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expand their business. That left
Bickford's with only three locations remaining: Bickford's Grille in Burlington and Woburn, Massachusetts, and Bickford's Family Restaurant in Acton, Massachusetts. As of July 2020, the Acton Massachusetts Bickford's Family Restaurant has permanently closed, which now leaves the company with just 2 Bickford's Grille locations in Burlington and Woburn, Massachusetts. The company is now working on reinventing themselves by giving the remaining "Grille" locations renovations and menu changes. This includes new signage and dining room upgrades. The Woburn location has had a new bar recently installed and they plan on using it once current coronavirus restrictions are lifted.
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233:, Harold Bickford introduced a new concept, the Bickford's Pancake House, a specialty family restaurant with an emphasis on the breakfast menu. Over the next three decades, the Bickford's Pancake House chain grew to 30 restaurants throughout New England. By the mid-1990s, there were almost 70 Bickford's restaurants in New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
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lunchroom chain in New
England and, in 1921, he established his own quick-lunch Bickford's restaurants in New York. Bickford's lunchrooms offered modestly priced fare and extended hours. Bickford's architect was F. Russell Stuckert, who had been associated with Samuel Bickford since 1917. Stuckert's
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During the 1920s, the
Bickford's chain expanded rapidly with 24 lunchrooms in the New York area and others around Boston. It also acquired Travelers' Lunch, which had been established by Bickford's brother Harold, the White Lunch System on the West Coast, and the Hayes Lunch System in Boston, which
243:
As of 2016, four locations remained, all in
Massachusetts: Bickford's Grille, in Brockton, Burlington, and Woburn, and Bickford's Family Restaurant, in Acton. On December 30, 2018, the Brockton Bickford's Grille closed its doors after Tommy Doyle's Pub & Grill bought the restaurant building to
150:
A letter with a company stock offering stated, "The lunchrooms operated are of the self-service type and serve a limited bill of fare, which makes possible the maximum use of equipment and a rapid turnover. Emphasis is placed on serving meals of high quality at moderate cost." A 1964 New York City
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Bickford's son, Harold, was in charge of expanding their cafeteria chain into
Florida and California. In 1959, Bickford's, Inc. had two geographical divisions: the North-East Coast Division and the South East Coast (M&M Cafeterias, Inc) and West Coast (Foster's Lunch System, Ltd.) Division.
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In 1932 the police blamed members of the glaziers union for vandalism against 24 Horn & Hardart and
Bickford's restaurants in Manhattan, including the one at 488 Eighth Avenue. Witnesses said that a passenger in a car driving by used a slingshot to damage and even break the plate glass show
40:
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Breakfast at
Bickford's is an old New York custom. In these centrally located, speedy-service, modestly-priced restaurants a torrent of traffic is sustained for a generous span of hours with patrons who live so many different lives on so many different
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founded in 1921. From the 1920s through the 1970s, the chain was a mainstay in the New York City area. From the 1970s through the 2000s, the chain was primarily located in the New
England area. As of April 2024, the company operates 1 location in
216:
Bickford's and its
Southeast subsidiary M&M Cafeterias and West Coast subsidiary Foster's Cafeterias had trouble staying in business because of rising labor costs, competition from the non-union labor at
173:, Sam Bickford and his son, Harold, worked over four decades to expand their cafeteria chain throughout the Northeast. As their expansion continued with drive-in restaurants and associated locations in
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restaurants, and rising crime, which kept people home after dark. In 1960, there were 48 Bickford's in New York, down to 42 in 1970 and only two in 1980. By 1982, the last two were closed as well.
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Allen
Ginsberg when he was living in San Francisco liked to go to the large Foster's cafeteria on the north side of Sutter between Powell and Stockton. He wrote the first section of
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240:. Financial forecaster Jeffrey S. Bickford, the grandson of the founder, maintains a website devoted to Bickford's nostalgia
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Samuel Longley Bickford (1885–1959) began his restaurant career in 1902. In the 1910s, he was a vice president at the
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to be his lover, their promise being "that neither of us would go into heaven unless we could get the other one in".
268:, including Oakland, Berkeley and San Mateo. The Foster's Lunch System, Ltd. also operated the Moar's Cafeterias, in
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windows. Glaziers union representatives had complained about nonunion employees installing glass at the restaurants.
854:"Market Street memories / Recalling the days when ladies wore gloves, men wore hats and Santa arrived by cable car"
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709:"SAN FRANCISCO / New habitat for love-worn beasts / Museum kids enjoy treasured guardians of Valencia Gardens"
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Foster's Cafeterias were operated under Bickford's Foster's Lunch System, Ltd. subdivision, headquartered in
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590:"The Story of the Mosaics: Moars Cafeteria, 33 Powell Street, San Francisco, "home of the Bufano Mosaics""
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rhapsodized about Bickford's waitresses. Bickford's made its way into the work of writers as diverse as
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that were sold packaged at the cafeterias to take home. These muffins were often mentioned by
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Christopher Gray, "Streetscape: Bickford's; The Flaying of a Midtown East Art Deco Oddity",
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880:"Art That Captured a City's Pain / It's been a long, strange trip for bust of slain mayor"
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sometimes wrote while sitting in Bickford's, and he mentioned the restaurant in
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746:"Discovery: Benny Bufano - San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive"
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in his column. They were also sold in supermarkets and groceries.
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Foster's cafeterias were known for Foster's English Muffins,
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Bickford's corporate headquarters were eventually located in
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Foster's Cafeteria at Mission and 1st, San Francisco (1968)
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there in 1954. He took vows there about January 1955 with
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father, J. Franklin Stuckert, had designed buildings for
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Bickford's Restaurant Rt.1, Saugus, Massachusetts - 2001
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A streetcar passing a Foster's in San Francisco in 1970
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In the 1930s, union conflicts resulted in vandalism:
906:"English muffin stories in the S.F. Chronicle, 1969"
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could be found at night in the New York Bickford's:
563:"Tommy Doyle's is headed to Bickford's in Brockton"
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770:California Art Research Archive (March 25, 2014).
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936:"Café Trieste in North Beach: — The Great Cafes"
1031:Regional restaurant chains in the United States
806:. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. p. 104.
996:Bickford's, Inc. - History/photos 1922-1959
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524:Bickford's, Inc. - History/photos 1922-1959
518:
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734:SF Public Library - Historical Photographs
672:SF Public Library - Historical Photographs
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420:Dining Out in Boston: A Culinary History
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276:and 33 Powell Street, just north of the
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350:photographed Bickford's customers, and
165:With Bickford's restaurants opening in
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185:, they ultimately opened 85 branches.
828:"HERB CAEN -- Friday's Fickle Finger"
611:McGuane, Thomas (September 3, 2014).
528:
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617:. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
798:"Bufano's Lively Split Personality"
588:Bufano, Beniamino (July 11, 2017).
561:Shepard, Cody (December 21, 2018).
469:Gray, Christopher. "Streetscapes,"
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27:Chain of US cafeteria restaurants
67:Restaurants and Cafeterias is a
1036:Restaurants established in 1921
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538:. Bickfords.com. Archived from
238:Brighton, Boston, Massachusetts
772:"Beniamino BUFANO (1898-1970)"
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660:– via Internet Archive.
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18:Foster's English Muffins
1041:Restaurants in Massachusetts
1016:Restaurants in New York City
492:""Breakfast at Bickford's,"
342:. The Beat Generation muse,
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147:was renamed Hayes-Bickford.
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207:488 Eighth Avenue, New York
73:cafeteria-style restaurants
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910:American Journalism Review
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796:Albright, Thomas (1989).
688:CardCow Vintage Postcards
634:– via Google Books.
600:– via Google Books.
569:. Brockton, Massachusetts
272:at 70 Hillsdale Plaza in
270:Hillsdale Shopping Center
262:San Francisco, California
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1021:Culture of New York City
884:San Francisco Chronicle
858:San Francisco Chronicle
832:San Francisco Chronicle
713:San Francisco Chronicle
324:. Other members of the
280:turntable with a large
58:Samuel Longley Bickford
397:List of pancake houses
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266:San Francisco Bay Area
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231:Peabody, Massachusetts
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994:Bickford, Jeffrey S.
522:Bickford, Jeffrey S.
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942:on November 11, 2011
776:The Bancroft Library
645:On Film Inc (1957).
496:, December 10, 2000"
418:James C. O'Connell,
229:In October 1959, in
962:"How Beat Happened"
916:on October 29, 2013
886:. November 26, 2000
542:on January 15, 2013
306:Literary References
248:Foster's cafeterias
88:Foster's Cafeterias
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834:. February 9, 1996
803:On Art and Artists
662:- promotional film
494:The New York Times
471:The New York Times
445:The New York Times
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332:The best minds of
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205:Former Bickford's,
141:Horn & Hardart
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684:"Moars Cafeteria"
592:. Moars Cafeteria
448:, July 18, 1993,
321:Lonesome Traveler
151:guidebook noted:
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16:(Redirected from
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969:. Retrieved
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573:December 31,
571:. Retrieved
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540:the original
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503:. Retrieved
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348:Walker Evans
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316:Jack Kerouac
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286:Benny Bufano
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179:Pennsylvania
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1026:New England
946:January 21,
546:October 11,
356:Woody Allen
352:Andy Warhol
108:Andy Warhol
104:Woody Allen
90:influenced
1005:Categories
813:0877015899
428:1611689937
403:References
311:Bickford's
183:California
167:New Jersey
130:Lunchrooms
84:Bickford's
65:Bickford's
966:ezone.org
536:"History"
300:Herb Caen
293:sourdough
278:cable car
274:San Mateo
225:Evolution
219:fast food
161:Expansion
971:July 11,
920:July 11,
890:July 11,
864:July 11,
838:July 11,
781:July 11,
755:July 11,
719:July 11,
693:July 11,
656:July 10,
630:July 11,
596:July 11,
505:July 11,
391:See also
367:Foster's
212:Decline
175:Florida
156:shifts.
55:Founder
47:Founded
810:
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282:mosaic
114:, and
69:chain
973:2017
948:2012
922:2017
892:2017
866:2017
840:2017
808:ISBN
783:2017
757:2017
721:2017
695:2017
658:2017
632:2017
619:ISBN
598:2017
575:2018
548:2013
507:2017
424:ISBN
381:Howl
358:and
339:Howl
181:and
169:and
86:and
50:1921
284:by
71:of
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