
Dubuque Memory Lane: Stories from Peppermint Patties Pizza Parlor
Last week, me and some coworkers were having a pow-wow. One of them brought up a place in Dubuque he fondly remembered as a child: Peppermint Patties Pizza Parlor at 5525 Asbury Road. I had to say the name aloud. Then I got to searching the internet.
Having not grown up in Dubuque — and even if I had, this establishment predates me — I always find myself listening intently when people bring up old businesses. Peppermint Patties Pizza Parlor is an instantly memorable name, and inspires nostalgia for those times as a kid when the key to happiness and world peace in your young eyes was a few slices of pizza, arcade tokens, and maybe some ice cream to end the day.
However, finding information on Peppermint Patties Pizza Parlor wasn't just difficult. It was impossible. Save for an old address record, not a single fragment of its existence is documented online. This is obviously because the establishment seemingly closed in the late 80s/early 90s, long before the internet was even in its real infancy.
Without many options, but with a serious desire to write something about this place, I took to r/Dubuque on Reddit and asked users to share any memories or information on Peppermint Patties they forgot they had in the recesses of their mind. I also made a quick video on the Y105 Facebook page.
Armed with some priceless anecdotes from some great folks in Dubuque, I now have a stronger idea of what Peppermint Patties Pizza Parlor was and what it meant to people in the area! A big thank you to those who helped contribute to this piece. I'm just the curator. You helped write the now-definitive, oral history of a childhood pillar for so many in the Tri-States!
Some Memories of Peppermint Patties Pizza Parlor:
The following are quotes lifted from the aforementioned Reddit post and Facebook video. Attribution is applied to the quotes based on Reddit or Facebook usernames coupled with the source from which the quote was pulled. The ensuing thoughts and recollections are not those of the author's. Text in bold is the author's preamble to the quote.
One Reddit user faithfully remembered how the high scores on the arcade games at Peppermint Patties turned into the ultimate bragging rights for neighborhood kids:
[Peppermint Patties] had a basketball game that gave tickets to win prizes. He who held the record, held the envy of all the kids in the neighborhood.
Lots of birthday parties. Looking back as a parent with kids now, it was probably no different than the pizza ranch [sic] today, but as a kid, it was the COOLEST place on earth - OffPoopin, Reddit
Another Reddit user recalled many birthday parties at Peppermint Patties:
Loved it as a kid. Lots of birthday partys [sic] there. Good pizza and very greasy. I do remember a bad story of the neighborhood troublemaker getting canned from there for spitting his chew on someone's pizza. No idea if it was true. - Ryrose81, Reddit
These users' recollections of the pizza are bound to make you hungry:
That place was awesome! I specifically remember the cheese pull from the enormous amount they piled on top of those pizzas. We'd bring a pocket full of quarters and dimes to play video games and buy super balls while we waited for the food to come out.
I miss that place but at least we got another...Casey's? :( - tooloud10, Reddit
We went there all the time when I was a kid. I remember the pizza being similar to what old-school dine-in era Pizza Hut pan pizza was like. - KrasnayaZvezda, Reddit
Jessica Riedl on Facebook recalled living across the street from the owner of Peppermint Patties, Dave Hanson:
Yep, lived across the street from the owner Dave. He'd give us wooden nickels for ice cream or the arcade, can't remember which, when we were waiting for the school bus. We'd ride bikes through the cornfield where the "new" section of Spring Green is now to get to redeem them. Was a good place for birthday parties. - Jessica Riedl, Facebook
Julie Vieth Monzingo got her first job at Peppermint Patties:
I got my first job at Peppermint Patties in 1990 when I was 16 years old. I worked there my junior and senior year and on breaks/summer for the first 2 years of college. It was open until at least 1993 or 1994. Dave Hanson was the owner and when he closed the restaurant, he opened some type of oil changing shop or tire shop in Asbury, across from where Hy-Vee is currently. He was a great boss and he employed mostly local high school kids. He worked around sports and activity schedules… it was an amazing first job! - Julie Vieth Monzingo, Facebook

These anecdotes are priceless and wonderful. The only thing missing is photos. Disappointingly, I was unable to find anyone who had photos of Peppermint Patties Pizza Parlor to share. I found some old advertisements for Peppermint Patties via the Telegraph Herald archives (including one for a Halloween party in 1986), but no photos whatsoever.
If you happen to have any photos of Peppermint Patties Pizza Parlor you'd like to see used in a future article from me, feel free to email me: steve.pulaski@townsquaremedia.com. Thank you once again for making this post fun, filled with nostalgia, and priceless Dubuque history!
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Gallery Credit: Aine Givens
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