Harvey’s Hamburgers

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Harvey’s Hamburgers was located on the 1500 block of Lancaster Ave in Shillington, where Friendly’s parking lot now is. I could find no additional information about when this place opened or closed, so if you know, please leave a comment.

Harvey's Hamburgers

Way before all the well known “Icons’ in the hamburger business like “MacDonalds”, “Burger King”, and others came to Berks County, many locally owned fast food establishments were here for years. Places like “Carrol’s” and “Schell’s” on the  Fifth Street Highway, and “King’s” on the Philly pike to name a few. Located on the site of the present “Friendly’s Restaurant’s parking lot on Lancaster Avenue was another long time favorite. There is no way you could miss the big “HARVEY’S HAMBURGERS” sign and if you were smart you would not either miss a chance to stop there for a delicious “burger”. At 15 cents apiece it was hard for anyone including yours truly, to eat only one alone. Those were the so-called “Good Old Days”. L.S.


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Rod Riegel
5 years ago

Regarding the life of “Harvey’s Hamburgers” on Lancaster Ave., I worked there for 1 night. At the time, it had just opened, I was a senior at Wilson High, and it was 1961. My recollection is that Carrols eventually purchased Harvey’s.

Carol Shipper
Carol Shipper
5 years ago
Reply to  Rod Riegel

I also recall that Carrols eventually purchased Harvey”s. Harvey’s was close to Sears on the other side of Lancaster Avenue. I remember going there one time with my parents, probably in the mid-sixties. I think Carrols eventually became a part of Burger King.

james frank
james frank
5 years ago

Wasn’t there a Harvey’s in Exeter at the now Santander Bank location on Perkiomen Ave?

Sid F. Alberts
Sid F. Alberts
5 years ago
Reply to  james frank

I believe that “Kings Hamburger” was originally a Harvey’s. This was a long time ago – possibly 1950s. This restaurant was still in business when the first McDonalds on this side of town opened, (on Perkiomen Ave.). Can’t remember is it was under the Dairy King or Harvey’s name at that time. That area was actually the “fun” part of town. Mt. Penn Drive in, Bowl-O-Rama, Venske’s golf and various things run by a couple of Italian brothers provided a lot of recreation in the old days.

Richard Miller
Richard Miller
3 years ago

You could buy a hamburger, 15 cents, shake 20 cents, and fries 14 cents. My mother would give me $.50 and off on my bicycle I would go

Richard Stanley
Richard Stanley
1 year ago

When I was 16, my first job was at Harvey’s in Shillington:

The hamburgers really were 15 cents. After the cashier kept ending his shift with MORE money in the till than should have been there (by short-changing the customers) the manager asked me if I could make change. Of course! So, I took over the “front”, which was fine with me, as cooking the fries and apple turnovers and mixing shakes was greasy, sticky and repetitive. My cash register tray was always on the penny when I went off-shift. It was a game I played to be exactly even after an 8-hour shift. 

Every hamburger bun had to be accounted for. I think I earned a dollar an hour. I rode my bike to work. We wore white pants, sneakers and short-sleeved shirts with little white caps like at In-And-Out, except for Carol, the plump “Dutchie” woman with thick glasses who worked the grill. She wore a hair net that made her look decades older than her years, lived with her family in Pennwyn and rode the bus to work. She and the manager were the only people who were permanent employees—lifers. The rest of us were part-time teenagers who wanted to earn a modicum of financial independence from our parents.

There was NO A/C in the place, which made for some steamy days during the summer of 1966, when the tarmac parking lot was as hot as the grill. One of my co-workers told me that Black people never order chocolate shakes. I told him he was crazy—but he was right! They would always order strawberry, and if we were out of that flavor, vanilla. To this day, I can’t figure that one out.

When the summer ended, so did my career as a cashier. I was a junior in high school.

Richard


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