Guide to the Eat’n Park Records, 1956-1999 (bulk 1980-1999)

Arrangement

Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Eat'n Park Records,
Creator
Eat 'n Park
Collection Number
MSS#491
Extent
3 linear feet (3 boxes)
Date
1956-1999
Abstract
Established by Larry Hatch in Pittsburgh in 1949, Eat'n Park is a restaurant chain with locations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. This collection, which was brought together as part of the Eat'n Park fiftieth anniversary exhibit at the Senator John Heinz History Center in 1999, includes newspaper clippings, restaurant signs and menus, various employee and management records, and materials related to the exhibit.
Language
The material in this collection is in English.
Author
The guide to this collection was written by Josh Fox and Kelly Clark .
Publisher
Heinz History Center
Address
1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org

History

The first Eat'n Park restaurant was opened in 1949 on Saw Mill Run Blvd. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by Larry Hatch. Hatch, an executive with Isaly's deli company, conceived Eat'n Park as one of the first hamburger restaurants in the Pittsburgh area to be serviced by carhops. The restaurant's name was a nod to the ubiquity of "Park and Eat" signs in the late 1940s. The phrase could not be trademarked, so Hatch decided to flip the expression and use "Eat'n Park." In addition to carhop service, Eat'n Park featured items from the Bob's Big Boy menu, including Big Boy Burgers, by means of a franchise agreement.

During the 1950s, the restaurant was a hangout for teenagers and a "cruising" destination. In its first eleven years, Eat'n Park became a chain, boasting twenty-seven restaurants. By the early 1960s, carhop service was on the decline, and fast food restaurants like McDonald's were increasing in popularity and number. In response, Eat'n Park reformed its image by decreasing its number of carhops and expanding its menu and seating capacity. The first large dining room opened in Ambridge in 1957. By the mid 1970s, the carhop service had been completely phased out. In 1976, Eat'n Park discontinued its franchise agreement with Bob's Big Boy, and the Big Boy Burgers were no longer featured on the menu. (A burger similar to the Big Boy, the "Super Burger," is still served at Eat'n Park.)

Eat'n Park, having made the transition from a drive-in to a family restaurant, continues to expand its operations. The chain includes over seventy-five restaurants, eight thousand employees, and has spread east toward Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; west into Ohio; and south into West Virginia. The company celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 1999 with an exhibit at the Senator John Heinz History Center titled "Eat'n Park's Anniversary: Celebrating 50 Years of Smiles."

Scope and Content Notes

The Eat'n Park Records have been arranged in four series: Company Records, Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibit, Newspaper Clippings, and Promotional Materials. The items in this collection were brought together as part of the Eat'n Park fiftieth anniversary exhibit at the Senator John Heinz History Center in 1999. The collection consists mainly of newspaper clippings; restaurant signs and menus; various employee and management records; and "Share Your Smile" cards, which were created to involve Eat'n Park customers and employees in the fiftieth anniversary exhibit.

Series I: Company Records

This series is an eclectic collection of Eat'n Park corporate records that includes employee insurance records, store management lists from 1961 to 1978, a few copies of the company's employee newsletters from the 1980s, sheet music for one of the company's radio jingles, press releases from the company's fortieth anniversary, some building plans, and a few other items.

Series II: Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibit

This series is the largest and consists of memoranda, signs, "Share Your Smile" cards, letters, hotline records, and notes on sources of memorabilia. All of the items in this series were created in the process of developing the Eat'n Park fiftieth anniversary exhibit that was installed at the Senator John Heinz History Center. (The exhibit was titled "Eat'n Park's Anniversary: Celebrating 50 Years of Smiles.") Eat'n Park solicited stories from customers about their favorite Eat'n Park memory, which could be sent in via postcard or called in to a memories hotline. The company's marketing department then chose the best of the stories (their criteria are not clear) to include in the exhibit. The cards, letters, and hotline records have been arranged alphabetically by respondents' names, whereas photocopies and other items produced by the company have been left in their original order.

Series III: Newspaper Clippings

The newspaper clippings in this series focus mainly on the years 1987 to 1994 and 1997 to 1998. The articles are arranged chronologically. Most of these articles were collected by a clipping service and include both substantive clippings and those that only mention the restaurant in passing. Among the fortieth anniversary clippings, from 1989, there is also a media report and small collection put together by an outside publicist, Kweilin Nassar, Inc.

Series IV: Promotional Materials

This series includes menus, signs, placemats, table ads, gift certificates, and other items relating to Eat'n Park restaurants. The menus, which date from the 1960s through the early 1990s, make up the bulk of this series. In addition to regular dining menus, the collection also includes take-out, dessert, and kids' menus. Oversize items in this series have been stored in a separate oversized container (see "Separations").

Conditions Governing Access

No Restrictions.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection came in 3 accessions:

1999.0187 - Gift of Eat'n Park;

2001.0042 - Gift of Linda A. Hospodar of the Eat'n Park Hospitality Group Inc.;

2002.0032 - Gift of Bill Moore on February 11, 2002.

Preferred Citation

Eat'n Park Records, 1956-1999 (bulk 1980-1999), MSS#491, Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center

Processing Information

The collection was arranged by Josh Fox on May 20, 2008. The arrangement and finding aid were updated by Kelly Clark on July 23, 2008 and by Matt Strauss in October 2009.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.

Separated Materials

The Eat'n Park Photograph Collection MSP#491, is described in its own finding aid. The collection includes a few of the photographs made and collected by Eat'n Park for the fiftieth anniversary exhibit installed at the Senator John Heinz History Center in 1999, as well as many photographs of various Eat'n Park restaurants taken by the company in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The Eat'n Park Oversize Materials, MSO#491, include restaurant signs, oversize menus, activity sheets, newspaper ads, and a Christmas album by the Eat'n Park singers.

Subjects

    Corporate Names

    • Eat'n Park (Restaurant)
    • Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

    Personal Names

    • Hatch, Larry.

    Genres

    • menus

    Other Subjects

    • Restaurants--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.
    • Restaurants--Pennsylvania--Employees.
    • Restaurants--Pennsylvania--Public relations.

Container List