Retroflections

Gossip by Norman Rockwell

I run a support group, and like any support group, it has its problems and issues. Some people want this while others want that. Some people like that while others like this. In the past few months, we have had a great deal of gossipers, which is really too bad because gossip is not the truth, just some poor, angry, bored people who need to stir a pot up and get attention for themselves. I realized that for the most part we need to pity people who gossip, and this got me thinking….

 Though we know it’s wrong, and we should not do it, and people get hurt, Americans love to gossip just as much as they love to listen to the gossip, and why not? We promote it! As we check out at the market, we see all sorts of gossip newspapers and magazines and we view the headline because we want to know which celebrity is getting fat, and who is cheating on whom, and then we pass it around like it was the drug we put in our crack pipes.

 But how did some of this Hollywood gossip get started? Why do Americans love to hear the dirt on celebrities and people they don’t even know? Well, I believe we can begin to unravel some of the mayhem with one of the queens of gossip, Rona Barrett.

 Rona Barrett became a gossip columnist for the newspaper Bell-McClure in 1957. In 1966, she began broadcasting Hollywood gossip on a Los Angeles television station. The rest is history. She became a national gossiper. Nearly every major star of the era revealed their deepest secrets to Barrett, and if they didn’t she sure created secrets. She had many fans, and enemies. Barrett made an enemyt of Frank Sinatra by criticizing his personal life, particularly his relationships with his children.

 So who is this wild and wacky woman who could do this? A gossiper! And guess what folks, we ate it up; in fact, we gobbled it up. We couldn’t get enough. People like Rona ate it up too. What she wouldn’t do to give the public something to talk about. She sent spies to get shots of Elvis and Priscilla kissing and sunbathing on his private property right after they were married.

 Why, she even picked on poor Frankie Avalon. He was a good guy, but Rona revealed that Avalon fathered a girl, born in December 1960, by a fan. She let the world know and truthfully it wasn’t even our business, but she was in the business of making it our business. In fact, to make it more of our business, Rona also produced prime-time specials, where she tried to make celebrities more down to earth and human by interviewing them in cozy settings. Oh now who does that sound like? Barbara Walters perhaps?

 Yes indeed, some things never change over the years no matter how much time has gone by. Good wine and good gossip. We have had Hedda Hopper, Louella Parsons, Rona Barrett, and now Barbara Walters. One will have to wonder who will be the next great American gossiper.

I was driving to the Albertson’s on 22nd and Wilmot the other day because they had something on sale that I probably could not live without. I entered the parking lot from off of Wilmot, and saw the empty lot where the Old Cowboy’s bar used to be and it got me thinking…

I lived in the neighborhood right off 22nd and Wilmot for years, and if I stood on my wall on a certain day of the week, I could see a line form at Cowboy’s that would almost wrap all the way around the building. I used to just stand on that wall and watch the ladies line up. They were lining up for ladies night as the male dancers prepared to woo the ladies through the night. Once in a while, I would go in after the line died down, but honestly, it was too much for me, and I would leave sort of snickering under my breath. I preferred some of the other night life in Tucson back in the 70s and 80s.

One boyfriend used to take me to the Hop Toad on 22nd because they weren’t always crowded and had some good bands. We would party with the bands and drink a few and dance until the bar closed. Though a small hole-in-the-wall dive, the music was generally good, until it wasn’t!

Sometimes we would go to Bobby McGee’s, eat a nice dinner and head to the lounge to drink and dance, while other times we would go to the Barons for dining and cover band dancing. Normally I would drink my brains out because I was too bored.

I was a young adult who could drink legally at 19, and I was not into wasting too much of my nightlife on top 40 cover bands. No more Somerset or The Embers! Take me to a place where I can get a nice cold beer, and a great rock and roll band!

Yep, I had had it with my boyfriend. I did not want the fancy dinners and boring dancing. Me and my gal pals would fill up, take some aspirin, so we would not be hung over, and head over to Choo-Choo’s Night Train on 4th Avenue and drink and dance the night away.

The nightclub Chances was always fun, but it burned down. I really enjoyed Dooley’s but it burnt to the ground too. Raffles was a great time, but sadly it shared the same fate as the others and ended up in embers also. These days, you just don’t find the kind of night life you did 30 years ago. It was a more carefree time. Bands rocked as you danced and drank till you dropped, then got back up and went out and did it again the next night.

I have been sober for 20 years, so I can’t say I still do that behavior and drink and dance the night away, but I suppose if there was a club cool enough and a band magical enough I would order me up an ice cold diet coke, and relive my younger days in those once upon a time nightclubs.

What about you? What clubs do you remember growing up in Tucson?

I had a hankering for a burger the other day. The choice in Tucson is difficult; the burgers are dry, greasy, too fancy, or too expensive. What is so wrong with wanting a good old fashioned burger? And where can I find one? Of course, I love Lindy’s on 4th Ave; it’s the best bet for five bucks. Not too greasy, not too expensive, just right, but it took me a while to finally find this little, hidden treasure, and it got me thinking….

 As a kid growing up, our choices were easy as to where to find a good burger, and believe me, back then it wasn’t from dad’s grill. It was at one of the fast-food joints. In Tucson, right beyond my street, on Kolb road stood a beautiful lady in a plaid skirt named Sandy, and as a kid, I thought her burgers were the best. You got a thin, grey hamburger patty sitting on small white bun, with a little mustard and ketchup, and something that resembled a pickle. 

Alongside of the burger came french fries and they were long, thin, and hot. I always asked my mom to order them well done because I liked the crunch to them. I would smother those fries in ketchup. Maybe six or seven packs to eat a small fry. I topped that meal off with a rich chocolate shake, and the bill came to about 60 cents. Where else could you go for a meal like that?

 For fancier hamburger dining, I followed the lad in plaid. Bob’s Big Boy. Now there was a great burger. The double-decker burger with their special sauce oozing out the sides was a burger to behold.

It stood tall like a soldier standing at attention awaiting my command to chomp on it. As a child my mouth could barely wrap around that big thick double-layer burger, with not two, but three slices of yummy white bread. The hamburger meat wasn’t grey like Sandy’s; it looked like a real burger and the taste was out of this world.

 Another place for great burgers in Tucson was Shari’s Drive-in which was open for 53years at 1st Avenue and Glenn Street. Here again, we had that double-decker burger and when you bit into it, all sorts of yummy edible fluids leaked from the sides of your mouth, and you would have to take your tongue and lick it all off your face. They had homemade fries that were quite tasty. However, I have to admit, their shakes are what I shall remember them for most.

 They just don’t make burgers like they used to. Sadly, it is rare I go out for a burger anymore. I do not eat fast food, and there are only a couple of places that serve an affordable burger worth sullying the front of your shirt for. So what was your favorite burger joint growing up?

A radio from 1976

I was walking in the park this morning and saw a few teenagers that looked to be high school seniors wandering around with their ipods in one ear and chatting back and forth to each other. I could barely understand what they were saying, but it was clear that they were ditching school and having a great time. As I walked further along, there were more teenagers, ditching, jamming to tunes, and enjoying the mid-morning sun. Across the way there was even a few more teens playing guitar, and this got me thinking. (Here I am thinking again good grief!)

 I graduated high school here in 1976. Back then, we had a thing called senior ditch day. I am unsure if schools still do this; after all I graduated 33 years ago, and I am sure some traditions have changed. However, senior ditch day was a big deal. It was when the seniors all at once, ditched. I ditched though more than just senior ditch day. I actually ditched and went to the same park I walked in this morning, Reid Park. My friends and I would wander around, listening to, playing, or laughing at music with a dozen bagels and an ice cooler filled with soda. The world was ours for a day.

 Some of the songs we listened to on the radio in 1976 were Love Hurts, by Nazareth, Evil Woman by ELO, Play that Funky Music, by Wild Cherry, Over My Head, by Fleetwood Mac, You’re My Best Friend, by Queen, Dream Weaver, by Gary Wright, Lowdown, by Boz Scaggs, Rhiannon, by Fleetwood Mac, Tracks of My Tears, by Linda Ronstadt, and Tonight’s the Night, by Rod Stewart.

 The songs we played on guitar that year included, Beth, by Kiss, Show Me the Way, by Peter Frampton, The Reaper, by Blue Oyster Cult, The Boys Are Back in Town, by Thin Lizzy, Dream On, by Aerosmith, Slow Ride, by Foghat, Magic Man, by Heart, and Squeeze Box, and Take the Money and Run, by The Steve Miller Band.

 What I listened to and what I played were two different things. But nothing, and I mean nothing, beat the songs we used to sit a snicker at. Those included Shake Your Booty, by KC & the Sunshine Band, Afternoon Delight, by Starland Vocal Band, Mamma Mia, by Abba, Saturday Night, by Bay City Rollers, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, by Neil Sedaka, I’d Really Love to See You Tonight, by England Dan & John Ford Coley, and I Write the Songs, by Barry Manilow.

 Seeing those teenagers today really took me back to a time when we defined ourselves through the music we listened to. Today, of course I listen to a much more diverse range of music from rock and roll, to alternative rock, to acoustic rock, to jazz. Nope, I do not do rap or pop music, but what I realized is some things never change, they may get broader, they may expand, but I think we still define ourselves through the music we listen to.

 What were you listening to when you graduated? Better yet, what were you laughing at when you graduated? Even better, how did you define yourself through music? Would love to hear from you!

When you first drive into the parking lot at Mama Louisa’s Italian Restaurant, it seems like your typical Italian restaurant; however, walk in and taste not only some of the best Italian food in Tucson, but the real flavor behind the meaning of a family-owned restaurant. 

Suzanne Elefante will be the first to tell you that Mama Louisa’s stands for family. She and her husband Joseph, who died in 1998, took over Mama Louisa’s in 1973 when they moved from Florida to Tucson.

Her husband was a printer and decided to go from printing to pasta. Having no real cooking experience, he learned and mastered the fine art of Italian cooking. Suzanne worked at first as a server so she could be with her husband. As their family grew so did the help. Her three children as toddlers learned to roll meatballs and over time continued to learn the culinary arts associated with being the children of restaurant owners. 

Suzanne now runs Mama Louisa’s and states, “This is a life, not a job.” She says, “We are proud of what we do because it’s important to have good food.” Being a patron of Mama Louisa’s since I was a wee child, I fully agree that the food is served with pride. The day I was there to do this interview, her sister Theresa Mowery, the head chef who keeps the traditional recipes tasting so good, could be seen keeping the kitchen running like a fine-tuned machine and though she looked busy and hectic, she has a sparkle about her. You know that this food is prepared with love and pride.

Mama Louisa’s, located just north of the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, serves Italian cuisine like no other place I have eaten at in the 50-plus years I have lived in Tucson.

Their sauce is tangy and goes quite well over a variety of their homemade pastas they make daily. They make sauce daily as well; however, they allow it to simmer to perfection for a day so you get all the wonderful flavors of an aged sauce. 

With yummy dishes such as Joe’s Special, which is homemade linguini topped with cheese, hot-pepper seeds, fresh chopped garlic, and a very special sauce that makes your mouth water, how can you go wrong? While I was there, I had their famous meatballs that are not only gigantic they are moist and filled with flavor. I personally like their eggplant or pork parmesan with fresh linguini; however, no doubt, whatever you decide to eat you are bound to be happy.

Because Mama Louisa’s has been in the same location for over 56 years, they have become an icon in Tucson. Suzanne says she has watched young families walk in with their children, watched their children get married, and have their own families. She says she loves to see the generations walk through their cozy restaurant located at 2041 S. Craycroft Rd. 

Whether you are young or old, a native Tucsonan, visitor, or new to Tucson, Mama Louisa’s is one Italian restaurant you do not want to overlook. As I was eating my spaghetti and meatballs, writing this article I thought Mama Louisa’s stands for family, flavors, and fun. Then I thought I should have asked Suzanne how to get spaghetti sauce out of my light-blue shirt.

So go pay them a visit, tell them I sent you, and ask for their power card. Earn points and earn a free gift card. Take your family, friends, and out of town guests to this family-run Italian Restaurant and bite into a little taste of Italy and a lot of love.