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Published on 08/07/1995 All articles from this issue

Winner named in Rancho's Burma-Shave contest

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Bob Katzive's ode to the new Andronico's Market has won first prize in Rancho Shopping Center's Burma-Shave verse contest.

Out of more than 100 entries, Katzive, of Palo Alto, won $100 with his nine-word rhyme.

The winning verse, "Rancho's firing up the action: Andronico's the new attraction," will be shown Saturday at the Town Crier-sponsored Coffee Klatch.

Two runners-up in the contest included Lori Rogers of Palo Alto, deemed the most prolific contestant, and Brianna Dougherty, 7, the youngest entrant.

Los Altos Rancho Merchant's Association revived the roadside rhymes of the Burma-Shave signs to remind customers to shop at Rancho Shopping Center while the new Andronico's Market is under construction on the site of the former Rancho Market.

The rules of the Rancho Rhyme Contest were simple: make it fun, make it fit in five lines (plus Burma-Shave) and mention Rancho and/or Andronico's. The official sample to refresh everyone's memory is: No lady likes/to dance/or dine/accompanied by/a porcupine ... Burma-Shave! For those too young to know, Burma-Shave was a shaving cream made by the Burma-Vita Company of Minneapolis, Minn.

The rhyme, verse and jingle of the famous Burma-Shave signs were taken off the highways in 1965 and now can be seen in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., according to the definitive book on the subject, "Verse by the Side of the Road: The Story of the Burma-Shave Signs and Jingles" (by Frank Rowsome, Jr., Stephen Greene Press, publisher).