The Ranch remains open, under ‘new’ ownership

Brenda Windsor and Beeson purchased The Ranch in March — just in time for gathering spaces, including popular hangouts, to be closed down due to COVID.

The menu is the same and the faces are familiar, but the new owners miss their regulars; the fact that the morning coffee crowd can’t come in, due to COVID, is the one change they have seen since taking over last month.

But The Ranch is open for takeout and drive-through: see page A2 for an updated list of local eateries that are staying open.

The business started in a house, specializing in deep-fried chicken. Manful and Foley added canopies and drive-up, phone-in service in 1963. Manful and Foley also owned Tom’s Drive-In, located at the port.

Ed Prideaux remodeled the restaurant and took out the canopies in 1984, in a Hood River News article headlined, “‘Teen landmark’ disappears from popular spot.”

“Memories of two-straw sodas, after-game burgers and Saturday night dates were rekindled here during the week when the front canopies at The Ranch Drive-In came down,” said the article.

“The canopies, which originally covered phone-in parking places, were dropped by a crane Friday as the initial step in a major remodeling plan at the Tucker Road restaurant.”

The Prideauxs expanded the restaurant in 1994, adding the indoor playground space, and expanded its menu. That year, Brenda Windsor became manager.

The Windsors and Beeson are working through the COVID challenge, keeping several long-time employees at work as many hours as they can as they need to support their families, Beeson said.

“I think the COVID has brought a lot of the community together,” Brenda said. “We see a lot of the regulars come through. They’re very supportive, but it’s done a lot for preventing, all that’s gone on, our focus on hygiene but it’s a sad situation, a lot of our regulars who would come in in the morning are over 70 years old, so they’ve stopped coming in. I feel for them, I wish them good health and safety and hope they are doing well.

“We’d normally have a good 15-20 that come in every morning for coffee, normally here at 7 a.m., waiting at the door, but these days we don’t see our coffee drinkers,” Windsor said.