TD's Irish Treat Blows up the Internet: Your Trivia Winner is...
Click to enlarge. Provided by John Foley
By Tom Peterson with photo contributions from John Foley
The Dalles, Ore., March 25, 2024 — We were overwhelmed with emails regarding our trivia questions about the Irish Treat, a burger joint that once operated in east The Dalles.
More than 75 people responded to the trivia contest via email and 42 had the correct answers, putting them in the raffle pool.
Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner - Colleen Worrell
With our Randomizer 3000 - an app we found online - we entered the 42 entrants into the raffle and number 35 clicked in to anoint Colleen Worrell as the contest winner.
Congratulations Colleen. There’s a cool $50 on its way to your pocket. Maybe you can finally get that Irish Fried Chicken!
Colleen like so many of you answered the following two questions about the Irish Treat.
Click to enlarge. Provided by John Foley
What was the name of this burger stand before it changed to the Irish Treat?
And what now stands there in its place?
Colleen answered the Dutch Treat and then Big Jim’s Drive In Restaurant at 2938 E. Second Street.
Correct and Correct!
Here’s what Colleen sent us in an email. It turns out she had a pretty good source.
“Hi Tom! My husband, Walt was my resource for this info,” Colleen wrote.
“**In 1950, a burger place opened on the property in question, called the "Dutch Treat"
**In 1956 Tom Foley purchased the place (it seems as if he owned just about every drive-in around these parts...plus Spooky's...). He renamed it the "Irish Treat"
**In 1966, a guy named Jim and his biz partner Ted purchased the business and renamed it "Big Jim's Drive In"...A couple of years later, Ted bought out Jim, and ran the biz until the late 90s...in 1988. Ted tore down the little old drive in building and built the current iteration of Big Jim's. And there it still stands...although it looks very different from back in the 60's. Ted was a really kind, nice guy.
A personal note… husband Walt installed all the doors and windows when the current building was constructed.
A funny (?) Story...long before the advent of the new building, Walt and I were visiting his folks in TD...probably about 1979 or 80. We were out goofing off in the vicinity of Big Jim's. We had a few M-80s and wanted to do some mild (and fun) demolition...of course we made sure nobody was around...then we lit one of those giant "firecrackers" and tossed it in one of the dome-top trash cans at the drive-in... blew the top right off...haha...I hope Ted doesn't see this...”
And who was Ted?
“I worked there 8 years under the ownership of Ted Buckley and Linda,” said Beverly Rowning in an email.
So why would Ted name it Big Jim’s?
Bob McFadden tried to pull our leg - and I might say, he did so quite well. I’m just standing back up.
“It started life as Dutch Treat then when Tom Foley bought it he changed the name to Irish Treat. Realizing that Big Jim Templeton the Irish troubadour was becoming well renowned for his rambunctious Irish ditties and other tunes the restaurant set about to honor him by changing the name to Big Jim’s. That name still adorns the restaurant however the Templeton tunes have been lost in the ever-expanding pile of historical trivia. Okay, so maybe Big Jim Templeton is a myth but the rest is true.”
Bob- you had me hook line and sinker on the Big Jim Templeton bit! LOL. My cheek stretched 13 inches.
We found a chronology of the history of Big Jim’s at, well, Big Jim’s. Click here for a full history.
Here’s the bit behind the name. “In 1966 “Jim Dahlen” re-opened the drive-in with partner Ted Beckley using the now famous name “Big Jim’s Drive-In,” the website states.
But what was actually behind the first naming of the restaurant, I still don’t know.
By definition, a Dutch Treat is a meal or other entertainment for which each person pays their own way.
How egalitarian for 1950!
Original Photo of the Dutch Treat provided by John Foley.
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