Peggy Sue's and the Diner-saur Park

On my first trip to Vegas three years ago, I saw the signs for Peggy Sue's along the way. I wanted to stop, but when we drove by the giant dinosaur statues outside, I HAD to stop; however, the driver of the passenger van would have none of it. The next summer, former Dinerwood photog Charlie Chu and I had gorged on dim sum on our way out of town and were still bursting when we reached the exit. We declined to stop.

This year, I was going by hook or by crook. Fortunately, I did not need to use either of those tools as Burns was down for it. He's a good guy, I didn't want to hook him or crook him.

Peggy Sue's is definitely something you don't see a lot of in this day and age. It's as much a roadside attraction as it is a diner. It's an oasis for the weary traveler to have a respite, stretch his legs, munch a burger (or get some pizza at the adjacent pizza parlor), buy some junk in the gift store, and stand in the shade of a giant metal Brachiosaurus.

This phrase "eat to the beat" strikes me as really subversively dirty. On the surface it just means eat while listening to music, right? Hell, Disney even has a whole concert series at Epcot built around it. It's just too suggestive for me not to chuckle at it. Apparently, I am not alone in my way of thinking.



They have a handy history write-up of the diner. If you squint, you'll be able read it or you can go to the website. Spoiler alert: it's a love story.

The original diner portion of the restaurant is actually quite small. There is a row of booths on one side and the counter on the other. Our waitress led us through that crowded area and into the more expansive dining room...

...which unfortunately looks more like bar.

The menu isn't expansive--it's just that one sheet--but they put some effort into making it cute. It also looks like they printed it at a Kinkos in 1996.

I love Huell Howser. He has certainly been a huge influence on me and my blogging. That sentence I just typed kind of disturbed me. If you don't know Huell, let me educate you...nah, I'll just post a video.

Burns got the King Kong Monster Burger, which is just the Buddy Holly Bacon Cheeseburger with an extra patty and extra cheese. I feel like Buddy Holly would be offended by this were he alive.

I didn't really pay attention to the ingredients of the Mickey Mouse Club Sandwich. I just thought they had put a 50s name on the traditional club sandwich. Nay-nay! It arrived looking amazingly delicious just for the portions of bacon, ham and turkey. Then I saw it- cheddar cheese! "Ohhhh, now I get it." A little slow on the uptake sometimes' I'm not ashamed to admit it.

The addition of cheese and the thickness of the meats made this the best club sandwich ever. The curly fries were good, but the tiny side of coleslaw did taste like old cabbage and was kind of gross.



Peggy Sue's does have pie, but after both of our tremendous lunches, we couldn't even fathom trying to make that work.

In fact we wanted to walk off some of our meal, in the lovely dinosaur- er I mean DINER-SAUR park.

The Diner-Saur park is pretty fascinating. This handy sign helps you identify the different dinosaurs located around the park. It's also very educational. I had no idea that King Kong was a dinosaur.

Here's the majestic Brachiosaurus.



The mighty King Kong and the villainous Spinosaurus.



And finally, the playful Stegosaurus. Oh, there's also a pirate in that tree.

Peggy Sue's would be great just for the Diner-saur park alone, but you can see that from the highway. Now, when you add good food to equation, you gotta make a stop.

Food: Good.
Price: $7-$10
Service: Friendly.
Pie: Yes.

Peggy Sue's 50's Diner

35654 Yermo Road

Yermo, CA 92398

The park also has ducks. Ducks are not dinosaurs....well they were, but are not now.