By Warren Cornwall
Herald Writer
STARTUP — They came Monday for one last order of fries with the special spices, for a final Alpen burger, for the recipe to the tartar sauce they’d tasted for three decades. And they came to say goodbye.
"Thanks again. You made a difference," Larry Baumgartner said to Rod Smith, owner of the Alpen Village Drive-in, as Baumgartner drove away in his Jaguar with his final order of fries and a burger.
Baumgartner, now 46, first pulled off U.S. 2 and into the restaurant’s parking lot in Startup when he was 12 years old, on his way to skiing at Stevens Pass. On Monday, the Seattle man stopped on the way back from skiing with his 13-year-old son for a final taste of nostalgia.
After more than 29 years, 2002 will dawn without this bastion of burgers and good humor. Monday was its last day.
Rod and Rhoda Smith are ready to retire and take a vacation.
"We’re tired," said Rhoda Smith, a seemingly tireless woman in her mid-60s who still works at the grill flipping burgers on occasion.
With no buyer in sight, it means an end to an institution open since at least the 1960s. In 1972, the Smiths bought the drive-in, a small hut with windows where people can place orders.
The couple stamped it with their own personality and menu.
Rod Smith brought his steady supply of one-liners and catchy way of counting change by referring to the pictures on the bills. For example, he might tell you, "Here’s two George’s and Uncle Abe." Translation: "Here’s two ones and a five."
He thought it was just a corny gimmick, until he learned some local kids would bring $20 bills to buy a milkshake just to hear him make change.
It’s safe to bet most people came for other things. Like the orange-tinged, custom-made seasoning salt the Smiths sprinkled on their fries. Or the renowned tartar sauce.
"We seem to have been able to feed the area for a lot of years, and made people happy with our food. A lot of them are almost in tears when they come in," Rhoda Smith said of the response to news they are closing.
One man drove from Olympia to get a final burger, Rod Smith said.
Janice Brooks came from Monroe with her children for a last meal and to get the tartar sauce recipe from Rod Smith.
"The best tartar sauce in the world," said Brooks, who recalled hanging out in the parking lot as a teen-ager.
It’s a place with the casual spontaneity of a small business. There was no posted closing time at this drive-in.
"When the last customer gets here or my feet get tired, whichever comes first," Rod Smith said.
In the winter, it wasn’t unusual to stay open until midnight feeding skiers returning from night skiing at Stevens Pass.
While feeding hungry teens and hikers returning from the Cascades, the Smiths also provided jobs for a steady stream of local girls. They gave their young workers advances to pay for graduation announcements, and the paychecks that bought them a first car or paid college tuition.
"Mom and Dad have raised more teen-agers than any high school teacher," said their 40-year-old daughter, Maryanne Danner, who started filling ketchup cups there at 11.
Danner herself worked there for eight years. Even now, she can’t eat ketchup. But she came Monday to have a final burger, with extra pickles, slurp a root beer milkshake, and say goodbye to the business.
"I grew up here," she said. "It’s real bittersweet today."
You can call Herald Writer Warren Cornwall at 425-339-3463 or send e-mail to cornwall@heraldnet.com.
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