Love the obsessive digging to find the answer. The big about chain restaurants reminds me of this person that writes the blog here http://www.brokenchains.blog/ The blog details going to existing restaurants that once belonged to a chain. So, obviously, English’s Chick’n Steak House wouldn't fit neatly into his domain, but maybe he has access to data or people on some more obscure chains? Regardless, thanks for detailing your process and keep up the good work!
Really neat stuff. Basically, if you see an odd or distinctive building, especially along an older commercial strip, chances are very high it was a model building designed by a defunct chain. The number of these that still exist, with all sorts of tweaks and modifications, always reminds me that this stuff is only as cheap and disposable as we think it is.
Loved the piece, Addison. Appreciate the follow up from the original question. Can we do Simmons Mobile Market? My favorite Wheaton memories as a kid in the '50's!
A bus outfitted like a grocery store. Came by each afternoon in the 1950's selling candy and baseball cards to me...and groceries to moms at home with 4 kids and no car. My absolute favorite memory living in Wheaton.
That's really neat. It would be fun to find out more. (Similarly, back in Long Island in the 60s, my dad remembers a roving knife-sharpening truck.) I guess it was basically same-day delivery before that existed.
For a while after English's closed their chicken was available at Bay Country Meals in North Salisbury by the mall. After that closed the property was empty for a while before Krispy Kreme bought it and built a new building.
Interesting. There was a local chain in Northern Virginia and maybe Maryland called Top's Drive-Inn, and they licensed the KFC recipe back in the 60s and sold KFC in that region, before KFC had any of their store there!
Another idea for an article here was finding all the old Top's Drive-Inns. Unfortunately, very few of them survive. There are a few of the old Gino's, however. They looked a lot like the Top's, so much that I didn't even realize they were rebuilds when looking at the aerial image archives.
In the late 1960s, early 1970s, my grandfather took a retired teacher there on Sundays for the chicken dinner. Sometimes, I went too. It was a place to go after Sunday church. Many memories.
Don't know if this will work in all cases, but my community used to have what was called a city directory, which was a reference book published annually by the R. L. Polk Company. This volume would list all residents and businesses in the city and, in our case anyway, would also list each and every address by owner on a street-by-street basis – for example, it would go down the entire length of, say, Main Street and list, by street number, the occupant of every building along the street.
When I worked there in the 1970s as a student library aide, our public library had a hard copy, not intended to circulate, of each and every city directory published from the early 1900s to the current date. This might also be a good reference to use as a starting point when determining "what was this place?" – especially if the place has burned down, been demolished, or (in some cases) physically relocated.
Don't know if this will work in all cases, but my community used to have what was called a city directory, which was a reference book published annually by the R. L. Polk Company. This volume would list all residents and businesses in the city and, in our case anyway, would also list each and every address by owner on a street-by-street basis – for example, it would go down the entire length of, say, Main Street and list, by street number, the occupant of every building along the street (and as a bonus, whether they were the owner or renting the space).
When I worked there in the 1970s as a student library aide, our public library had a hard copy, not intended to circulate, of each and every city directory published from the early 1900s to the current date. These might also be a good reference to use as a starting point when determining "what was this place?" – especially if the location in question has burned down, been demolished, or (in some cases) physically relocated.
The 1985 ad doesn’t say that this Pizza Hut is about to open - it says a Pizza Hut in Capitol Heights is about to open, and applications should be submitted to this one, presumably already open. I don’t think that changed the overall story though.
Also just a curiosity, do libraries keep old phone books? I would imagine that would be a way to research old businesses.
"And here’s the twist: it appears that English’s Chick’n Steak House was not a small independent chain of its own, but rather a concept introduced by a parent company: the English Company, which operated diner-style restaurants on the Eastern Shore. That company is defunct, but only as of 2015. Neither of these articles I’ve just linked mention the Chick’n Steak House concept."
I know I stuck that towards the end, but it's specifically this sub-chain that is almost forgotten, and which I was focusing on.
Yeah. I had never heard of English's myself, but I was able to find stuff on it. Just no mention of this particular concept, which had its own name and model building style. (Someone else was able to find one that is actually still fully intact! I will probably write a follow-up tracking down some of their former locations)
Love the obsessive digging to find the answer. The big about chain restaurants reminds me of this person that writes the blog here http://www.brokenchains.blog/ The blog details going to existing restaurants that once belonged to a chain. So, obviously, English’s Chick’n Steak House wouldn't fit neatly into his domain, but maybe he has access to data or people on some more obscure chains? Regardless, thanks for detailing your process and keep up the good work!
+1 for Broken Chains, even though I think Zap might be on hiatus. That tome of work is fantastic.
Really neat stuff. Basically, if you see an odd or distinctive building, especially along an older commercial strip, chances are very high it was a model building designed by a defunct chain. The number of these that still exist, with all sorts of tweaks and modifications, always reminds me that this stuff is only as cheap and disposable as we think it is.
Loved the piece, Addison. Appreciate the follow up from the original question. Can we do Simmons Mobile Market? My favorite Wheaton memories as a kid in the '50's!
Thank you! Wow, only three Google results for that name. What exactly was it?
A bus outfitted like a grocery store. Came by each afternoon in the 1950's selling candy and baseball cards to me...and groceries to moms at home with 4 kids and no car. My absolute favorite memory living in Wheaton.
That's really neat. It would be fun to find out more. (Similarly, back in Long Island in the 60s, my dad remembers a roving knife-sharpening truck.) I guess it was basically same-day delivery before that existed.
For a while after English's closed their chicken was available at Bay Country Meals in North Salisbury by the mall. After that closed the property was empty for a while before Krispy Kreme bought it and built a new building.
Interesting. There was a local chain in Northern Virginia and maybe Maryland called Top's Drive-Inn, and they licensed the KFC recipe back in the 60s and sold KFC in that region, before KFC had any of their store there!
They got bought out by Gino's Hamburgers, which continued to hold the KFC license for a bit.
Another idea for an article here was finding all the old Top's Drive-Inns. Unfortunately, very few of them survive. There are a few of the old Gino's, however. They looked a lot like the Top's, so much that I didn't even realize they were rebuilds when looking at the aerial image archives.
Wow. Fascinating! Great detective work!
Thank you!
This was a Pizza Hut
Now it's all covered with daisies
In the late 1960s, early 1970s, my grandfather took a retired teacher there on Sundays for the chicken dinner. Sometimes, I went too. It was a place to go after Sunday church. Many memories.
Don't know if this will work in all cases, but my community used to have what was called a city directory, which was a reference book published annually by the R. L. Polk Company. This volume would list all residents and businesses in the city and, in our case anyway, would also list each and every address by owner on a street-by-street basis – for example, it would go down the entire length of, say, Main Street and list, by street number, the occupant of every building along the street.
When I worked there in the 1970s as a student library aide, our public library had a hard copy, not intended to circulate, of each and every city directory published from the early 1900s to the current date. This might also be a good reference to use as a starting point when determining "what was this place?" – especially if the place has burned down, been demolished, or (in some cases) physically relocated.
Don't know if this will work in all cases, but my community used to have what was called a city directory, which was a reference book published annually by the R. L. Polk Company. This volume would list all residents and businesses in the city and, in our case anyway, would also list each and every address by owner on a street-by-street basis – for example, it would go down the entire length of, say, Main Street and list, by street number, the occupant of every building along the street (and as a bonus, whether they were the owner or renting the space).
When I worked there in the 1970s as a student library aide, our public library had a hard copy, not intended to circulate, of each and every city directory published from the early 1900s to the current date. These might also be a good reference to use as a starting point when determining "what was this place?" – especially if the location in question has burned down, been demolished, or (in some cases) physically relocated.
Hey Addison, what a cool story! By the way, the phrase is spelled “didn't use to be”, just like it's “didn't go” and not “didn't went” :-)
I looked this up on Merriam-Webster and it looks like you're right - but I have never in my life seen it spelled "use to be"!
The 1985 ad doesn’t say that this Pizza Hut is about to open - it says a Pizza Hut in Capitol Heights is about to open, and applications should be submitted to this one, presumably already open. I don’t think that changed the overall story though.
Also just a curiosity, do libraries keep old phone books? I would imagine that would be a way to research old businesses.
Good catch. But yeah, given the fire and renovation dates, the Pizza Hut in question must have opened either late '84 or very early '85 as well.
English's was in Ocean City, Maryland, for decades. The building there was not the same style, but it was the English company. Takes very little searching to find plenty of online references to English's. https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/maryland/2015/01/25/englishs-era-ends/22315021/
I linked to that story in the article!
"And here’s the twist: it appears that English’s Chick’n Steak House was not a small independent chain of its own, but rather a concept introduced by a parent company: the English Company, which operated diner-style restaurants on the Eastern Shore. That company is defunct, but only as of 2015. Neither of these articles I’ve just linked mention the Chick’n Steak House concept."
I know I stuck that towards the end, but it's specifically this sub-chain that is almost forgotten, and which I was focusing on.
So you did. I read too quickly and that didn't register.
Yeah. I had never heard of English's myself, but I was able to find stuff on it. Just no mention of this particular concept, which had its own name and model building style. (Someone else was able to find one that is actually still fully intact! I will probably write a follow-up tracking down some of their former locations)