Greenpoint, October, 2015

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

All the Way from Wichita

Today inaugurates a new sporadic feature on the blog: "Off the BQEaten Path."And what better way to begin than with some "spikes and sliders"? Except of course, you can't get any food at the White Castle administrative offices on 34th Ave. at 69th St. in Jackson Heights (catty-corner from BQE Billiards). For that, you'll have to go to Queens Boulevard (as a sign on the door helpfully informs). You've gotta love the commitment to branding.

According to Wikipedia, White Castle was founded in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas by Walter A. Anderson (a cook) and Edgar Waldo "Billy" Ingram (insurance man). Responding to the public's queasiness about eating ground beef following Upton Sinclair's muckraking classic, The Jungle, they wanted to "invoke a feeling of cleanliness." Thus they made sure "their restaurants were small buildings with porcelain enamel or steel exteriors, stainless steel interiors, and employees outfitted with spotless uniforms"--to draw contrast with those restaurants that outfitted their employees in spotted uniforms, I suppose.

4 comments:

  1. How much better would it be if you had called it "Off the BQEaten Pathursday"?

    ....in space.

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  2. "Off the BQEaten Cardvaark PaThursday" please!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Some readers may not be familiar with the Port Authority Trans Hudson's (PATH) shortlived program from the mid to late 1980s, PATHursdays. On Thursdays, PATH workers would set up booths at the 33rd St. (and maybe others) and solicit suggestions on how the PATH could be improved. One of my brothers, visiting from college, wrote "Change your name!" He received a polite thank you note to let him know his suggestion would be considered. Apparently, they decided to stick with PATH(etic).

    ReplyDelete