# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/101 "2020-11-25T19:08:49Z")
The HoJo I remember was a hotel-restaurant combo that lasted into the 80s in Sarasota Florida. I wonder if it opened even before I-75 came to the area because it was on US41 which was the one of the only north-south highways in that area before I-75 and was 4 miles from it. With Florida tourism I can see how both the restaurant and hotel survived, but not together: since it was far from the interstate and close to a lot of other restaurants, people who needed a dependable place to stay and eat on their travels no longer needed to pick that HoJos. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/102 "2020-11-25T19:17:06Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > > [@MissTake](#): > > > > Ponderosa Steak House > > The Ponderosa buffet was a thing of beauty to my young eyes. I went to Ponderosa when I was dating my wife. I was out of work at the time, but we could get a good dinner for a price I could afford. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/103 "2020-11-25T20:03:31Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > One (mostly) defunct restaurant chain that hasn’t been mentioned except in passing is Howard Johnson’s. The hotel chain still exists but it seems all the restaurants are gone except one. They were known for having 28 flavors of ice cream, maybe the first widespread chain to have such a huge selection. They were mostly near highways. The only one near my neighborhood in the Bronx was up by the exits off the Bruckner Expressway. We used to hike up there to get ice cream or occasionally a fried clam sandwich. Good one! Going to HoJos was the highlight of our trips along the then fairly new Pennsylvania Turnpike. I was only mildly interested in their ice cream, but I loved their hamburgers with smothered onions, and I make smothered onions to go with my burgers to this day. Also interesting about HoJos was that famous chefs Jacques Pépin and Pierre Franey worked for them as chefs. Story [here](https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/opinion/howard-johnsons-adieu.html). Sorry, probably behind NY Times paywall. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2020, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/104 "2020-11-25T20:04:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > They had kid’s menus in the shape of hats (they were spiral cut so you could extend out the center and wear it on your head, I think I still have the 2001 HoJo menu, a tie in from Hojo’s cameo role in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/105 "2020-11-25T22:47:47Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > We used to go to Roy Rogers for their Triggerburgers It looks like that thing that was a thing in the '70s nudged their menu away from that bit of cuteness. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/106 "2020-11-25T23:22:33Z")
I remember going to Brendle’s too! I used to think it was so fancy because they had the jewelry display right at the front. Very high-class to a five-year-old. Imagine my shock when I found out (in my thirties, long after they closed down) that it was a discount store. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/107 "2020-11-25T23:53:19Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > I remember going to Brendle’s too! I used to think it was so fancy because they had the jewelry display right at the front. Very high-class to a five-year-old. And there was a diamond right there in the store’s logo, too! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/108 "2020-11-26T00:05:18Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > For music, there was: > Music+ (eventually got bought out by Blockbuster Music) > Licorice Pizza > Tower Records - the best ever > Wherehouse > And lots and lots of independent stores - Moby Disc, Penny Lane, Recycled Records. Ever go to Poo Bah’s in Pasadena? They’re apparently on Colorado Blvd now, but they used to be in a rundown old Craftsman on a side street. It was always an experience to go there. On edit: Aaron’s Records (across from Fairfax High was where I always went in high school and college. They used to be exactly $3.00 for an LP (Aaron calculated the tax so the full payment would be an even dollar amount), except for the bargain bin. I got The United States of America there – with the plain brown “wrapper.” ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/109 "2020-11-26T00:16:36Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Osco Drug Store [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osco\_Drug\_and\_Sav-on\_Drugs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osco_Drug_and_Sav-on_Drugs). When they changed all the Sav-on’s to Osco, they ended up changing the names back in California – at least in Southern California – because “osco” is pronounced “asco” in Spanish. Variously translated as disgust, nausea, repulsion. They’re now all CVS. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/110 "2020-11-26T00:34:58Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > One (mostly) defunct restaurant chain that hasn’t been mentioned except in passing is Howard Johnson’s. The hotel chain still exists but it seems all the restaurants are gone except one. They were known for having 28 flavors of ice cream, maybe the first widespread chain to have such a huge selection. Clancy Muldoon’s is one a really miss here. It wasn’t a chain, although it had two locations. One of which was on the same block as the hospital my sister worked at back in the day. The nurses used to send her out for ice cream runs. My order was usually the hot fudge sundae with the cappucino ice cream when I’d go. Sublime. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/111 "2020-11-26T03:21:09Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > We had a Tastee Freeze which I believe was a chain. It kept going in and out of business. Nobody ever could make it work. [Tastee-Freez](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tastee-Freez) started in 1950, and had nearly 1800 outlets by 1957. Only nine locations remain. The chain was mentioned by John Cougar (as he was then known) in the song _Jack & Diane_ – “Suckin’ on chili dogs outside the Tastee-Freez”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/112 "2020-11-26T04:01:25Z")
Norms and Big Boy. A couple of both still exist but they were everywhere in CA and we ate at them all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/113 "2020-11-26T06:38:43Z")
Torontonians will remember Fran’s. A small chain, in Toronto only, and a welcome place after a night of boozing. A little more than a diner, but a far cry from fine dining. Much like Denny’s, Fran’s ran 24 hours, and did an all-day breakfast. Heck, Fran’s did everything, all day. Want a breakfast of bacon and eggs and toast and coffee at 5:00 PM? Fran’s could do that. Want a burger and fries at 6:00 AM? Fran’s could do that. Fran’s was a little higher-class and more expensive than Denny’s, but we were never turned away, no matter how we were dressed or how drunk we were, at any hour. Fran’s still exists, but with far fewer locations than they once had. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/114 "2020-11-26T09:06:29Z")
actually tastee freeze survives in california there owned by the garaidi that owns the hot dog/burger chain Weinerschnitzel ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/115 "2020-11-26T10:08:20Z")
erm they’re owned or franchised by the above mentioned chain > [@Spoons](#): > > Fran’s did everything, all day. Want a breakfast of bacon and eggs and toast and coffee at 5:00 PM? Fran’s could do that. Want a burger and fries at 6:00 AM? Fran’s could do that. Fran’s was a little higher-class and more expensive than Denny’ this was the hungry bear cafe that was downtown…I loved going there as a kid because they didn’t blink when i ordered pulled pork/beef with coleslaw and chilli cheese fries at 8 am (much to the chargrin of the family who considered me to have the eating habits of a junkyard dog) ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/116 "2020-11-26T14:34:07Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > There was a restaurant that we went to once a month after church on Sunday. For the life of me, I cannot remember the name. Found it! It was Uncle John’s Pancake House. In thinking about this thread, I realized that other than the government employment I’ve had for the past 24 years, every other employer is no longer in business: Tom Thumb Store, B. Dalton, Fanny Farmer, The Cutlery, and both the jewelry manufacturer and ophthalmic lab. All defunct. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/117 "2020-11-26T16:09:33Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > > [@pkbites](#): > > > > We had a Tastee Freeze which I believe was a chain. It kept going in and out of business. Nobody ever could make it work. > > [Tastee-Freez](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tastee-Freez) started in 1950, and had nearly 1800 outlets by 1957. Only nine locations remain. The chain was mentioned by John Cougar (as he was then known) in the song _Jack & Diane_ – “Suckin’ on chili dogs outside the Tastee-Freez”. Well the one in our town could never stay open. It would go out of business and a little while later someone else would try to run it. This happened several times. Once it was dormant for 5 years when someone opened it, stayed open for about a year, Probably because it was in a terrible location. Don’t know why someone didn’t move it. It was off the side of a busy 4 lane non-divided highway. It was hard to slow down and get off at that spot, and when you did there was little parking. Really dumb. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/118 "2020-11-26T19:38:04Z")
A few Howard Johnson’s menus from the past: [Children’s menu, 60s](https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/4vpdux/howard_johnsons_childrens_menu_c_1960s/) [1964 fried tendersweet clams](https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/clbsig/howard_johnsons_1964_fried_tendersweet_clams_75/) [Late supper, '64](https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/i0pmut/howard_johnsons_late_supper_suggestions_1964/) [Thanksgiving, 60s](https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/e2ww96/howard_johnsons_old_fashioned_new_england/) [Ponderosa lunch, 1980](https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/b3aqf6/lunches_at_ponderosa_steakhouse_just_199_february/) [A&W, 1970s](https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/f7v5me/aw_root_beer_drivein_pacific_grove_ca_1970s/) [Another A&W, 60s](https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/50w7ea/aw_drive_in_clarkston_wa_c_1960s/) Shakey’s Pizza [1970](https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/6bdvlm/shakeys_pizza_1970/) [1974](https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/d3mjc1/shakeys_menu_1974/) [1980s Phillipines](https://imgur.com/RFngv9g) Edit: [Tastee-Freeze, 1963](https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/idj505/tastee_freeze_menu_from_show_low_arizona_august/) ---
**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:** [November 26, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/119 "2020-11-26T19:49:30Z")
We never really had A&Ws here in Jersey. But I liked them when I’ve been to them. We have Stewarts which is basically the same kind of place. Better root beer, but the food is inconsistent. Stewarts still serves root beer in a frosty mug. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972/120 "2020-11-26T20:07:27Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > A few Howard Johnson’s menus from the past: > [Children’s menu, 60s](https://old.reddit.com/r/VintageMenus/comments/4vpdux/howard_johnsons_childrens_menu_c_1960s/) Omg, this brings back memories! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-or-restaurants-you-used-to-go-to-in-your-youth/925972.md?page=7)