I was going to give you some time between posts to catch up but I have stuff to write so fuck it.
I ate at the Sam's Hof Brau in the Country Club Plaza last night. This place is pretty crazy and it's old school in the strictest sense. As the oldest dude would say in his querulous voice, "It reminds me of the 90's.....the 1890's!" I tried to look up stuff on the net about the history of this Sacramento-area (former) chain, but no dice so I am relying on you Sactophiles to help me out. I know it was started by Sam Gordon, who despite the name, I suspect may have been a Jew. I am basing this on the tingling of my Jewdar, which was activated by stuff like the reuben on the menu and a rad big picture of Sam and his buddies in 1962 at a bagels and lox dinner. I don't know, maybe not. I don't know when it got started, how many there were, or where they were. I know there used to be one where Hamburger Mary's is now until maybe the 80's.....the 1980's! It's hecka old-timey inside. Kinda like a more authentic Spaghetti factory. It's cafeteria style and there is stuff like hamburger patties soaking in kraut and giant slabs of meat that are hanging from chains and dripping juice. I tried to stick my head under there and drink the juice for free but the workers said no for some reason. Smiller got a carved turkey sandwich and stuffing. I got stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy. The sides are $1.14 apiece! There is a full bar but the only discernible drawback to this place is that the beer prices are outrageously high. 5.25 for a pint of Hefeweizen! That's nuts! I thought the old dude next to us was gonna have a coronary when he got two brews and the total was $10.50, so it wasn't just us that were surprised. If you have been feeling old lately, for instance if you regularly posted on the indie list and have just been referred to as "grampa" by John Pritchard, then you should make a trip to the Hof Brau because it will make you feel like a spring chicken. We got carded for everything (even an extra serving of gravy) and each person would remark on how young we look. I guess we do look young compared to a pack of octegenarians. I mean, it looked like a taping of the Lawrence Welk Show in there! And I loved it! No age discrimination tolerated on this blog.
Here's the old News and Review review
Okay, why I've never been there so far is totally beyond me. It sounds ausgezeignet.
ReplyDeleteIt could only be made better by the presense of a Bavarian Oom-Pah band with a band leader who has an absurdly shaped, enormous moustache.
I don't anything about the history of the Hof Brau, but I remember going to the downtown one a bunch with my mom, and I think she said that she used to go there in high school (taking the bus from Sac High!). I had a strange but strong love of roast beef as a little girl, so I loved getting the French Dip.
ReplyDeleteMy fondest Hof Brau memory was when my mom, as a 12th birthday treat had plans to take me to the Music Circus (I beleive it was Fiddler on the Roof) and my first ever fancy dinner at the Clarion. We got seated at the archetypal bad table by the swinging kitchen door, and my mom, who in the 80's had a REALLY bad temper, and probably felt self-conscious about going to a fancy restaraunt anyway, totally flipped out and we stormed out. She started crying outside, and asked me if it would ruin our fancy night if we just went to Sam's Hof Brau instead. I was stoked...French Dip here I come!
We ended up having a really nice dinner where she told me about going there on a date in high school, and we talked about boys and I promised I wouldn't ignore my studies and be too social once I got to junior high (psych!!).
Anyway, that's my Sam's Hof Brau story.
-michele
One of the things i remember about sac before moving here was "the meat in chains" over by Worlds best comics. Almost ate there once but the line was too long i think.
ReplyDelete-ninja
Isn't there one in Cameron Park or whatever that town is called before Placerville on 50? When I was a kid, I always thought it was really crazy and cool that the Sam's Hof Braus had peanuts shells all over the ground. It seemed wrong in a good way. Now that Gilhooleys is gone I guess I'll just have to head out to Watt to relive those memories.
ReplyDeleteBrew
Brew, that was Sam's Town (with the giant arcade) and it has been demolished.
ReplyDeleteemily
Am I an old-timer, even as an expat? Ah, Sam's. I grew up a mile or so from there, and also lived in an enormous yuppified apartment complex sort of behind the Sam's/Tower/Candlerock lounge sprawl in 1987-89. Sam's Hof Brau was some sort of chain at some time, but in was my understanding that the on one Watt, the now-gone "blues haven" on J near 17th, the one way up 50 in "Sam's Town" and others had separate owners by the 70s/80s, although I could be wrong. Shame to hear the beer is expensive; in the 80s it seemed disproportionately cheap (and they readily served me even as a high schooler). I don't know how long it's been there, but I suspect as long as the Tower, which opened in 1960 as the second one in the world, and the orginal Plaza and Centre malls, which date back to a few years later, I think -- and one of them used to be open-air, which was odd for the time (and not good for business, considering th' weather). Sam's complimented the original, open 24/7/365 Country Club Lanes bowling alley/bar/lounge/coffee shop/drug dealing-spot years back. And I couldn't possibly expand any further how frozen in time Sam's was THEN, and I supspect even now. And yes, the patrons seemed frozen as well; it's not like Zelda's and its human partonage straight from the 21st century. I suspect some regulars might have just lived under the floorboards and gotten all their life's sustenance from the establishment.
ReplyDeleteBut Sam's Town had a Hof Brau right? Or am I trippin'?
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree about Hamburger Mary's burgers. While I enjoy the hi-energy dance music, I have always thought that the burgers were pretty mediocre.
Brew
I think I read that the Denny's chain bought out the Sam's chain in 1960.
ReplyDeleteThey're a bit overpriced, and I would say they're mediocre, but they're actually okay enough that they're a bit of a treat once in a great while.
ReplyDeleteIt sure as shit ain't no Fuddrucker's, though.
Hamburger Mary's is a place that straight people think is a gay bar, and we think of it as a place that's supposed to be gay, and isn't at all. A lot of the staff there are gays who move in from other towns and hear that it's the gay hamburger bar, so they go work there.
The clientelle are primarily metrosexual yuppies and hipsters who like to think it's nothing at all to them to hang out at a "gay" place. It's kind of the sort of relationship that patrons of the Cotton Club had with blacks in the 20's.
*sniff* Sam's Town. i miss you.
ReplyDeleteit did have a hauf brau. but were they related, i don't know.
my mom and dad went on their first date to the one off Watt. i know she knows some of the history. i'll ask.
*Katy
I tried to take a photo of my sister in a white prom dress standing in front of rotisserie window at the brau and the crew would have none of it. the actually came outside while i was standing there with the polaroid and chased us off! i don't know if they thought we would reveal their secret rotisserie method of what. anyhow, i've only been in there once but my grandparents still eat there on a regular basis. if i weren't a vegetarian, i'd go there all the freakin' time though cuz it has major class. hecka, i love the mental image of you leaning in to get the meat droppings in your mouth. that cracked me up.
ReplyDeletethat would have been a great picture. maybe you should try again, because at least you could brag that you had been 86ed from the hof brau.....1886'ed!!!
ReplyDeleteI know that the Sam's Town and Sam's Hoff Brau were related at one time. My mom says so, anyhow.
ReplyDeleteShe also said that it's old but not super old timey Sac. She doesn't remember it being around before the early sixties. But who knows? I remember that when they closed down the Sam's Town complex, they had a massive antiques auction and that it was a big deal, not just locally. They had evidently amassed a giant gold rush california/nevada stuff collection. Dude was a hardcore collector. I've seen "provenance" mentioned on a few antiques in books as "Formerly of the Sam's Town collection"
I love that they make their own pickles.
and if there is one thing that I've learned from Sam's... HIRES ROOT BEER ON DRAFT RULES!
I love you little Hoff Brau!
Ella
Taking pictures inside a place of business is bad news these days. Corporate espianoge is one thing, and then there's the fear of "Bad Press" of any kind. Even if it's a web log, or if you photocopy the picture and give it to a few friends pointing out things that you didn't like about the place.
ReplyDeleteI took a picture inside the Elk Grove Natural Foods Co-Op the other day, and I knew I was treading on shaky ground, but I thought nobody had seen me. The store manager came up to me and gave me a friendly, but cautious run-down. He didn't chase me out or make me delete the picture. He was pretty cool about it, for having to do something so ridiculous.
I was going to do a review of the EG Co-Op, but I'm afraid to post the picture now, so now I'm apathetic about doing the review.
A friend of mine back in Highschool played a game with his Methodist Church Scout group that involved contacting another nearby, but far-enough-away scout group, and the two teams would meet at the mall with a given rendezvous time and meeting place. You'd exchange photographs of all the other scouts, and you'd try to find them in the mall. Kind of a cloak-and-dagger game.
They were taking pictures with a poloroid in front of Macy's or something and a Mall Cop came and told them to stop taking pictures.
Or maybe it's because they Brau crew are all Menonites?
I am supposed to do a review of that place! I think my boss even wants the cooks in the tall hats standing in front of the place on the cover of February issue....
ReplyDeleteas sad as it was to see Sam's Town go (where all of us PVille kids went on the weekend.....they'd serve me iffin i was with my cousin) - the Gordon family donated all of the proceeds from an auction they held, to charity.
ReplyDeleteand as Ella pointed out, they had some infamous antiquity there.
i guess most of the family had died off and the kids just had no interest in losing money to keep the business open.
Don't forget that Sam's Town had the cart from Planet of the Apes outside. It sold on eBay when they closed it for way more than I could afford (like 12 bucks).
ReplyDeleteAs I've heard, The Sacramento Hamburger Mary's is and isn't part of the chain. They basically pay for the name, but it's not really in the chain so to speak. They server their own food and don't have to do chain stuff. I don't know why they just don't come up with their own name (Murder Burgers changed to Redrum because they had to pay for the name).
And besides, Big Gay Sean (Sacramento native) is a bartender there and he's one of the funniest people I know. I put him up there with Chrismas Ed Carroll.
Oh yeah, I suppose I should've mentioned that I've known Sean (however he spells it) for 20 years (really). Maybe now he's a bitter old man from working bar for so long. I don't make it to Hamburger Mary's much so I haven't talked to him for a while. He went out with my younger sister in high school, then came out of the closet and they broke up.
ReplyDeleteI think there was another Sam's on downtown on L Street, near the Greyhound. I think its a nightclub now.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my mom reminded me that Sam Gordon's name is also on the Washington Neighborhood Center's sign in Alkali Flat. I'll ask my dad about Sam because my dad used to be the director of the WNC in the seventies.
That's rather horrid that Sam's Town near P-Ville is all gone, but I had a definite feeling that place (places? It was like a mini-city unto itself) wasn't long for the world in the path of El Dorado hills sprawl.
ReplyDeleteI think having a first date at Sam's at Watt and El Camino is the sweetest thing ever, irony-free. God only knows the idle seconds in my life I spent, in a left-turn lane, gazing, nearly mesmerized at the little smiling neon guy with an apron hoisting a tankard of beer glittering away at all hours of the day and night, and thinking about wurst.
(That was me posting about WNC)
ReplyDeleteAnna
oddly, it's not ALL gone. the main building was demolished maybe 6 years ago? but the small annex that was built to look like a train depot is still there. it houses restaurants and a thrift store. slightly surreal since Food Max (or something) is there, and behind it lies this charming little faux train station ala Sam.
ReplyDeletefunny, i also lived in those uber yuppie apartments behind Candlerock lounge. not being 21 at the time, getting trashed at home and then wandering over to 2am bowling was a favorite pasttime.
and the days of Record Heaven. in highschool, we'd drive down from the hills to go to record shops and comic book stores and all the hip things our little town didn't offer. that strip mall has some serious sentimental value for myself.
oh, and yes, a first date there is rather sweet isn't it?
ReplyDeletethey've been married 37 years, so i guess the Hauf Brau is magical.
Back in the day, if nothing much was happening on a Fri. or Sat. night I'd go to Watt & El Camino for:
ReplyDelete- A heavyweight roast beef sandwich (w/ french dip), pickles and a Hires root beer at Sam's.
- Then head to World's Best Comics and look for old issues of Weirdo and anything by Peter Bagge.
- Pop in to Tower Books
- Play some pinball at Candlerock Lounge
- Go to Record Heaven (if it was open) and thumb through the vinyl.
G-Damn I spent a lot of $$$ at that strip mall.
Wait, you mean the complex on Kings Way? Which now actually have a name of some sort? The place with like 10 billion apartments and four swimming pools? Actually, they weren't that bad; it may have been the only place I ever lived where I actually got to know some of my neighbors (because I had, well, 10 billion of them). But that may also have been because I was young and foolish then. And despite being a fake-ID'd under-21, I also did some swilling at home and hanging at the Candlerock.
ReplyDeleteAnd indeed, years back, Watt and El Camino was always a good time for a big night of doing a lotta nothing (and spending $$$). A young Buddy Bradley woulda loved it...
yep, they are now the Shadowood apartments.
ReplyDeletei think they stuck all of the college kids in the Section 8 part of the complex. there were certainly some yuppies roaming around those parts as well though.
funny, Buddy Bradley describes to a T the kids heckasac saw hanging at Esoteric.
Shadowood! I knew it was called something galling now. Yeah, I don't know why I got the yuppie remark; my encalve of it was mostly other Sac State slobs and single mothers. And the person right downstairs was definitely a Section 8. Ahh, the memories of drunkenly driving through those damn gates at 4 a.m. A studio for $390, if memory serves.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to hear the spirit of Buddy lives on, at least in a California version. Perhaps the "Goob" was actually Jay, so years from now 'im and one of the kids will have a store full of junk and collectables downtown. Oh, I how I drop names like a know-it-all wisacre.
Or, er, wiseacre.
ReplyDeleteDoes it really count as "name dropping" if their fictional characters?
ReplyDelete-biz
only if they are characters from science fiction
ReplyDeleteOr from the fabulous mind of Petey Bagge.
ReplyDeleteI used to see blues shows at the Sam's downtown because I could drink there. They'd card me if I tried to enter the bar right off so I'd go into the restaraunt part first where they'd sell me a beer without carding me. Then I'd go into the bar part holding the beer and they'd assume the waiteress had carded me. It worked again and again. For some reason when your 18 it's cool to pay too much for beer just so that you can drink it while listening to crappy live music in a bar where you're not supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteThis is so strange...I can't believe no one else has any of the same memories my husband and I have about the Sam's next to Tower. Back in the late 1960's and very early 70's, it was THE place to go after ARC football games or car ralleys or just every Friday night to hang out and meet up with friends; super crowded, very loud, lots of background popular music - not a gray hair in sight then -- now it looks like it is rare to find someone in there under 60; funny, how times change.
ReplyDeleteDidnt think anyone remembered this place. I was quite young, but I remember how good the food was and all the hires root beer I drank that in my young mind came from a wodden keg. We always stopped at the one in Sacremento on the way to the gold country.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone wants to know more about Sams Town let me know. I was a manager for sams town for 20 years and worked for and with Sam Gordan and his Son bernie, and his grand Son David.
ReplyDeleteThere was a ton of history at Sams.
ReplyDeleteSam began Sam's Hof Brau in the 1950's on El Camino and Watt avenue, which later Sam bought the whole city block of tower books etc. He later open three more Hof Braus in Sacramento. He finally sold the Hof Braus to various Jewish Business partners. He Purchase the Stage Coach Inn in cameron park in 1957, and turned into Sams Town.
Sam was a Jew from Germany and came to New York. I am not sure what year he came to New York, but he changed his name from Richter to Gordon becuase of his Jewish Heritage.
After Sam had made millions, he sold Sam's to Denny's resturaunts, who almost went bankrupt trying to run Sams. Denny's had no experience trying to run an entertainment facility. Sam took back the resturaunt from Denny's along with All Denny's proterty's and Buildings. To this day Sams corp owns most of the Dennys structures. Several of them have been sold or rented to other companies.
Like I said there is a ton of history with sam and his family, I couldn't possibly post it all.
If you want specific information, please let me know.
stmiller42@gmail.com
I know Sam's because as a kid we would go to the first Hof Brau on L street between 7th & 8th streets. Sams Wagon Wheel in my opinion was Gordon's best restaurant. It was located on 19th & Broadway which last I heard housed the Mandarin Quisine restaurant. The Wagon Wheel had huge sturdy china plates that had three compartments and Sam's served the best prime rib and roast turkey of its day from beautiful copper chafing dishes. They also had the best sausage and pot pies I've ever tasted. There was a huge barrell of delicious pickles at the end of the serving line. Later Gordon opened Sams Rancho Villa on Fair Olks Blvd and another Hof Brau on El Camino and Watt which is still in existance as the Plaza Hof Brau. Sam's opened restaurants in Portland, Burlingame, LA, Cameron Park and a few other cities including the Hof Brau on 17th & J that became a blues bar and later Hamburger Mary's. Sam sold the restaurants to Denny's keeping only Sams Town in Cameron Park which was run by a guy named Singer and Sam's brother Al Gordon. One of Sam Gordon's many "claim to fames" is that he purchased the ball that Roger Maris hit to break Babe Ruths record in 1961. The home run ball was displayed it at the Ranch Wagon on Broadway in Sacramento for a while. He paid $5000 for the ball. It is worth at least 50 times that today. Too bad that Denny's portion control killed the Hof braus but you can get an idea of what Sam's was like by visiting the Plaza Hof Brau at 2200 Watt avenue in Sacramento. The food is still very good.
ReplyDeleteHi , I have fond memories of Sam's Town as my Dad and I would stop there quite a bit traveling back and forth from Sacto to Pollock Pines. There was a 10 foot by 3 foot rendering of the Sam's club "store front' look at used to hang on the wall in the Hoffbraugh...my Dad got if for me and I still have it...It is signed by the Vanguard or Vaugard Studios....Does anyone know anything about it or do you remember it?
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