Peter Hirschberg

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Visit to Shakey's Pizza in LA

While I was visiting Los Angeles for the LA Film Festival I was very surprised to see a Shakey's Pizza restaurant as I drove down the road. I literally swerved off the road so I could take some photos. Having lived on the East Coast all my life, the last Shakey's I saw was sometime in the late '70s!

I've been a collector of vintage Shakey's Pizza paraphernalia for a year or two [see my collection here], and it just blew my mind to be driving down the road and - hey! it's a vintage Shakeys! I could tell from the road-side sign that this was definitely a restaurant that dated back to the early days when they were still on the East Coast. Just look at the photos. It was like traveling through a time machine.

I remember doing some web searches years ago and seeing that they still had a presence outside the US, but I didn't see anything saying they were still on the West Coast. Somehow I just didn't know. The menu lists www.shakeys.com, and I'll be darned if they don't have a website. How'd I miss THAT? :-) I of course took a bunch of photos while I was there, and grabbed a menu to scan.

Visit the page with the pictures here

The rest of my Shakey's collection is there too. Just click on the "Toys & Collectibles" link at the top of the page!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you stopped in! Not only does Shakey's have a Web site...they have a myspace too!!! (http://www.myspace.com/shakeyspizza)

And the Shakey's you visited (was that on Santa Monica Blvd.?) is actually as up-to-date as the rest of Shakey's corp. stores and some franchises now adopting the contemporized look and menu. They're cooking with no trans fat oil, and even offer gourmet salads and pizzas.

I'm not just a fan...I'm their publicist and biggest cheerleader. Shakey's is doing it right!

Peter Hirschberg said...

Wow, that's cool. How did you find my site? :-)

The restaurant I visited was the one at 935 W. Arbor Vitae St. right next to LAX airport (hence all the model airplanes they had hanging up).

Personally I wish they'd kept the vintage look, but like I always say - I'm a weirdo.

Anonymous said...

I too had thought Shakey's no longer existed until I stumbled upon one in Janesville, Wisconsin. It totally blew me away to discover Shakey's still existed! I only saw outside of the restaurant - it looked as if nothing had been changed since the 1970's. The next time I'm up that way I'll definately have to stop in!

Anonymous said...

There was a Shakey's pizza in Annandale, VA off of Rt 236 that was open until, I believe, 1986 or 1987. They had VS. Excitebike arcade that I used to play there.

Peter Hirschberg said...

That's right! I had forgotten about that!

I might have taken my wife there sometime in, I think, the early-mid '90s. I might be fuzzy on the date.

Naked BoB said...

Holy crud! I was just at that Shakey's last week when I attended E3. We were driving around, saw it, and had to eat there. Hadn't been to a Shakey's since I was a kid. Crazy coincidence! Sadly half of the games were broken, not that there were any really worth playin' anyways.

Saw youse guys at Pixar when you brought the movie there. That's what led me to your website. Yup.

Anonymous said...

hmmm I guess that's a negatory on the cardboard moustaches...

I'm pretty sure that was a legit memory, but I may have Shakey's mixed up with Uncle John's Pancake House.

Peter Hirschberg said...

The cardboard mustaches sound familiar to me too. Weird.

Anonymous said...

We had Shakey's in Houston back in the 70's when I was a kid. I thought they were all closed down now, I have not seen one close to 30 years now.

Anonymous said...

Hey there,

The Shakey's Pizza in Annandale is now MAGIL'S FAMOUS PIZZA or something like that. The owner/long time manager, Mike Magil, finally changed the name. Maybe to save on the fees of franchise? I've no idea...

He now runs kids tour bus parties out of the location. Disco parties and karaoke, video games, and of course pizza. I haven't been there forever, but he's a good guy. I'm sure the decor is still the same.

If you are looking for Shakey's stuff, you might want to GOOGLE the Annandale, VA location and get in touch with Mike. He may be able to hook you up with some stuff. He was always a wheeler and a dealer.

Cheers!
~ Josette ~
Former Karaoke DJ at the Annandale VA Shakey's Pizza - rock on!!!

Jim Brady III said...

Peter,

When I was a little kid, right down the road from us in Newark DE was a Shakey's pizza. It's forever embedded in my mental BIOS because one year my parents had a birthday party there for me, and within the restaurant was the first big screen TV I ever saw. And to take things further, they were showing EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS, which was the first time I'd ever seen the movie and forever helped in making me a scifi junkie! The place is still there, it's just an Arby's now- but I still go in pretty regularly just to see the TV and reminisce. Thanks for keeping this memory alive too!

Jim