Former-waitress Kalika Moquin met Jonathan Taylor Thomas & Zachery Ty Bryan at the karaoke bar Dimples in Burbank, California, in November of 2001 while waitressing.
Via Facebook, she shares her exclusive story on that exact night when she met the Home Improvement stars.
“I moved to LA at age 19, and got a job waitressing at a [Karaoke] bar in Burbank called Dimples. […] It was around 8pm, my 2nd night on the job. The bartender flags me over and says ‘hey, the kids from Home Improvement just sat in your section’ - my heart stopped. There was NO WAY it could be JTT. I looked up and over at the table towards the back, and there he was. […]
Before I could go over to the table, they got up, and began walking to the bar. I all but raced over to meet them half way, and as cool and calmly as I could, welcomed them to Dimples, said I would be their waitress, and asked if I could take their drink order. They were both so nice and polite, and had one other friend in [town.] Right after I took their order, the owner came up to us as asked to snap a photo with his Polaroid camera, so he could hang it on the “Wall of Fame”, which was covered with celebrities who had visited the bar. This is that photo, which he printed a copy of for me. And though I have long lost the original, I’m very happy at one point in time I took a pic of it.
They stayed until around 10pm. I checked in with them a couple of times, let them know I had just moved from Montana, and was a big fan of course. As they were leaving, Zach turned me to and asked ‘What time do you get off? We’re all going up to my place in Glendale if you want to come […] I responded ‘I would love to, but just started this job and don’t get off until 1am.’ ‘That’s ok’ he said. ‘If we’re still hanging we’ll come back and get you.’
[…] To my shock, they did. Waiting in a truck in the parking lot for me right at 1 when I walked out the doors. It was only Zach and his friend in the truck, but they said Jonathan was at the house waiting for us to get back. And he was.
The four of us went hot tubbing, made apple martinis, stayed up talking, and had a blast until around 5am, when I eventually crashed on the couch. The next morning they drove me back to my car. And I spent all day calling every single person I knew back home (from a landline) to tell them the story. It’s like it wasn’t real, it was a high that lasted a long time after, and something I’ll never forget.
I never saw them after that night, and moved back to Montana a couple of months after. My time in LA was a short but impactful one in life. That taught me some hard lessons, while setting a trajectory for many years to come.”
(Photograph via Facebook)
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