Our newfound friend, James Whitlow, poses the question of when did Bill's Grill become Bill's Restaurant after he studied his historic post card as shown above.
He points out that the back of the card calls it Bill's Restaurant and the front of the card shows the "Grill" either removed or unlighted. I probably would not have noticed such a thing.
This card does appear newer than the ones we have had on this blog earlier.
What do you think, Sleuths? Older version appears here.
That's an easy one. As the young folks who loved the grill grew up, the name was changed to restaurant so the older generation would still come. You know how fickle folks are about eating places. When a new one appears, they flock to it and abandon the older joint.
Alan, where does it say "both?" I see "restaurant" and I see "grill" but I don't see "both." LOL
Mary, Earnestine was a big big draw for whatever restaurant she worked at. Her personality was sparkling and genuine and it lasted through years and years. She pleased the customers. I'm like you. I think they may have enlarged the restaurant and needed a little more classy name.
Don, are you sure you put a lot of thought behind this answer or are you still up north prowling around and having a lot of fun! Where is Anita? She will know! LOL
I'm still around, just didn't know what to comment on the Noble Motel blog! (and neither did anyone else, or so it seems)....LOL
I agree with Mary: don't know exactly when it changed from Grill to Restaurant, but I'm sure it was still the GRILL in the early 60's, when Bob and I still lived in Searcy. After we put Searcy in our rear view mirror, for the big lights of NYC, don't know what happened to it. I VAGUELY remember going into it once, when it was the Restaurant, and being disappointed as it wasn't like it used to be. As everyone knows, I always want things left as they were in the good old days.
I think Don is making his presence known now in California.
I used the Harding Bison ads to do some sleuthing. Looks like it was still grill in 1961.
I'll keep looking for more ads as a clue. BTW, I have 16GB of Searcy pics and articles on my 32GB thumb drive.
Got back to La Petite Roche yesterday. It was a fun two weeks. I took 6 Southwest flights and the middle seat was unoccupied on all flights. On the way home I thought that's Dear Paula Anne's seat.
Anita and Don, the change may have happened when he expanded. I seem to remember a dining room that had been enlarged. That would have been in the 70's. Perhaps it was both a grill (for fast foods) and a restaurant for special occasions.
Mary, I think you are right. Perhaps that sign lit up when the "grill" part was open.
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