Remember Shakey's Pizza?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

When I was a kid (in the '70s) nothing could match the thrill of going to Shakey’s. The atmosphere was definitely kid-oriented with the player piano and the guys in straw hats and so on, but the pizza was really good. Well, that’s how I remember it anyway. Shakey’s fell on hard times in the '80s and all the restaurants in MN closed. I went to one in California in 1997 and it wasn’t the same place at all. Not only was the atmosphere completely different, but the pizza was nowhere near as good as I remembered.

Does anyone else remember the Shakey’s of old with the affection I do?

2

Remember? Yes. Affection? No.

3

I remeber the one near my house had a window where you could see them making the pizzas ( with the little metal strip to id the pizza ) and a bench below the window for the kids to stand on.

4

I remember it fondly. The one we went to had the guys in hats and also free popcorn and silent comedy shorts like Laurel and Hardy. I’m sure the pizza was pretty bad, but that’s the kind of pizza kids like, in my experience.

5

My parents met at the first every Shakey’s pizza in Sacramento, California. I owe my very existence to that restaurant.

So, yeah, I remember them.

(And the one we used to go to when I was a kid had the same windows and step that UncleRoj described. Did you grow up near Tacoma?)

6

I have fond memories of shakey’s from my childhood. It used to be one of the regular places for birthday parties. I remember the window for watching them make the pizzas, and the bench seating. IIRC, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the pizza as a kid, but I think that I would be a fan of it as I remember it now. The picture of the pizza that I see on their web page looks no different than Dominos type crap. Probably the fault of Wally Weasle.

7

Texas. Close, no?

8

Last I checked, though granted this was six years ago, there was at least one Shakey’s still in existance in Maryland.

9

Road trip.

10

They still exist. http://www.shakeys.com/ just nothing is the same as it was when you were a kid.

11

One in Rochester off highway 52 remained open until sometime in the 90s. I fondly recall Shakey’s pizza as well.

12

My best memory of Shakey’s comes from the mid-70’s, when they had a video baseball game. It was very crude, just a pitcher against a batter, each player had a very simple controller with a couple of buttons, but the screen was huge and up on the wall where everyone in the restaurant could see it. That’s all I remember, but boy that was neat.

13

We had one in the Chicago suburbs. I remember going there with all my hippy friends and listening to “Sky Pilot” on the juke box.

14

Dining out in the Iowa City/Coralville area

I ate there in 2000. No player piano, no waiters in striped uniforms, just piles of pizza and day-old lasagna under hot-lamps; all you can stomach.

15

Actually, I grew up in Tacoma, at least from 3rd grade one…that’s too funny. I went to the one in Lakewood. We used to go there on our birthdays for the special free birthday pizza. I liked the old silent movies and stuff. I thought it was cool…back then anyway.

16

Boy, that’s a content packed website, huh?

Last time I was at a Shakey’s was in Ochos Rios, Jamaica, in 1991. The website doesn’t list it. But I loved going there in Albuquerque as a kid.

17

The one right next to the Villa Plaza?

18

Exactly…what a small world we live in.

19

Yep.

So, was your dad in the Army or the Air Force?

20

I used to go to the one in Bellevue, WA. We stopped going out for a long time when I was a kid, but about 10-15 years ago we started going to the same place again. The communal dining ambience had been replaced with individual tables, and the decor was a lot different, but the pizza was still pretty good. Few chains can make a decent thin crust pizza, but those guys had it down.