Still Missing Your Brains & Eggs?

[Nostalgia] All-night diners are hard enough to come by in this town let alone finding one with flamboyance and character. A diner with cult-status? Now that's something to cherish.

Most people did cherish Bill & Nada's Cafe, once inhabiting the space at 479 South and 600 East by Trolley Square, up until it closed … when was it? 1999? They loved the 1950s time warp; the jukebox that played Patsy Cline and Marty Robbins; Bill behind the cash register—or if not there in person, on the wall mural and in photos and memorabilia around the joint; the restaurant’s motto: “We never close”; sassy waitresses donning ‘50s-era uniforms with white aprons; and paper mats featuring Bill and Nada in the center surrounded by U.S president from Washington to Clinton.

After the restaurant closed and was later was torn down, people wondered what happened to the cafe's distinctive sign. At a September 2002 Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission meeting, its sad demise was announced:

Mr. Knight said that the prospective owners at that time said they would remove it and install it on the interior of the new building. Mr. Littig said that the owners wanted $500 for it. An offer was made at $100 and the owners would not accept it, then it was found out that a bulldozer crushed the sign. Carmack’s was going to save the sign. Ms. Giraud said that if the corner becomes an office building or a bank, “I would not blame them for not wanting the sign.” The wall mural was destroyed with the building.

Bill & Nada's: Gone but not forgotten. If you miss it or never got to experience its unique charms, a photographer by the name of Bert Singleton has created a photo gallery with memories of the joint. (Jerre Wroble)