# Stores or restaurants you used to go to in your youth **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972 "2020-11-19T15:53:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/261 "2021-01-20T20:51:58Z")
Throckmorton’s nursery Howard’s pharmacy Revco Drug Store Ponderosa steakhouse Jed’s steakhouse Ko Re O Inn Peking Inn Duff’s Smorgasbord Renaissance Records Dingleberry’s Records Spud City Records Tower Records Goldmans department store Gold Circle department store Rink’s catalogue showroom Rule Kumler (Rike’s) department store Elder-Beerman department store Troll and Unicorn Comics and Games Dragon’s Lair comics Bookie Parlor comics and baseball cards Friendly’s I’ve cream parlour Pizza Inn Fazio’s supermarket Burger Chef Casa Lupita Chi-Chi’s Famous Recipe fried chicken Rax roast beef Children’s Palace ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/262 "2021-01-20T22:50:39Z")
> [@bmoak1](#): > > We used to go to Howard Joihnson’s. There was one on Route 46near our house that we occasionally went to, but we usually stopped at HoJo’s on road trips. I literally always got the fried clams and one of their more unique ice cream flavors like butter crunch. I got a new Kindle and took Kindle Unlimited as a trial. One of the books I got was a history of Howard Johnsons. Not well written, but interesting. They had only one clam supplier who sold only to them. Clam strips began when they were running out of clams and were able to use a new variety cut into strips. I was partial to hamburgers with smothered onions myself. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/263 "2021-01-21T04:10:14Z")
As a teenage boys, we would go to the local drive-in restaurant out on the highway. The car hops were pretty, and there were lots of girls who cruised by and stopped by. Of course the hamburgers and shakes were great, and the piped music was cool. Life was good. And then there was Stinkies which was a wooden shack located in the middle of the orange growing area. It was a dive, but I could get a great burger and beer…they didn’t seem to care about serving minors. This was the place to hang out and feel like I was really grown up. When I was a young boy, I would go to the local drugstore, which had a fountain. For 5 cents I could get a glass of soda with any one (or more) flavors. It occupied one of the four corners in my one intersection “town”, and the library and post office were in the same building. It was a much simpler time, and so long ago… ---
**Author:** ![bmoak1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@bmoak1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak1)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/264 "2021-01-21T04:41:01Z")
Paul Freedman’s “Ten Restaurants That Changed America” puts Howard Johnson’s on his list. The only other chain on the the list is the long-gone Schraft’s. He specifically leaves off fast-food restaurants, other wise the list would be McDonald’s and other chains and little else. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/265 "2021-01-21T07:14:30Z")
Great book. Especially fascinating were the menus from the 19th century - so different from today. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/266 "2021-01-24T02:53:58Z")
OK, here’s an obscure one from central Indiana- Frendly Foster’s. Frendly is not misspelled! I believe it was Foster’s first name or some such. It was a White Castle clone that didn’t last long. Their sliders were 14 cents each back in '72 or thereabouts. ---
**Author:** ![bmoak1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@bmoak1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak1)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/267 "2021-01-24T13:21:30Z")
New Jersey had, and still has, White Castle clones. I miss this place much more than an actual White Castle. > **[White Manna Hamburgers](https://www.whitemanna.com)** > > Old school burger institution located in Hackensack, NJ serving famous sliders alongside shakes and crinkle cut fries since 1946. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/268 "2021-01-24T19:16:10Z")
[TG&Y](https://www.405magazine.com/the-why-of-tgy/). To a kid, it would be hard to find a better five and dime. More and better toys, candy departments that rivaled those of Sears, and sometimes even decent looking clothes. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/269 "2021-02-04T09:21:13Z")
Does anyone remember the ben franklin chain? the closest thing to then is maybe dollar tree . id get a bunch of toys for 5 bucks that would maybe last a week if you were lucky and then next week you’d go back and spend another 5 bucks …until grandma got tired of the toys breaking and said we couldn’t buy them there … on and when i was a tot kreskges had the coolest soda and lunch counter … here in ca, we had Sprouse ritz that was the same thing… but pic n save came into town and wiped them out and now they’re big lots … ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/270 "2021-02-04T12:06:38Z")
Oh yeah Ben Franklin! I do remember that. I don’t recall going in there very often but it took up a big space at the local shopping center. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/271 "2021-02-04T13:00:18Z")
I recall Ben Franklin stores being 5 & 10s like Woolworths. The chain is still around though in Eastern Pennsylvania mostly and at least one on the Jersey Shore. I think it has gone through several bankruptcies and ownership changes in the last 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/272 "2021-02-04T13:36:56Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > Does anyone remember the ben franklin chain? th I mentioned it way back on November 19 in this thread. Ben Franklin’s was the most popular store downtown in our small town. You could get toys, stationery, candy, kitchen stuff like cleaners, fabrics, and seasonal goods. Occasionally they’d put out a “dump” with paperback books or magazines. I was sad when they finally closed it down sometime in the early 1980s. After a couple of years as a flea market/antique market the store was redone as a hispanic grocery store. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/273 "2021-02-05T00:32:12Z")
Shakey’s Pizza menu from 1967 (location unknown) posted earlier today, some toppings are very unusual today: [Right Handers Special ? : VintageMenus](https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/lcf49o/right_handers_special/) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/274 "2021-02-07T05:50:12Z")
We did not have Ben Franklin in my West Texas town, but my grandmother did have it in her Arkansas town. Did they change format? Because we have something in Hawaii called [Ben Franklin Crafts](https://www.benfranklinhawaii.com/). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/275 "2021-02-07T06:15:59Z")
The [Wikipedia entry on the chain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Franklin_(company)) says that they operate two different formats (and have for a while): craft stores and variety stores (the old “5 & 10”), with more of the former than the latter. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/276 "2021-02-08T09:35:28Z")
the shakeys here in ca still have the “bunch of lunch” but ours closed down about 5 years ago … the owner tried to make his own shakeys style of pizza place but it still didnt make it and holy crap ben franklin is still there [https://www.chamberofcommerce.com/united-states/indiana/kokomo/automobile-parts-and-supplies/38594096-ben-franklin-store-0848](https://www.chamberofcommerce.com/united-states/indiana/kokomo/automobile-parts-and-supplies/38594096-ben-franklin-store-0848) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2021, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/277 "2021-02-10T17:19:34Z")
Supermarket butcher is still a well paid union job in the northeast in the chains that have unions. The two chains mentioned above, Acme and Stop & Shop still have them. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/278 "2021-02-10T17:36:56Z")
Ah, Ben Franklin. When I was a kid, they had a good selection of ten cent toys and penny candy. They always had plenty of Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s day candy. Remember Nik-L-Nips, those wax bottles with syrup in them? At Halloween time, Ben Franklin always had a selection of syrup-filled wax figures- skulls, witches, skeletons, etc. Then one year they weren’t there, and never returned. Anyone else remember those? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2021, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/279 "2021-02-10T19:46:12Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Remember Nik-L-Nips, those wax bottles with syrup in them? yup. The big thing that our Ben Franklin’s had was Rock Candy – crystallized sugar on a string, not on a stick like you see these days. It came in a small cardboard box with silhouettes of a dancing man and woman, dressed in 19th century clothes, and with a recipe for some adult alcoholic drink made with Rock Candy called Rock and Rye on the back > **[Rock and Rye: Good Medicine](https://www.saveur.com/article/Wine-and-Drink/Rock-and-Rye-Cocktail-History/)** > > From SAVEUR Issue #151 "Have you tried Rock and Rye?" The question was posed to me not by a bartender, but by my teetotaling mother-in-law. When she was a girl, she recalled, the rock candy-sweetened rye whiskey was a cure for the sniffles. "My... I did a look online, and there are some antique boxes of it around yet --Dryden and Palmer’s. They still sell their rock candy in boxes, but without the silhouettes (or, I’ll bet, the Rock and Rye) [https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-BOX-Dryden-Palmer-Co-Old-Fashioned-Rock-Candy-Rock-Rye-Whiskey-/143926116580](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-BOX-Dryden-Palmer-Co-Old-Fashioned-Rock-Candy-Rock-Rye-Whiskey-/143926116580) [https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-BOX-Dryden-Palmer-Co-Old-Fashioned-Rock-Candy-Rock-Rye-Whiskey-/133647413883](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-BOX-Dryden-Palmer-Co-Old-Fashioned-Rock-Candy-Rock-Rye-Whiskey-/133647413883) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/280 "2021-02-15T03:18:33Z")
Does miniature golf count? The local Putt Putt course was a major hangout back in junior high. So was a certain bowling alley for a while. Hmm, I wonder if the bowling ball I abandoned in a locker so many decades ago is still there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972.md?page=15)