Fast-food memories

Welcome back, Gino’s!  When I heard last year that the beloved local fast-food chain was being resurrected with a new outlet in King of Prussia, Pa., I waited for the inevitable news that a closer-to-home version would materialize. Sure enough, this past August, a second location sprang up on LaSalle Road in Towson, along with news that more were on the way. 

It had been a long time since I’d thought about Gino’s, but I do recall eating there several times as a child growing up around Hagerstown and Frederick. We were by no means a fast-food family. Home-cooked meals were traditionally taken around the dining room or kitchen table every day with everyone in attendance. Fast-food jaunts were reserved for long-distance travel or the occasional quick-fix during an extended shopping excursion. Gino’s didn’t rank terribly high in the mix; Burger Chef, Red Barn and McDonald’s probably appealed more to us back then. (And this was before our local McDonald’s had an indoor dining room; it had an outdoor walk-up counter with “to-go” service and a pair of giant golden, parabolic arches that swooped up and over the roof of the small stand.)

Kentucky Fried Chicken was considered a special treat, but that required a 20-minute car ride to Chambersburg, Pa., where we’d fetch a bucket of the golden brown, incredibly crispy delicacy and then drive back to have it at home, seated around the table on a summer Sunday afternoon after church (if my mother had determined that it was too hot to cook). And these were the days when a restaurant that served pizza was referred to as a “pizza parlor,” and many friends’ juvenile birthday parties were celebrated at Pappy’s and Shakey’s.

Gradually, though, the Gino’s name disappeared from the fast-food landscape, as other bigger, national chains moved in and absorbed smaller ones. In putting together our story on the history of Gino’s (page 86), it was great fun to hear people’s memories of the chain started by Baltimore Colts defensive end Gino Marchetti, and intriguing to see what those early branches looked like, with their neon script logos and rocket-themed signage (hello, Space-Age!). I’m also eager to bite into a Gino’s Giant, but alas, the long queues to get in have prevented me, so far. But the next time I’m driving through that side of Towson, I’m
stopping and going in— no matter how long the line is.

Brian Michael Lawrence
Editor-in-Chief
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