IVAR'S TIMELINE 1945

A train car full of syrup rolled into town... It all started innocently one morning, when the railroad parked a tank car filled with syrup next to Madison and Alaskan Way South, directly across the street from Pier 54. Sometime during the early morning, traffic began to slow as a small crowd gathered at the intersection. Like many others, Ivar walked out to see what the attraction was. A coupling on the tank car had ruptured. Traffic was stopped because hundreds of gallons of thick syrup was pouring out onto Alaskan Way South, forming an ever-increasing lake of sticky, gooey syrup. Ivar joined the group of onlookers who were milling up and down the street. Suddenly he stopped. He froze dead in his tracks. A light bulb went off in his head. He turned in a flash and headed for the restaurant. There was no time to lose.

First, there were a few calls to the paper. Next he donned a pair of hip boots and pulled on a huge apron. All this was topped off with the aquarium hat. When the reporters arrived, they couldn't believe their eyes. There in the center of the huge lake of syrup was Ivar. In one hand he carried a large plate of pancakes, in the other a large spoon. He was scooping up the syrup, pouring it on the pancakes, and telling the crowd, "Eat at Ivar's. We don't skimp on the syrup."