A terse, but polite, notice recently graced the door of the Lakewood Wyatt’s Cafeteria. This location has closed, it read, but you can visit our NorthPark or Forest Lane locations.

Let’s see…one would drive past brand X on Mockingbird to do that. The same corporate wisdom never considered that asking a Lakewooder to drive north might be considered condescending – or worse – an affront.

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The erstwhile eggplant emporium, vanquished by the interloping Luby’s, was a history-maker, which didn’t seem to rate as newsworthy by the sparse accounts in the media.

Our Wyatt’s, which grew out of a grocery store, was the first cafeteria in the chain. The restaurant’s original location was about where Fidelity Bank (formerly First Community Bank and First Lakewood Bank) is now.

Over 50 years, many Wildcats worked in or visited the cafeteria. Among the many banquets held in the post-deco restaurant was that of the drill team, when officers were anointed and the Sweetheart of the Year enshrined.

The private room was keen. A photograph of Woodrow hung just above the veined, mirrored glass in the waiting line.

Some may eschew egg custard (or call it flan), but most of us were raised to enjoy a repast from the cafeteria serving line.

When Woodrow opened in the fall of 1928, its lofty lunchroom was declared “the largest eating place in Dallas” by the Dallas Times Herald. Yes, mushy food and fresh rolls were manna to most of us. Nellie, more iced tea, please.

Of the legions of Lakewooders who worked for the Wyatt’s chain were my older cousins Nadine and Edna, who worked at the Preston Center and later Forest locations as cashiers.

My classmate Joe Sholden worked for $1.25 per hour at the Hillside Village store during his summers at Woodrow, while also throwing a Times Herald route.

He likes to tell a story about an occasion when he opened the drapes. A mouse ran out and elicited screams until it lodged itself under an elderly couple’s booth. This Lakewood rat was funnier than Tom and Jerry.

The Hillside Village Wyatt’s was located in the current Bank One building, where I always like to tell that story. Luby’s now looms across the street. Who is that LuAnn?

But Luby’s is a locus for the community, too. The first time I visited, haggard from a flight back from classmate and Commander Kenyon Hiser’s U.S. Naval Academy wedding weekend, my parents and I ran right into Liz Rice’s (’78) parents and Reagan (’75) and Neila Florey (’79).

Somehow, Luby’s is not the same. O.K., the food is better.

Well, Lakewood still has the oldest El Chico – see you on Wednesday. And Minyard’s, which recently completed the renovation of the Lakewood Shopping Center, started out on Lindsley (founded by Woodrow grads Henry and Buddy).