s menu offers not just the usual deli favorites. It also is a pretty straight forward diner with lots of sandwiches and meat and potato entrees. They also offer their famous Matzah Ball Soup. I wasn’t quite brave enough to try it, but my brother did and said it was good. The prices are very reasonable as well.
Pop Culture: Several TV shows have filmed there including Mad Men and Curb Your Enthusiasm. The song “Oh Daddy” by the Turtles mentions Canter’s as well.
El Coyote opened on March 3, 1931. Photo by the author.
When a restaurant has been opened as long as some of these classic diners in the Hollywood area, there are bound to be some stories that will live on. The El Coyote features some very tasty Mexican Food, and has kept the dark and authentic atmosphere that it has likely always had. Due to it’s small connection to a notorious murder scene, it is often drawn into conversations about Hollywood crimes.
El Coyote first opened in 1931 on the corner of La Brea and First. Twenty years later it moved to its present location on Beverly Blvd. Within its proximity to CBS Television studios and other movie studios, it became a place for many celebrities to eat.
On the evening of August 8, 1969 Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Jay Sebring, and a very pregnant Sharon Tate visited the El Coyote, which was Sharon’s favorite restaurant. Following their meal they drove along Beverly Boulevard and back to the house Tate was renting with her husband director Roman Polanski in Benedict Canyon. Polanski was out of town filming a movie in London.
The foursome arrived home around 10:30 pm. Shortly after midnight on August 9th four members of the Manson Family entered the home and murdered the Tate and her house guests , plus one other person, Steven Parent, who was visiting a friend in the guest house. He was shot in the driveway as he tried to leave. Any worker at the restaurant will gladly point out the table where Tate and her company ate that night.
The murders shocked the nation and an entire generation was affected by the heinous crime. Unfortunately this wasn’t the one moment of notoriety for the restaurant. In 2008 it was boycotted by the gay and lesbian community due to the owner’s daughter and manager Marjorie Christoffersen, a devout Mormon. She had donated money to Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to block gay marriage. She apologized to the LGBT community and offered a free lunch, though she continued to support Prop 8.
I’ve eaten at the El Coyote several times over the years and the food has always been excellent, and the service very good. They are open most everyday, but keep in mind they close early on Oscar night
Pop Culture: Feature in the documentary, Six Degrees of Helter Skelter.
The Formosa Cafe has been a Hollywood staple since it opened its doors in 1925 on the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Formosa Avenue. The Chinese flavored cuisine quickly emerged as a favorite for the movie industry crowd. It is very close to several film studios.
In 2015, the owners gutted the historic interiors and changed everything to a more modern style. Showing that the public doesn’t always want change, an outcry arose among those who craved old-Hollywood style. The new version lost business with all the negative publicity.
In December of 2016 the property closed down without notice, some thought permanently. Luckily, in 2017 the property was picked up by the 33 Group and is being renovated. The new owners want to restore it completely to its glamour days of the 30’s and 40’s. It is scheduled to reopen in the Spring of 2019.
Few restaurants have a history of celebrity clientele like The Formosa. It is said that Frank Sinatra spent many nights in the 1950’s here at the bar, pining away for Ava Gardner. Some of the eatery’s other famous regulars are: Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Brad Pitt, John Wayne, Bugsy Siegel, Warren Beatty, Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, Grace Kelly, Jack Benny, Elizabeth Taylor…just to name a few.
I learned of the renovation recently when I returned there to eat and found it closed down. I hope the new owners are able to return this landmark to its original splendor. It is a place that Hollywood doesn’t want to lose.
Pop Culture: The films Swingers, L.A. Confidential, Still Breathing, and The Majestic features scenes shot here. It was also used in the television series Bosch.
Micheli’s, the historic Italian Restaurant. Photo by the author.
In 1949 Carmen and Sylvia Micheli pulled their funds together and opened this historic restaurant that is just half a block south of Hollywood Blvd. Carmen used recipes that had been handed down to him from Sicily. They hoped to create the first pizzeria in Hollywood.
The place became a hit among the celebrities of the day and the tourists who flocked to the famous street. The interior has remained almost unchanged for years. In fact the booths that are still used came from another historic restaurant. When the famous Pig ‘N Whistle closed in 1949, Micheli purchased the booths. The image of a pig holding a whistle can still be seen carved into the seat backs. The Pig ‘N Whistle would again open, but not for fifty years. In 1999 it was restored and is still open around the corner from Michel’s on Hollywood Blvd.
Frank Sinatra seemed to really get around and Micheli’s of course became one of his many hangouts. In fact he reserved the same booth in a corner and up a few steps. Appropriately, there is a giant photo of Sinatra that decorates the exterior wall outside of the restaurant.
Lucille Ball learned how to toss pizza here for an episide of I Love Lucy, and she frequented the place as a patron often. Other regulars were: Richard Burton, Dean Martin, Sal Mineo, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, John F. Kennedy, and even the Beatles.
I make it a special event to eat at Micheli’s each year when I visit Los Angeles during Oscar Weekend. Stepping into the building is like embracing Hollywood’s bygone era. There is always a piano player on the upper level, playing classic tunes from another time. Occasionally the waiter or waitress will pause in their order taking and break into song. Most of the time they sing as well as they wait on the tables.
It’s not just a place to eat, but it is a dining experience. Don’t rush through the meal. Sit back and enjoy the ambiance. You can almost believe that you are at a happening nightspot in 1950.
Pop Culture: The film Knocked Up featured a scene shot at Micheli’s. Also the television shows Dexter and Mob City included the location.
There are several other restaurants in Hollywood that also preserve the past. As mentioned Pig ‘N Whistle on Hollywood Blvd. Mel’s Drive-In on Highland and Carney’s on Sunset are fun throwbacks. The Rainbow Bar and Grill in West Hollywood and Lucy’s El Adobe on Melrose are also recommended. It’s even worth spending a little extra and having a Sunday morning breakfast at the famous Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel. Make sure to make a reservation.
I want to showcase one more place. If anyone has the time, take the short drive into Laurel Canyon and visit the Canyon Country Store. It is virtually unchanged from the era when Mama Cass lived in the basement and Jim Morrison owned the home directly behind it. They were regulars, as were countless residence of the canyon. Mick Fleetwood even met Lindsay Buckingham here and invited him and Stevie Nicks to join Fleetwood Mac.
Lauren Canyon Country Store. Photo by the author.
It’s not a restaurant, but they have a great coffee spot to sit outside and watch the traffic speed by on the winding Laurel Canyon Blvd as it twists its way to the San Fernando Valley.
It is located at 2108 Laurel Canyon Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles is a haven for wonderful eateries, if you can handle the traffic to get there. I have found that they are worth the headache of maneuvering through the busy streets. I hope these few cafes and restaurants and coffee shops might motivate a few folks to give them a try.
Take care everyone…until I blog again!
John Tunstall & the Anniversary of the Lincoln County War
On February 18, 2019 it will mark the 141st anniversary of the brutal murder of John Tunstall at the hands of the Lincoln, New Mexico deputies. It would spark what has been called the bloodiest extended gunfight of the Old West. Over the next several months and even years, men were gunned down and violent stand offs were the norm. Before it was over dozens were dead. When all the desert dust has settled one man had gained infamy as either a hero or a villain, depending on whose side you were on. His name was Henry McCarty, but be would become better know as Billy the Kid.
I first became interested in the Lincoln County War and Billy the Kid years ago when I went to the theater to see a movie called Young Guns. Though it is pretty loose with a lot of the facts, it did provide a very basic background to the story. The premise of a war over cattle rights remained intact. Though flawed it gave me enough incentive to seek out more information and to seek a more historically accurate account of the events that changed the great Southwest.
Who Was John Tunstall?
In the 1870’s the New Mexico Territory was primarily populated by Hispanics and Mescalero Apache. White Anglos, many from Ireland had been moving there in droves, and they were hungry for land in order to raise cattle and make some serious money.
John Tunstall
Two of those Irish Immigrants were Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan. They had both left the plague ridden land of Ireland in hopes of a better life in America. They held a huge monopoly on the industry for years. Their operation was run out of the largest building in Lincoln, known as “The House”. They hired a shrewd lawyer named Alexander McSween, whose spunky wife played an active role in his affairs. The House controlled everything in the county, including the politics. They also provided a nice sum of money to the local Sheriff William Brady to help sway the law into their favor whenever needed.
In 1876 a 23 year old englishman named John Tunstall arrived on the scene. He formed a business partnership with Alexander McSween, who had just left working for Murphy and Dolan. Together they sought to strike a deal with John Chism, who owned the biggest cattle ranch in the area. They opened a store across the street from The House and immediately began competing with the big boys.
Lawrence Murphy had become ill, so James Dolan took up most the day to day operations. Since Tunstall was making gains on The House and their control in the region, Dolan began using the law, and any other tactic to harass and bully Tunstall and McSween.
As time went on, the conflicts between the two businesses became more bitter and more confrontational. Dolan often used the law to back up his threats. Tunstall bagan to realize that a real danger was behind the competition. He started hiring young ranch hands who also happened to be quite good with the gun. The leader was Richard Brewer, a level headed man who had experience in dealing with cattle.
Tunstall Meets Billy the Kid
Tunstall also had to deal with the problem of cattle rustling. His business was still new enough that any loss of cattle was a real blow to his efforts to grow his company. In late 1877 a young rustler named William Bonney was arrested on his property. Instead of prosecuting him, Tunstall offered the teenager a job. That boy would later become known as “Billy the Kid”.
Billy was thankful for the opportunity that Tunstall had offered him. He grew to greatly respect the englishman. Finally, someone had given him a chance to straighten his life out and live a normal existence.
The only authenticated photo of Billy the Kid
John Tunstall also gained a lot from this relationship. He gained a devoted employee who truly valued loyalty and friendship. It also benefited immensely seeing how Billy regularly could be found target practicing with his six shooter. Tunstall hoped that the disputes between him and the House would eventually calm down, but he had surrounded himself with a group of very capable young men just in case.
Day of Reckoning
Lawsuits and land disputes and allegations had flown back and forth for months. Tunstall learned that the sheriff of Lincoln was calling for Tunstall’s arrest. On the morning of February 18, 1878, hoping to straighten things out peacefully, the englishman decided to ride into town and turn himself in, and then allow his lawyer McSween to get things worked out.
The ranch hands, including Billy and Dick Brewer, accompanied him on his ride towards Lincoln. As the party came around a hill they spotted some wild turkeys in the distance. The idea of having a nice dinner that night courtesy of a raucous hunting excursion likely sounded delightful for the men. They all took off around the hill after the turkeys. At that moments a group of deputies sent by Sheriff Brady stepped in front of Tunstall. Approaching them, thinking he could reason with them, Tunstall started to talk. They didn’t give him a chance to say anything. The deputies gunned him down in a spray of bullets.
Tunstall was dead before his body hit the ground. They then shot Tunstall’s horse. Just to be mean, or in attempt to be funny, they put Tunstall’s coat under the dead horses head and moved the body close to the horse to make it look like the two were napping.
Hearing shots, the ranch hands hurried back to find their employer murdered in cold blood. The deputies were gone. The young men brought Tunstall’s body into Lincoln to McSween. They vowed vengeance against the Murphy Dolan faction. Attempts were made to strip Sheriff Brady of his authority. A magistrate was able to deputize Brewer, Billy and the rest of the men as deputies in order to bring in those responsible for the murder, so they could stand trial. Calling themselves the Regulators, the men began scouring the mountainsides to issue the arrest warrants.
All Out War
The intention at first might have been to issue the arrest warrants legally, but it seems that idea fell away quite quickly. The Regulators probably knew that with the way Lincoln’s local government was set up, there was a small chance that the killers would actually be brought to justice. At some point, the jaunts to bring in the accused turned to an opportunity to bypass the courts. The Regulators decided to kill those involved instead of risking the plausible outcome. Once they did that, the legality of what they were doing was stripped They had elected to dole out their own brand of justice, and they had a new hit list…and the name on the top of that list was none other than Sheriff William Brady.
A bloody shootout at Blazer’s Mill left Buckshot Roberts, one of the men responsible for Tunstall’s murder, dead. Dick Brewer, the leader of the Regulators was also killed in that skirmish. The conflict was getting deadlier. The Regulators were now on a course they couldn’t reverse. On April 1, 1878 Sheriff William Brady and five of his deputies were walking along the main road in Lincoln. The Regulators were waiting behind an adobe wall. They opened fire, killing Brady instantly. The war had now gone to a new level with the assassination of a public official. Billy the Kid and the other Regulators were once again wanted men.
The Battle of Lincoln
Three months later violence would escalate again, and reach a turning point in the war. Following the murder of Sheriff Brady, the Regulators retreated to the hills. In an effort to return Alexander McSween to his home in Lincoln the Regulators sneaked into the McSween residence. Word spread fast. Within hours Billy and the others were trapped inside of the house, while McSween supporters hid in adjacent buildings. The other side of the street lined with supporters of the House, which included the new sheriff Peppin. There were periodic bursts of gunfire as the conflict stretched into four days.
The main street through Lincoln, New Mexico.
The military, stationed about fifteen miles away at Fort Stanton, entered the town on the premise they were trying to keep the peace. In reality the leader Brigadier General Nathan Dudley was firmly on the Murphy/Dudley side. The army’s arrival severely tipped the scales in the direction of the House.
On July 19th the McSween house was set on fire. The group inside sent Susan McSween and all the other women and children out. McSween, Billy and several other Regulators remained inside. It was a slow moving fire since the home was built of adobe and burned very slowly. Still, the blaze moved from room to room, devouring the home as it went. Being the middle of summer and the temperatures were scalding, it became harder and harder to hold out. As the sun began to set, it looked like the inhabitants were going to have to try something.
The Rio Bonito River runs along the north end of Lincoln. Billy believed it would be their only chance at survival. Always a smart strategist, the Kid knew that they had an element of surprise, but they had to move fast. As the sky began to darken, he persuaded the others to follow him out the back and run straight for the river. He went first. His planned worked in that no one was expecting it. He and a few regulators made it to the river with a hail of gunfire eventually catching on. By the time McSween exited, the surprise element was over. He was surrounded in the back where he was shot down.
This drew the Battle of Lincoln to its close. The violence over the four days seemed to exhaust the town as things quieted for a time. The war would continue on for some time, but never as bloody as it had been.
Going Out with a Fizzle Rather Than a Bang
Billy and the Regulators would mostly go their separate ways, though he would continue riding with a few of them, but the band was done. Of course Billy would only gain in infamy. His exploits would continue and we would return to Lincoln on several occasions, but not by his own volition.
In a few months I will be traveling to the town of Lincoln, New Mexico, as well as several other Old West locales. I hope to blog about my trip and the places that are still there from this time. Lincoln itself has changed very little from the days of Billy the Kid. It essentially exists because of its legacy in the Lincoln County War.
I am writing this blog on February 14, 2019. In just four days it will be the 141st anniversary of the John Tunstall’s murder. It was this event more than any other that sparked the hatred and passions that led to the Lincoln County War.
