Let's go to the Rocket!

Let's go to the Rocket!

Originally posted June 6, 2008 — Text edited/rewritten and re-posted Nov 3, 2022

Let's remember the Rocket Cafe in Rocket Valley in McMinnville.

Apparently, it opened in the 1950s and closed its door in the 1980s.

While the Rocket no longer exists, it's remembered by many.

Where Print NW sits now at the corner of Linfield Avenue and 99W/Baker is where the Rocket Cafe lived. Address: . 1142 South Baker/99W, McMinnville. Phone: 472-2226. It was easy walk of a couple blocks from the Linfield campus.

For many years, Linfield; dining hall did not serve Sunday dinner to its students. So, eating off campus at dinnertime on Sunday was part of the routine. The Rocket was a popular Sunday dinner location.

What were favorite items on the Rocket menu? The Rocket Burger, Moon Rings (onion rings) and Missile Fries.

One frequent customer said the burger was "not round, but an elongated oblong to look more like a rocket. And, "A favorite low-priced item was the fried egg sandwich and a favorite budget beverage was a 'pine float' -- a glass of water and a toothpick."

Why was it called the Rocket?  That came from the fact Rocket brand gasoline was sold at the Rocket service station gas pumps in what was called Rocket Valley. Thus, Rocket Valley was home of both the cafe and service station.

Open 24-hours a day, it served breakfast, lunch and dinner any time you wanted. What could be "more finer" than the Rocket's good food 24-hours? All day, all night, what could be more handy? It was all at the Rocket.

Flying Saucer

And, there was the "Flying Saucer." One Linfield grad -- who worked at the Rocket as kitchen help and dishwasher -- describes it as "a shameful concoction of a butterhorn pastry topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream." The 'Saucer,' said the grad, came in two forms: 1) Flying Saucer (butterhorn only) or 2) Flying Saucer a la mode (butterhorn with ice cream).

The grad balks at those who insist a Flying Saucer was always a butterhorn, ice cream and chocolate sauce. Perhaps the chocolate sauce was a person's “custom order," but it was not what was on the menu.

Sometime during 1966-1970 or so, one of the waitresses at the Rocket was "Fay."

The grad who worked at the Rocket said their favorite order was Fay calling out "Rocket Burger, Missile Fries and Flying Saucer a la mode." 

Photos: Rocket Café drinking glass thanks for Art Larrance, Linfield Class of 1966. Ads from Oak Leaves yearbook and Lindex phone directory.

POSTCRIPT --Found online was this posting. The poster was seeking information about Rocket service stations and cafes. There used to be both in two Oregon cities McMinnville and Willamina. There also was a Rocket service station in Yamhill, Oregon. And there were apparently some 30 Rocket stations in the Portland, Oregon, area. Some of those 30 might have included McMinnville, Willamina and Yamhill. Apparently, the Tower Oil Co. and/or F. H. Tower owned the Willamina station. I assume either/or also had a role in the McMinnville and Yamhill stations. An Oct. 19, 1982, United Press International story with a Portland, Oregon, dateline said ==Tower Oil Co. will go out of the petroleum business Dec. 31, the company's president says. Charles E. Schafroth, Tower president, recently informed the company's 30 dealers in the Portland area of the decision but refused to comment on the matter apart from allowing a secretary to read the letter he sent to dealers. The letter said ''the current economy and market situation in our industry have combined to make it impossible for the corporation to continue to market gasoline and make a profit, even meager.''== An obituary, published in March 2008, in the McMinnville newspaper, said the deceased, who died at age 47, began his working career at Chevron Rocket Gas. It’s a guess that when Tower Oil quit selling its own gasoline, the Rocket name lived on with some stations selling other brands of gas, including Chevron. With this post are two photos, one for the McMinnville Rocket (more cars) and the other for the Willamina Rocket (one car). Unfortunately, they only show the cafe part of the operations."

On Jan. 8, 2008, the Old Oak – Linfield College symbol - falls

Oregonian, 1/8/2008 

McMINNVILLE -- A crash that shook the ground startled much of the Linfield College campus in McMinnville this afternoon. It took only seconds to find the heartbreaking cause. 

The Old Oak, which stood majestic when Linfield was founded 150 years ago, had fallen. 

Efforts to preserve the white oak -- to keep the 80-foot-tall tree standing a few more years -- had failed. No one was hurt, although many gathered in sadness through the afternoon to stare at the fallen tree. 

"It's that point that people look at with a lot of affection," said college spokeswoman Mardi Mileham. 

The tree was estimated at 200 to 250 years old, and was described by the first settlers to the valley. It grew alone, a short distance from the college's oak grove, and its branches spread wide. 

The Old Oak was mature when Pioneer Hall opened in 1882, the first building on the new campus of the then-McMinnville College. 

The graceful building and stately tree became the symbol of Linfield College. Commencements were celebrated for decades near the shade of the Old Oak. It stood over weddings and memorial services. 

But its decline became evident in recent years as the overall health of the tree declined.