BILL AND THELMA’S RESTAURANT
Address: 204 Route 28, West Yarmouth
Years Active: 1951–1979
If you were a teenager in the mid-Cape area from the 1950s to the ’70s, chances were that you spent a good amount of time at Bill and Thelma’s. If you were an adult in the mid-Cape area from the 1950s to the ’70s, chances were that you spent a good amount of time at Bill and Thelma’s. In fact, if you lived in the mid-Cape area at all during the two-plus decades that it was open, it is likely that you spent some time at this wildly popular restaurant and hot spot.
Bill Maud began his restaurant venture along the Ocean Street docks in Hyannis in the early 1950s. He ran a small establishment called the Clam Shack that was popular with the locals, travelers and fishermen bringing in their fresh catches. His time in Hyannis was short-lived, as business took off, and there was a need for a new location.
A new home was found in the area of West Yarmouth along Route 28 near the famed Mill Hill Club. The new establishment—still small, roughly diner-sized—needed a new name. Bill incorporated his wife, Thelma, into the equation, and Bill and Thelma’s Restaurant was born. Bill was the chef, while Thelma served as hostess. They brought in a dedicated staff, and many stayed as crew for nearly the entire duration of the restaurant’s existence. Though not known as the Clam Shack anymore, the new restaurant received rave reviews for its fried clams. So popular were the golden-brown shellfish that a sign was placed atop the restaurant’s roof to alert passersby when they were available.
Bill and Thelma’s wowed customers with their fish and chips and onion rings, in addition to the fried clams. They would keep things simple, with items like hamburgers, hot dogs and beans, macaroni and cheese and other fresh comfort foods. The couple also made it a point to position their establishment as a family restaurant, where parents and children alike could come for lunch or dinner and find something they enjoyed for a reasonable price. Bill Maud made the restaurant a hot spot with a ninety-nine-cent dinner. This deal included everything from the entrée to the dessert and became a staple of what made Bill and Thelma’s a destination for many years.
The establishment’s popularity grew during its run near Mill Hill. The original diner-sized building expanded several times, until it was an impressive setting. It was pure Cape Cod within the walls of Bill and Thelma’s, with neutral colors and hardwood adorned by netting filled with seafaring creatures like crabs and starfish hanging from the ceiling. The seemingly cluttered ceiling above contrasted the overall cleanliness of the restaurant; Bill Maud was a stickler for a spotless dining area and kitchen.
Even with the expansion, there were lines out the door of people wanting to get their fill at this spot. If the ninety-nine-cent dinner didn’t bring people in, perhaps being serenaded on the organ by Maud himself did it. Bill regularly played the organ, and loyal customers and friends came in, grabbed a cocktail and sang along to some of the standards of the day. Bill loved the organ so much that the local Cape Cod Organ Society held its monthly meetings at his place. During one meeting in 1966, Marie Marcus, Cape Cod’s First Lady of Jazz, played piano while John Chapman played the organ. Those meetings were more of a social hour than a serious discussion.
Bill and Thelma’s became the place to be as a teenager in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. The restaurant was filled with students from nearby Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School commiserating in the booths and at the counter after sporting events and dances. Things could get tense if students from rival Barnstable High School showed up, which they sometimes did after defeating Dennis-Yarmouth in a sporting event. However, it was nothing that a frappe and some onion rings could not solve.
Adjacent to the main dining room was the Jolly Tar Lounge, where the adults who came without kids could congregate. It was here that the cocktails were served and various professional sporting events watched on television. For all of the owners’ efforts to make Bill and Thelma’s a family restaurant, there was still a desire to have a spot just for the adults. Bill Maud was a people pleaser and a beloved figure in the community. He was known to have once created a skating rink on a neighboring cranberry bog for the children using only his Jeep and a plow. Things like that, the ninety-nine-cent dinners and accommodating many high schoolers in the evenings to keep them out of trouble made Bill and Thelma pillars of the community.
The $0.99 dinners were kept up as long as it was feasibly possible by Bill Maud. Even after that price was untenable, he tried $1.99 dinners for a time. However, as time went on, it was no longer possible to keep those deals up. By then, the business was nearing its end. Business slowed down as the 1970s were nearing the end. Bill Maud would sell his restaurant in 1978 and along with Thelma retire down to Florida, ending nearly three decades in business. Soon thereafter the Italian restaurant Casa Mia would open on the spot. It would not be nearly as successful. As of 2016 Designer Warehouse resides in the building at 204 Route 28.
Even nearly forty years after closing there are many who grew up in the Mid-Cape area who fondly reminisce about their times at Bill and Thelma’s.