# Defunct restaurant chains
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 6, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004 "2006-12-06T00:37:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 16
### Author:  [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/301 "2006-12-12T05:08:15Z")
We had a Lum’s in Cahokia, IL, of all places. It went under in the late 70’s though; it couldn’t compete with the Bonanza next door.
**CalMeacham:** as **myskepticsight** says, Houlihan’s is still around. There’s at least three more in the St. Louis area: Chesterfield Mall, Olive (just west of 270), and west Watson Rd (again, in the mall).
I can make a meal just out of their 'shrooms. Never had a bad meal there, but their menu seems to be going a tad artsy in the last few years.
**Dooku:** wasn’t there a Naugles (or something like) at 40 and Grand back in the mid/late 80s?
[QUOTE=Borborygmi]
This thread has been a great read whilst I was stuck on a conference call, but my Og: where’s the love for **[Olga’s Kitchen](http://www.olgaskitchen.com/)**?
[/QUOTE]
The love for Olga’s is alive and well in Fairview Heights, IL, my friend. It’s been a family fave since it opened is St. Clair Square shopping mall in '77 or '78. My only complaint is that they stopped serving alcohol (beer and wine only).
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### Author:  [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/302 "2006-12-12T06:50:57Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq]
Big Boy restaurants still exists, some under the Bob’s franchise, some under the various other franchises that existed at one time or another. Around these parts, it was Frisch’s; not sure if they still have that name attached or not. Elias Bros. was the franchisee in Michigan; they bought the Big Boy umbrells company from Mariott’s in 1987, but went bankrupt in 2000. Robert Ligget bought the umbrella company, now called Bob’s Big Boy International. Shoney’s still operates numerous Big Boy’s in the south.
[/QUOTE]
Around here it used to be kips.
Here is a picture of me having a dispute with their mascot back in the 80’s
[http://www.texasblues.net/photo/kips.jpg](http://www.texasblues.net/photo/kips.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/303 "2006-12-12T12:37:10Z")
John DiFool, please be more careful about your quoting. In post #299, you put “ralph124c writes:” immediately before something that I wrote. ralph124c didn’t write anything in the part that you quoted. That was all my writing.
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### Author:  [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/304 "2006-12-12T15:01:07Z")
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad]
I believe that the **Little Tavern Hamburgers** has indeed gone belly up. There was a fight to preserve the last one in Bethesda-Chevy Chase, but it was demolished.
[/QUOTE]
Well, that’s a shame. I used to live right across from it on Rosedale Ave in Bethesdam and spent many a night there at 3am. I’m moving back to the DC area, and was planning on making a stop there, in the old neighborhood. Anyone know if Philadelphia Mike’s is still there?
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/305 "2006-12-12T15:30:33Z")
There are three Little Taverns left:
> **[Little Tavern](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Tavern)**
>
> Little Tavern Shops was a chain of hamburger restaurants in Baltimore, Maryland; Arlington, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and surrounding areas.
> The first Little Tavern opened March 24, 1927, in Louisville, Kentucky, by Harry F. Duncan. The first Washington location was opened in October 1928 and the first in Baltimore opened its doors in June 1930. By 1937, there were 33 shops open. At the height of the chain, there were almost 50 locations. Duncan sold the chain in 1981. The chain had troubles ...
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### Author:  [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/306 "2006-12-12T15:47:28Z")
[QUOTE=Dooku]
Oh, I don’t know if it still exists. I haven’t been there since 1988 or so. I was just reminiscing.
[/QUOTE]
Parkmoor closed a while back. [Office of Student Involvement | UMSL](http://www.umsl.edu/studentlife/current/967/a_e4.html)
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### Author:  [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/307 "2006-12-12T15:57:09Z")
And I just realized that no ones mentioned Orange Julius. I see that they are still around, but bought by DQ in 1987 [http://www.orangejulius.com/sec\_about.html](http://www.orangejulius.com/sec_about.html).
Had a good juice drink, but I don’t remember then selling anything but hot dogs.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/308 "2006-12-12T17:09:38Z")
[QUOTE=The Sausage Creature]
There’s still a Big Boy in Burbank, plus they are popular in Japan. Church’s is still around and google reveals my lamented [Straw Hat](http://www.strawhatpizza.com/locations.htm) to still be around too. Hrm, I wonder if it’s worth the trip to Barstow…?
Nevermind, nothing is worth a trip to Barstow.
[/QUOTE]
There are Big Boy restaurants all around, only with different names attached to them- the Ohio-Indiana area is Frisch’s Big Boy. Been a favorite of mine since I was a wee friar.
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### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/309 "2006-12-12T17:54:35Z")
The one old farts in Buffalo seem to look back on in fond reverence was _ **Deco** _, a chain of eat-in short-order diners which had about 50 locations in the city limits. The chain’s heydays were during the 1940s and 1950s, and the last one closed in 1979. The chain’s disappearance was blamed on location; a disproportionately large number of Deco locations were in blue-collar neighborhoods and industrial districts that were hit hard by Buffalo’s post-WWII economic decline, and the chain never expanded to the growing suburbs.
Another chain that was common in the early 1970s was _ **Henry’s Hamburgers** _. My grandmother always took me there. It was a step up from McDonalds because it had indoor seating; all stools permanently attached to the floor.
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/310 "2006-12-12T18:27:57Z")
If **Shakey’s Pizza** has already been mentioned, please excuse the post, but I used to love that place.
They are not really “defunct”, but the restaurants are spaced so far apart, they may as well be. (They’re a big hit in Thailand!)
About a mil will get you a franchise.
The Dixieland jazz, and the picnic table atmosphere coupled with the delicious pizza and beer-cooked hot dogs made it one of my favorite places.
There’s one in Georgia, but it’s about a 300 mile drive from where I live.
Thanks
Q
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/311 "2006-12-12T19:09:51Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray]
…&W
[/QUOTE]
Nah… around here, it’s Kentucky Fried Taco Huts, and Long John & W’s. I haven’t seen an A&M or a Long John Silver’s in the same building as the KFC/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut bunch yet.
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### Author:  [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/312 "2006-12-12T19:14:28Z")
[QUOTE=bump]
Nah… around here, it’s Kentucky Fried Taco Huts, and Long John & W’s. I haven’t seen an A&M or a Long John Silver’s in the same building as the KFC/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut bunch yet.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve seen an A&KFC.
I was sorta joking about the Long John’s Kentaco Hut. Haven’t seen that combination yet, but it’ll happen (living just 45 minutes from Yum! world headquarters.)
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/313 "2006-12-12T19:28:24Z")
[QUOTE=ExTank]
**Dooku:** wasn’t there a Naugles (or something like) at 40 and Grand back in the mid/late 80s?
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that one was a Naugles.
> [@GaryM](#):
>
> Parkmoor closed a while back
::sniff::
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### Author:  [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/314 "2006-12-12T21:14:56Z")
Anyone remember **Beefsteak Charlie’s**? I believe it was just an east coast thing - MA, New York, ?New Jersey? and I know there was at least one in Florida. All the beer, wine and Sangria you could drink (to a point)- came in pitchers (well, the wine came in a …bottle-thingy that looked like a vase and I can’t think of the name even though I served a couple of millions of them in college when I worked there…damn you, old age…) Also had a HUGE all-you-can eat salad bar with raw clams, oysters and shrimp. Great place for college kids. Great place to get great tips when you’re a young college girl and the table full of college boys want just one more pitcher after they’d been shut off… Great prime rib and mushrooms. And New York-style cheescake that was completely new to the Boston area. God was that stuff good when you went straight to work from school or sleeping and hadn’t eaten all day.
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### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/315 "2006-12-12T22:25:31Z")
In S Francisco…they were nothing special-basic burgers, hotdogs, etc. The big thing was the signs-a dog’s head in a chef’s hat! The truly bizzarre advertisng the mediocre. 😕
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/316 "2006-12-12T22:38:02Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c]
In S Francisco..they were nothing special-basic burgers, hotdogs, etc. The big thing was the signs-a dog’s head in a chef’s hat! The truly bizzarre advertisng the mediocre. 😕
[/QUOTE]
The head of the one off Sloat lost its Landmark status, but it was [saved](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/15/BAGU1BB0HS1.DTL&hw=doggie+diner&sn=008&sc=757) anyway and now sits in its new permanent location nearby.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/317 "2006-12-13T13:34:50Z")
[QUOTE=brianjedi]
I remember Bonanza. As I recall, they got bought out by Ponderosa Steakhouse (or at least all the ones in my area did.)
Come to think of it, I haven’t seen a Ponderosa in a month of Sundays, either.
[/QUOTE]
Ponderosa is pretty much thriving here, but the suspicion is that will only be until we get a Golden Corrall.
I’d heard of but never seen a Bonanza restaurant. Something I liked about the
old Ponderosa theme was it being modeled after a ranch food hall, with pseudo-rough wooden tables and benches, and your meat served still sizzling in these metal-in-wooden-trays. I really miss those. Nowadays, it’s just too civilized.
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### Author:  [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/318 "2006-12-13T15:03:15Z")
I found out yesterday (for all you Palatine/Arlington Heights/NW Suburbs folks) that **Grouper’s** USED to be what is now Idols. Rand and Dundee. And before it was Idols it was St. George and the Dragon and something else (or a couple of things) we can’t remember.
I love late night bar talk… 😃
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### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/319 "2006-12-13T16:03:25Z")
[QUOTE=Missy2U]
I found out yesterday (for all you Palatine/Arlington Heights/NW Suburbs folks) that **Grouper’s** USED to be what is now Idols. Rand and Dundee. And before it was Idols it was St. George and the Dragon and something else (or a couple of things) we can’t remember.
I love late night bar talk… 😃
[/QUOTE]
I used to work near there, and I remember that place was ALWAYS changing hands back in the 80s-90s. Seemed like every couple of years it was something else. Don’t remember Grouper’s, but my family used to go to Bimbo’s Italian restaurant, kitty corner from there. I wonder if Bimbo’s is still there, and if they have changed the name! 🙂
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### Author:  [@PooterMommy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PooterMommy)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-restaurant-chains/383004/320 "2006-12-13T17:08:30Z")
[QUOTE=Missy2U]
I found out yesterday (for all you Palatine/Arlington Heights/NW Suburbs folks) that **Grouper’s** USED to be what is now Idols. Rand and Dundee. And before it was Idols it was St. George and the Dragon and something else (or a couple of things) we can’t remember.
I love late night bar talk… 😃
[/QUOTE]
Thank you, Missy2U! I always wondered if Idol’s was once Grouper’s. This has plagued me for some time!
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