Ethel’s Cafe

: Cisco, UT. Sep. 11, 2014
: Cisco, UT. Sep. 11, 2014

I’m trying to duplicate the whole town of Cisco, Utah in N scale. This post introduces one of the structures in the town.


A few businesses survived along US Hwy 50 & 6 at Cisco in the early 70s; 4 gas service stations, a mercantile/cafe, and a motel. Some private houses also seem to exist along Second Street. Westernmost of the town sat this structure at Block 4, Cisco Townsite.


Block 4 itself was long owned by a sheepman Robert Frederick Burford(1865 – 1929) until 1936[1]. In the 30s, a structure on Block 4 was owned by Virginia Frances Paxton Gruver(1898 – 1978)[2]. She ran a boarding house until 1942 and rented it to Roscoe Clarence Hallett(1890 – 1971) afterward [3, 1]. Later, Mrs. Margaret Hess was the owner of Block 4 in 1964[4].

The glory days of this structure can be seen in the 1971 movie Vanishing Point. In the movie, the upraised "Ethel’s Cafe" sign accompanied by the yellow "Shell" sign is seen.

: still from "Vanishing Point" showing Ethel's Cafe on far left

Gerald Levern "Jerry"(1915 – 1971) and Ethel May Frazier(1925 – 2014) Spears married and resided at Cisco since 1962[5, 6]. Ethel was a cousin of Virginia Gruver. Jerry and Ethel opened up the Ethel's Cafe in 1965: beer license was granted to the two that year[7]. A 4000-gallon and a 2000-gallon underground steel tank provided the gasoline, and another 2000-gallon underground steel tank provided the diesel oil. Jerry hauled all the drinking water in Cisco from Thompson[8]. Ethel's nephew Jack Miller assisted them in pumping gas.

After the demise of Jerry, Ethel remarried Lawrence Walker "Shorty" Hale(1901 – 1980)[9]. Annual Financial Statement For the Year Ended December 31, 1974 shows her business as Ethel's Service[10]. Short stories about Ethel, her cafe, and her two years old male American Pitt Bull terrier in those days are found on the web[11, 12, 13, 14].


Larry Lee Sheets(1943 – 1999) purchased the business in 1977 and changed its name to Cisco Desert Sun Inn[15, 16]. Larry succeeded the cafe but not the gas service[17].

The hazardous waste incinerating company Cisco Development Inc., a subsidiary of CoWest Incineration Corp. of Denver backed by Catalyst Waste-to-Energy Corp., a subsidiary of Catalyst Energy Corp. of New York, took over the business in 1978.

Cisco Development Inc. called for the operator that February[18]. The company also acquired a beer license for use at its Cisco Store in April[19]. The cafe, the last surviving commercial space at Cisco at that time, was at least operating in 1978[20].

In 1979, the Desert Sun Inn was owned by Rose Irene Reed "Toni" Sanford(1943 − ?) of Gateway, CO and operated by her son Alfred Jr. Dean "Jock-o" Sanford(1965 − 2021)[21, 22]. Jock-o carried water from Fruita, CO. Unfortunately, however, no evidence of its survival has been found ever since.


Besides my own survey, I used Google Maps to draw plans of the structure. The result is shown below: of course, some imaginations are included.

revised, Jun. 13, 2017

revised, Feb. 4, 2018

revised, Jul. 31, 2021

revised, Sep. 23, 2022

revised, Apr. 16, 2023

[1] Apr. 30, 1936 Times Independent;
[2] Hepperle, Mary L. Cowger. "Memories of Cisco", Canyon Legacy, Vol. 51, Moab Museum, 2004;
[3] Sep. 14, 1978 Times Independent;
[4] Dec. 17, 1964 Times Independent;
[5] Dec. 6, 1962 Times Independent;
[6] May 13, 2014 Uintah Basin Standard;
[7] Mar. 11, 1965 Times Independent;
[8] arx. "Town of Cisco, part 3 – Rio Grande as a Lifeline", Boxcar Red Collection;
[9] Jun. 9, 1977 Times Independent;
[10] Feb. 6, 1975 Times-Independent;
[11] Oct. 14, 1976 Times Independent;
[12] Stile, Jim. "Poking Through the Ruins #7 ‘ETHELS’ CAFE’ in CISCO, UTAH’" Canyon County Zephyr, 2012;
[13] Gromer, Cliff. "Red Rocks, White Knuckles", Drag Racing, Volume VIII, Issue 3, 2006;
[14] Oct. 7, 1976 Times Independent;
[15] Oct. 20, 1977 Times Independent;
[16] Jan. 19, 1978 Times Independent;
[17] Dec. 17, 2009 Times Independent;
[18] Feb. 23, 1978 Times Independent;
[19] Apr. 6, 1978 Times Independent;
[20] Brown, Mike. A Conversation That Actually Just Happened, 2014;
[21] July 1, 1979 Daily Sentinel;
[22] July 1, 1979 Daily Sentinel;

: references and the drawings of Ethel’s Cafe
: north and east elevation of Ethel’s Cafe
　
　
ユタ州を走るD&RGWの沿線にある／あった、Ciscoという町を紹介している。この建物はCiscoの町の西端にあった、そしてCiscoにおいて最後まで営業していた、Ethel’s Cafeという店である。Googleのstreet viewで見るように、現在も建屋は遺っている。

この建物は、映画「バニシング・ポイント」のタイトル・バックにも登場する。竣工年ははっきりしないが、1952年撮影の航空写真には写っている。店名にあるEthelという人が1965年から1977年まで店を切り盛りしていた。営業が確認できる最後の資料の日付は1987年11月４日である。

現地調査の他、D&RGWの軌道幅を基準に拡大したGoogleの航空写真を参考に、全体の大きさを割り出した。