38 Restaurants Turning 100 In 2023

1923 was quite a year for origination, with Walt Disney opening his studio, the birth of Bob Barker, Coca-Cola introducing the six-pack, and the first bottles of Cutty Sark popping open. Joining those titans were everyday men, women, and families working for their American dream by dispensing soda and ice cream at fountains found within drugstores and whetting appetites at divey watering holes all across the land.

Chef and writer Robert St. John says, "Restaurants have souls. They define a town, and tell the story of that place and its people" (via RobertStJohn.com). Let's pay tribute to 38 such treasured spots (four from Tennessee alone!) that were born of humble beginnings in 1923 and have done the improbable — overcoming prohibition, The Great Depression, World War II, fires, endless ownership changes, and a lot more just to make it to the century mark.

Many of these establishments were opened by Greek immigrants, have "Coney Island" in their name, or serve their own well-kept secret chili sauces. Others include restaurants that mark the starting point and terminus of Route 66, Dean Martin and Mike Trout's hometown favorites, Elvis' go-to for BBQ pizza, one that hired Robert Redford as a janitor, and a pair lent their surroundings as a backdrop for Academy Award-winning films.

Wipe off your greasy spoon, and take a seat on a spinning countertop stool, it's time to eat up all the incredible history behind these restaurants turning 100 in 2023! May you all last 100+ years more!

Memphis, Tennessee is a city famed for its barbeque, but about 40 miles northeast of town in Mason, eaters have flocked to "The Pilgrim of Pork" – Bozo's Hot Pit Bar-B-Q. Founded by Thomas Jefferson "Bozo" Williams in 1923, his barbeque joint that first served 15¢ "pig" sandwiches has had a colorful history since filled with slot machines, hot sauce-filled whiskey bottles, trademark battles with Bozo the Clown, and even being used as a backdrop for the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line" (via Tipton County, Tennessee and Haywood County Line).

While "Bozo" Williams passed away in 1935 due to pneumonia, his family business carried on for decades, in several iterations, before settling permanently at its current location in 1950 (one of the first places in Mason to have air conditioning). Bozo's great-grandson Jeff Thompson was the last in the family to run it, before selling the business in 1999. Current owners John and Cindy Papageorgeon told Memphis Magazine, "This is just a very special place, and I feel honored to be its custodian."

Chef's Restaurant has long been warming the bellies of cold Buffalonians and tourists at the corner of Seneca and Chicago Streets. Dishwasher Lou Billittier Sr. worked his way up to owner, and today, his children Lou and Mary Beth welcome customers ready to chow down on their signature Spaghetti Parmesan. That dish was co-created by local TV personality Dave Thomas, whose actor son David Boreanaz grew up nourished and loving the free Bazooka gum at Chef's (via Chef's Restaurant Buffalo on YouTube). Other famous diners include Hall of Famer Buffalo Bill Bruce Smith, who never missed a Friday night there (via Chef's Restaurant Buffalo on YouTube), Buffalo Sabre players including the "French Connection" crew who have a room named after them, and folks like Sugar Ray Leonard, Jimmy Durante, and Keanu Reeves, whose photos adorn the Wall of Sauce Stars.

For their 90th birthday, Chef's hosted "The World's Largest Pasta Dinner," and plans are in motion, per Niagara Frontier Publications, "to do something big" for the centennial in September. Co-owner Lou Billittier told WKNW, "You don't get to 100 without having the best customers in the world."

Emil Coletta opened his Suburban Ice Cream Company in 1923, and his popular pasta prompted a pivot to become an Italian restaurant – Coletta's. In the 1950s, sailors from a nearby Naval base started requesting pizzas, and Emil's son Horest was sent to Chicago to learn the crusty oven arts. Not only was Coletta's one of the first places to popularize pizza in Memphis, but that town's signature style barbecue inspired a pulled-pork pie that put them on a wider map.

One of the biggest fans of the BBQ pizza was none other than a regal hometown boy, the king himself: Elvis Presley. A room he once ate in is now known as the Elvis room. If you can't make it to the restaurant now run by Horest's son, Jerry, or the second location run by his children, the BBQ or their other famous "Round the World" pizzas are just a Goldbelly order away.

Greek immigrant Steve Karampilas first arrived in New York and learned the hot dog craft in Brooklyn, before settling in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 1923, he would start cooking up Texas weiners and hamburgers at his Coney Island Texas Lunch, which would go on to satisfy appetites of all sizes, like members of The Three Stooges and Andre the Giant. What made Karampilas' weiners stand out was his secret chili sauce that had competitors trying to steal it and Disneyworld offering to buy it.

Karampilas died in 1972, leaving his sons Jack and Ted to fill the buns. As they outlasted many of their suppliers, the sons successfully adapted the business to the changing times. Things got complicated when the brothers split and fought over the name, with Jack opening Coney Island Lunch nearby in 1988, with stepsons Pete and Bob Ventura running operations, and the former location becoming the Original Coney Island of Scranton run by Ted and partner Tom Moran, and now by Brendan Bell. It's rare for a restaurant to survive 100 years, let alone be split in two, like a hot dog bun — but both halves are deserving of celebration.

According to Henry Charlton Beck's "Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey," legend has it that a local hunter bloodily battled a lion to death, lending the name Red Lion to the New Jersey area, and then to an Inn with a building that dates back 300 years. Givino Dipaolo took over the Southampton property in the 20th century and in 1923 opened its doors to the public. The Italian restaurant became a perfect rest stop for Jersey Shore-goers as they returned home on Sundays, or regulars like famed Philadelphia organist Larry Ferrari.

Current owner Stephen Black is the fourth generation Dipaolo to attend to the ins and outs of The Red Lion Inn. He continues to serve popular dishes that were on the menu 100 years ago, like homemade spaghetti, ravioli, chicken parmesan, and fried chicken. Black told the Pine Barrens Tribune, "We all gravitate to the kitchen, each generation making menu contributions and striving to make more delicious and flavorful creations for our 'pasta-holics.' That is our true joy."

The Auspitz family immigrated from Poland to Philadelphia, with several brothers soon running a set of successful "Famous" delicatessens. Out of all of them, the one opened in 1923 and run by Sam Auspitz at Fourth and Bainbridge Street remains the last to survive. Sam's son David was an investment banker, but left behind the number crunching in the 1970s to help out with the pastrami on rye munching. In that decade, an election season tradition started with pollsters and politicians dropping by, including Al Gore and Barack Obama. The Deli also co-starred in the Oscar-winning Tom Hanks/Denzel Washington film "Philadelphia," and Adam Sandler has stopped in for a nosh (via Famous 4th Street Delicatessen on Instagram).

By 2005, David Auspitz had tired of the day-to-day (meat) grind. With his daughter not interested in taking over, the family sold the Famous 4th Street Delicatessen to another deli man — Russ Cowan. Per The Philadelphia Inquirer, Cowan is currently seeking a kindred spirit to take over and march "4th," selling their delectable black and white cookies, but should a buyer not arise, he would refuse to close the doors for good.

Since 1923, Gino's Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge had served the community of Hancock, Michigan community in many ways. It was the kind of place where people held their wedding receptions, fell in love, sipped on Grasshopper dessert drinks, and even served as the launch point of many a homecoming parade.

Gino's was run for a long time by Thomas "Shakey" Neher, who retired in 2013. Four years later, the venerable restaurant closed its doors, and in 2018 the Miron family raised it from the dead, learning the recipes from Shakey himself. Gino's is once again a thriving local hotspot, serving pizzas, pasta, and stuffed rolls, and even sponsoring a local women's hockey team. One new great addition has been a 1,000-square-foot patio, which general manager Daryl Williams told TV6 is "the only outdoor seating in Hancock."

Tennessee pharmacist "Doc" Cook set up a drug store in the heart of Greenback, which, since 1923, also featured a soda fountain, milkshakes, chili-loaded hot dogs, and 5¢ chewables like chlorophyll gum. The combo came in handy when "brave" children who received shots at the drugstore were given the following prescriptions: "Disp: Ice cream cone, one dip."

Cook's son and son-in-law carried on with the Greenback Drugstore, and through successive owners — currently the Tallents — it became more of a place for quickly ready-to-eat meals than one for remedies. While the drugstore portion is long gone, and now houses a town museum that includes some of its former possessions, the name has been retained as the Greenback Drugstore Diner. The Greenback has been a stop for candidates running for Senate, daily hamburger lunches for 90-year-olds, and a subject of national news, like on Good Morning America — for having a waitress carrying her son on her back while serving up signature grilled honey buns.

Bachelor George Chironis kept plenty busy at his Chicago Cafe, which opened in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in 1923. At the cafe, lobster salad could be had for 50¢, and cream in your cereal ran an extra nickel. Things only got busier for Chironis when he returned from Greece with his bride Mary in 1934, and later had four helpful sons: Alex, Jim, Louis, and Harry. Six years later, their cafe, which fed the likes of Al Capone, Jerry Van Dyke, and Red Buttons, was renamed The Geneva Restaurant, and son Alex took the lead when his father George passed away in 1957.

The 1980s brought about big changes. When a liquor license was finally obtained, they built an accompanying bar to the restaurant and renamed the new dual establishment after the youngest Chironis brother — Harry's Cafe and Place. The coronavirus shutdown almost led to the family shutting the doors for good, but they had a change of heart. Now they've reached the 100-year milestone, delighting fans of their Bloody Mary-friendly brunches.

Seeking the American dream, brothers James and Tom Papadakis made their way from Greece to Houston, Texas, and in 1923, at Walker and Main Street, opened a hot dog stand. They flipped a coin to see whose name would help sell their chili-smattered dream, and James Coney Island quickly became a fixture for businessmen and everyday folk, once dubbed as "the most famous eating place in the city's history — the maxim's of the masses."

The brothers were resistant to change, but eventually acquiesced on straws, ketchup, and even opening a second location, which came about in 1968. Their sons continued the growth of James Coney Island for decades, before selling to a group of local investors headed by Darrin Straughan in 1990. The original location closed in 1993, but Straughan and company (now called JCI) have done their best "Hotdoggin' It for 100 Years" with what he told Culture Map is "the Rodney Dangerfield of the sandwich category."

Klavon's served as a Pittsburgh neighborhood apothecary and ice cream shop from 1923 through 1979. While it lay dormant for two decades, its old school charms — marble counters, soda bottle cap stools, and art deco touches — were dusted off for a new century when founders James and Mary's eight grandchildren and cousin re-opened it to much-appreciated fanfare.

After grandson and owner Ray passed, Klavon's Ice Cream Parlor was taken over by Jacob and Desiree Hanchar in 2013. While there were talks of franchising to Cleveland, and even selling the business, the Hanchars have decided to stay put and carry on the Klavon family tradition with their own family. Senator John Fetterman called (per Trib Live) the parlor "The Graceland of Pittsburgh ice cream," and according to Trib Live, the Hanchars will celebrate its 100 interrupted years by creating a "special treat" to honor savior Ray Klavon.

William Mitchell named his second restaurant on Jackson Boulevard after his son and eventual business partner Lou, and the diner that preceded the 1926 starting point of Route 66 by three years became one of the first places in Chicago to serve breakfast all day and serve eggs in skillets. Lou Mitchell began to make his own contributions to the restaurant when in 1958 he introduced the Greek tradition of handing out sweets by doling out free donut holes and later Milk Duds.

Lou Mitchell's silverware has been held by Presidents Eisenhower, Carter, George W. Bush, and Obama, was seen close-up on shows like "The Chi," "Electric Dreams," "Chicago PD," and "Top Chef," and in 2006 was added to the National Register of Historical Places. Lou resisted franchising his entire life, and in 1992 sold the restaurant to his niece Kathryn Thanas and her children Heleen and Nick. Heleen told Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway, "It was his baby, and it is our baby," adding that Lou Mitchell's "started out in the heartbeat of Americana, and it continues to be."

Four miles west of Harry's Cafe and Place on Lake Como lies Mars Resort, a once speakeasy cabin turned supper club that has gone through numerous name changes and over a dozen owners in 100 years. In 1923, Floridians Fred and Olga Schmidt opened a seasonal Wisconsin restaurant and bar called "The Old Glory Camp," where gangsters like Bugs Moran and Baby Face Nelson would stop by for a brewski.

Over twenty years later it became the Langwith Resort, and when the Marszalek family took over it became Mars Resort. In the 1970s, the restaurant stayed open year-round and later was further improved upon when current owners Scott Pohl and Arnie Silvestri took over in 2016. The nostalgic supper club atmosphere is still going on strong, while brandy Old Fashions are sipped and barbecue ribs are feasted on at what one patron told the Lake Geneva Regional News is "THE 'Cheers' of southern Wisconsin."

Not far from where "Twin Peaks" was filmed, in the shadow of Washington state's Cascade Range lies a libations refuge born during prohibition — Mt. Si Tavern. The tavern has been welcoming lumberjacks, loggers, loungers, layabouts, locals, and travelers seeking layovers since 1923, without the need for any advertising, as word of mouth has been leading others' mouths to its door.

Once a place for brawls and those seeking trouble, Rob Sherard brought clean order to the Mt. Si Tavern in 2012, telling 425Business that, "Slow change has kept this place alive."  Per The Valley News, the bar opened its doors to the filming of the 2013 Toni Collette feature "Lucky Them," and current owner David Wheaton keeps the doors open for drinkers who also hanker for a little backyard BBQ or his $2 Faux Pho Cup O'Noodles with green onions and lime, "because we're fancy."

John Lustig ran a grocery store in Stillwater, Minnesota, called Seven Corners, where one could get everyday basics like milk and treats like ice cream. 24 years after its opening in 1923, Lustig died. Art Nelson took over, and when he passed in 1964, nephew Wade stepped in, renaming it Nelson's Dairy Store. Wade Nelson was already in the business himself, running Brown's Ice Cream in Minneapolis, and started serving very generous scoops in Stillwater with the help of his son, Bob, who would go on to be a Super Bowl champion linebacker (via The Lowdown).

Nelson's Ice Cream came close to closing in 2016, but Stillwater residents Bill Bergstrom and Dave Najarian wouldn't let that happen. The Najarian family has since opened a second location in St. Paul, and turned Art Nelson's former shed residence into a tiny coffee house. While Nelson's grows older, the serving sizes seem to keep growing larger, as Najarian told The Lowdown, "We serve the largest ice cream cones on the planet for the price. We like to say they're almost as big as your head."

Howard Cobb and Axel Raven milked their prior dairy experience and opened a counter service fountain extension of their Peninsula Creamery on Hamilton and Emerson in Palo Alto, California. While the celebrated year of opening has long been 1923, it appears that the first day of operation was September 16, 1922 (per an ad in The Peninsula Times Tribune), when curious guests received free cones, including famed hypnotist and magician Ormond McGill – who became a lifelong fan, according to his autobiography, "The Amazing Life of Ormond McGill."

The Santana family acquired the Creamery and dairy plant (which serviced Stanford University) in 1936, and breakfast, sandwiches, and later hot foods were added to the menu. The family leased the fountain to outside interests in the late 1980s, and as The Palo Alto Creamery (also known as The Peninsula Fountain & Grill) they have been cooking up "Simple food, done well." The Peninsula Creamery Dairy Store and Grill lives on a few blocks away from its former home and is run by the third and fourth-generation Santanas.

In 1923, a former fraternity house at the University of Colorado in Boulder was transformed into Somer's Sunken Garden, a bar and restaurant with a fish and fern-filled fountain in the middle of it. By 1949, the place's nickname officially became its name — The Sink, which became home to the Sinkburger, Sink Rats regulars, lively concerts, and groovy murals. They even employed Robert Redford as a janitor, as well as the veterinarian and bodyguard for The Rolling Stones, Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald, as a bouncer.

The Sink did become Herbie's Deli for 15 years, but reverted back to its old beautiful self at the end of the 1980s. It remains popular with CU students and served up Ugly Crust Pizzas (and smiles) to such luminaries as President Barack Obama, Éric Ripert, Anthony Bourdain, Andre 3000, Madeleine Albright, Dan Aykroyd, and former employee Redford. Per Westword, to celebrate The Sink at 100, Avery Brewing Company crafted a "1923" beer for the occasion, which can be enjoyed at Friday Afternoon Club – the resurrection of a tradition from the 1960s (although formalwear is now optional).

At the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Sutton's Drug Store was billed as "The Students' Drug Store," providing medicine, toilet articles, fountain favorites like frosted malteds, and good times since 1923. Lynwood and Lucy Sutton were the original proprietors, and all owners that followed promised to keep the independent college staple pretty much the same forevermore.

Tar Heel students, staff, and athletes like Michael Jordan were constant customers, and stars like Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, and Rob Lowe made hamburger-eating cameos while in town. Regulars once had assigned seats with names like "Peyton Place" and "Menopause Manor," and some are even lucky enough to have their pictures up on the wall, which also displays cook Willie Mae Houk's one and only pan that she used over 32 years. The pharmacy portion closed in 2014, and a man whose parents met working at Sutton's — Don Pinney — has taken up the mantle. Per Sutton's Drug Store's Facebook page, a centennial birthday celebration is set for April 12, 2023, where a hundred pennies get you a hot dog, fries, and a drink.

While James Coney Island was starting to get things cooking in downtown Houston,  five miles northwest, another pharmacy opened in 1923 at the corner of Yale and West 21st Streets. The Dupuis's Yale Pharmacy was a dependable local shop for medicine and grabbing a bite at its soda fountain. Later on, the pharmacy portion of their building was sold, the place was renamed Yale Grill and Gifts, and after 78 years, the family let someone else run it.

The Yale Street Grill persists to this day thanks to 98% of their customers being regulars, some that even come twice in a single day. They come in to pop a squat in the roomy dining room decorated with pictures of Elvis and notable Texans, and later peruse the curious items for sale in the possibly haunted Lovejoy's Antiques & Collectibles, which occupies the former pharmacy's space. Upon reaching the 100-year marker, Houston Chronicle writer Elisabeth Carroll Parks perfectly summed up its longevity — "the most important thing Yale Street Grill has always served is a sense of belonging. And that's timeless."