| This is probably just a few of the things that people remember about Bill & Nada's Cafe. The portrait on the wall of Bill on his horse. And the photos of Bill and Nada that hung on the wall probably since they opened it back in the late 1940's. Then there was the place mats that were made up special for Bill & Nada's Cafe that had all the Presidents of the United States up to Bill Clinton. |
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| I'll be adding photos of Bill & Nada's customers as time goes on so please keep checking back. |
| Bill & Nada's had a horse shoe counter that most of the regulars would sit at and shoot the bull while eating or just drinking coffee. Shooting friendly insults at each other across the counter. |
| This was one of the saddest photos I took. After they shut Bill & Nada's down and it was empty. You never seen this place empty. They were open 24/7 except for a few weeks during Christmas they would shut down for a complete cleaning and painting. |
| Then came another sad photo, Bill & Nada's after they tore it down. |
| Believe it or not the photo on the right is just about the same angle I took the photo on the left. Fred Meyer bought all the property around Bills house and After He died they tore his home down too. |
| Bill and Nada's Customers and Employees. Many of the people that were loyal customers of Bill & Nada's have passed away. I am going to start these photos of those wonderful friends that aren't with us any longer. |
| Bill & Nada's before, doesn't look like much but it was well known all over the world. |
| This is how I figure Bill got to his final destination. |
| Most of these photos if you click on them they get bigger then hit your back button to come back to this page. |
| Here are some of the loyal customers and employees which was like a big family. The people at Bill and Nada's were from all walks of life. From Billionaires to people living on the street. In there everyone was just people. |
| Bill had these murals pained on the walls. The one on the bottom left is him on his horse with the silver saddle. |
| This was Bill's favorite part, taking your money. He ran the register a lot |
The date I added this counter is 11/6/2007 |
| This is the best photo of Sharron I had. Not too great. |
| Bill always rode his horse in the 24th of July Days of 47 Parade. He loved to show of his silver saddle and had several different flashy outfits to wear. |
| I'm the one in the cowboy hat. I'm afraid of mice. Put you mouse pointer on me and see. |
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| I'm starting a section to post costumers and Employees letters,and stories from Bill and Nada's Café. If anyone has a story please lets hear it! |
| I grew up at Bill's. My Mom worked there for 9 years. Her name is Ginger. My step is Dad Shawn and Max was my beloved Grandma. I miss this place so much, if I could have I would have bought it so that it would have never been tore down. I miss this place so much I ate every meal here for years. I took my husband there to eat many times before it closed, he was sent to Korea the year Max closed it so he didnt get to see it go, but I did i worked on the last night ans said good bye at the final Christmas Party that year. I miss everyone there. Thank you for this sight it is wonderful. We all miss Bill n Nadas!!! |
| Thanks Bert.. I've always hoped that someone with some pictures might post up a site like this. Periodically, I do a "bill and nada" search and was pleasantly surprised tonight when I found your site. For a while after the closing I used to run into a few of the employees and the regulars. Used to see Max and Chipper in Wendover once in a while. But it's been years since I crossed paths with anyone. Though the building is gone , whenever I pass the corner of 5th and 6th, I can still hear "Ring Of Fire" and feel the pleasant exhaustion of having flipped a few hundred eggs and stacked up a few "Big Bills" during a Friday or Saturday night bar rush. Hugh |
| Bert's story(that's me the site owner) isn't a very good one to start. I was a heavy drinker and after the bars would close at night I would go to Bill and Nada's for breakfast since I most likely haven't had anything to eat for a long time, and they were open 24 hours a day. Bill was always there late at night and would kick out anyone starting any trouble or being obnoxious and I got to say their was a lot of obnoxious people there, I was one at times. But I finally gave up drinking in 1988 still sober today and started going in Bill's in the day time. That's when I got to know the real people of Bill and Nada's. I was happy to join the big family of the Bill and Nada's Café! Crowd. |
| This is a video made up by Northstar Video company and I took a few clips off of it to add to my site. They did a great job on the video of Bill and Nada's closing with some of the customers interviewed. Thanks Northstar Video! Click here to view the clip. |
| Bill and Nada's Café If your not familiar with this little Café it was located on 500 E. 500 So. in Salt Lake City Utah and was a great place to go and drink coffee, eat a meal and meet some very interesting people, to say the least! Bill and Nada McHenry opened this small café in the late 40's over a half of a century ago. Nada died in the early 60's and Bill had married again to Ellen. Forgive me but I don't know what Ellen's maiden name was nor did I ever get any photos with her in them which I regret. A lot of people thought that Maxine (the Manager)was Nada due to the red hair and she had worked their for many years. It might bore someone that's not familiar with the place but I think people that were regulars will be very interested. |
| Bill & Nada’s was a very significant place. It was the only place that I needed to go to for a good breakfast before going to the slopes on my visits to Salt lake. For numerous years until I reached fatherhood, my friends and I would travel to Utah to go skiing twice each year. The little cafe was a no brainer go to decision when choosing a place to get warmed up and eat on cold winter mornings before sunrise. It was so real, like the little diners I grew up with in western Kansas. Today, yuppie cafes spend hundreds of thousands of dollars unsuccessfully trying to replicate the atmosphere that was Bill & Nada’s. It is something that money can’t buy. Earlier this year, I was thinking of taking the wife and kids to Utah for some real skiing for a change, and introduce the kids to the cafe. Out of curiosity, I googled it to see if there was any information about it on the web. You can guess how saddened I was to see that it was no more. The only pictures I have are the ones in my memories. Your web page is a great tribute to the place and I am grateful you went to the trouble to put it up. Learning more about the history and the people that worked and gathered there makes me appreciate it more. Feel free to use anything at all from my story on your site. We all probably still know places like Bill & Nada’s. I make sure I patronize them often. Arnie Sand Springs, Oklahoma |
| In 1962 through 1965, being in the military at Dugway Proving Ground, we as a group of GI's had an apartment in SLC, and every weekend morning was spent at Bill and Nada's for breakfast. Plenty of times in the very early morning as well. One of the best places anyone in his or her lifetime could have ever experienced. Bill was a treasure and he really enjoyed our East coast accent. "Tell me boys, where are you from", and that's how it would start. I loved this cafe and am sorry to see it has been torn down. A true American landmark. Thanks for posting this site. Richard Roselli |
| I met the love of my life in Salt Lake City.; We frequented Bill & Nada's café.. I brought her a dozen balloons and we sat at our table and played Moon river on the jukebox. We actually have a beautiful photo up in our San Diego home, of the marquis sign out front while the café was running strong in 1996/97. We miss Salt Lake, but we come back often. We will always miss Bill and Nada's. Lori Hooker |
| I enjoyed Bill and Nada's starting in 1990 until the very last day. I still have a couple of shirts from the glass display case in front where you pay. My experiences were not about meeting my first wife or naming my first born after Bill. Lets face it, the Cafe was old, sarcasm poured out of the servers as much as the wonderful coffee they served. I ate at Bill and Nada's alone. I often sat at the quick service bar next to the stool with the coffee can replacing the seat. Many mornings I would sit and listen to the stories that would bounce between the pictures painted on the walls that came from the more seasoned men and women. They often provided me with comfort during a rough time in my life. How much is that worth these days? I miss it. There is one thing that I miss more than anything, those wonderful pancakes. Plain with butter and syrup. What was in those pancakes? Garth |
| Susan's story I worked the grave shift downtown in Salt Lake between 1983 and 1991. A friend and co-worker introduced me to Bill and Nada's. At that time there were only a couple of places open 24 hours and B&N's had the best coffee as it was always fresh. It also had the best entertainment - some of it on the jukebox and some of it in the form of customers! Over the years more and more of our co-workers discovered the dubious 'charms' of Bill and Nada's. It was not always for the faint hearted - working girls(???) enebriated bar crawlers, tatooed bikers and other colorful characters stumbled in and stayed a while. We had a wonderful waitress named Ruth - she was always so friendly and sweet. Early one morning we even experienced a small earthquake while sitting in one of the booths. The chandeliers suddenly began to sway and I felt a little dizzy - everyone stopped talking and there was total silence. The whole episode only lasted a few seconds but was very memorable. I th! ink about Bill and Nada's every once in a while, it is sad that it is gone but it remains in the memory of many customers. Thanks for making this website and posting the pictures! Long live Bill and Nada's!! |
| I lived a block and a half up sixth east from Bill and Nada's from 1978-1993, it was always my middle of the night go to spot when I was hungry after what someone here described as bar crawling LOL. Always wondered when Bill and Maxine slept because it wasn't unusual for them to be there at 1 or 2am. Will always miss the great food, although I never worked up the nerve to try the brains & eggs or the beef heart LOL. Sorry I don't remember the late night waitress's names but if any of you read this, I was the guy who always ordered the heated cherry pie ala mode for desert, thanks for the memories! Norm |
| As a student at the U back in the late 60's, my roommate Jan Andrus and I use to frequent Bill & Nada's late at night to study over coffee and desert. I remember well two songs from the jutebox that we religiously played: The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus" and Peter Paul & Mary's "The Great Mandala". I'm so sorry to hear that B&N is no longer in existence, but the memories will always be there! Frank (Doc) Sutera |
| I discovered this site and am so happy to see it. I left SLC in 1977 at the age of 19. My memories of B&N are a little vague due to all these years away from Utah but those vague memories are of coming in from the freezing cold to the steamy, smoky coffee stained place and daring each other to order the brains & eggs. Thanks for this site. |
