The place with the goats on the roof
Seventeen years ago, I headed off for a summer in Door County, Wisconsin. My family had vacationed there about a half dozen times when I was young and I'd always imagined what it might be like to work and live there. I had a job lined up at a restaurant and a room in the house of an 80 year old woman who rented out the six rooms previously occupied by her children. My perfectly laid plans quickly unraveled on the first day when I dropped by my new place of employment to let them know I'd arrived. Due to some miscommunication, they had expected me the previous week and had given away the full-time waitressing job I'd lined up months earlier. I was devastated. My parents had driven me up for the summer, and together we wandered down the main street of Sister Bay as I picked up and dropped off job applications at places that had hired all of their staff weeks earlier. As we walked by Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant, my dad suggested I apply there. Of course I knew all about Al's...the place with the goats on the roof. Nearly every visitor to Door County knows the restaurant and many of them eat there. I had never been inside. The two hour wait and pricey menu ($5.25 for eggs, bacon & toast as opposed to the $1.99 special at Ephraim Shores) guaranteed it was the sort of place the Vagts family would appreciate from the outside. I didn't want to apply there. A friend of mine who had worked in Door County referred to it as a "pancake house" in dismissive tones. But my dad insisted, and so I went inside. I was greeted by a friendly hostess. When we discovered within moments that we grew up within an hour of each other, she gave me the fellow Minnesotan treatment and got the attention of her fiance, the manager and son of Al Johnson. Two days later, thanks to that Minnesota connection and, my 80 year old boarding house manager assure me, secure housing, I had a full-time waitressing job. Working at Al's was one of the best working experiences of my life. I firmly believe all people should wait tables at some point in their lives, and the opportunity to do it in a place run like Al Johnson's is a gift. Al and his family treated staff with respect. It was a lively place to work. It was hard and busy, and fun. The Johnsons were known throughout the County for their support of the arts, education, business and community. Al moved through the restaurant like a small tornado. He could clear a table, refill coffee and re-arrange chairs in a single movement. He was fiercely supportive of his staff, famously telling a customer who didn't like the service that he had a two hours' wait for every table and if the customer didn't like the service, someone else would. He wanted people to have a wonderful meal and experience and then clear on out for the next table. Parties tempted to linger would have to deal with Al. I witnessed him clearing water glasses on several occasions from tables that had "sat" too long. I returned to Al's the summer after I graduated from Luther. I wanted to spend the summer relaxing and getting a head start on my college loans. I did exactly that, spending the summer working at Al's, swimming in Green Bay and Lake Michigan, making friends, and making money. I stayed through the fall and by the time I left for Madison, I had paid off over one-third of my college loans before the interest had even kicked in. Al built something amazing in Sister Bay. The restaurant and stores are a whole story in themselves, but what I know about is the way that Al created something that taught me life lessons and gave me a sense of financial stability at a young age. While I was only there for two seasons, I've maintained connections with the relationships that began while I was there. There have been marriages, divorces, births and deaths among those I worked with. I learned late last night that Al passed away on Saturday, at age 84, peacefully and surrounded by his family. This past summer, i joined hundreds of former staff as we returned to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the restaurant Al opened at age 24. It was a great reunion of people who had spent years working at the restaurant, or who, like me, passed through for a season or two at or around age 24 as we began our own life's journey. Thank you, Al