Sonny and Cher

The year was 1968.   I was at work at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix.   It was lunch time and I decided to go out for lunch instead of eating in the employee cafeteria.   Normally this would have meant a trip across the street to the Park Central shopping center and the hot dog stand Fat Frank's.   Fat Frank's had great hot dogs but today I wanted something different.   I knew of a walk-up hamburger stand a few blocks away due east of the hospital.   Not a very fancy place.   You walk up to the counter, make your order and wait right there for the food.    Then sit at some outside picnic-style tables to eat in the heat.  

When I arrived there were lots of people standing around the periphery of the hamburger joint.   There were professional Hollywood-style movie cameras, big Hollywood-style lights, Hollywood-style light-reflecting screens, and like I said, lots of people.   I noticed that there weren't any people at the ordering window.   Great, no line.   Plus only two of the tables had people:  one table with a woman and small child and several tables away was a slender woman with long black hair.  

I ordered my hamburger, got it, and sat a picnic table to eat.   No one else came up to the window.   After finishing my hamburger I went to my jeep (no top on the jeep) and sat there waiting to see what was going to happen.   There were people in front of the hamburger stand leaning against the wall.   

One guy left the group and walked across the patio to me.   He said that he was with Sonny of Sonny and Cher who were making a movie and that Sonny was going to be taking a trip to Hawaii and he wanted to drive one of those jeeps that have the red and white canvas shade tops.  He wanted to know if I knew where Sonny could get one for when he was in Hawaii.   I looked over at Sonny and he was staring at me.   The most striking thing about him was his small dark eyes.   I told the man that I didn't know and he went back and told Sonny Bono.   Then Sonny lost interest in me.  I guess that he had his assistant ask me that question because I was sitting in a jeep.  

I left shortly to get back to work.   When I got back to the hospital and told my coworkers that Sonny and Cher were making a movie at the hamburger stand, three or four of the girls screamed and ran out the back door to go see them.   I had no idea who Sonny and Cher were.   I asked my coworkers and they told me who they were.   How could I not know who Sonny and Cher were?   At the time I was either working (night), attending college  classes (day), studying at home (weekends), or sleeping.   I spent the week-ends on the couch with textbooks on the coffee table in front of me studying.   I would study all day long.   I had to.   During the week when my classmates were studying I was working.   The weekends were my chance to catch up on the class work.

The movie that Sonny and Cher were making was called Chastity.

So that was my encounter with the real life Sonny and Cher.   It sounds strange, especially the question about the jeep and Hawaii, but it is all true.   Trivia question.   Can anyone guess what this St. Joseph's coin was used for?

Have a nice day wherever you may be.    Lew

Fat Frank's Frankenstein Hot Dog

I did an online jigsaw puzzle of hot dogs.  



I probably would not normally do a jigsaw puzzle of hot dogs but these were an exception.   The center hot dog brought back pleasant memories of when I worked at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.

 

Across the street from the side of the hospital was a shopping center called Park Central.   The hospital is circled in green and Park Central shopping mall is circled in yellow.

 

Normally I would eat my lunch in the hospital cafeteria, but sometimes I would go across the street and have a hot dog at Fat Frank's hot dog stand.   He had a tremendous variety of hot dogs from relish to cheese to chili to......   But one really stood out to me.   It was called the Frankenstein.  What a name.   It was a foot long hot dog with toppings like the hot dog in the middle.   I think that the ketchup was suppose to represent like blood.   I thought that the hot dog was quite novel.   Yes, I did try one.

 

I did a search on the internet to see if Fat Frank's hot dog shoppe was still in Phoenix.   I got lots and lots of returns for Fat Frank's but none in Phoenix.   I did see one with a phone area code for Illinois with a gourmet hot dog with all kinds of stuff on it.    I guess that mustard dogs are passé. At least it has the name Fat Frank's.

Fat Frank's did such a good business that I am a little surprised that the hot dog stand may not still be open.   Well, at least I couldn't find it on the internet.   Working at St. Joseph's Hospital was one of those jobs where everyone was nice.   A lot of fond memories.   Plus there were great hot dogs across the street.  Have a great day wherever you may be and hopefully there is a hot dog shop near you with a "Frankenstein" hot dog.    Lew

https://thejigsawpuzzles.com/Food-and-Bakery/All-Beef-Dogs-jigsaw-puzzle?cutout=50classic

 

 

 

 

Little Sisters of the Poor

Back in the late 60's and early 70's I lived in Phoenix, Arizona and worked at St. Joseph's Hospital in their x-ray department.



St. Joseph's Hospital is operated by the Sisters of Mercy nuns.   The nuns were very nice.   The only nun that I can remember right  off-hand was Sister Mary Ralph who was in charge of the Emergency Department.   All the nuns wore "habits" that look like the one below.   The picture below is not of Sister Mary Ralph.

I think that it was more practical than the older bulky "habits".

While I worked at the hospital I also did volunteer work for the Little Sisters of the Poor.  

They operated what I would call a nursing home in Phoenix.   It was located just south of St. Joseph's Hospital.   The nursing home was excellent.   I remember that their "habits" were a bit more bulkier than the Sisters of Mercy.

The nuns were absolutely super nice.   They had really kind hearts. 

I was an x-ray technician and when they needed me they would call me at the Radiology Department of St. Joseph Hospital.   They would call me when a patient may have gotten injured, say falling down.   They had an x-ray machine and developing dark room right there at the nursing home.   I would leave the hospital (I had been given permission by the supervisor), drive to the nursing home, take the x-ray, drive back to the hospital , and have one of our hospital radiologists examine the x-ray to see if there was anything wrong.   Then the radiologist would write a handwritten report.   I would take the report and the x-ray back to the nursing home and give it to the nuns.   Fortunately, all of the patients that I x-rayed at the Little Sisters of the Poor nursing home were okay.   I really enjoyed doing the volunteer work at the nuns nursing home.    I just had the feeling that by helping the nuns I may have been doing a little bit of God's work.   Of course, the nuns were doing a whole lot of God's work.   Working with the nuns both at St. Joseph's Hospital and Little Sisters of the Poor made me feel good about myself.   I considered that it was an honor and a privilege.    I worked at St. Joseph's Hospital for 10 years and enjoyed every minute.