Spent a good part of Sunday morning at Chuck E. Cheese in Springettsbury Township for the birthday party of my "honorary nephew," Brayden.
In between eating our bacon pizza (yum) and playing Deal or No Deal video games (I did NOT make good deals), we got to talking about the history of Chuck E. Cheese.
We were remembering the old commercials... "Chuck E. Cheese... where a kid can be a kid!" And, even before that, it was "Showbiz Pizza..." with the same tagline.
It hasn't been Showbiz since I was in elementary school. But it's strange how we all remembered that.
Here's Hubby and Sarah (and Sarah is showing off "Chuckie" on one of her tokens.)
When I was a kid being a kid my uncle was the manager of ShowBiz, talk about being spoiled! I practically lived there and remember having a blast each time. From time to time I'll clean out a box of old stuff and come across a show biz coin or prize and I usually hang on to it!
In the late 80s a few of us would eat lunch at a Chuckie's in s. Alexandria, Va. because it had a large (for the 80s, anyway)tv screen. The manager's wife started working there later on and we got thrown out because we'd bring our lunch from home, maybe buy a Coke, and watch tv for an hour. Guess she didn't like us! It was okay though--I never was in another Chuckie's after that.
I remember Showbiz. I actually think it was around before Chuck E. Cheeze and I also think that at one time there were both in York, one in the North end around the Trail and North Gate Crossroads (?) and Chuck E. Cheeze by the York Mall. Ok, here the age thing again...Does anyone remember Pappy's Pizza? It used to be right off of 83 south on Leaders Heights Rd. When I was a kid, that is where we went every once in a while for pizza and birthdays. Another lost pizza place from York was International Pizza which used to be out by the old BEST store and where Roll'R'Way east was before it burned down (I witnessed that fire!!!). So does anyone else remember good pizza spots that are no longer around York? Oh, I almost forgot, Angelo'S in Manchester...best greasy pizza ever!!!
I was there the day Roll R Way burnt down too... how sad.
Pappy's Pizza and Showbiz are things I will always remember fondly.
Even as I write this post, I am still friends with the (ex) manager of Showbiz pizza, and I am even friends with Aaron Fechter, the co-founder of Showbiz in the 80's.
I loved Showbiz pizza so much, I even bought the animatronic band off ebay!
Too bad kids these days don't' have cool places like that to hang out at.
I was also a huge fan of these places. In Minnesota, we had Circus Pizza, which I'm almost positive was from the same company. Same band, same games, everything.
The showbiz pizza band still haunts my nightmares to this day. In fact, I wrote about them on an article I recently posted on my site:
http://www.voont.com/animal_awards_2_bears
I still shudder thinking about them.