Up to the mid 60's, students at Allen High could leave the building for lunch. Scattered in alley's around the the school, garages had been converted into lunch shops and hangouts. The Hutch was in the alley between 17th and West Streets, in the unit block between Hamilton and Linden. Suzy's was behind the Nurse's Dormitory, between Chew and Turner. Another was across Linden from the Annex. They all had the same basic decor, a few pinball machines, a few tables and a small lunch counter. Most of the business was during lunch period, and before and after school. It's my understanding that occasionally a kid or two would skip school and hangout all day. Today these garages, turned into luncheonettes, have long ago reverted back to garages. Most of the current residents of West Park probably don't even know about this commercial history right behind their houses. I missed photo day at Allen for my yearbook, but if anybody has a picture of the gang from the Hutch, I'd appreciate a copy.
reprinted from November 2011
For the remainder of January this blog will reprint some posts which glimpsed back into our past. This nostalgia will be interrupted with current news and commentary as the city turns.
In the early 90's, some students would leave Liberty to grab lunch. The only way to do that was to lie to the teachers and staff and claim that you were going to the Vo-Tech for afternoon classes. When you came back in, you lied again and claimed you were returning from morning classes at Vo-Tech. I suspect it's much harder to pull that off today.
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