Darling Restaurant May 10, 2024

       Have you found yourself looking at the “Can you Spot the Difference” puzzles and found most of the items, but not all? Today, we have two photos taken within minutes of each other, but can you spot the difference.

       Photo #2197 was given to the Interlaken Historical Society many years ago. It is taken in front of the Darling Restaurant, formerly located at 8379 Main Street. The heading on the photo is rather interesting, “Interlaken round table about 1950.”

       In 2004, photo 2197b was given to the Historical Society. I instantly recognized what it was. Back to the question of spotting the differences:

       In the first photo the full front and sign of the building are shown, and the men identified. Well, all but one gentleman, second from the right. There is a question mark for his name. Most likely we will never know who he was.

       In the second photo Mr. Unknown is replaced with Myron Bassette. Myron was known for taking multiple photos of events. If he wanted to be in the photo, he would ask someone walking by, a bus driver or delivery driver, to step into the photo. In turn Mr. Unknown would then take the second photo with Myron present.

       Who were these gentlemen? John Kellogg was the Interlaken Postmaster. Bill Wheeler was a director and teller at the Bank. Lou Bell owned and managed Lake View Stock Farms. When Myron died in 1961, Mr. Bell, a member of the board, was appointed interim president. Dr. Edgar W “Doc” Thompson was the local dentist, and president of the Chamber of Commerce. Clare Wyckoff had the insurance agency and served on the bank’s board of directors. Don Hanford had the hardware store at the corner of West Ave and Main Street. Myron Bassette was president of the Wheeler National Bank, and Howard Peterson owned Peterson Dry Goods Store. It would truly be a roundtable for discussions when they met.

       A more recent addition to the Historical Society collection is this plate, given by Phyllis Betzler. The note she attached to the plate tells the rest of the story. “One of the plates from Ida and Bert Darling’s Restaurant. Ida gave [several] to Mother (Dorothy Wickes) after she moved to Blanche Millage’s apartment. Mother took meals to Ida on these plates.”

Dewitt’s Diary Saturday, May 10, 1924: Partly cloudy and fair today. Father, Francis and I went to Ithaca. We fished a little in the canal while father had the fender on his car fixed. We brought back one of the wagon wheels which we are having new tires put on. I caught one sucker in the canal. Mr. Predmore, Francis, and I went spearing tonight in Sheldrake creek. We got 21 suckers which weighed 46 lbs. Francis speared one sucker that weighed 4 lbs.

Father is D.C. Bassette Sr., Francis is Dewitt’s youngest brother, and Mr. Predmore is Dewitt’s father-in-law. Myron is the oldest of the four Bassette brothers, sons of D.C. and Catherine Bassette.

For more about the Darling Restaurant building see November 7, 1914, First Silent Movie in Interlaken