The Ballard 'Denny's' story goes national

It’s hard not to notice that Mossback takes a lot of heat for reminding us of our history. The Ballard Denny’s or the Nuke reactor building on UW campus are examples of many of his excursions into what was or where we came from.

Some years ago there was an awakening in this country brought about by a book and movie called Roots. As you may remember, it points to the frustration of some people that not knowing where they came from blunts their sense who they are now.

America in particular has a national problem of understanding and valuing history compared with European or even Asian cultures. Their lore, their legend all seem to value preserving their history. Europe makes a business of it and earns billions in American tourist dollars shuttling us around their old castles.

Mossback serves us well by reminding us where we came from. Denny’s is no exception. The year it closed, by sheer circumstance, I ate Christmas Dinner there. There were hardly any other places open. Why is of no interest, but the experience certainly was. The restaurant was jammed with people queued up waiting their turn to be seated. It turned out that Christmas dinner at the Denny’s eatery was a peek into the American cultural experience. I don’t think there was any nationality or culture not represented. There were salty old regulars, still in their working clothes and well dressed families all eating and talking and being served equally by a staff to busy to care what language you were speaking. This place was more than an eatery it was a cultural and social phenomenon. I walked away with full tummy and full of optimism that so many people from so many different lifestyles could gather under one roof, be at ease about it and apparently find value in it. Education, wealth, religion, race, language or brand of coffee weren’t at issue, gathering on this Christmas day to eat under the same roof was all that mattered. Civil rights, history or political statements wasn’t on anyone’s mind.

I don’t know if any of us can separate what happens in a building from the architecture that made it unique, but had the Monorail not happened, Denny’s would likely still be serving Christmas Dinner to people who probably would never have met anywhere else. A building is more than the arrangement of wood or stone, it is also the story of what has taken place within it. In some measure the American dream.

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