Doug Clark: Here’s to a beefy city center

When I heard that Ron’s Drive-in was celebrating 52 years of burger-flipping, I fired up my ’67 Vista Cruiser and aimed it east on Wednesday for Spokane Valley.

OK. The fact Ron’s owner Denny Hegewald was selling burgers at 19 cents apiece had more to do with my trip to the iconic drive-in than mere nostalgia.

Guess I wasn’t the only one seduced by the lure of bargain beef.

It looked like half the Valley was jostling for parking space when I pulled into Ron’s, 12502 E. Sprague Ave., a little after 11 a.m. About a parade’s worth of cars were lined up to get a crack at the drive-through window, too.

Elvis, rising from the grave to give away autographed moldy souvenir scarves, couldn’t have pulled a bigger audience than this hungry hamburger herd.

It was pure pattymonium, I tell ya.

This is why Spokane Valley City Council members should give up their search for a city center. They won’t find a more apt central location than Ron’s, with its vintage reddish-and-yellow sign that declares: “Crispy Gold Chicken” along with “Burgers” and “Shakes.”

This sign has been a Valley landmark practically since the Commies scared the hell out of us by sending up Sputnik.

After locating enough real estate to moor my land yacht, I elbowed my way through an entrance and joined a tangle of chattering humanity. They had come for the “57 Combo” (original burger, small fries and a small Pepsi) for 57 cents, each item for the aforementioned 19 cents.

“Back-a-the-line’s over there,” groused a belligerent guy who thought I was pulling a fast one and trying to cut to the front.

Somehow I managed to weasel past the front counter without being shot or hit with a hot, dripping fry basket. Quite frankly, I think the row of workers were all so busy that I could have led a team of Clydesdales past them without notice.

Then I got lucky. Not only was Hegewald lurking in the back, but so was the drive-in’s namesake.

Ron Genova.

With a little coaxing, Genova told me the story he’s no doubt told a thousand times.

Ron’s father, Joe, was a Spokane produce man back in the 1950s. He operated a stand on North Division and had absolutely no background in the restaurant biz when he decided to sell burgers for a living in 1958.

Joe’s friends told him he was crazy, that he’d go broke.

But Joe knew the times were changing. More and more grocery stores were opening with built-in produce departments. The days of the independent produce merchant were numbered.

So Joe took a big risk. He built a drive-in burger joint in the wilds of the Spokane Valley.

There wasn’t a lot out here, Ron recalled. With all the pastures and farms in the area, he said it wasn’t uncommon for customers to come to Ron’s on horseback.

Which, in that case, would make it Ron’s Ride-in.

Anyway, not liking the sound of “Joe’s Drive-in,” the elder Genova decided to name his new business after his oldest son, Ron, who was 12 at the time.

I asked Ron if it was pretty cool driving down Sprague and seeing his name hovering over a place that has become so beloved and identifiable to the community. Ron gave me one of those aw-shucks, it’s-no-big-deal kind of answers.

He didn’t fool me, though. I could see in his eyes how proud he is.

“I’ve always thought that the wind’s gonna blow that sign over someday and that’ll be the end of it,” said Ron, with a wry smile. “But it works.”

This isn’t the first time Ron’s has celebrated its longevity with retro prices. Ron said they went through 13,000 burgers when they celebrated the restaurant’s 25th anniversary in 1983.

Hegewald, who bought Ron’s in 1995, told me he was limiting his party to about 4,800 patties.

Ron’s has always made very tasty burgers, and the one I gobbled Wednesday was no exception. As a bonus, Hegewald let me wash it down with a cold bottle of Coke from his private stash.

“It’s still a matter of putting out a product that’s better,” said Ron.

I plinked down 52 cents on a counter and told Hegewald to keep the change.

Now that’s what I call a great deal. Unless, of course, you count the premium gas I burned up getting to Ron’s in my Vista Guzzler.

In which case that bargain burger I just ate cost me about two bucks a gobble.