President Obama in Pomona, Southern California March 19, 2009

President Obama at the Southern California Edison’s Electric Vehicle Technical Center in Pomona, California, March 19, 2009, where he unveiled his 2.4 billion dollar boost for electric vehicle development.

I enjoyed his appearance on Leno, this evening.

~Linda

In-N-Out Burgers Over the Years and Years

Photos from In-N-Out Burger


It all began in Southern California in 1948 with one drive-thru hamburger stand where customers could order through a two-way speaker instead of with car hops that were popular at that time. From the original In-N-Out Burger in Baldwin Park, over sixty years ago, there are now more than 200 stores, and have spread to Northern California, parts of Nevada and Arizona, and it is still the best hamburger, fresh french fries, and shakes to be found.

And I have been eating them for ehh gads…since the opening of that first In-N-Out. In those days our family, Daddy, Mama, Nancy and I, and often Paisano, our dog, would go to In-N-Out about every other Sunday or so, on the Sundays we were having a pot roast (our usual Sunday dinner). Sometimes we would top it off with an ice cream cone from Frosty Freeze. Paisano really liked his cone.

This family owned business was started by Harry and Esther Snyder. Three years later a second store was opened. Their two sons, Guy and Richard learned the family business early on. When Mr. Snyder died in 1976, there were 18 stores.

From their website: Following Mr. Snyder’s death, son “Rich took over as President at the age of 24, and with Guy's help, established a commissary at the Baldwin Park Headquarters. This new facility allowed In-N-Out to have total quality control over all In-N-Out ingredients. In addition, they created the In-N-Out "University", where new managers are trained and the In-N-Out formula for success is consistently reinforced.” The company has also been known to pay their employees a very nice starting pay.

While Richard was President, In-N-Out grew from those 18 locations in 1976 to 93 locations at the time of his death in 1993 in a plane crash, along with four other passengers on approach to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA. At that time, Guy Snyder became Chairman of the Board and CEO and soon a store was opened out of the Southern California area in Las Vegas, NV, and continued expansion throughout California, Nevada and Arizona. While Guy was Chairman of the Board, In-N-Out grew from 93 locations to 140 at the time of his death in 1999. Co-founder, Esther Snyder continued as President until her death in 2006. At that time, Vice President Mark Taylor (an extended family member) took over. Guy Snyder’s daughter Lynsi, only grandchild of founders Mr. & Mrs. Synder, is owner and heiress.

Their family business philosophy has always been, “Give customers the freshest, highest quality foods you can buy and provide them with friendly service in a sparkling clean environment.” And they have succeeded . Quality is as fine today as it was 60 years ago and as it always has been.

A book is coming out in April about the company by journalist and business writer, Stacy Perman: In-N-Out: A Behind the Counter Look at the Fast Food Chain that Breaks All the Rules. It should be an interesting book on the success of a family-owned business, done without franchising, going public, or changing its menu, and continuing to serve fresh product.

I almost always order the cheeseburger with grilled onions, and fries. Our family always laughs at the times when we’ve been away from In-N-Out and after retuning, the first stop after landing at the airport is In-N-Out. One of our extended family rode his bicycle 135 miles over the mountains from Carson City, Nevada to Auburn, CA for the opening of the Auburn In-N-Out to be first in line for his hamburger. That’s how crazy some of us are for these hamburgers.

And I have a store four miles from me now.

~Linda

Linda's Pale-Pink Thoughts

On a rainy day, when making your bed, have you ever wanted to crawl back into your bed and get comfy again?

Even though today was not a rainy day, I realized every time I have this pair of soft, pale-pink sheets and pillow cases on my bed, I have a strong desire to climb in and pull the sheets around my shoulders and feel comfy and cozy. This desire does not happen when I use other color sheets such as the dark-blue ones I had just changed. Nor does it happen when I use any other color and design. I do not like busy sheet designs, and usually prefer a plain or simple design.

What I have to do when I have this particular pair of pale-pink sheets on my bed, is to make the bed soon, so I will not walk by it unmade and find myself crawling in again. So maybe that is a good thing. At least it keeps my bedroom neater.

I’m not into color therapy but I do have my favorite colors, and I would suppose those favorites make me feel good. And I know I reject those colors that do not feel good to me, as I suppose we all do. I like most all shades of blues, some greens, rose colors, browns, lavender, and burgundy, if not too dark. Colors I do not care for are oranges, most shades of yellow, and many shades of red.

While growing up in Southern California in the 1940s and 1950s, before the time of smog pollution, and before dryers, our wash was hung outside on the clothesline to dry in the fresh air. Washday was on Mondays in our home, and I loved the smell of clean sheets every Monday night. I used to tell my Mother that I wanted her to wash sheets every day, and her response to me was when I grew up I could wash sheets every day if I wanted but she was not about to do so. Of course, by the time I grew up "every day" seemed like a bad idea!

Nancy mentioned in her fist post that we sometimes have opposing views. I would say that is seldom, but we do have differing interests, likes and dislikes. One area we seem to be in agreement on is politics. I would have to add that was not always the case in earlier days, but it has been now for several years. After all, we do live in a Blue State. LOL

One thing we were always in agreement about while growing up, was our dog, Paisano. He was such a friend. Here he is on his birthday.

So Cal Nancy

My first blog! This should be great fun. North Sister-South Sister, as you may already know, means my sister & I live in opposite parts of California. We also sometimes have opposing views, likes and dislikes. Amazing to have grown up together in southern California during the late 40’s, the 50’s and early 60’s, only 2 years apart and to have developed into two diverse & unique women. I continue to live within 5 miles of where I was born even though I always thought the East Coast was where I belonged. As a wee tike I spoke as a native New Yorker or Bostonian. Maybe a past life? When I visited New England in 1985, I felt like I had come home. I still plan to return there but watching the weather daily in Bar Harbor, Maine, I don’t think I’m a person who would be happy with 7 months of winter.

Having stayed in this area means I have seen enormous growth, change (not all for the better), congestion and influx of so many cultures. One major change is that people have become so rude. Not on a one-to-one basis, but when they are in a group or out in public it seems nobody wants to be accountable for their actions. In the drive thru lane at Starbucks every once in awhile there is a car ahead of me with a driver who is not paying attention to their surroundings and refuse to move up in the lane in a timely fashion. The problem with that is the traffic which is trying to turn in off the street ends up blocking the cars that are trying to get where they’re going. It seems everyone has their iPod or phone in their ear and is in their own little universe. Then there is the person who gets their drink at the pick up window and promptly wads up their receipt and drops it on the ground. Even though there is a trash can past the window for just that purpose.

Who do people think is going to come behind them and pick up their mess? It’s left for all of us to see blowing around on our streets and sitting on and under the shrubs along the roadway. Last week end as I was driving home from my son’s house, in the middle of the street just west of the left turn signal I saw a half full gallon of milk sitting on the pavement. What??? Who would have done that? You have to wonder if it was still cold, or all clumped together and smelly. Would the street sweeper pick that up in the middle of the road like that? The problem with crowded southern California is that there are so many of these instances that it just becomes part of our landscape. And what is familiar, that you see everyday, becomes acceptable.

Nancy February 6, 2007