Bette’s Place celebrates 50 years

HOOD RIVER — Famous for its cinnamon rolls and known as “the friendliest restaurant in town,” Bette’s Place celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 17 with cake, flowers and photo albums full of staff, family and much-loved customers — many of whom stopped by to offer congratulations.

Bette Walters opened the restaurant in 1975, when the Oak Mall was first opening. She saw an opportunity and went for it. “It was a huge success,” said Gay Jones, daughter of Walters and former owner of Bette’s Place for 24 years. It began with just the front portion of the restaurant, but they just kept expanding.

“I said I’d never work at a restaurant,” said Jones, but when she moved back to Hood River and needed a job, her mother told her, “If you’re coming back here, I’m going to teach you how to cook.”

Jones concluded, “Really it was the best thing I could have done.”

Jones and current owner Sheri Castaneda, who took it over in 2019 — though she’s worked at the restaurant since 15 — talked about how the thing they try to preserve is the legacy that Bette infused into the menu and the restaurant.

“My mentality has always just been, keep it the way they had it. It shouldn’t change,” said Castaneda. She tries to carry on Bette’s reputation as “the friendliest restaurant in town,” even through the difficulties brought on by COVID and staffing shortages. “We’ve tried to run it like my mom did, [with] hard work,” said Jones.

One challenge Castaneda currently faces is not having a right-hand woman to run the front of house while she runs the kitchen. Jones explained the way Bette’s has run so efficiently for its long life: “My mom always had me and Sheri, and then when my mom retired, I had Sheri And Tana [Stanphill, another dedicated employee who worked at Bette’s for 30 years], and they were out here, and they just ran it … Then when I left, Sheri didn’t have anyone … There was nobody else that would treat this like it was her own.”

The two compared themselves to mother and daughter, “and we fight like mother and daughter too,” said Jones. But their bond allows them to support each other through the difficulties of running a restaurant.

“We text each other 3,000 texts a month,” said Jones.

“A day!” Castaneda interjected.

Their bond emphasized the family environment they foster at Bette’s and how the three owners and cooks and their families have supported each other and worked together to keep Bette’s a pillar of the community.

“One thing Mom always was happy about,” said Sheri Walters, Gay’s other daughter, back in town to celebrate the anniversary, “she sent a lot of kids to school” — high school kids like Castaneda herself had been. “I got done with college and stayed here, and now my kids are in college, and I remember [Gay’s] kids going to college,” Castaneda said.

Bette’s Place is not just a women’s world though; the husbands (co-owners) and families joined in on the fun: Jerry Walters, Bette’s husband, and their son Mitch, Garry Jones, and Ricardo Castaneda. “They like to stand at the till and take money and pour coffee,” said Jones, laughing. 

Despite the ups and downs over the years, Bette’s Place remains a restaurant where patrons can be sure of a friendly smile and a steaming cup o’ joe, available every day from 5:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, call 541-386-1880.