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PLACES FOR FRIENDS & FUN
Plenty of hangouts in downtown Ripon
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For over a century the old Oddfellows Hall in the heart of Ripon has been home to many businesses including at least one general store. Today it is home to the Ripon Roadhouse and has become a major hangout from noon through the evening hours on the east end of Main Street. - photo by GLENN KAHL

Hangouts are those places where friends hang out with friends and Ripon has many from the old Odds Fellow Hall to the ice cream shop, a favorite for school children walking home from school.

Those special places for the youth include the Ripon Library where kids have been going with friends after school, not necessarily to study or do research but rather visit with their school buddies.  At noon time the open campuses send students mostly to the downtown where they seek out their favorite lunches with many going to Pizza Plus – also a favorite hangout by many of their families at night and on the weekends.

The older set searches out the Main Street Inn that has been Ripon’s only bar for much of the city’s past years.  With several Mexican restaurants up and down Main Street adding to the choices, noontime can’t be missed as the students move in masse down the street to buy their lunches.

Ede’s Tacos, across from the Bank of Stockton has been recently refurbished under new ownership where many of the students arrive to while away their lunch hour. Business folks in town spend their time chatting at an upscale coffee bar in the ACE shopping center at West Main Street and Wilma Avenue.  It is definitely an adult hangout where a definite amount of business takes place.

And, of course, there is a steady stream of farmers coming into town for a change of scenery and a “cup of Joe” with old friends working side by side on their farms.  One of those smaller coffee shops in the community is a regular stop for a couple of Highway Patrolmen who obviously feel safer in the Ripon Community than in a busier environment.

Mike’s Eatery – formerly an old drug store – in the downtown is probably the newest in the community open for less than two years.  Mike had been the manager of The Barnwood Restaurant until it was forced to close thank to the threat of an ADA lawsuit – for more than 20 years.  Riponites can be seen “hanging out” there all hours of the day until the coffee shop closes after lunch.  For those who love the family atmosphere, it’s the place to be in the small community.

The Barnwood Restaurant had long been a favorite freeway stop for travelers looking for something special with a western atmosphere being very much a hangout for farmers and cattlemen alike.  Chef John Mangelos had been the Ripon chef at two Olympics where he served as a cook – recognized worldwide.

The Canal Street Grill is north of city hall and draws the higher class lunch crowd including the more important lunches for visitors from out of town hoping to make an important sale and a lunch or dinner to remember.  

There are a couple of Manteca school administrators who spend much of their time reminiscing with friends in Ripon apparently enjoying the Mayberry RFD attitudes.