75 miles for a cheeseburger aka a ride to Quatman's

[the Ferret]

I live about 35 miles from the city of Cincy. Actually grew up there and moved to the country when I got married at 23. In one of the suburbs of Cincy is a little burb called Norwood, once famous for having a GM plant. Plant built Camaros and Chevy II Novas. The plant had all kinds of trouble with absenteeism, poor production numbers, poor quality control, vandalism, lots of theft etc. Anyhow back in the early 70's there was talk of it shutting down but the Union was strong then, and thought itself invincible.

Hang in there this is going someplace lol.

One day it was rumored the Governor was coming in to inspect the GM plant to see why GM was considering closing it. He was trying to save jobs. The workers thinking that there was no way they were going to close it, barely showed up on the day the Gov was there. 23% absentee rate IIRC. Long story short the plant was closed down.

Ok here's where it comes together.

There was a little Café in town at the corner of Montgomery Road and Quatman Ave which made a good name for itself by feeding the GM workers. For 50 cents you got a huge grilled cheeseburger, with a slice of onion and dill pickle slices and a serving of potato chips. It became THE place where the blue collar workers went to eat lunch. Nothing fancy just big juicy burgers and chips for a couple of quarters. It was called Quatman Cafe, or just Quatman's. When I was in high school in the late 60's my mom would save her dimes until she got $1.50 together, and then she would drive down to Quatman's and buy cheeseburgers for dinner for herself and my brother and I (mine without onion of course lol) . It was a real treat.

Anyhow after the closing of the auto plant the locals started eating at Quatman's and it has been serving the same burgers only now supplanted with fries instead of chips, still with onion and pickle, served on a paper plate on tables covered by red and white checkered cloth. I think this is their 50th year in business. My brother and I drive there maybe twice a year for a Quatman burger and today along with my son and his father in law was the day for a ride to Quatman's.


here's some pics from today's ride.. my brother's Bonnie, my CB, my son's FJ-09 and Jim's ST in the lower parking lot

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We elected to eat outside since it was a nice day, hence no red and white checkered table cloth, just a red and white umbrella (notice not a lot of hair in this group lol)

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The burger worth a 75 mile trip. Burger, fries and a can of root beer has gone up in 50 years, now $7.50 with tax

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some of the ride pics

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Son on his new FJ-09 sans saddlebags

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Oh...and on the way there we stopped at the local Triumph dealer to check out the new T120 and Thruxton. They didn't have a Thruxton but my brother fell in love with the new Bonnie (really a nice machine!) and his 2003 Bonnie is now for sale lol

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all in all a great day, awesome motorcycles, beautiful ride, good food, and great company