Ft. Wayne, Indiana

10 10 09

Jalil arrived in Ft. Wayne in 1958 to go to school at Indiana Technical College and this was the first time he returned to Ft. Wayne.

He flew from Tehran to New York on PANAM which took 33 hours in a propeller plane -then United to Cleveland, Ohio, and American to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He then took a cab to Indiana Tech. He barely spoke English. The cab driver found the dean who found Bijan, who had sent the admission papers for the school to Jalil. He was a friend of Said Sapir who was the second Persian at the school. Jalil was #7 and before Jalil left there were 37 Persians in Ft. Wayne!

By this time Jail was exhausted. He saw a TV for the first time in his life but he fell asleep while watching!

So now we were looking for the places he remembered. He was going "by instinct". First we headed out of town searching for Blue Lake. There were pretty fall colors and light fog - no rain. Jalil told me that they went swimming there. "Once I swam across the lake but was too stiff to swim back. Said Sapir was able to swim back."

We stopped at Roanoke where there was an art fair in the old downtown. Jalil showed no interest in the art. I stopped at the apple booth where many types of apples were sold by the farmer. I tried a few kinds that the man cut for me and bought some delicious ones but I did not memorize the names! Jalil interviewed a man nearby about Blue Lake. "Oh, you mean Lake Blue". He told us that it was a private reservoir near Huntington that was open to the public but is now closed, as somebody had drowned there. So we were off to Huntington.

Huntington was a small town with a creek running through and we drove along it but could not find anything that rang a bell for Jalil. He thought that this road through town was the old 24 that he left FW on. "I am surprised that my brain has not retained more."

When Jalil left, his friends accompanied him in two or three cars to Blue Lake before saying goodbye. Everybody was emotional and Mo cried, Jalil remembered. Maybe that is why he does not remember. He was leaving the only friends he had in this country - except Parviz who had already left for San Francisco. Most of his friends did leave Ft. Wayne and eventually ended up in San Francisco or Los Angeles. They still get together occasionally.

Another memory Jalil has is the hamburgers at Azar's drive-ins - there were a few of them. The hamburger was called Big Boy - a double decker burger with a delicious sauce - for 50 cents. Jalil bet with Andy that he could eat 10 hamburgers in one sitting. However, he had to give up after 7.5 burgers. He lost the bet and had to pay for all of them. And he was sick to his stomach for two days afterwards!

The front desk clerk at Best Western told Jalil that there was an Azar's towards the airport. We found it accidentally. After taking MANY pictures, we had a Big Boy and a chicken wrap. The hamburger tasted as good as Jalil remembered. The strawberry pie he used to eat, was now sold as a pie baby.

Next we headed towards his school on Washington Street. We found Indiana Tech but it was brand new. Across the street there were empty lots with signs of foundations so the big question was - was the school there or where the new school was. He called Mo who was not sure which side of the street it was. Then Parviz called and he was not sure either. So I ran around taking pictures of all these pieces of foundation. Jalil thought the street was one-way away from downtown but now it was towards downtown. That confused him. A little later Mo called and said that he was sure that Washington was going towards downtown. Everything suddenly cleared for Jalil. His school was where the new one now was located. So there was nothing left of his old school! Jalil: "It is like a mirage. When you get there, it is not there any more!"

The building on Hanna/Washington, where Jalil lived with Andy, was gone. There was a car dealership there. He could not locate the house where he lived on Wayne Street. Walgreens, where they had milkshakes, coffee, etc., was also gone as well as the hot dog place Big Al. The Embassy Theater was still there.

Jalil remembers how kind people were here. He did not feel the same kindness in California. I, on the on the other hand, felt that people were so friendly in San Francisco, when I arrived. Maybe, when you first arrive in a new place, you are more open to new people.

Mo called back and reminded Jalil to have dinner at the Old Gas House Steak House. Parviz and Mo had worked there and Jalil had covered for Parviz one day as a bus boy.
This restaurant was still alive and full of people. I had a glass of Melbec, thinking of Susu, and Jalil a glass of Merlot. Mine tasted better. I had the most delicious salad - dried cherries, fresh strawberries, feta, walnuts and good greens. Jalil had peppersteak and he was very happy and I had Beef Oscar with crab cake, asparagus with bearnaise sauce and we shared a sweet potato souffle. No room for dessert. (This info is for Pam who wants food information.)

Jalil told the waitress that he had worked there 50 years ago. She did not think the restaurant was that old so she got an older waitress who confirmed that it had opened in 1957. Jalil remembered the brick walls but nothing else. It had been remodeled. That was a special evening for us and a nice ending to our Ft. Wayne adventure.

PS. The statue will be remembered by Jalil's friends, he hopes.