Job at Sambo's - August 1974 thru July 1976In the summer of 1974 I quit my job at El Dorado Hotel to travel to Washington DC, where my brother Jay was living with my father. My father was relocating with NSF to San Francisco, and Jay was moving back to Reno. Jay and I spent about a week exploring DC, then we took about a week to drive to Denver, where my father did some work at NCAR on the hill above Boulder. Once back in Reno Jay and I both needed jobs, and both got hired as dishwashers at the Sambo's at 4th and Keystone. Jay quit when school started. But within a few weeks I was promoted to chef. During the school year I typically worked 5pm to 10pm three nights per week, and then one weekend shift. The breakfast shift was crazy. I quickly learned to crack eggs with one hand - both hands at once. I would have 100 pancakes, 30 eggs, waffles, ham, bacon, and who knows all going at once. It was not as efficient as most food kitchens that partition the work more efficiently.
I had just turned 16 and a few months later I bought my first car, a green 1968 Dodge Charger. Classmate Lisa Bell was a waitress there (earning twice as much as me due to tips), and she happened to own a purple 1970 Dodge Charger. One night after work we drag raced on Mayberry Drive - my car was faster. Lisa's Charger:
Another chef was Don Holly, who had a fast Ford Torino. One time he passed me on the Keystone bridge over the Truckee River going north. I stepped on it, passed him, then lost control at perhaps 90 mph as the road dipped down and I lost traction. My car spun around so I was going backwards looking at Don coming towards me. I sailed backwards into the oncoming traffic as Don went past me. We never talked about it, but we knew that was a close one - the closest I've ever had. Below is the only photo of the inside that I have. That is manager Phil Arguello in the white shirt, and fellow chef Gary Milke. Gary and Lisa hit it off and are still married, living in Reno, about one block from my sister.
Sambo's had wooden nickels for free cups of coffee. This led to some regulars who would sit for hours. The most memorable was "Ike," who would share all sorts of stories.
In the 1970's there was an "Eisenhower" silver dollar that was the same size is original silver dollars. One night a waitress showed me two silver dollars and said an old lady just paid with these. I offered her $20 for them and she took it. They are worth more than that, but not much more. I still have them and have promised to give one to each of my kids:
After a year in my senior year I noticed periodically a guy and two girls coming in. I recognized the girl from school - although we somehow never had a class together. One time she was waiting to pay the bill and no waitress was around, so I went to the cash register and said, "Weren't you in my kindergarten class?" She looked at me like I was crazy. But she told me a study hall (something like that) where she would be free at school, so I stopped by there sometimes to say hi. Finally I asked her to lunch. Where did I take her? To the "good" Sambo's down the freeway in Sparks. (It was true: we grilled our burgers, while they had a broiler.) Ultimately Diane became my first "real" girlfriend. She and Sandy worked at the drive in theater. They got free passes so going to drive in movie was our most common night out. The other two were Diane's younger sister Sandy (a sophomore at Reno High) and Sandy's boyfriend Mark Forbes - a year out of high school. Over the following few years the four of us had many adventures together. Sambo's was named by combining the names of the two founders. But the PC movement of the late 1970's found the name offensive, causing the entire chain of 1200 restaurants to collapse within a few years.
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