Cape Girardeau History and Photos

July 25, 2018

Bookends: Garber’s & Harbor Freight

I was going to check out Cape’s new Harbor Freight store the other night, but I got there too late.

As I was driving through Town Plaza Shopping Center, my eye was drawn to a big, red Garber’s sign. It’s nice to know that it’s still in business.

I did a post in 2014 about stores that were around in 1954 when Charles Garber founded Garber’s Men’s Store. It moved to the Town Plaza Shopping Center in 1960, the same year that Pop’s A&W Drive-In opened.

Charles Garber retired in the early 1970s. Newlyweds Rodney and Dimple Bridges bought it. Bridges said in a 2011 Missourian interview that Cape had nine men’s stores when Garber’s was founded. Today, it’s the only one left standing.

On the opposite end

The new Harbor Freight, is located at the opposite end of the Plaza from Garber’s, where the AMC Town Plaza 5 Cinema used to be. It’s a bigger store than what I’m used to in Florida.

Drool mop-up on Aisle 3

I told one of the guys at the cash register that I thought they would have to wipe up the drool when I took B-in-Law John to my Florida store. “Funny you would say that,” he said. “We joked that were were going to have to mop the floor here on opening day.”

I managed to avoid temptation on my first visit, but I’ll be back when I crank up a project that needs some tools or parts that don’t have to last a lifetime. (Of course, when you reach my advanced age, it’s possible that the stuff will outlive me.)

July 23, 2018

Kidd’s Gas Station

When I was cruising down Broadway the other night, I noticed the remodeled Kidd’s Gas Station and Convenience Store at the corner of Broadway and North West End Blvd. was all lit up. They are either open or getting ready to.

An architect’s rendering of the place in a July 12, 2017, Missourian story showed it looking just about like the final version. It even showed gas prices to be $2.57, not far off from today’s prices.

The remodel increased the number of pumps from four to eight; moved the drive-through window to the east side of the building, so cars would wrap around the back of the store, and increased the space for parking.

If you click on the photo to make it larger, you can see a bunch of white specks under the lights on the canopy. I thought I had a defect on my camera’s sensor until it dawned on me that those are bugs.

July 15, 2018

Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp

I saw a recipe for bacon-wrapped shrimp on the same day I spotted a Schnucks promotion for seafood. I love shrimp, and I love bacon, so this was a good reason for me to put on my pants and venture out into the 106-degree heat index.

The picture shows the result. You can click on it to make it larger and to whet your appetite.

I don’t follow directions well

You can read the website’s ingredients and directions here.

Like I said, I take liberties with what people tell me to do. Where the recipe called for maple syrup, I substituted honey. I don’t particularly like maple syrup, and I thought the honey might stick better when I basted it on the shrimp and bacon.

I usually buy a thick bacon at Sam’s, and I’ve learned that it works best when I leave it in my convection toaster oven for 14 minutes at 400 degrees. I poured off the excess grease at about the half-way mark, and I increased the broiler time by two minutes to make the bacon a little crispier.

Finally, I didn’t have any off-the-shelf chili powder, so I reached for Wife Lila’s favorite, Chimayo Chile Bros Hatch Medium. It added enough heat that it was interesting, but not so much it overpowered the main ingredients.

I ate half the 20 medium-sized shrimp for supper, and polished the rest off for brunch. It was good enough that I’m going to make some more in the next couple of days.

July 14, 2018

Big Change at Wib’s BBQ

Five generations of Steinhoffs have eaten at this BBQ joint on the edge of Jackson, even though I joke that they’ve only used three hogs since the place opened in 1947.

I had let the dishes pile up in the sink for three days (four now), so I had to make the hard decision: clean up the kitchen or eat out.

Wib’s won. When I pulled into a corner parking space, I saw something that caused a quiver in the universe. They had changed their sign.

Grammarians would lose their appetite

Wib’s got away with their skimpy helpings of meat because serious grammarians would lose their appetite as soon as they saw a sign in front of the eatery that proclaimed:

CLOSED

SUNDAY’S

MONDAY’S

I could have sworn I had a picture of it, but we’ll have to make do with this one peeking around the corner. Click on it to make it larger.

The front has new blocks because a high school kid drove his car through the front of the building. I suspect that’ll be mentioned in his obit.

Now that the apostrophes have been put to rest and the place is safe for English teachers, I wonder if business will increase as much as the smoking ban helped the Pilot House?