Spaghetti Bender 1969 on PCH Newport Beach Hello, The two things we learned while growing up was that spaghetti was simple to make and it was tasty with the tomatoes +sauce. Throw in some beef chunks or ground round and a meal was prepared in minutes. But, in the realm of things, places we frequented while away from home were always advertising spaghetti as a “come on in…” type of quick meal. As little kids, we learned to make spaghetti as a simple meal, with a minimum of fuss. The ads on the walls or outside of the restaurants included spaghetti. One was the Golden Bear across the street from one of our favorite surf spots, the Huntington Beach Pier. It was primarily a concert venue for rock bands. But, they also served food, with spaghetti being one of the favorites. Inexpensive, plenty on the plate and tons of different ways to have a nice meal. But, down Main Street, was a smaller restaurant called Joyce’s Pantry. They, too served spaghetti and it was also one of our favorite places to eat dinner before the long drive home. What happened to those places was unfortunate, so now everyone was left with no coastal area spaghetti dinner place. Was Joyce’s Pantry, now called the Sugar Shack. The owner of the pantry closed it and moved South on PCH to Newport Beach to join the family business. The Spaghetti Bender restaurant located on PCH in North Newport Beach. Note: In 1968, my wife and I were just married and with our small apartment, cooked as much as we could. But, on Fridays, we went to Huntington Beach to have a giant spaghetti dinner adventure. Then it was to Newport Beach for more spaghetti as the owners opened the Spaghetti Bender on PCH in North Newport Beach. As the years rolled on we used to go to the Spaghetti Bender on our Harley for lunch and the 65 El Camino during dinner experiences. Spaghetti was the draw and it was fabulous. When we moved to Laguna Beach, we still made the trek back to Newport Beach up the coastal highway on our Harley for a nice lunch. Now, dinners driving the El Camino and a 327 powered 40 Ford Sedan Delivery. These days, great food has no barriers…except for the pandemic and its problems. YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
