Week 3 - In Another Castle
When I was in high school, my boyfriend Brian became a big fan of the Beastie Boys after hearing that bratty, party anthem of theirs. In hindsight, it was a pretty hilarious transformation. Basically overnight, he went from white-bread suburban teenager to saying things like "fly" and "def". Despite hearing that silly cassette on an endless loop for a year, I don't remember a lot of the specifics, but I know they used to drop the names of lots of products and places. Brian took it upon himself to champion those things, just like his idols. The one I do remember though, was that the Beastie Boys loved White Castle. I remember this because I got roped into a quest involving White Castle he devised with some of his friends.
For many, many Saturdays in the spring of 1987, I ordered and ate White Castle french fries (at least) in over 2 dozen restaurants within 75-100 miles of our town. This was supposedly based on a lyric that goes "White Castle fries only come in one size" but I'm also sure that it was a convenient excuse to keep costs down. It was also practical: sometimes we would hit 3-4 different locations within a few hours and had to save room in our bellies for the next stop. So the rule was simple, order and eat fries on the premises in as many different White Castles as we could. In a nutshell, to always have fries in another Castle.
As silly as it was, it was also a lot of fun: spending time in the car with Brian and his friends, listening to the Beastie Boys (that was a rule, too) and visiting nearby cities. This was before the internet, so we couldn't Google for where they were or visit a corporate web site. We learned of other locations by word of mouth in the beginning. Eventually, someone in the gang scored a directory of regional locations from a White Castle manager who wanted to help us out.
As the ability to find new locations became harder, as they got further and further away, our little White Castle road trip gang fell apart. That summer, my family vacationed out of town and the city we were in had a White Castle. I badgered my parents endlessly until I was able to eat at one of them and have my requisite fries. The boyfriend was no longer my steady by the end of the year, and post-highschool/college soon split our Castle gang up for good.
The boyfriend is long-gone and I heard one of the Beastie Boys died a while back. I live in a new city now with my husband that I met in college.... and I ate at every white Castle near my college. I've eaten at every White Castle in my city. I've eaten at every White Castle between here and my home town. I ate at White Castle while on my honeymoon. In fact, I've now eaten at 63 different White Castle locations nationwide, and counting.
For many, many Saturdays in the spring of 1987, I ordered and ate White Castle french fries (at least) in over 2 dozen restaurants within 75-100 miles of our town. This was supposedly based on a lyric that goes "White Castle fries only come in one size" but I'm also sure that it was a convenient excuse to keep costs down. It was also practical: sometimes we would hit 3-4 different locations within a few hours and had to save room in our bellies for the next stop. So the rule was simple, order and eat fries on the premises in as many different White Castles as we could. In a nutshell, to always have fries in another Castle.
As silly as it was, it was also a lot of fun: spending time in the car with Brian and his friends, listening to the Beastie Boys (that was a rule, too) and visiting nearby cities. This was before the internet, so we couldn't Google for where they were or visit a corporate web site. We learned of other locations by word of mouth in the beginning. Eventually, someone in the gang scored a directory of regional locations from a White Castle manager who wanted to help us out.
As the ability to find new locations became harder, as they got further and further away, our little White Castle road trip gang fell apart. That summer, my family vacationed out of town and the city we were in had a White Castle. I badgered my parents endlessly until I was able to eat at one of them and have my requisite fries. The boyfriend was no longer my steady by the end of the year, and post-highschool/college soon split our Castle gang up for good.
The boyfriend is long-gone and I heard one of the Beastie Boys died a while back. I live in a new city now with my husband that I met in college.... and I ate at every white Castle near my college. I've eaten at every White Castle in my city. I've eaten at every White Castle between here and my home town. I ate at White Castle while on my honeymoon. In fact, I've now eaten at 63 different White Castle locations nationwide, and counting.