The Quad Cities only website for those who spent their youthful weekends cruising the ones in Davenport,Ia.,
Rock Island and 23rd ave. in Moline,Il. while listening to 1170 KSTT on their a.m. radio.
Up Next- Tuesday August 26thQuad Cities Mopar Club cruise in 5:30 til ? Miller Time
Billiards 2902 East Kimberly Davenport, Iowa Friday August 29th Last Friday Cruise Nights 5
pm til midnight King Plaza 3614 avenue of the cities Friday August 29th Automotive Innovations
and Sonic cruise in 5-9 p.m. 4730 Elmore avenue Davenport, Iowa
Breaking News!! AM 1170 is back on the air!
8-8-08 Stop the press. The Quad Cities favorite spot on the AM dial for over 3 decades is back
on the air, spinning your favorite oldies! AM 1170 is back as an all oldies channel. Rip that CD player
out of your classic car, and reinstall your factory am radio. The "True Oldies Channel" as it is called
will be playing the top hits from the 50's-60's and 70's. Check it out!
Now, on to the Main Street
cruise-in from downtown East Moline this past Saturday night. The weather was great, the music made you
want to dance, and the car count was up from last year. I ran into a lot of old friends, Bobby Toland,
Don Dickey and his 55 ford, Terry Mattley and his 40 ford, along with Tim, Jeff, Darrell and John Ringer.
It was great chatting with "The Guys". Where has the summer gone? The conversation seemed to gravitate
toward what everyone's plans are for next year. Tim Crownover had a 4-sale sign in his mustang, and talked
of his next project being a rat rod. It seems there are several kinds of car enthusiasts. The person
who will never sell their "dream car". And Tim,(like me) who enjoys the fun of restoring and preserving
a piece of automotive history, only to hand it off, (or should I say sell it) so someone else can enjoy
his machine. Whatever your taste, the car show and cruise-in scene has something for you. Till we meet
again, Keep on Cruisin!
KSTT
Someplace Special
Check out this link Where have all the Good Guys Gone?
KSTT Mug Someplace Special
KSTT "Tooth Fairy" membership card
Click the pic on the left to take you to the greatest crimefighter the world has ever known Chickenman
"he's everywhere, he's everywhere"
click the KSTT top 40 survey to see the top 40 list
Radio station KSTT was a large part of the lives of baby boomers in the Quad Cities years ago. KSTT
AM 1170 was on the air from 1946 until the late 80's. The station was located on east river drive in
Davenport, across from Hostess Bakeries. The studio had a large window in the northwest corner where
listeners could watch their favorite on air jock spin records. KSTT was "The Big #1", rated the #1 station
in the Quad Cities for over 3 decades. No one else even came close during their record run at the top.
. People who listened to the station would remember such jocks as Spike O'Dell, Lou Gutenberger, Lee
Shannon, Jay Gregory, Mark Stevens, Bobby Rich, Ruth and Fred, and Jim O'Hara, each of them spinning
top 40 hits in their own style. Booty Bottles, Top 40 surveys, Chicken Man and Big Red were also part
of "the station you've grown up with". KSTT listeners participated in many on air contests, calling in
on the Ruth and Fred show, calling in song requests, and phoning in news tips. KSTT sponsored hootenannys
and hops, ballgames, Good Guy a Go Go dances, picnics, and had listeners search for "Bootie Bottles,
filled with gift certificates, and keys to motorcycles. Quad City area seviceman had tapes sent to
them in Vietnam. Dick Orkins famous "Chickenman show and Toothfairy episodes were heard daily. As fm
radio began to gain popularity in the seventies, KSTT's audience began to shrink. People were now listening
to KIIK 104 fm. by the eighties, KSTT was simulcasting with its sister station WXLP fm 97X. By 1992 they
had switched their call letters to KJOC and had become an all sports talk station. The KSTT building
at 1111 East river drive is now a law firm. But out of respect for the radio station, it is named KSTT
Place. The interior still has the KSTT station memorabilia hanging on the walls. The picture window the
jocks spun records in is still there. Former KSTT newsman Jim Orr summed it up "The radio station was
a really special thing. We've been a lot of places. But nothing compares to KSTT."
Another KSTT Top 40 Hit! 1957The DIAMONDS "Little Darlin"
Redstone Theatres MEMRI, SEMRI, Oasis, Corral and Bel Air
The MEMRI Drive-In Milan, Il. located on Rt 67 and airport road where HYVEE sits today
Drive-in theatre hat from Bob Enlow in Milan. Bob worked at the MEMRI Drive-In from 1969 til 1972
Drive-in ad from Bob Enlow
SEMRI Drive-in located in Silvis,Il from Bob Enlow
Oasis Drive-in North Brady street Davenport,Ia. Courtesy David Johnson
This is a license plate cover given out at the MEMRI as a promotion. There were only 200 given away.
courtesy of Bob Enlow
7-27-08 Times change. People change. What was once a hot fad becomes yesterdays news. The Memri
drive-in is gone. The place has been flattened long ago by a wrecking ball. HyVee is now where one
of the greatest drive-in's ever built once stood. I grew up in the city of Rock Island. My home drive-in
was the Memri. The Quad Cities was fortunate enough to have 5 drive-ins at one time. The Memri in Milan,
(it stood for Milan-East Moline-Rock Island), the Semri in Silvis, the Corral in Coal Valley, The Bel-Air,
next to the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport and the Oasis on Davenport's North Brady street.
But the Memri was my theater. They showed great trailers before the show, and they had a great concession
stand. They would take a 10 minute intermission between shows. The intermission trailer I remember most
was the alien who stopped in for a bite to eat. At the end of the trailer, the concessionair said "They
come from miles to enjoy our intermission"! I have a video below of the trailer, you just have to take
time to watch it. The Memri opened in 1948, the first drive-in theatre to open in the Quad Cities, with
the film "Abilene Town". The theatre could accomodate about 700 cars and was located next to route 67
in Milan. I remember mom and dad popping up paper grocery sacks full of popcorn to take to the movies,
to save money. Car load night was a promotion when you could get a whole car full of people in for $6
bucks. And who could forget trying to sneak people in to the movies in the trunk of your car? How about
parking in the back row with your favorite girl. There are a lot of great websites to visit too, for
drive-in history. Roadside Peek and WaterWinterWonderland are rich in information. The Memri
drive-in continued to operate until 1986. I was there for the final seasons last double feature, "Aliens"
and "Big Trouble in Little China". Nothing can last forever. Marando's is gone. So is Deb's
Drive-in. (I loved their DelMonaco steak sandwich). The Memri was demolished in 1986 to make room
for more parking at the Showcase Cinemas in Milan. That 11screen complex closed in 2002 due to increased
competition from nearby multiplexes. The Memri will forever hold a special place in my mind. There
was nothing like seing a movie, under the stars, on that really big screen. Never will that old Memri
magic rise again.
Remember that wonderful Sambo's Restaurant in Rock Island on 31st avenue and 11th street? I remember
stopping in for a bite to eat after a full night of cruising the ones and the avenue. My favorite dish
was their mouth watering pancakes with "Tiger butter" and bacon and eggs. They also had great chicken
and burgers. The chain was started in 1957 by Sam Battisone and Newell Bohnett. The name was taken from
portions of the owners names. The restaurant was an instant sucess, due to its family friendly sit down
dining environment, and very low prices. By 1978, Sambo's had 1200 outlets in the US. Rock Island's
location was one of the first 100 stores to open. The logo shown above was an indian boy and a tiger.
As the story goes, Sambo, an indian boy went into the jungle and lost his clothes to bullying tigers.
But the tigers began chase each other around and eventually melt into butter, which Sambo puts on his
pancakes and eats. The restaurant was themed around the childs story, and pancakes became their signature
dish. Sambo's also used wooden nickels as part of their promotion for selling coffee;one could exchange
a wooden nickel for a cup of coffee, and you could buy the nickels in bundles(ie., ten for a dollar).
By 1979, The chain began to fall on hard financial times. The Rock Island Sambo's closed in the 80's.
Denny's restaurant chain purchased roughly 800 of the remaining Sambo's and rechristened them as Denny's.
By 1989 only the origininal Sambo's in Santa Barbara remained. You can purchase a vintage 8x10
color print of the Rock Island Sambo's online from Santa Barbara photographer Tim Putz.
Alas, all great things must come to an end. The good food and service of the Rock Island Sambo's is
but a fading memory. But when I stop at 31st avenue and 11th street Rock Island, I see ghosts. Ghosts
of the way things used to be. Keep on cruisin! Shane
Sambos Thermos 1976
Sambos Clock
Sambos Tiger and Pancakes
Sambos Matchbook
Sambos wooden nickels
Link of the Month
Be sure and Visit the Captain Ernies Showboat website. It is jam packed with a lot of nostalgic stories
that will take you back to a time that was much simpler. The tollbar is on the left side of the page.
Be sure to scoll to the bottom of the page and check out the drive-in restaurants!
clic one of the buttons below to listen to music while browsing our site
