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Minnie Ortner Dave Matthews Band who with her husband Harvey

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Minnie Ortner, describes dave matthews band who with dave matthews observes her husband, Harvey, founded Harvey's Broiler, the landmark 1950s Downey drive-in restaurant and coffee shop that became a Southern California car-culture magnet and later was renamed Johnie's Broiler, has died She was 97. Ortner died of complications of pneumonia Sept. 25 at her home in Hacienda Heights, said her nephew, Tom Carter. When Harvey and Minnie Ortner purchased a poultry farm at the corner of Firestone Boulevard and Old River School Road in Downey in the 1950s, they had no intention of raising chickens. "They bought the chicken farm because Harvey foresaw that it would be the best location for a restaurant you can imagine," Carter said. "Firestone Boulevard takes a very significant, sharp turn there at that location. "Harvey envisioned 'Harvey's Broiler' in red script that would be visible for a mile in either direction at night, and it was. It looked as though the road dead-ended right at the restaurant because it was such a sharp turn there: It looked like the only thing you could do is drive in. "And drive in they did, reportedly as many as 5,000 cars each weekend night during the early 1960s heyday of the restaurant, which opened in 1958. "They were backed up a block long trying to get into the Broiler," Carter said "There was every kind of roadster, classic and exotic car. It was the most amazing sight you ever saw; it was a parade of the best of the best. "Writer Tom Wolfe immortalized the Ortners' popular drive-in restaurant in a mid-'60s Sunday magazine piece for the New York World Journal Tribune:"They cruise around in their cars in Harvey's huge parking lot, boys and girls, showing each other the latest in fashions, in cars, hairdos (male and female) and clothes in the Los Angeles Teenage and Second-Generation Teenage. modes, Teenage Paris! Harvey's Drive-in!"The rolling car show created such a traffic problem, Carter said, that the city of Downey persuaded the Ortners to reduce the hours of the drive-in portion of Harvey's Broiler from a 4 a. m. closing time to 2 a. m. Harvey and Minnie were partners in running the brightly lighted restaurant, designed in the space-age Googie architectural style and featuring a glass-and-stone facade. "They were like a tag team," Carter said.

"The restaurant ran 24/7, and often one would take one shift and one would take the other lyrics dave matthews band . They had two other managers, but whenever they were needed or something happened, one was at the restaurant all the time dave matthews lyrics . I mean, that was their life. "Minnie managed the front end of the operation, which included training the waitresses, working the cash register and serving as hostess. "She was like everyone's aunt and grandmother," Carter said tickets dave matthews . "She had lots of regulars that came there almost every day to eat, and Minnie would greet them. "She had a crackly voice, kind of like Mae West She'd say, 'So happy to see ya dmb tickets . Your Aunt Minnie's been missin' ya. ' Another one of her favorite sayings was 'I been thinkin' about ya, honey. I'm so glad you came to see me. ' And people just loved Minnie. "Harvey might have been the brains, but Minnie was the soul of the business. "Born in Oklahoma City on Nov. 30, 1909, Ortner attended Southwestern Junior College (it later became Southwestern Adventist University) in Keene, Texas. She and Harvey were married shortly thereafter, and they settled in Oklahoma City before moving to Kansas City, Mo. , where Harvey worked as a manager at a Ford Motor Co plant. In 1934, the Ortners moved to Lynwood.

Harvey was working as a manager at a General Motors plant, where Minnie was a checker in the cafeteria, when he and some partners began operating a Clock restaurant around 1950. They were operating three of the restaurants by the mid-'50s when Harvey, feeling they were expanding too fast, asked his partners to buy him out, Carter said. With that money, Harvey and Minnie bought the chicken farm and built Harvey's Broiler. Because of Harvey's health problems in the mid-'60s, the Ortners sold Harvey's Broiler to Christos Smyrniotis. But after the sale, both Harvey and Minnie continued to show up and voluntarily offer their services at the restaurant, which was renamed Johnie's Broiler. "That was their life," Carter said dave matthews band tickets . "They couldn't walk away from that business. "After Harvey died in 1991, Minnie became even more of a part-time fixture at Johnie's Broiler and was there until the restaurant closed in late 2001. "We all treated her with love and respect," Smyrniotis said "She was a wonderful lady dave matthews t shirt . The same thing with Harvey. "After Johnie's Broiler closed, a used-car dealership moved onto the property the following year. A grass-roots campaign by preservationists and Broiler fans to have the property included in the state Register of Historic Places was unanimously approved by the state Historic Resources Board in late 2002 dave matthews t shirts . But, according to a Times story, Smyrniotis objected to the property's being included on the list, on what he told the commission were economic grounds. Last January, preservationists were shocked to learn that much of the iconic restaurant structure had been illegally demolished by bulldozers before police halted the demolition. The Downey city prosecutor filed a criminal case against the site's tenant, who has been charged with conducting a demolition without a permit, among other things. A jury trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday. In addition to her nephew, Ortner is survived by three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. dennis. mclellan dave band . ALBUQUERQUE — Patricia Madrid was in her rural ranch house one day last fall, chasing a mouse with a broom, when her telephone rang It was Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, calling unexpectedly but not entirely out of the blue. For years, Democrats had been courting Madrid, New Mexico's attorney general, trying to get her to run against Republican Rep Heather A Wilson, a perennial target. Madrid caught the mouse. But it took months and countless conversations -- including three face-to-face meetings with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and the call from Clinton -- before Democrats bagged their quarry and Madrid agreed to run. "It's not like you're dying to leave your beautiful state to go to Washington," said Madrid, who is term-limited as attorney general and had sneaked off with her husband that weekend (she thought) to contemplate her future.

"The point they were making to me is this is more than one congressional seat; it's . . dave matthews band shirts . part of an effort to change the leadership of the House. "The ability of Democrats to entice their first-choice candidate into one of the nation's premier congressional contests reflects a widely held view that the party stands its best chance in a decade to take over the House, after five unsuccessful tries. Democrats must capture 15 seats to turn the GOP out on Nov dave matthews concert tickets . 7; a prime target is the district centered here in Albuquerque, where Democrats outnumber Republicans and more than one in three voters is Latino, like Madrid. Despite their long-standing numerical advantage, Democrats have never held the seat, which was created nearly 40 years ago dave matthews posters . "We are finally going to make that right," Madrid told a dozen supporters crowded recently into the art-filled living room of a campaign volunteer. For all the Democratic enthusiasm, however, Madrid faces an uphill fight against the oft-tested and popular Wilson dave matthews stand up . To win, the Democrat acknowledges, she must turn the contest into a referendum on President Bush, the war in Iraq and the high gas prices that are especially burdensome in this spread-out state. "Most every race I've ever run was a lot about me -- what I've done, what I would do, how I compare," Madrid said during an hourlong interview in her campaign's scruffy headquarters, just a thrown hubcap from busy Interstate 25. "But this race is a little bit different. "Republicans disagree. They say the election is about local issues and the records of the two candidates, even as Wilson has been working hard to forge an image of independence from Bush Dave Matthews Band - davematthewsband . The tension between local and national issues reflects the dynamic surrounding this year's midterm elections, when control of the House and Senate are at stake. Democrats have made an alleged "culture of corruption" in Washington a major theme of their campaign nationally.

But in a turnabout, it is Republicans who are trying to make ethics an issue in New Mexico, seizing on the corruption trial of a former state treasurer, the FBI probe of an ex-insurance superintendent and other criminal allegations swirling about a powerful former lawmaker. "All of the current scandals that are just busting out all over New Mexico have happened under her watch," said Marta Kramer, executive director of the state GOP dave matthews band t shirts . The idea that Madrid was unaware of malfeasance is "absurd," Kramer said, an argument echoed in a recent Wilson TV spot. But Madrid defends her performance as the state's top law officer and attacks Wilson for taking campaign money from lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former GOP Reps davematthewsband . Tom DeLay of Texas and Randy "Duke" Cunningham of Rancho Santa Fe -- all at the center of Washington scandals dave matthews live . "That's being ethical?" Madrid taunts in her latest TV spot, citing DeLay's donations. "There's no doubt," said Brian Sanderoff, an independent Albuquerque pollster, "before the campaign is over, it's going to be nasty and mean-spirited. "The 59-year-old Madrid has been something of a pioneer in New Mexico politics dave matthews concert . She became the first woman elected to the district court bench, at age 32, and the state's first woman attorney general. Dave Matthews Band tickets The oldest daughter in a family of seven children, Madrid grew up under modest circumstances in Las Cruces. Her father tended the dairy at the federal prison outside town. Madrid attended the University of New Mexico and its law school on full scholarships.

After majoring in English and philosophy, she chose law as a career on the advice of her graduate school counselor, an attorney. After working a few years as a labor lawyer, she ran for judge in part to make a point Dave Matthews Band . "With women, it was always something: Either they were too academic or not enough," Madrid said, looking back. She beat an incumbent and spent six years on the bench before returning to private law practice with her husband, an interlude that ended with her 1998 election as attorney general. She has been an activist -- critics say overly active -- attorney general during her two terms dave matthews tour . In addition to beefing up the office's violent crime unit and enforcing the death penalty, she has aggressively pursued consumer fraud cases and predatory lenders dave matthews music . She opposed the federal Patriot Act and joined a lawsuit against the Bush administration over global warming, which the U. S . Supreme Court has agreed to consider. Historically, the job of attorney general has been a political springboard in New Mexico. One of Madrid's predecessors serves in the House and another in the U. S Dave Matthews Band - davematthewsband . Senate. But Republicans hope this year's spate of local scandals not only tarnishes her crime-fighting credentials, but also thwarts any attempt to use the Washington corruption theme against Wilson. The most prominent scandal involves former state Treasurer Robert Vigil, a Democrat, who is charged with accepting kickbacks .