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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 23, 2002)
With age comes wisdom — to spot cheap deals ■ Head to the local gathering places for senior citizens if you want to find low-cost eateries By Alix Kerl Oregon Daily Emerald Face it, Eugene gets old. This time of year, everyone is ready to be done with finals and get out of here. Memorial Day weekend is a great opportunity to take a break from day-to-day life and do something out of the ordinary. Maybe it’s not the scenery of Eu gene that’s getting old, but the peo ple. It’s takes awhile to notice, but soon we begin to notice that for most of the day we only see col lege-aged boys and girls. Sure, pro 492 E 13th 686-2458 For the week of Friday, May 24thl! Find th* NEW Bijou Movi* Quid* n*xt Thursday in Eugene Weeklyl m »the Endurance shocWton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition Nightly 5:00pm [< Hetd Overby Popular Demand! Must End Soon/ iillMMaR Ridding (Nightiy 9:05pm - Sat Mat 2:40pm NEXT: POGTOWNANOZ-BOYS , Pulse Cheap Date fessors and non-traditional stu dents are older, but for the most part, old people, babies and ani mals are a rare sight. Just going past Chambers Street to the west or Fifth Street to the north reveals a whole new world. Here are a few places to go where there will definitely be a lot of old people. So many, in fact, that you will be stared at. Old peo ple are great because, like college students, they have a lot of free time and are always on the lookout May 24,Z51 May 30-June 1 [ June 7,8g Spu [Benefit Matinee June? at 2pm for St.Vincentde Paul 687-5820x121 |EMU Ticket Office 346*4363 UT Box Office Ptrtomvx'OoffOny 246-4191 Hull Center 682-5000 ZSZ A Robinson Theatre Production 942-8730 484-1927 GOLF 9 HOLES $10 Students Only. Must show ID. (Monday - Friday) Don’t Get Trapped In A Small. Apartment • Basketball/Tennis Courts • 1 & 2 Bedrooms • Quiet & Large • Low Energy Cost Come check out our great apartments! McKenna Estates www.mckennaestates.com Air Conditioning Laundry Hookups Free Cable Balcony/Deck 342-5735 near Autzen Stadium Science gotcha , spooked? check out Chemistry 101-102: Science in Society Appearing this summer at your local UO Chemistry Department. It ain V easy, but you don V have to be a rocket scientist, either! | Four credits each. Satisfies the two-course science $roup requirement. for cheap deals. Old people love food. Shari’s Restaurant, Deb’s Family Restau rant and GJ’s are all hot spots for the senior crowd — and they are all cheap. There are two Shari’s in Eu gene and two in Springfield, but the closest to the University is on 2950 W 11th Ave. It’s a chain restaurant that serves up tasty potatoes and some fine pie. There are three Deb’s in Eugene — two Deb’s Family Restaurants and one Deb’s The Original. The Original, at 1290 W Seventh Ave., is top notch. GJ’s is a tacky restau rant with good food that falls into the greasy spoon category. It has a country kitchen decor with fake flowers and ceiling fans. All of the restaurants are well-lit, comfortable and the waiters and waitresses are friendly. The food is easy to masti cate and there are discounts for people of a ripe, gray age. However, nothing can beat the Timber Topper, a ’50s-style buffet with heaps of food and lots of old people. This gem is located in The Big Y, an eclectic little shopping center out on Sixth Avenue, past Garfield Street, a bit before Sixth turns into Highway 99. The Tim ber Topper isn’t really a breakfast spot, but it opens daily by 11 a.m., which is breakfast time for many college students. Follow the or ange light of the flickering flores cent “OPEN” sign, walk in the door and head right for the buffet without sitting down. The buffet is no puny spread; it’s a true offering to the buffet gods. Imagine biscuits and gravy, fried chicken, macaroni salad, fried po tatoes, caramel rolls and Jell-O, and the beauty of the Timber Topper will be revealed. In the buffet line, the dishes are supported with mounds of shaved ice and decora tive parsley. Lunch goes from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is only $6.50; dinner is $8.50 and runs after lunch until 8 p.m. Coffee is only 75 cents a cup, which includes refills. When the waitresses come around, they put a dollop of cream in your coffee before the warm-up. The place is incredibly homey and comfortable. American flags are all over the place, and you sink right into the brown booths. Muzak chimes from ceiling speakers, play ing choice hits like The Police’s “Every breath you take.” Thomas Patterson Emerald Timber Topper, at 2166 W. Sixth Ave., is a popular dining spot with both senior citizens and students—the low-cost, basic and hearty buffet may have something to do with it. There are a Few fun tilings to do near the Timber Topper, such as have a look at Harbor Freight Tools or go the liquor store, but these are more cowboy spots than senior spots. Coastal Farm and Home Supply, located just down the road, has a fair amount of old peo ple, but one can only look at Carharts and farm tools for so long. The real place to go to find lively old people having fun is Bingoma nia. The spot is located at 333 Riv er Ave. and opens at 5 p.m. six nights a week (closed Tuesdays). Games start at 6 p.m., and a night of bingo goes until 10 p.m. On Fri day and Saturday nights, bingo is called until 1:15 a.m. Bingo is a pretty basic game that involves little skill, but Bingomania is nice enough to set aside a New Player Table so that new players can get acquainted with the game. Another plus for first timers is that on Sundays and Thursdays in May, it is only $5 for all you can play. If bingo makes you hungry, you can go to the snack bar or wait for the dessert cart to make its way to your table. On Friday and Satur day nights, there are full dinners offered. Of course, there are al ways free coffee refills to keep you charged. If you must play bingo on Tues day night, head over to the Eugene Elks Lodge #357 at 2470 W. 11th Ave. Bingo goes from 6:30 p.m. un til 9:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, and a light dinner menu is available. E-mail reporter Alix Kerl at alixkerl@dailyemerald.com. Lesbopalooza continued from page 5 don’t see us in the press,” said Williamson, who is a pioneer of the women’s music movement and co-founder of the first all-women recording company in the 1970s, Olivia Records. Williamson said she has seen a change in this generation’s female artists, because they have more ac cess to recording labels. But when she started in the music business in the 1970s, she said labels often turned female artists away saying, “we already have a woman.” Other music companies had fe male artists, she said, but there were always men in the back ground, playing instruments or fill ing technical positions. She said even today, men’s money pushes women artists into the forefront. “It’s a compromise (women) have had to pay,” she said. During the last three decades, Williamson said she has tried to en courage women to take the risk to come out of the closet sexually. “Women needed me to be really strong,” she said. “I give them the courage to be exactly who they are.” “Songs are spun through the air and passed through the body. That’s when miracles can occur." Cris Williamson folk singer/songwriter Through her music, Williamson said she hopes she reaches the au dience and makes a difference in their lives. “Songs are spun through the air and passed through the body,” she said. “That’s when miracles can occur.” In addition to music, Chicana Femme Dyke Celestina Pearl will perform poetry, spoken word and dance at Lesbopalooza. Once a Eugene resident, Pearl co founded and performed with the Fierce Pussy Posse Cabaret Theatre Company until she moved to San Francisco in January 2000. Pearl will perform a unique strip dance with three other per formers in which she begins dressed in a suit, peels the layers of clothing to reveal a little girl’s costume, then ends wrapped in one large scarf. Warning: There will be some nudity. “It basically is a statement of the different aspects of myself,” she said. “They are a part of my person ality and spirituality.” Tickets are available at the EMU Ticket Office and Mother Kali’s Books. Tickets for one night are $11 for general admission and $9 for students. Tickets for both nights are $16 for general admission and $11 for students. All ages are welcome. E-mail reporter Jen West at jenwest@dailyemerald.com. Nowhere to run to. Nowhere to hide. The Oregon Daily Emerald on the world wide web. www.dailyemerald.com
