HUDSON, Colo. — After 114 years as a gathering place in Hudson, The Pepper Pod restaurant is closed for good. On their last day, customers and staff experienced light as air eggs and heavy hearts.
Let’s start at the end.
Dave Martin closed his restaurant for good after 48 and a half years.
"I used to work 85 to 90 hours a week…anymore I can only go five hours before my feet get so swollen," Dave said. "I just can’t do it anymore."
If Hudson, Colorado, was a family, this is their house.
"I’m supposed to be at work but I needed my malted waffle before they close," Connie Carlson said.
"People know about this place from out of state," she added, taking a bite of the waffle.
Amy Jackson has been cooking next to her dad for 20 years. She says she doesn't want to do it without him.
"It's like saying goodbye to a relative. It feels like a family member is dying, but it's a really long drawn out funeral," she said.
Have you done the same thing for half a century?
"I’m on the wrong side of 70; I started when I was 21," Dave said. "It's been my whole adult life. I want to do something else while I can."
How about 27 years here like Kaleena Rossi who has been waiting tables here since she was 16 years old.
"This has been hard for the community, lots of tears this week," she said. "Good thing we’re still busy...not a lot of time to think about it.
Some of these people (customers) came to welcome my first son when he was born."
Dave agonizes.
"There’s a lot of emotion involved in this deal. Emotionally I'm a wreck," he said.
This isn’t a restaurant; it’s a living room...until today.
