Parting is such sweet and salty sorrow.
Steakburger’s final customers waited in a line Thursday that snaked around the parking lot for the chance to say goodbye and have one last burger and shake.
After 58 years, the iconic Hazel Dell restaurant closed at 4 p.m. Thursday. Its closing drew past employees and customers from all over the country.
Couples met here, had their first dates here, even got married on the golf course, said Merilyn Condon, who’s owned the business since 1962. She sat in a booth with her children and grandchildren.
“I have to admit, I didn’t realize we touched so many people’s lives,” she said. “It’s hard to let it go.”
Even after closing time, people wandered in, wanting one last milkshake, one last game of mini-golf. They were turned away and the front door was locked as employees cleaned up shop.
Owners Bob and Merilyn Condon brought in their family — more than 20 in tow — for the bittersweet farewell.
“When you’ve been in something that many years, and you shut it down forever, it can be overwhelming,” Merilyn Condon said, as she tossed back champagne with a burger.
Some of her great-grandchildren served customers during the final days. Over the past week, the business offered free golf to different people each day. Among the groups were nurses, firefighters, children, police and past employees. On Thursday, the last day, it was family and friends.
“Which, actually, is everybody in Clark County because if they weren’t family, they were friends,” Merilyn Condon said.
Moving on, going mobile
An employee presented Merilyn Condon with a cake shaped like the iconic restaurant, complete with a toy bulldozer. Demolition is expected to begin this summer on the venue, which will be replaced by a $5 million project that includes four buildings, two of which will be drive-through restaurants, said Mike Jenkins, the project’s developer.
Over the years, the Condons received different offers to buy their business, and they eventually settled on one.
At age 73, Merilyn said the timing just felt right. Business never allowed them to stray too far away for too long. So, this summer, for their 55th wedding anniversary, Bob and Merilyn are going on a 20-day cruise in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“We want to crisscross across the whole United States. That’s my husband’s dream,” she said.
Before they jet off, they’re giving away anything people want — spatulas, coffee mugs, even putting obstacles. A regular customer even claimed the glass back door, which was coated with fingerprints at the end of the bustling last day. They’re selling the big stuff, but they wanted to offer customers some memorabilia.
But Thursday’s closing wasn’t the end of Steakburger.
The restaurant, which started as just a kitchen and a drive-through, is going small again. The Condons’ daughter, Tina Condon, 52, plans to open a mobile food trailer called Steakburger On the Go. Tina, who was the restaurant’s manger for 20 years, aims to be up and running in mid-August.
She’ll hitch the trailer to her truck and visit communities around the county, selling Steakburger classics. Someday, she said, she hopes to distribute the restaurant’s barbecue sauces to local grocers.
“We’re not done yet,” Tina Condon said.
She says she’s keeping the Steakburger logo, too.
A parting round of putt-putt
Although Rod Alvstad moved to Hawaii after retiring from Fire District 6 a year and half ago, he recently returned to visit his daughters. They all grew up in Hazel Dell playing at Steakburger’s adjoining mini-golf course Golf-O-Rama. Three of them were able to make it out to Steakburger’s final farewell. The sisters say they went on dates here and their mom had an appendix emergency while she was on the course while pregnant with one of them.
“I’ve been here since I was in the womb,” said Gretchen Alvstad, 38, with a laugh.
Resolved to be the very last customers to finish a round of putt-putt, they slowly went through the course and relished memories of family outings. Each year, as adults, they’ve returned for a game.
“We thought it would be a tradition forever,” said Rachael Jackson 27, as they lingered at the golf ball return.
“I feel like we’re losing something,” said Alicen Alvstad, 33.
A pair of the Condon great-grandchildren climbed on the stairwell railing and waved to the Alvstads at they dropped off their putters.
“Bye! Bye-bye!”
