Time Slip-A Past Occurrance

This is a Past Occurrance, which took place sometime in the Summer of 1999. Location: Bakersfield, CA.

My husband, son and I were driving around Bakersfield looking for the School District office so that my husband could do paperwork for the substitute teacher listing. We were in an unfamiliar part of Bakersfield but had general directions. It was mid-morning and we had left home without breakfast...our son, who was almost 3, as well as myself and my husband were getting hungry. We decided we would stop after we went to the district office before heading home, which was an hour drive away. Down the street we noticed a little diner on the right side of the road that looked open, it was right next to the train tracks. We made a snap decision to just go there and eat, then ask directions to the district office. When we walked in there were several tables full of people, some families, mostly elderly and everyone looked up and smiled. The waitress greeted us warmly. I remember thinking she ought to be wearing rollerskates...the diner just had a 50's feel to it. We looked at the menu and we were shocked at the prices! A whole breakfast platter (2 eggs, sausage or bacon, hash browns, toast or biscuit AND drink) was like $2.00. We paid just over $5.00 for all three of us. When we were leaving we asked directions and found that we had passed the district office by only 3 blocks. As we walked out the door we were told to have a nice day and to come back sometime and it was all very...nice. We commented on how we wished all diners were like that.

We drove to the district office, then headed home. A few months later we were down that way again and decided to go to the diner for lunch. We drove to the school district then followed the road along the tracks to where the diner was. But, it wasn't. It was no where to be seen. No building, no sign, even no foundation. It was like it had never been there. Two other times while down there...once with all three of us, and once just my husband, we looked for it again. No luck. We later asked someone who had lived in Bakersfield all their lives and were told that there had been a diner there in the 50's and 60's but it had burnt to the ground.

We knew those prices were too good to have been current. So, it turns out, it seems, that we ate, in 1999, in a diner that hadn't been there for over 30 years. Too bad, the food was good and the price was right.

~Saffy