[Dixielandjazz] Shakey's

[Robert Ringwald]

philwilking wrote regarding the Shakey Pizza Parlor chain:

The whole idea of Shakey's and its imitators was that there is a whole
section of the population which is underserved:

Young couples with small children who don't have enough money to
thoughtlessly hire baby sitters, but who are desperate to get out of the
house and just be on a date for a few hours.

Shakey's filled that slot. The pizza frequently resembled cardboard, the
beer was wet but often nothing better, but it was a safe and inexpensive
place to go.


What Shakeys turned into was quite different than what it was originally.
Businesses such as Shakeys change a lot after being bought out by big
business. After big business buys out a successful business, they
immediately start cutting expenses which often means cutting quality of
service or product.

Originally Shakeys at 57th and J Streets in Sacramento was an English pub
serving Italian pizza, German beer and featuring New Orleans Jazz. It was
quite unique for its time.

Before Shakey sold out, the pizza was definitely not like cardboard. It was
great! I will never forget the first time I had a Shakey's pizza in 1955, I
thought I'd died and went to heaven.

After Shakey sold out, he was still a spokesman for the chain. Thus, he
could not publically say what he thought of what they had done to his
product. But privately he was not at all happy.

I was good friends with Shakey. He was quite a
flamboyant character. When you were with Shakey, you never paid for drinks 
or
food.

One time he was at a piano bar in Sacramento. He asked the pianist what the
biggest tip he ever got was. The piano player said that Al Capone had once
tipped him $100. So Shakey tipped him $105.

Another time he was at Kezar Stadium where the San Francisco 49'ers
football team was playing. Shakey got a hold of the stadium manager and
tried to buy the house of around 50,000 or more people, a round of drinks.


The adults could sit at a table (nothing more than a park
picnic table with benches) in low light while there was a well lit area with
loud and flashy entertainment which held the attention of the children. The
songs were mostly the type which were in the children's school song books
and the lyrics frequently were shown on the wall by a slide projector. So, a
safe, cheap place to go to get out of the house, where the parents could be
with each other for a while and the children could be happily noisy in a far
off corner of the room.

This demographic is still with us, and it is still underserved. Why else
would McDonald's and Burger King have playgrounds?

I don't say that Shakey's could be revived exactly as it was, but young
adults still get cabin fever, many of them still don't have a lot of money,
young children still like to shout out songs. There's a market there just
waiting for someone who is willing to do the work required to serve it.


I worked at pizza joints including Capone's Chicago Tea Room, and made a 
good living,  from 1960 to 1985. See:

www.ringwald.com

Unfortunately in the 80's the owners of the pizza joints found out that 
instead of paying musicians, they could replace them with coin operated game 
machines and take in money.

In the 50'S, 60'S, 70'S and into the 80's piano/banjo type music was a 
novelty. In the 80's that type of entertainment became passé. It was no 
longer a novelty. As always, time marches on.

Through the years it has become more and more difficult for a club owner to 
pay a 5, 6 or 7 piece band. For the most part, the bands who work at pizza 
clubs are amateur, part-time. You cannot make a living playing in a band. 
Being a pianist, I could always work, solo.

     -Bob Ringwald
K6YBV


Phil Wilking - K5MZF
www.nolabanjo.com

A democracy "can only exist until the
voters learn they can vote themselves
largess from the public treasury."

-----Original Message----- 
From: Marek Boym
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2021 13:01
To: philwilking
Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Two More Gone

I've only read about Sharkey's, but it must have been a heck of a place.


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