'A real family environment'

Moses Lake landmark Woody's Drive-In turns 25

MOSES LAKE - Christy Osborn's father had a dream, and her mother had the hard work to make it happen.

Woody Taylor died shortly after opening the Woody's Drive-In on Broadway Avenue. His wife Sharon took it over from there and operated the business until her death last May.

"Even though it was my dad's dream, and it wouldn't have existed without Dad's dream, it was really my mom who's the reason it's still there," Osborn said.

Osborn said she is excited to see Woody's Drive-In turn 25 years of age, an occasion the restaurant is celebrating this weekend.

"It's a realization of my dad's dream and all my mom's hard work," she said.

The actual date of Woody's opening is unknown, said current owner and daughter Jody Taylor.

"We do not (know), because my dad opened it illegally with no permit," she said with a grin. "They came and told him, 'Woody, you've got to get a permit.' So he did and they never shut us down or anything, we just kept on rolling. It was toward the end of May."

Woody Taylor had owned a tavern in Moses Lake, but Jody said he wanted to get out of the bar business.

"He kept driving by this place and had a little dream," she said. "Wanted to make us a little family business out of it."

The location had been a Tastee Freeze, and Jody had actually worked there during high school.

"He kind of leaned on me and my sister, also," Jody said. "So we kind of showed him the ropes, cleaned it up and got her going."

Woody had big plans for the business, including a caramel corn shop on the second floor, Jody told her daughter, Jade Gonzalez, the next in line to operate the business.

"Second floor?" Gonzalez asked her mother. The building only has one.

"Oh yeah, he was dreaming big back then in the day," Jody replied. "When we made all our money, we were going to have our second floor."

"My dad was kind of a big dreamer," Osborn explained. "If it wasn't for my dad, really it wouldn't exist. My dad really wanted to take what was there and really had a lot of dreams to expand on, adding a second floor. He talked about always adding additional things to the menu."

But the business hasn't changed "a whole lot" over the past 25 years, save for the addition of menu items and, recently, outdoor music.

"My mom, she was kind of a caretaker of sorts, you would say," Jody said. "She helped out a lot of the kids in the community by giving them jobs and counseling them. Even today, I just had a kid walk in the back door the other day and he is now a minister in California. He was a troubled kid that she hired out of prison. He had done some prison time, she gave him a chance and he changed. Every week, some of the kids that used to work here come through the back door just to say high and have a little Woody experience."

The business currently employs about eight people.

Jody's favorite memory of Woody's is quitting her job in Alaska every summer and bringing her kids to Moses Lake to swim in the aquatics center.

"My kids worked at Woody's and I worked at Woody's and it was a great way to raise my kids," she said. "Now they still work here today. They're helping me. My mom passed away last May. My dad, after he started this place, he passed away five months later or so, and then Sharon took over, and now I've taken over. And Jade's next in line, with her little muffins."

Gonzalez began working at Woody's when she was 13, while brother Woody started in the summers when he was 10.

"My wage was $4 an hour and I think the minimum wage was $7 or something," Gonzalez recalled with a laugh. "My grandma was tight."

"I think it's really cool that my family has had the business for that long, longer than I've been alive," Woody said. "I think it's something to be said that we can make it that long here, because you see a lot of small businesses try to make it here, they go up and then they don't make it very long. It kind of shows people like us and we've been here a long time."

Asked about a least favorite memory, Jody responded with concrete floors.

"You smell like a cheeseburger when you get off work, and it's hard work," she said. "People always think it's so fun down here, and it's really hard, back-breaking work."

"How hard it is, and how fun it is at the same time," Woody agreed. "You've got to remember a lot of stuff, you've got to know everything in and out, but at the same time we goof off a lot and we just have a fun time."

"We don't have a computer to punch in 'cheeseburger minus onions,'" Gonzalez said. "We have to hand write it and the cook has to know what's on the burgers."

His sister has already laid claim to the business next, which is OK with Woody, who is currently attending college.

"I think Jade has it," he said. "I know it's been in my family a long time and that's really cool, but at the same time, I don't really want to take it over."

Woody said his favorite thing about Woody's is the milkshakes.

Jody believes the food is the reason why Woody's has lasted so long.

"My dad always wanted the working man to have a good meal, you know?" she said. "So that's kind of our motto: Oversized food. It seems like this year we've had a lot of new faces, which is great, and a lot of them come right back."

"In general, my favorite memories are having people come through the back door, family and friends, and Woody's provides a real family environment," Osborn said. "That's kind of my best memory, working there, having people come in and then also, as I've had children, having them go through the back door and visiting Grandma."

"Our customers are really what's made it here," Jody said. "We've had some of the same customers come through here for-"

"Daily," Gonzalez said.

In the next 25 years, Osborn hopes Woody's is still around.

"I hope it stays in the family and it's passed down, that somebody will be there that wants to keep the legacy," she said.

Gonzalez would like to see the business expanded.

"We would love to have inside seating," Jody agreed. "My dream is to have another Woody's in Moses Lake with inside seating. We have our diehards in the wintertime that still come here. It dies down quite a bit, but we make it through every year."