Simmering memories: 100 years of White Castle
We bought ’em by the sack and ate ’em on the curb.
It was a hot summer day after a long bicycle ride through the gritty streets of north Lake County. The iconic White Castle hamburger joint on Indianapolis Boulevard in Whiting was a site for sore knees.
My fiancee and I sat crosslegged on a littered curb of the busy boulevard as traffic zoomed past us. Amid the familiar fumes and the aroma of square-shaped burgers grilled atop a pavement of onions, we inhaled our sliders, crinkle-cut fries, and onion rings.
It. Was. Epic.
I can still visualize this delicious memory from several years ago. I can still smell those burgers when we opened our sack. I can probably still belch up those onions. This is the White Castle experience for me. What is it for you?
White Castle, our country’s first fast-food hamburger chain, officially turned 100 earlier this month. The family-owned company will celebrate the milestone over the next several months, reminding us about the role White Castle played in introducing the fast food experience to Americans.
“What started as a few little hamburger stands has turned into a successful family-owned fast-food hamburger chain and retail brand that has withstood the test of time,” said Lisa Ingram, president and CEO of White Castle.
Her great-grandfather, Billy Ingram, and his business partner, Walter Anderson, opened their first burger stand in early 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, selling the little burgers for 5 cents each. They were so easy to eat, they were dubbed “sliders” and sold by the sack.
I’ve bought countless sacks of ’em through the decades, usually after late-night concerts and early-morning bar closings. You could always count on a White Castle being open, somewhere, after other fast food joints closed for the night. It would be filled with a motley crew of customers — hungry stoners, exhausted shift workers, bored bar flies, and odd-looking locals who came to life after midnight.
My late friend, Mark Manos, was one of those middle-of-the-night customers, popping into the nearest White Castle in the Chicago area in between jobs as an after-hours janitor. He would nonchalantly give driving directions to strangers by using White Castle locations, as if each one was a national landmark.
“So what you need to do is turn left at the White Castle on South Halsted and head south until you see the next White Castle on West 79th. There, you hang a right and …” he would say.
A few years back, I took my fiancee’s teenage daughter, Sarah, to a Twenty One Pilots concert at the United Center in Chicago. On the ride back home we stopped at a White Castle drive-thru in Markham, Illinois, just off Interstate 294. While waiting to place our order, someone in the car behind us was threatening to kill someone in the car in front of us. Loudly. Angrily. And, for us, humorously. I told Sarah that it felt like every other late-night experience inside every other White Castle. It. Was. Nearly. Epic.
It seems everyone has unforgettable memories of their White Castle experiences in the Chicago area, which has more locations than any other metro area in the country.
“Many years ago, when I was in my early 20s, I stopped dating a guy because of how he ate his White Castle hamburgers,” recalled Rose Dolowy, of Chicago’s Hegewisch section.
“We stopped for some after a night of bar hopping. My mouth was watering, waiting for my half of the dozen he was ordering,” she said. “I bit into one and discovered he had ketchup put on them. Yuck! I mean, who has ketchup put on their sliders?”
It was their last date. “Oh, and I told him why,” said Dolowy, who’s now 71.
Feel free to share your White Castle memories on my Facebook page.
In 1934, Billy Ingram moved the White Castle headquarters to Columbus, Ohio, after buying out Walt Anderson’s share of the business.
After that move, White Castle experienced significant growth, opening more restaurants across the Midwest and East Coast. Today, White Castle owns more than 360 restaurants in 12 markets.
The company pioneered the first use of restaurant newspaper coupons, in 1932, offered a carryout order of five hamburgers for 10 cents, according to the website America Comes Alive! Stories of America’s Past.
In 1990, White Castle started its beloved Valentine’s Day tradition of hosting sit-down dinners, complete with tableside service and dining rooms decked out in festive décor. Other company highlights include: inventing the restaurant carryout process; adding five holes to burgers to speed up cooking and add flavor; the first business to sell 1 billion hamburgers (in 1961); serving cheese sliders (in 1962); and launching its retail division (in 1987) making its burgers available in all 50 states.
Nonetheless, the retailsold burgers simply don’t stack up against the fresh ones at White Castle locations. I’ll go to my grave saying this. Nothing beats the aroma inside a White Castle, named by the original owners to reflect cleanliness and stability. Its kitchen grills were put on display to show this pledge of public hygiene.
When the chain expanded into Chicago in the late 1920s, its first location design was based on the castle-like look of the famous water pumping tower, according to Lynn Jaynes, of Chesterton, owner of Tastebud Tours, which offers guided walking tours to several eateries across Chicago.
“It’s the famous Water Tower that survived the Great Chicago Fire,” Jaynes said.
It’s the famous White Castle that has survived 100 years of fiery American history.
“We can’t wait to see what the next 100 years have in store,” Lisa Ingram said.