for FReeper RegisteredPosted on 12/10/2002 7:49:27 PM PST by Registered
No more Grand Slams for FReeper Registered
| After 22 years, restaurant closes its doors Denny's Restaurant, a virtual institution among late-night diners, abruptly closed its doors for good Monday afternoon, citing lagging business. The Norton shores restaurant, which opened in 1980, closed at 3 pm Monday. The restaurant was hurt financially by safety and security concerns that forced the corporation to stop making it a 24-hour eatery-a "trademark" of Denny's restaurants, a corporate spokeswoman said. Customers (Like Me) and workers were not given advance warning the restaurant would be closing, said Melanie Mathews of Muskegon, a (darn good) server at the restaurant. Employees, some of whom worked at the restaurant for more than 20 years, were told the restaurant was closing during a meeting Monday afternoon, she said. "It was a big blow" (tell me about it), Mathews said, "There's a lot of people out of a job and a lot of families and children that will be affected by this...there were women in there sitting and crying"(not me, I'm a guy) The 48 employees were offered a two-week severance package and the opportunity to transfer to other Denny's restaurants, the closes being in Holland and on Plainfield Avenue in Grand Rapids, said Debbie Atkins, spokeswoman for Denny's, which is based in Spartanburg, S.C. The Norton Shores restaurant originally was open 24 hours. But several years ago, corporate officials (that don't understand Michigan "culture") decided to start closing at 3 am every day but Sunday, when it closed at 1:45am, Atkins said. "Unfortunately that hurt the business-the fact that we couldn't be open 24 hours," Atkins said,"Security is a top priority for us-ensuring the safety and security of our customers and employees. And we didn't believe we could do that at that location in the early morning hours" The restaruant was the site of a a couple of melees over the years. In 1994, police said a "near riot" and "free for all" brawl in the restaurant at 3:11am involved more than 50 people-practically all the patrons at the time (the Michigan "culture" thing). And in the 1999, a fight that involved 15 to 20 people caused $4,000 in damage at 3:32am . During that fray, patrons left without paying while others went into the cooking area and grabbed food (to eat and watch the action of course). Atkins said, Denny's now will be looking to sub-lease the property on which the corporation holds a long-term lease. Mathews said she was disappointed that the corporation chose to close the restaurant so close to Christmas. "It seems like they could have held on at least until after the holidays", she said, (and now for the Willie Green wind-up statement...) "To Denny's, you're no more than a bottom line number, and that's how we felt yesterday." Atkins said corporation officials "regret" the decision to close...there's never a good time for this," (duh) Atkins said. For any additional questions, call Denny's Customer Service Team at 1-800-733-6697.
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And it ain't a real diner unless it's owned by Greeks and is open all night.
Muskegon, MI, huh? This Georgia girl was in Muskegon years ago, for . . . (drum roll please) the annual convention of Pyrotechnics Guild International, of which my dear husband (then my fiance) is a charter member. We had a wonderful time firing a display for the general public on a small island just off the lake shore on one night. On another night, we had a fireworks contest in a nearby field -- we and another couple had an entry which won fourth place, probably because it was the only electronically fired display (with two Electrical Engineering mavens from the Georgia Institute of Technology, how ELSE would we fire the thing?)
But the thing I remember most of all was the water ski show, featuring a one-legged water skier, a black guy, who did the most incredible acrobatics I have ever seen from any skier even with TWO legs. Was he a local? This was back in the 70s.
. . . I can think of all sorts of smart comments but they would not be nice and my sainted grandmother would probably rise up out of her grave and slap me . . .
Waffle House is good for this too, but Denny's was the first.
OK.
Right now, it's 50°F in Las Vegas.
And we got all the 24 hour eateries you can think of.
Hows that?
Them's fighting words..and if my Denny's was still open I'd be inviting you to meet me there at 3am and duke it out!
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