Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The Hungry Bear Drive-In (near old downtown)

The Hungry Bear opened in the mid-70's under the management of Larry Mayhew. Back then, the Wednesday special included a burger, fries and soda for the grand sum of $1.25.

Earlier this year, this iconic drive-in closed, but was re-opened several weeks later and is now run by Linda Williams who has worked at the restaurant for some 20 years.

If you want to know more about this fascinating piece of Ocala history, click here.

16 comments:

Memphis MOJO said...

Hard to beat a good burger, fries and a chocolate shake!

Halcyon said...

Sounds like just the place to get a burger. :)

RedPat said...

I hope she does well! It is so tiny. This must be the back?

PJ said...

I've moved on from drive through fare (mostly) but there's something about places like this. You just hate to see them close.

Randy said...

Milkshakes? I'm there!

cieldequimper said...

It looks rather forbidding! Are the burgers good?

Elettra said...

best wishes to the new owner!!

Jim Klenke said...

Looks just small enough to be a good greasy burger place.

brattcat said...

mr. brattcat and i love this sort of place. hope linda can make a go of it.

Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.com said...

Glad she re-opened it. It must be tough to compete with the national franchised chains.

Judy said...

I like little places like this. We had one in my home town when I was in high school called "The Quick Chick". Probably gone now.

Davidlind said...

It's nice to see an employee get a chance to own the business they worked in for twenty years.

Small City Scenes said...

Well you came back with a vengeance (?) didn't you.
I remember little drive-ins like this one. I remember one called Zips and on Friday you could get 10 hamburgers for one dollar. Good times, eh??? My late husband would stop by and buy ten and then we would go to the local car races and chow down. LOL. Oh to be a kid again. Haha!!
I am recovering well---so they say--still painful but I can walk, bend my knee and do stuff but not what I want to do and sitting in a car for anytime is murder. So no road trips yet and no new pictures. MB

EG CameraGirl said...

Imagine getting a meal for $1.25!

Pierre BOYER said...

"Hungry Bear"... Great name !

hamilton said...

this looks like a baby bear of a place.
it is a sign of faith when previous employees take over. good luck to her.

"Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again." — Henri Cartier-Bresson