In the late 50′s and early 60′s as McDonald’s went from small local eatery to franchise to being a publicly traded stock, lots of little burger joints popped up all over the country, trying to slice off a little of that simple but lucrative recipe: small menu, decent food and cheap cheap cheap.
Growing up in Omaha right smack in between downtown to the east and the sprawling suburban malls farther out west, the flavor was a bit more interesting. One of the local midtown places that you’ll pass on Leavenworth Street (not too far from the venerable La Casa’s Pizza) is Bronco’s, home of the hickory burger. I popped in to try one, and while it wasn’t the best burger I’d ever had, it was exactly as I remember it would be, and it cost a wopping $1.44. Yeah.
And, even though the food was sort of a let down, the sign outside is a classic. Deserves to be a movie.
The “shack” is kind of interesting as well. It’s just tiny, but has character.
A weekend back in the early 80′s was all about a hickory burger, some fries and a drive in movie.
The burgers and fries are still there, the drive in movie, not so much.
