[[{“value”:”Sundays after church. Friday nights after the football game. Some restaurants just became part of the routine. Many of them are gone now or have only a few locations left, but the nostalgia around these favorite family restaurant chains during the Golden Age of American dining will never leave.
Friendly’s
Friendly’s website says the restaurant was “founded on ice cream, built around families.” It’s an apt claim since the restaurant was founded by two brothers in 1935. Initially, the restaurant was called “Friendly” and sold double-dip ice cream cones for just 5 cents. Friendly’s — the apostrophe “s” was added in 1989 — is still around, but has fewer than 100 locations around the country.
Big Boy
In 1936, a man named Bob Wian sold his DeSoto Roadster to buy a hamburger stand in Glendale, California. He named it Bob’s Pantry. That same year, a movie studio animator who was a regular customer drew the now famous Big Boy mascot wearing red-checkered overalls, prompting Bob to change his restaurant name to Bob’s Big Boy. Big Boy, credited as the first restaurant to serve a double-decker hamburger, grew to more than 1,000 locations across the United States by 1979. These days, Big Boy restaurants are fewer and farther between, with only 45 stores remaining, most of them in Michigan.
Shoney’s
Shoney’s actually got its start as a franchise location of Big Boy. In 1947, Alex Schoenbaum opened a drive-in in Charleston, West Virginia. Five years later, he became a licensee and franchisee of Big Boy, and three years after that, it was renamed Shoney’s (a nod to Schoenbaum’s name). Shoney’s spread across the U.S. thanks to its all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet and eventually dropped the Big Boy name, adopting its own Shoney bear mascot. At its peak in the 1990s, Shoney’s had more than 1,300 locations. There are only about 50 left now, primarily found in the Southeast.
Perkins
Perkins started as a pancake house in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1958, but became a family favorite after it expanded with lunch and dinner menus. It was most popular in the 1990s but still operates about 250 locations in the United States. “Perkins is still my favorite peanut butter silk pie. It was our high school hangout once my friends and I got jobs and cars,” a fan wrote.
Carrows
Carrows was a casual, diner-style restaurant chain mostly found in the western U.S. It was founded in 1969 by David Nancarrow in Santa Clara, California. The chain was most popular in the ’80s and ’90s, but there are no locations left after ownership changes and financial struggles plagued the company. Still, it’s remembered fondly by its fans. “Seriously would spend four nights a week there drinking ‘mochas’ which were just a 50/50 mix of their coffee and hot chocolate,” one Redditor wrote.
Coco’s Bakery Restaurant
Coco’s began as The Snack Shop, created in 1948 by two Marines in Corona Del Mar, California. In 1965, the founders announced the Coco’s brand name, and gradually all Snack Shop locations were renamed Coco’s Bakery Restaurants. It’s no surprise that a chain with “Bakery” in the name was known for its pies. There are only four locations left in America now. “Ate there, worked there. The uniforms were the ugliest I ever had to wear! But the sour dough grilled cheese was the best!!” a fan wrote.
Ryan’s
Ryan’s was one of THE places to go in the 1990s. The buffet-style restaurant got its start as Ryan’s Steak House in 1978 and introduced its signature Mega Bar buffet concept in 1986. The chain was voted “Top Family Steakhouse In America” for 10 years straight, but after acquisition, multiple bankruptcies, and finally the COVID-19 pandemic, Ryan’s closed its last location in 2021. But fans will never forget: “It was like a treadmill for me on Sundays. Wake up. Church. Ryans. Nap,” one said, with another asking, “Does anyone have a recipe for these legendary rolls?”
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