Mapleheightspress.com - A Different Perspective: Pee Wee Cottage was a popular hangout in yesteryear

Remember the TV sitcom "Happy Days," characters like Fonzie and Richie, and the diner where they hung out? The "Happy Days" diner and Pee Wee Cottage were alike.

Pee Wee Cottage formerly sat on the property where St. John Funeral Home is today at 923 Broadway Ave., Bedford.

The tiny diner began life as an ice house on nearby Union Street. An ice house, which people age 60 and over are likely to remember, was where blocks of ice were stored for delivery to homes and businesses in the days before refrigerators.

Anne Allen Esch recalled that in 1941, her dad, Jack Allen, the Pee Wee Cottage founder, helped to haul the little ice house from Union Street to Broadway. There, Helen and Jack Allen sold popcorn and candy. All seven Allen children worked in the family restaurant.

Jack and Helen's previous "home business" -- High Hat Potato Chips -- had been sold to the DanDee Potato Chip Co.

Pee Wee Cottage soon became a 24-hour diner. Customers sat on stools at a counter which was on the left as you entered the building. There, cooks prepared food, flipping witty comments while flipping burgers or pancakes.

On the right were booths with coin slots and push buttons for a juke box. Choices were "Hit Parade" hits, pop and country. A telephone booth and rest rooms completed the interior.

Several additions expanded the eatery, but it remained "pee wee" in size. A 1950s photo revealed a building not much wider than the cars parked in front. The Allens couldn't explain, on such a modest structure, why a fancy railing decorated the roof line.

Genial Jack Allen used customers' first names. To a fellow "down on his luck," Jack would give a free slice of Helen Allen's pie. Then, Jack would call around and find the man a bed for the night.

Pee Wee's homemade pies, chili, ribs, eggs and bacon -- day and night -- drew crowds. A favorite of Roger Fluharty and Lester Pratt was "gravy fries." Lester and Roger describe the taste as being wonderful. Next in popularity were "cheese fries" and "chili fries." People weren't so concerned about cholesterol then.

Lester and other Bedford High School band members were often picked up at Pee Wee Cottage for marching band practice. Their driver announced, "Feed the kitty," and the musicians dug out their loose change.

It would only take 48 cents worth of gas to last until the evening. Were those the days, or what?

Stunt driver Al McFadden and Milan Duris, a police officer and photographer, were regular customers. Also, Pee Wee was a teens' meeting place after football or basketball games.

Bedford parents didn't allow their daughters to visit Pee Wee Cottage alone, though. Truckers and motorcyclists who frequented the place sometimes used X-rated language and were often tossed out because of food fights and fist fights.

After Jack Allen's death in 1963, daughter Anne said the diner failed to prosper.

When the Allen offsprings tried to run the restaurant alone, the business climate had changed.

St. John Funeral Home bought the land for its own use and tore down Pee Wee Cottage. It was a perfect location for the funeral home -- next to Bedford Cemetery.

Now, at the Bedford Historical Museum's Walker China exhibit, you can see the real thing -- Pee Wee Cottage dinnerware.

If a phantom Pee Wee Cottage could return, greasy aromas, laughter and bits of small-town life would fill the air like the vanished throb of juke box music.