John Burton asks if anyone remembers the Chicken Delight restaurant in Buena Park...
Does anyone remember The Chicken Delight on the corner of LaPalma and Knott in B.P.
Actually, another OCThen reader, "Amber" recalled the same restaurant in a memory I posted last April entitled, "Memories of Anaheim in the 1960s"...
I remember "..don't cook tonight, call Chicken Delight.. we deliver.."
Orange County Memories is about the history of Orange County, CA as told from the people who lived and worked here.
Yep, I remember Chicken Delight, but I remember the one in Garden Grove @ Brookhurst & Chapman(?), not Buena Park. Actually I think if they'd bring that concept back it'd work again!
ReplyDeleteNabisco plant off of knott ave. always had an odor that was tolerable does anyone recall the odor?
ReplyDeleteYes, John, the odor was similar to warm catsup or ketchup (a very tomato-ey odor). I worked near there and when I left work to go home, I always smelled that odor. I have no idea what food product they were making that produced that odor, but it was very distinct.
ReplyDeleteDon't remember one at that corner. Rod's mini market was for a long time. Played on a baseball team in the early/mid 60's that was sponsored by Chicken Delight. Went to walter knott elementary back then.
ReplyDeleteCarl
I remember that they delivered. My parents had some parties catered by Chicken Delight...wow flash from the past.
ReplyDeleteCarl, was Rods in the center at the northeast corner? I was just thinking about that center recently, where they had a "waterfall" (rarely filled)against one cinder block wall in the parking lot, and stopping in the liquor store there after school at Walter Knott for candy. I lived in the "Santa" tract, and went to WK from 61-68.
ReplyDeleteI remember a very unpleasant odor while at Bellis Park in the evenings. I thought it came from a food processing plant right across from the park on Knott ave. Rods Liquor was on the NE corner of knott and la palma. There was one of the old ice machines in the parking lot. It was the size of a medium room. the ice came in 50 lb blocks and would come slamming out into the wire basket.You put your quarters in and got back.
ReplyDeleteThe Town Tavern was a couple of doors down from rods. There was a good burger joint in the same center. Was Chicken Delight in this same group of business'?
My grandfather owned the Chicked Delight on PCH in Newport. The place did a huge volume. He would park his '35 Rolls Royce in front to attract attention. Still have a menu with a picture of the Rolls & I still one of their musical menus. Cheap cardboards picture disc.
ReplyDeleteAnd the smell from the Kraft food processing plant on Carmenita still hangs in my nostrils!
the ketchup smell was from the Hunt's factory that used to be on Commonwealth in Fullerton. Nabisco smelled like Nilla wafers. The nasty smell was Humco where they made vitamins (!).
ReplyDeleteMy mother worked at the Nabisco plant in Buena Park and I loved the bakery smell that filled the air arount the plant. I asked her how she loved working with that wonderful auroma and she replied "you can't smell anything after 10 minutes once you are inside".
ReplyDeleteMy dad worked at HumKo (Humpreys and Kopell) in Buena Park. The made cookoing oils.
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense, as I remember the vitamin place as Nutrilite. I went to McComber Intermediate which bordered the Nabisco plant. Besides the bakery smell, there was an unknown (not pleasant) odor coming from the west. Thanks!
DeleteI grew up on Naomi ave near the 91 freeway and Knott ave. I still remember that smell of conentrated oil.
DeleteThere was also a Chicken Delight on Lincoln Ave. in Anaheim very near East Street. It was in a small strip mall that had a laundramat. I would go there with my sister and mom back in the mid to late 60s. We would get the wash going and go next door for some chicken. That was long before the renovation of Lincoln Ave and the old downtown Anaheim shopping district. In fact I remember going to the old downtown Anaheim with my mom or dad to do shopping and to pay utility bills. So Cal Gas Company, Anaheim Water & Power co (Anaheim had their own power company, no So Cal Edison for us). I also remember going to the Halloween kiddie parades there in the early 60s. Oh, one time in the early 60s, a couple of guys try to steal my brother's car parked on the street on the side of our house. This woke my dad up and he went to the window and yelled "you better start running or I'm going to start shooting!". They took off running like they were in the Olympics. Yeah, good times :) Crime really was almost unheard of back then. Geez....how times have changed. I wished they had changed for the better.
ReplyDeletei remember a chicken delight across from darnell st. on lampson ave in garden grove, near the corner of lampson and harbor bl. around the mid-60's. it was in a tiny strip mall next to a tic-toc market. my next door neighbor, i believe, was the mgr. there at one time also.
ReplyDeleteI went to Walter Knott elementary 59-66.My Mom owned Bahia Mexican food resturant a couple of
ReplyDeleteshops down from Rods and next door to the Town Tavern.There was also Dales barber shop,a shoe repair place and a diner facing Knott ave that later became the hamburgher stand.I remember the fountain,it was always in dis repair.I def remember chicken delight.Across the street was
Walt and Jacks service station.Walter Knott used to eat at my moms resturant,and never tipped!!!
At lunch time I would walk across the street and
have lunch at my moms and then go back to school.Oh,and I remember the Ice Machine
I can still see the inside of Rod's Liquor store. I always wondered what it looked like in that tavern. I used to tell myself I'm going in there when I get old enough. I remember that shoe repair store. There used to be this big sign that said"We fix arches" , I remember asking my dad they also make walls. I thought they meant arches that you might see in a doorway. I just remember my dad shaking his head at me. I used to go that hamburder stand after we went to the plunge at Peak park during the summer. It was called Athenians then.
DeleteThat Ice machine was something else. It was next to the gas station on La Palma. It was the size of a large RV. I remember being scared the first time a big block of ice came barreling out of it. My dad would always tell me to get back. I was always trying to look up the shoot. Typical kid.
I believe the unpleasant smell by Bellis Park was from a Taxidermist that was right next to it. I used to play Jr. All American football there (Berry Bowl...lol).
ReplyDelete"Don't cook tonight,
ReplyDeleteCall Chicken Delight."
I sure do remember. It was a special treat when Mom or Dad got dinner from Chicken Delight.
My Mom would always order Chicken Delight because they delivered to your door. This was back in 1965-66
ReplyDeleteGod I remember a chicken delight in Rye Ridge, New York. Their chicken was yummy, I remember a sauce (was it honey?) which we would pour over the tender chicken and the french fries were thick cut and crispy. the operation was small and there was a funky chicken over all of it. gone now, kfc is just not the same.
ReplyDelete