Smoker’s Hack

Grew up/spent 24 years in Riverside after being exiled from the beach (W.LA) at age 3, with the exception of 1 year in the mountains (Forest Falls) so I will admit to being an old school 909er (or 714 as it was then). Used to go to the Redlands location as a kid & both locations later when I started driving. Great smorgasbord brunch on the weekends featuring what I seem to recall as a combination of Scandinavian cuisine (pickled herring in sour cream, gravlax, Swedish style pancakes/pastries/sausages etc. + Classic American breakfast with a definite mid-western slant. More Scandinavian fare for lunch & dinner with the ubiquitous Swedish meatballs, among other ethnic specialties/oddities that I can’t remember specifically + once again, the usual American favorites a la, as you said, Furrs or Cliftons. The marketing slant was more toward the “all you can eat” angle than specifically Scandinavian fare but I recall it as serving good to very good food, as one of the only places you could find any kind of Nordic specialties, as a really good deal for the price and a generally good time, + the legendary bakery and the requisite Nordic gifts/kitsch. Last at Claremont shortly before moving back to LA in ‘82 . . . sad to hear of their closing. You shoulda been there . . . yah, you betcha.

It’s realy a shame that Griswold’s isn’t there anymore..until recent years, the sign was still up. My bf and I used to fast all day, then go to Griswold’s to scarf. It was totally worth it: a great all-you-can-eat smorgasbord, quality food. When I moved back to the IE after a few decades away, and I saw the old Griswold’s sign, a few years go, I got excited and promised my daughter I’d take her there and we’d enjoy a fantastic meal together. Our disappointment was keen when I realized that Griswold’s was long gone.

Do you have any info on Jack and Rita Buell..? They had a restaurant in Banning, I think?

This was the weirdest thing that happened while I work there. There was this one weird guy” look like your normal pervert”eg chester the mol***, he was the maintenance man. Any how, every so often he would say” I got something to do”, and he would run up stairs”. Well, as time went on, one day the power went out, and the perv was not there. The management and others went up stairs to reset the breakers and the door was locked. Remember, this was the maintenance man hang out at. Well, the kitchen people kick in the door and found, Women’s underwear, sexual type stuff and a peep hole to the women’s bathroom. This has been going on for years. I have been there for 5 years. Anyhow they let him go. He live some were on Buena vista, Redlands”I seen his car there in the early 90’s.

Griswold’s in Redlands was my first job ever. I was a Smorgi-girl (the ones who replenish the dishes on the smorgasbord). The smorgasbord was a Swedish buffet. There were Swedish meatballs and herring in sour cream, in addition to American food like jello salads and side dishes. There was also a gift shop that sold Swedish folk souvenirs. It’s funny: I can’t even remember the bakery.

My parents used to take us to Griswold’s in Redland’s when I was a kid. I barely remember the food, but I remember the atmosphere very well. I also remember watching cakes being decorated through a glass window in their bakery. Sad to hear they are gone now.

Yes they did have a great bakery
In the 70s my Grandfather and grandmother used to take me to the Redlands restaurant regularly. I remember it quite well. For some reason cubed green Jell-o sticks out in my mind and that if you put it on a plate with hot meatballs it would melt into green slime.

As time passed my grandfather had meals-on-wheels that was prepared by Griswolds. I remember Meatballs and noodles regularly appearing in foil boxes with cardboard lids. He passed in 1985 and after that time we were rarely in Redlands. In the late 80s I attended a Cadillac LaSalle car club meet at the one in Claremont. I had passed it many times in my life but had never actually been there.
My Aunt and I went back to look around Redlands some years ago and Griswolds building was still there. It was quite surreal. The parking lot was overgrown and it was such a strange feeling being there. It was dead silent except for the 10 freeway. All the paintings on the building were intact. Including the one I remembered most something to the effect that “good food is prepared with lots of butter and love”.

I have to say it is such a shame to see these places go. They were so interesting, much moreso than Chilli’s or Applebees. I will always have fond memories of Griswolds and Clearmans Northwoods Inn in Belmont Shore.