They opened one in Athens, OH, when I was in college there. Hamburgers for 15 cents was just right for a student budget. (And if you'd had a beer or two beforehand, you didn't even care how they tasted.)

All the burgers were made with cheese and sat under a heat lamp for days on end. Best (and only) way to get a fresh one was to order a regular burger.

called "19" - 19 cent hamburgers, 19 cent milk shakes!

My first hourly job was $1.86 per hour. Sure wish wages had kept up with burgers!

I had a little four cylinder car and I drove all over the place never really worrying about the cost of gasoline or fast food.

Actually still has some restaurants overseas, but they're gone from America. The legend was that the owners wanted to see if they could pull a fast one and name a restaurant, "Tits," as Chichis is slang for that, but one of the owner's wives was nicknamed Chichis (no word on whether or not she had an anatomical reason for that sobriquet).



TlalocW

In the mid 80s, they could have $100k in sales on a Friday.

Our local "cool" place to be in the 50s and 60s. This one in Bethesda MD had carhops. Just cruising around the parking lot was fun, even when your father was driving.

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/group-of-teenagers-sit-in-a-convertible-while-others-dance-in-the-picture-id56482185

Hot Shoppes

together and pressed a selection we didn’t have to put money in it! 😏

And, yes, they still work. 3 plays for a quarter. Burgers aren't bad, either.

Want food that's fun to eat?
Then Go, Go , Go to the BBF!
At the whirling satellite,
Burger boy Foodarama!

she hated the place because she said it was dirty. One time, she pointed out a burger, with a bite out of it, on the floor under our booth. The next time we went back, about a week later, that burger was still there! We never went again.

Burger Chef, in you don't know them, invented the Happy Meal which McDonalds stole from them.

I remember the exact location and their buns always having a light dust of flour on them.


Peace

I don't remember the food at all, but I remember that.

I used to work at one when I was in high school. I think my wage was an astronomical $2.20 an hour...

Loved Montis. I think there was still one left on North Central about 5 years ago, but it's gone as well now...

Sorry I missed your thread!

And a handful in other states. I've eaten at Shakeys a few times over the past decade while visiting the Los Angeles area.

When I moved to Las Vegas in 1984 I was eating at Shakeys multiple times per week. There was one on Boulder Highway and one on West Charleston. They were superior to the casino buffets. Plus they had a news and sports ticker on the wall. That was terrific. I could sweat out my bets while dominating plenty of pizza and sandwiches and cinnamon buns.

They would play Laurel and Hardy shorts in the dining room.
Shakey's was also the very first time I saw, and played, Pong.

There was also one up near Desert Inn and Boulder Hwy, but it became a Harley dealership.


I lived at Sahara and Nellis.

Never did know why they called it that. It must have been a real cheap place to eat, because my family didn't go out very much, but if we did, it was often to Shakey's.

At age 11 they let me make pizzas in exchange for all the pizzas and soda I could drink (labor law violations anyone?!). It was great fun at that age, and they taught me some basic food preparation skills.

Later on in high school, it was one of the go-to places for partying after football games. If you were lucky, you could get someone to get some beer for you! When I became legal, some drunken nights there.

Now the local Shakey's is an OB/GYN Radiology Clinic.

It was right across from a McDonald's - and this was back in the '70s - the McDonald's is still there.

My mother still has several sets of glasses that came from gas stations!

racist governor gained fame running Black people out of the place with pick handles and guns to support states rights or some such white wing BS.





http://crdl.usg.edu/news/mp4/wsbn47697.mp4




This was my first real experience with racism and such hatred. Here's more about an early Roy Moore type.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/25/us/lester-maddox-whites-only-restaurateur-and-georgia-governor-dies-at-87.html

Not to mention the fact the Civil Rights Act forced him to.

It was not that long ago. He was last in office in 1971 I think.

This is the last one standing - just north of where I am - and I've heard it's terrible. *sigh* We used to have a terrific one just down the road - and whenever I traveled with my grandmother, from New York to North Carolina, we stopped at Howard Johnsons all the way...

and we had an attached HoJos restaurant. I loved that place because there was a kick-ass punk rock girl who worked there and i got to talk to her whenever I picked up food to deliver for room service. She had to wear this giant, curly black-haired wig to work (well, I guess it didn't have to be that wig but just any wig) because she had a mohawk in real life.

She was incredibly cute either way - wigged or not - and so much fun to talk to...I wonder what she's up to now...

When I was a kid we used to do Granny Swap with an uncle's family - we had Granny for 6 months, then they would - we'd meet in the middle at a HoJo's in NJ for dinner and trade Granny. Good food (ice cream!) and catching up with cousins. Was a happy or sad occasion depending on which end of the swap we were (Mom and Granny didn't always get along).

Our aunts used to take us kids & Mom out to eat there.

It's about 15 minutes north of me, Lake George, NY. From reviews I've read, it's apparently pretty bad which is a real disappointment. Also, Rachael Ray got her start working there, back in the day. She's from this area.

There used to be a really terrific one just down the road. My Dad, who probably invested in it, said that they had enough money when they built it to make it extra fancy. My Dad was pretty picky, but we ate there lots of times. But I do remember the first time we went and were given a card to fill out - the only problem was with my mother's meal and I remember exactly what my Dad wrote, very succinct: "Rubber band in clams."

Bad reviews, as you said and apparently the current owner is was charged with sexual harassment.

WRT the rubber band incident, that's not great, but compared to some of the things we hear about nowadays, it's almost nostalgic & wholesome.

And it's really too bad that the lone remaining HoJos is not up to standards. Lake George is full of tourists from everywhere in the summer and HoJos was popular all over - they could do a great business!

We often ate at the one nearby, I particularly remember the Friday fish fry and the ice cream - 41 flavors! My grandmother was also a big HoJos fan. When she retired to North Carolina back in the '80s, I used to ride down with her and fly back. And we stopped at HoJos to eat all the way down - you always knew what you were getting.

That was always a favorite of mine. I'd persuade my mother and grandmother to take us to the closest one which was about 20 minutes away - Long John Silver's (which is still around) doesn't even compare. The last one I knew of was about an hour away, but that one's gone now, too...

..my parents friends would come over for a night of pinochle and would go to the local burger joint and get 10 burgers for a buck for all us kids and they were the gooood ones with catsup and a pickle and greased bun top. YUM

I'm not sure if they expanded to other states or not, but they were gone by the 90s.