Evening star., 1945-08-16
Food Shortage Here
|Win End Today as
Restaurants Reopen

Washingtonians who stood in long
lines yesterday at the comparatively
few restaurants open can heave a
sigh. of relief today and venture
out for regular meal without the
prospect of exploring the far reaches
of the District before finding a place
to eat. &.
All the restaurants in the city will
be open today. Robert J. Wilson
executive secretary of the Wash
ington Restaurant Association, said
Not all the eating. places will be
on regular weekday schedules, Mr.
Wilson noted, but enough will be
open to take care of diners through
out the day and evening.
Mr.. Wilson said his Office received
dozens" of calls yesterday from
householders who had no food at
home because of the closing OF
groceries. This hasn't happened
in a long time" the restaurant
official said.
He also disclosed that he received
calls from two bankers who wanted
to know where their employees could
find an open restaurant. Banks did
not close yesterday!
Fortunately, we had the names of
places staying open and referred
many people there" Mr.. Wilson said.
Crowds Come Early.
Yesterday was day OF eating
lines to end all eating lines in a
city used to such queues. The
crowds came early and stayed late
and at the end of the day the work.
ers in all the restaurants were ready
to call it quits.
The four Toddle Houses in the
District probably had the longest
hours. Starting att am. yester-
day, D. L. Shaw, manager of the
Toddle Houses in Washington, said
the crowds remained at peak rush
proportions until 5 o'clock this
The small houses were
jammed to capacity inside and had
lines reaching to the street curb
during the % hours.
Mr.. Shaw, describing what hap
pened in general throughout the
District, explained that the whole
sale dealers had closed up for the
day and did not make any deliveries.
The result was cleaning out of all
the food on hand in the places open.
Horace D. Willis, director of man.
of the Hot Shoppes.
estimated that somewhere between
SO, 900 and 10000 persons were
served in the IA Hot Shoppes in the
District area during the nine hours,
II am. to 8 pm, the restaurants
were open. He said the places came
close to being completely cleaned
out of food during that time.
Crowds reaching into the streets
were the general rule at all the
company's locations with most GUS
toners taking the ordeal in good
nature. Mr.. Willis said the Hot
Shoppes will again observe the II
a I'm. to 8 pm. hours today, resum-
ing the normal weekday schedule
tomorrow.
People Good -Natured.
The three Howard johnson eating
places opened at 1880 am. yester-
day with large crowds lined up
waiting for the doors to swing open.
The people kept coming throughout
the day and at the 7:30 pm. closing
time the doors had to be locked
to keep out latecomers. At these
places, too, the crowds were reported
as generally good-natured and pa
blent. The Howard johnson restau-
rants will be open until 8 pm. today
and will resume regular weekday
hours tomorrow.
Washingtonians early got the
bright idea that the Gateway
Restaurants in Union Station would
De good place to go to eat. The
only flaw in the idea was that too
many people got the same thought.
from 8 am. until closing time at
IL midnight the main restaurant
and the counters were jammed.
E. Byrum, assistant manager of
me Gateway Restaurants, said the
crowds We're lined up from the
counters into the waiting room and
rom one aisle to another into the
Waiting room from the dining room.
Yesterday morning was filled with