 Clare
B. Richardson1 ,
2 , 3,
4, 5,
6, 7,
8,
9, 10,
11, 12,
13, 14,
15, 16,
17, 18
| Clare B. Richardson was born in Battle
Creek, Michigan the same year as the now famous Dairy Queen photos were taken.
Richardson graduated from Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, Michigan
majoring in Industrial Engineering Technology then he went on to Western Michigan
University to major in Industrial Engineering. After college graduation he joined
the Peace Corps and served in Chile, living at that time on the same boulevard,
kitty-corner, and only three buildings away, from the residence of iron-fisted
President of Chile, Augusto Pinochet. He moved to Southern California in 1977
working in various industries and most recently as a manufacturing engineering
consultant working for himself. He attended the prestigious Art Center College
of Design in Pasadena, and took extension classes from UCLA. Divorced and residing
in Chino, California, he shares time with his 12 year old son, Brian, often traveling
and attending Route 66 events. In 2003, he drove with his son all the way to Fairbanks,
Alaska in a 9,285 mile trip that lasted exactly one month. By 2004, Brian had
traveled to every state except Hawaii with his father. Because of this particular
adventure, In Search of a Dairy Queen, he has made many friends in the local area
and frequently visits Hot Springs. |
|
My journey begins in sunny Southern California about 40 miles directly east of
Los Angeles in the city of Chino Hills and not Hot Springs. It is a modern journey
searching back in time over 50 years in the past, to solve clues hidden behind
a mystery photograph used nationwide as a huge 6' x 16' mural by Dairy Queen in
many modern day nostalgic themed promotions. During the adventure, other smaller
photographs also used nationwide by Dairy Queen, surfaced and turned out to be
taken on the same day, July 11th, 1951 here in Hot Springs at what appears to
be a Dairy Queen Grand Opening. It wasn't! Some of these photos were misidentified
recently by Dairy Queen as Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1948. As the story unfolds,
it exposes the reason for those photos, a long forgotten Hot Springs company called
NASCO (National Animated Sign Company) that all but disappeared after 1955, and
speculates who was the most likely to have taken those spectacular pictures. |
| Articles
about this journey have appeared over the last year four times in the Sentinel-Record
newspaper including two front page stories, three California newspaper articles,
three Dairy Queen franchise magazine articles, and is due to appear in at least
one national magazine soon. The mural is located across the USA in over 75 stores
(including the confirmed locations of Chino Hills, California, Toledo, Ohio, Westminster,
Colorado, Norco, California, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and California, Missouri),
appears on current posters celebrating Dairy Queen's huge nationwide salute to
the 100th anniversary of the ice cream cone, and even appeared at a 2003 Orlando,
Florida DQ franchise convention where the image was on one of a set of four coasters
handed out at the event. This is the complete and accurate account of the more
than two-year adventure to find the Hot Springs Dairy Queen (and corrects minor
misinformation published in the various articles). |
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