Tag Archives: Muncie Indiana

King Of Indiana Pizza

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In an age of corporations with cookie cutter locations, there’s an Indiana based pizza chain that bucks all trends.

Founded in 1956, there are locations all around the Indiana and every self respecting Hoosier I know will tell you that Pizza King pizza is a literal slice of Home and Heaven.

I visited one in Muncie a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Fantastic service, my kind of atmosphere and absolutely delicious food left me feeling happy and wishing I could go back another time on that trip.

I was reminded of this recently when my blogging pal over at Hiding in Plain Sight posted this story about a Pizza King location he made out of Lego. Check it out. He gives a lot of history and the Lego model is pretty cool too.

I found this 2019 story from Indiana Public Media that says that while the food is consistent, each location has its own character. I truly enjoyed the character of the one I visited even though I’m not certain which of the several Muncie locations that was exactly.

In addition to a darn good salad and veggie pizza, I liked the ordering system. You just pick up the phone receiver and someone in the kitchen takes your order. It wasn’t long at all before a waitress brought my food.

I would absolutely go back if given the chance and I’m a little sad there’s no Pizza King near me. Want to drool over their menu? Find it here!

Vintage Clothes?

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These vintage kids’ clothes were available for sale at an antique mall in Muncie, Indiana back in April. The clothesline picture I shared a few days ago reminded me of this image.

As a child of the seventies, I’m still a little surprised anytime someone refers to seventies and eighties items as vintage. Antiques dealers typically consider an item vintage if it’s forty years or older.

Given my age, I suppose I am vintage as well. Of course, that’s a little better than being an antique!

Happy Thursday, friends!

The Patterson Block

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Downtown Muncie, Indiana is blessed to have many beautiful old buildings. Sure, there’s a fair amount of modern stuff like you find in any town but they’ve done a nice job preserving and updating the old.

For example, the Patterson Block was built in 1876 by Arthur F. Patterson. It held shops, the city’s first police station and the telephone exchange. Incidentally, Patterson lived in Cincinnati for a while as well as other Ohio River cities while he built his career. He eventually moved to Muncie where he was a well known business man who eventually married the mayor’s daughter, according to an August 2021 article in Muncie’s newspaper The Star Press.

Today it’s home to an architecture firm, a homemade soap company and a church. It’s clearly an icon in the city’s downtown and one of the most striking buildings the fair city has to offer.

It rained when I had time to nose around downtown so going back another time to take advantage of some things I missed sounds appealing.

Another interesting Muncie building is the Carnegie Library. Check it out here!

Flamingo Cocktail Lounge Of Muncie

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Vintage matchbook covers are fun little treasure troves of information and delightful pocket sized works of art. You can sometimes pick up a ziplock bag full of them in antique stores and junk shops for just a few bucks, making them an inexpensive treat to take home and explore.

I found a bag of interesting ones in Muncie this spring. This one is for the Flamingo Cocktail Lounge on Kilgore Avenuez. It was air conditioned!

The design caught my eye and a quick internet search yielded a couple of interesting things including this interior picture from the mid seventies.

I also learned that they were known for a hamburger called “Lukey Fogle” and for a blind piano player who provided background music.

An ad placed in an undated program for Muncie Community Theater’s production of “The Tea House of the August Moon” advertised the Flamingo Cocktail Lounge as a destination for cocktails, dinner and supper, reminding theater goers “For before or after the show don’t forget the Flamingo Cocktail Lounge.”

I later learned they put on that show in the 1970-71 season so I assume this program was from that performance.

As of a 2017 post in the Lost Muncie Facebook group, the building was home to the End Zone Sports Bar and Grill. They were know for wings, pizza and beer. The above interior photo was posted in this group, undated and without photo credit.

Google tells me that the End Zone is now closed too. The addresses have been updated on that street so the old Flamingo was located at 2104 Kilgore Ave and now the address is 2430 Kilgore Ave.

The property is listed as land today and is under contract with a local realtor.

Maybe it’s nuts, but I enjoy finding these small scraps of the past and climbing down the rabbit hole to see what can be learned.

Tin Man of Muncie

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Meet the Tin Man of Muncie, Indiana.

There’s no yellow brick road here but there is Kilgore Avenue that takes you right to Delbert M. Dawson and Sons Metal Fabricating where this guy stands sentinel.

He’s larger than life and kind of a neat thing to see if you’re in the neighborhood. Roadside oddities and attractions are remnants of days gone by when road trips ruled and before kids had iPads to keep them entertained on long trips.

Weird as it may sound, this is the kind of thing I live for. Anything different like unique architecture, a classic car, an interesting statue, a covered bridge and yes, a man made of sheet metal, are the things that make road-trips fun and keep you engaged with your surroundings.

You never know what’s around the next corner and that’s an amazing realization.

So how about it? Is there a roadside attraction you enjoy?

Muncie Carnegie Library

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Built of Indiana limestone, it has occupied a full acre of a busy downtown street since 1902. It’s the Muncie Carnegie Library, a gorgeous old place that smells like history.

Today, the library system uses it as their history and genealogy library.

This neoclassical building features a large dome that’s an absolute showstopper.

The dome’s purple floral motif provided inspiration for the interior wall colors – ivory and lavender. While I wouldn’t have chosen this particular shade of lavender, it does reflect the tastes of the late Victorian era when the building was designed and built.

In addition to the research resources, this building houses some art and artifacts sure to catch your eye. Plus, there’s a small display about Garfield the cat illustrator Jim Davis. The Marion, Indiana native attended Ball State here in Muncie.

Want to go? Since they’re a research library, the hours more limited than you would find at a regular library. Be sure to check their website for updated information.