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To:  The Cozy Inn
    Subject:  Story

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    One cold night in1953, my boyfriend and I bought 2 dozen Cozies.  Stuffing ourselves as we drove back to Delphos, I thought I could never eat another burger.  Pitched the sack with 6 uneaten ones in the ditch.  Next evening, being with another date, all I could think of was those uneaten Cozies lying in that ditch.  So I instructed my date were to pick up those cold, but oh so good Cozies.
    Oh, I married the first date.

Sandra - Minneapolis, KS

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My Cozy Story:
    During my senior year in high school, I was "caught" cutting school when I came back from buying cozies during your 57th Anniversary Celebrations (1979).  The counselor sentenced me to a 3-day in-school suspension.  The only "evidence" was the odor lingering on my clothing when I came back in the building!

Stacie - Salina, KS

 

   

During the 1930's Salina was a great baseball town.  We had the Junior League and Ban Johnson.  The Junior League team, I believe in 1932, went all the way up to Little World Series.  The Ban Johnson teams won the National every year except one.  Bob's (Cozy Inn) was a home-away-from-home.  They slept and ate at his home.  When they were here to play, no charge of course.
My main memory of one of the players was a home town boy.  He was a catcher.  His name was Bob Swift.  He signed with the Detroit Tigers.  It was said by learned baseball men that he had the best throwing arm in organized baseball.  The first year he played for the Tigers, they took the pennant and the World Series.  In the off-season, he came home and fried hamburgers at the Cozy Inn.  While he was doing this, the place was popping.  He was very popular and loved by all.  At the end of playing days he managed the Tigers.
Another memory was on Saturday nights it was customary to go to dances.  People would congregate on Santa Fe.  Then go to the various places to dance.  The aroma of the Cozies floated all over town.   This would draw them into the Cozy Inn after the dance.
If they ever did away with the Cozy Inn, it wouldn't be Salina any more.  I was seven years old when Kinkle started the Cozy Inn.  I ate many a hamburger there as did my family.  Hamburgers are my favorite food.

Leo - Salina, KS

 

   

So you think Cozy's are thin?  About 1944 I was a paper boy at the Salina Journal when it was located at the corner of 7th & Iron.  Before picking up our papers after school it was a real special treat to buy a 5¢ cozy.  In order to make it last longer we would smash it between our hands to make it seem bigger, and last longer.  My other memory was the annual treat as a member of the Elks Little League team.  We were treated to as many Cozy's as we could eat at the end of the season.  I recall the record was 24 Cozy's eaten by Charlie Marshall.

Bill - Ft Worth, TX

   

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This story is literally moldy.  I started working at Cozy Inn when I was 14.  I had a Journal paper route and carried Bob Kinkels paper.  He put me to work peeling and grinding onions and slicking pickles before I went to school.  Got paid 45¢ an hour.  Be there at 6 am.  Took couple of hours and always a handful of bubble gum.  Mr. Kinkel got me a permit from the City to walk in a place that sold beer after I was 16.  I joined the Marines in 1943.  Was sent overseas just before Christmas and I received a Christmas package while on Guadalcanal in February 1944.  It had a very unique smell.  It was a Cozy hamburgers with onions, pickles, catsup, mustard, some bubble gum and covered in mold.  I kept it in my tent for a week or so just to look at and admire.  Soon my Sergeant made me bury it out in the jungle.  With the help of some Marine buddies we gave it a proper burial.  Was like loosing a good friend and a little bit of Salina.

Jim - Salina KS

 

 

The Cozy Inn,
    When we first came to Salina, Kansas from driving two months from Naples, Florida.  We went to the Cozy Inn, because my mom Shelly met a friend and she took us to The Cozy Inn.  Larry Jackson, the manager, and my mom Shelly fell in love.  We didn't get free hamburgers the first time, but we did get free hamburgers the next time, but Larry had to pay.  They still are in love , and we still eat at The Cozy Inn.  Whenever we go and then leave we always have the smell of The Cozy Inn.

Stephanie - Salina, KS

   

 

We were here in the military (USAF) and transferred to Schilling AFB in 1960. We bought the model home for a housing development on Roach street.  It was a beautiful modern (at the time) home.  But the developer went broke and the homes all around us remained unfinished for some time.  We would come to The Cozy Inn for sacks of burgers and go to eat them.  Our two children were just young babies and ate their first burgers from Cozy Inn.  I believe Mr. Pickering was here at the time of our patronage.  When the Schilling AFB closed we moved to New Hampshire and missed your burger until now (10-4-97) we are passing thru from California, en-route to Florida and make a point to get off the highway 70 to once again taste your burgers.

Michael & Ann - Cocoa Beach, FL

 

 

Memories, Memories, Memories.
    The Cozy Inn was a place that all my Dad had to do was mention that we were going for a ride to Salina to eat a hamburger at The Cozy Inn!!
    We lived in Minneapolis, Kansas and what a treat that was to pile in the car and head for Salina.  This was in the late 1930's, and having 4 children in the family -- we hardly ever ate out together except at the Cozy Inn.  Not only were the hamburgers so-o-o good, but we would also get a 5¢ bottle of Nehi pop, and not have to share the bottle with anyone.
    I've often wondered how we just ate one hamburger a piece, but I can't remember asking for more than one since it was such a treat to get to eat out and have such a good hamburger that you could smell it frying clear around the block.
    Those are such good memories.  And I can still see 4 kinds, my sister and two brothers in the back seat of our car, with my Mom and Dad in front.

Thelma - Abilene, KS

   

 

In 1977 I lived in California.  I was pregnant and craving Cozies so bad I was ready to come out and get six.  I told my mom and sister about it and they came to Cozy and ate the hamburger and sent me the empty sack wrapped in plastic... so I could have the smell.  My husband said I carried the sack on my nose for weeks!

Julia - Salina, KS

   

 

Our grandkids are 4th generation "Cozy Eaters".  Last thanksgiving when we were planning the menu (which included something of everyone's favorite foods) the grandkids anonymously asked for "Cozies".

Bob & Karen - Salina, KS

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