UIUC Tales
sacraig
- The desert
I'm reasonably sure I missed those but I used to go to the location on Wright across from Altgeld with my dad as a kid. I always liked sitting upstairs. It had changed to Moonstruck around the time I started at U of I.
orange100
time to hop on the wife
Loved that location. I think it was a yogurt place by the time I started UofI. In high school ( I was a townie) we went there for the basement area: gutbuster slices, girls, and we could hide our cigarette smoking and beer pitcher consumption. It was a different time.
sacraig
- The desert
I wasn't a townie, just a child of an alumnus who went to games at least once per year, so I had no idea about the apparent Garcia's debauchery.
Stopped at their strip mall location in CU about three years ago. Asked if the brothers were still around and the manager said they were in St. Louis for the weekend at a hot air balloon festival. Apparently they’re still flying that thing.
Reading that gives me the special feels knowing their still around and living in CU (and flying balloons!). I'll always associate Garcia's to that time in my young impressionable life visiting the cool 'city' of Champaign and my big brother at U of I.
Shane Walsh
aka "Captain Oblivious"
- Cynthiana, Kentucky
Used to work at Garcia's when I was a youth. The old school Gutbuster was perfection.
True story, Ralph and Joe would get the urge to go ballooning and stop by their stores to pull employees to be their launch, chase, and landing crew. Got lucky a couple of times and got to go with on the chase. They would fly low over neighborhoods and throw frisbees at people!
True story, Ralph and Joe would get the urge to go ballooning and stop by their stores to pull employees to be their launch, chase, and landing crew. Got lucky a couple of times and got to go with on the chase. They would fly low over neighborhoods and throw frisbees at people!
Freshman year, a buddy of mine and I were drinking a cold one at Whit's End one Friday afternoon when who should walk in but Miss America Judy Ford with a couple of her DG sorority sisters. We were awestruck. Gathering our courage, we walked over, said hello and offered to buy a round of drinks. Judy graciously declined. We walked away still awestruck. She was beautiful and very sweet to a couple of knucklehead freshman.
Seems like I remember Garcia's started in the Red Lion. Is that correct?
Had some sort of history of sports class my junior year ('73). We had several guest speakers. One was Ray Eliot. Incredible speaker. Loved talking about his time at Illinois as a player and coach. Mr. Illini personified. Another was "voice of the Illini" Larry Stewart. He had a lot of cool stories to tell about covering the Illini and interactions with certain players.