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
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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
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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.
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