Image via Parker family
The white horse on the back of an antique pickup truck on King Street has been an unofficial Alexandria landmark for decades, but few people know why.
“I’d always say, ‘That’s the horse. It’s... umm….’ Gosh, I don’t even know how to explain it,” said Ned Parker, a son of Fred Parker, who help found Hard Times Café and brought the horse to King Street.
The horse and 1941 Chevy pick-up truck is another one of the legacies left by Fred Parker, who died in April after a battle with cancer. The horse and truck have stood proudly in front of the restaurant and have been featured in local parades.
“There’s the Masonic Temple, and then there’s the horse, Fred’s unofficial landmark,” Ned said.
Image via Parker family
Fred took a gamble starting a restaurant on Upper King Street, an area in the 1980s where it was risky to start a business. There was a lot of crime in the area. Back in 2015 Fred told Living Legends of Alexandria some customers had their cars broken into while they were dinning.
Initially, they did not have the benefit of being close to a metro station. The King Street - Old Town metro station did not open until December 1983, so there was significantly less foot-traffic in the area.
Back then that area of King Street didn't have the brick sidewalks and storefronts it has now.
Having Hard Times Café there paved the way for other business to be able to grow into the area.
“All the businesses had always been down by the water, and the Hard Times was a pioneer in bringing businesses up further towards the temple,” Ned said.
When visiting Hard Times, it is pretty clear Fred could be described as nostalgic, and he was very interested in collecting antiques. With Hard Times Café, he wanted to bring a taste of the Great Depression with chili and a feel for the Old West with antiques and neon signs.
The horse and the truck fit right in with the Western feel.
The Origin of the Horse
Hard Times Café opened in 1980, and it wasn’t too long after that Fred discovered a tack shop in rural Virginia was getting rid of an old mannequin horse that modeled saddles.
Fred struck a deal with them to purchase it, and then put it in the back of his antique truck and parked it outside the restaurant. It has been a part of Hard Times Café ever since.
As a kid, Jonathan Parker, one of Fred’s sons, remembers driving the truck around to events all over the area. They would go to the National Zoo, the National Kidney Foundation, St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School fundraisers and National Hot Dog Day events (serving chili dogs, of course).
Jonathan always felt it was risky to take the truck on the interstate, worried it wasn’t going to be able to make it.
“I was like, 'Are we playing Russian roulette here?'” Johnathan said, laughing.
They would take it to many of the same events each year and to multiple parades, as well. Ned was often the one to dress up as George Washington and ride the horse. Washington was always accompanied by his “secret service” detail, young Cub Scouts in suits.
Image via Parker family
“The best part of it was that after the parade is over, my dad would go 30-40 mph down Duke Street while I’m still on the horse. And I’d get to freak people out,” Ned said. “People just driving by, they don’t even know there is a parade going on and they see this person dressed up as George Washington sitting on a horse.
Making the Spot
Ned remembers when he was a teenager, Fred would have to move the truck every day from around the corner to the spot in front the restaurant. The truck couldn’t park there until 5 p.m. because the area was a loading zone.
Even though he would try to move it every day, the truck got many, many parking tickets. At some point though, city parking enforcement officials gave up.
“I think the city appreciates the fact that he was the first business that was in that area of Old Town,” Ned said. “I think the reward that they gave Fred for that was finally not giving him tickets.”
The horse definitely drew attention in different ways over the years — one year it was “knit bombed” by a local knitting club. Fred loved it so much he kept the garments on for the Scottish Walk parade.
Unfortunately, not all the attention resulted in fun decorations.
Around 2003, the horse was stolen. A group of teenage girls had just gotten a new pick-up truck, so one night they drove up next to horse in the middle of the night and lifted the horse to the back of their truck and drove off with it.
They hid it in a garage and spray painted it. It was missing for several weeks. Finally, one of the parents spotted the horse in their garage, immediately recognized it and called up Fred.
“They asked if he wanted to press charges or anything, and he said, ‘Not at all. Everything is fine as long as they paint back over the horse and bring it back,’” Ned said. “It was a happy ending.”
Fred really wanted to create more than a restaurant, he wanted to create a community. The horse drew people together in that it was a point of discussion, it became a larger-than-life character.
Continuing the Legacy
A few days before Fred died, Ned put out a post on Facebook asking people to leave him voicemails to play for his father. The family was surprised when people they had never met called. Many of those they didn’t know called to tell Fred how much the horse meant to them, how it made them laugh and how they always checked to see if it was there when they came back to Old Town.
“It was nice that Fred was reminded of that in his last moments. That he impacted people he never met because of his quirky and cool aesthetics,” Ned said.
The family plans to continue the legacy of driving the horse in parades. Ned most recently drove it in a parade when his father was not well enough to do so himself. It was a rough ride, but he knows he’ll be able to keep doing it in the future.
In his last conversation with his father, Ned informed him of which antiques he would care for and promised he would continue driving the horse in parades.
“It was like he was just lying there the last day waiting to have those last things tied up,” Ned said. “He loved the legacy of Hard Times, he loved his things, and he wanted more than anything for those things to be continued. And I think he was waiting to hear that before he left.”
Ned saw his father’s breathing slow, and Fred took his last breath as Ned told him how he was continuing his legacy. Fred was very proud of his legacy in Old Town, even if he wouldn’t have admitted it.
“Deep down he would have this satisfaction knowing that [the horse] did become this larger-than-life character,” Johnathan said.
