Thanks to Redditor gawdlygoo, we can all now watch and enjoy a snippet from Channel 5’s coverage of White Castle’s Cleveland-area debut in 1987 as the burger chain opened its doors in Parma.
The magic starts pretty early — a scruffy looking Lake County resident who drove to Parma and waited in line for an hour for dozens of tasty, tasty burgers — and continues until the glorious end, wherein an intrepid Tom Shay tries to confront the manager of the McDonald’s down the street about his take on the burger wars.
This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2019.
They existed in Cleveland for only 27 years? All the White Castles in NE Ahia went sliding into oblivion (pun intended) on Christmas Eve of 2014. I went to the one at W, 117th and Triskett for my last fix.
That place had some wonderful photographs of people enjoying their burgers and fries (and COKES!) in the Thirties and Forties…and beyond. They were bolted to the walls so no slider junkies (like me) would rip them off (literally).
I offered to buy the one from 1947, but the manager informed me they were not for sale. She got quite pissy about it, too. “Those are going to NEW YORK!” she insisted. Corporate headquarters, I was told. Some suit probably has them in his mansion or condo now. And she stunned me by telling me that the White Castles were also closing in NEW YORK CITY. That’s when I knew they were in trouble.
The drunken Millennials, by choosing to go elsewhere in the wee hours, killed off their business. Probably Chipotle, rather than Taco Hell. I have to get my fixes in Columbus now…just off I-71. Hope you choke on those bowls, kids.
LOL @ blaming millennials for White Castle leaving Cleveland, that’s good. More hot takes, please!
The ’80’s were the worst lol. People just climbing all over each other for the latest food/chain restaurants and hairspray…..
Poor, poor Chieftan…how hard it is to accept the truth.