I am always confusing Shakey’s, where we might have eaten when I lived near L.A., with Straw Hat, where we definitely ate when I lived near L.A. I am thinking that both had ragtime(-era) music and showed old Three Stooges films.
When we moved to TX there was a Shakey’s in the Forum 303 Mall, but it didn’t seem quite the same as in CA, and anyway was blown out of the water by Crystal’s:
That puts me in mind of a very good “themed” restaurant in Wichita at the time, Dr. Redbird’s Medicinal Inn. It had less of a barber music atmosphere, and something more like the Depression-era motif of Paper Moon. Pretty simple fare, but it was good and they didn’t overdo it with the tchotchkes as many restaurants do these days.
We did, in Southern California in the 80s. We had a couple little league pizza parties there, I can only remember being at Shakey’s when it was overflowing with children. I recall being indifferent to the pizza itself, but preferred Round Table because they had a couple of video game machines in the lobby.
I grew up in Dubuque, where Happy Joe’s was the place to go with kids. We loved the glass window to watch pizza making. The birthday sundaes. The house specialty, a pizza with “Canadian bacon” and sauerkraut.
I remember Shakey’s as well, but barely. My parents always took us to Happy Joe’s.
Now, decades later and after emigrating to Europe, I have a craving for a taco pizza and root beer.
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