Carl Karcher, left, with daughter Anne Marie, and one of his
company’s first employees at “The Blimp,” his first hot dog
stand in Los Angeles.

 
Carl’s Drive-In

Carl N. Karcher and his wife, Margaret, made a leap of faith in 1941 when they
borrowed $311 on their Plymouth automobile, added $15 in savings and bought 
a hot dog stand. In less than five years, Carl’s Drive-In Barbecue (above) opened
with hamburgers on the menu. Later, smaller versions of this restaurant called
”Carl’s Jr.” opened. Prior to the restaurant business, Karcher had worked as a
delivery boy for a bakery based in Anaheim.

Carl Nicholas Karcher (January 16, 1917 – January 11, 2008)

Carl Karcher behind a hot dog cart in front of his headquarters in Anaheim, California, 1981.

Art Linkletter

House Party premiered on CBS Radio January 15, 1945, and ran
weekdays at 4 p.m., three days a week, through January 10, 1947. On 
December 31, 1948 the show switched to ABC Radio where it ran till
December 30, 1949. It returned to CBS Radio days later, making it’s
longest continued run from January 2, 1950 to October 13, 1967. The
audience participation show was hosted Art Linkletter. The Sponsors
included General Electric, Pillsbury, and Lever Brothers.

The original location of the famous family steak house at S.E.103 & Stark St.

From left: Art and Dick Sayler

 
Early facility at 105th and S.E. Stark St.

Art and Dick Sayler began operating the original Old Country Kitchen at 103rd
and Southeast Stark. With only 60 seats and four employees they served 17,000
dinners in that first year! The soon ran out of seating capacity, so they moved to
a larger facility at the present location of 105th and Southeast Stark in 1951.

Original Sheet Music

Don McLean became 67 in October