Chuck-A-Burger cruisin' landmark to close original location
 

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Original Chuck-A-Burger on St. Charles Rock Road
Will close it's doors at the end of 2007

Chuck-A-Burger, is a local landmark restaurant that looks like it could double as a set in "American Graffiti," is closing at the end of the year.

The restaurant, which opened at 9025 St. Charles Rock Road in 1957, will lose its lease Dec. 31, 2007.

Owner Ron Stille opened another Chuck-A-Burger two years ago in St. Charles, and he said he can't afford to buy the property here.

"It makes me sick because I grew up there," said Stille, 52, of "It's touched thousands of lives, including my family and friends. When my dad passed away in 1999, I went down there in the middle of the night and just stood in the kitchen and cried. Because this was family … how much that store means to us."

The restaurant, which seats 42 inside and has 65 parking spaces, also is close to the hearts of legions of customers.

"That's where you went to meet your buddies or to take your girlfriend and sit in the parking lot and drink a cherry Coke," Stille said. "On Friday or Saturday night you'd cruise around in your '57 Chevy before you went to a drive-in movie or after a movie."

At the company's peak, in the 1960s, there were eight locations in the St. Louis area and Chuck-A-Burger was nicknamed the Cruisin Capital Of The Midwest worldwide.

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Stille's father, Ralph, was the first manager of the Rock Road restaurant. Ralph Stille bought the business in 1978 and Ron and his wife, Linda, bought it from Ralph in 1995.

The business faded in the 1970s in the face of chain competition, but in 1982 Ron and his father revitalized the store by starting "cruise nights" on weekends, making it a meeting place for classic cars, carhops and '50s and '60s music.

Some customers Thursday took the news hard.

"I remember as a kid, I used to watch the snow falling from the window here while I was waiting for my food," said Mike Pogue, 44, of St. John, as he received a burger and fries. "My mom brought me here quite a bit. Now I work right up the street, and I still come here for lunch. I'm really going to miss it."

Faye Staufenbiel, 55, of west St. Louis County, has been a regular customer for 40 years. She says the drive doesn't bother her because she loves the food and the nostalgia.

"I really hate to see it close," Staufenbiel said as she waited for her order with her 19-year-old daughter, Ginger Willis.

Among the restaurant's 23 employees is Carol McCain, 61, an inside waitress who has been with restaurant three-plus decades. She said she'd miss the customers the most.

RIP :(

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It's a real shame.

We oughta blame a cruise there for a g2g.

Where's that place at? I was all over the Rock Rd. yesterday looking for a place to eat and hoping I would find it!

It is in St. Johns across from Ritenour High School just west of Brown Road.

They have a map to both the current locations on their website at:

www.ChuckABurger.com

If you were near the Highway 270 and the Rock Road, we may have crossed paths. I live in that area in Bridgeton.

What part of the Show Me State do you live?

Poplar Bluff. I was up there on Friday for an MCLE seminar up by the airport and I was killing some time at the Guitar Center and Rockler's to let the traffic die down before I headed home.

I wound up getting back on 270 at oh, 7:00 PM, and I was still stuck in traffic for an hour!

You were right down the street from me!

Catching up on older topics here. I'll be back out in STL for 3 or 4 days next month, and am definitely thinking I need to make a trip to the Rock Road restaurant.

Let us know when you're in town, maybe some of our local Gateway HHR folks can meet up with you.

By the way, have you been to the "new" Chuck-A-Burger in St. Charles?

Yeah!

Maybe this could be our next g2g for St. Louis. How about some dates JJ?

I'm looking at August 17-19, although I'm booked in the evening on the 17th (Friday) and the 18th (Saturday) due to my high school's reunion gatherings. If something's able to be worked out for Sunday the 19th, that would personally be my best opportunity.

Big Kahuna - I haven't had a chance to check out the one in St. Charles - whereabouts is it? I usually stay in the Harvester area when I'm out there.

It's right off the new Highway 370 on the north side of St. Charles. Take Highway 370 to the Elm St. exit. Head south on Elm St. about 1 block and it's on your right.

You can't miss it - it's covered with chrome and neon... :thumb:

Here's a link to directions and pictures along with a lot of Chuck-A-Burger history...

www.ChuckABurger.com

:smile:

Nice, so right over in the neighborhood of Fast Lane!

Aug. 18th is good for me! Let's start planning.

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Chuck-A-Burger gets new life
Landmark diner's doors stay open :thumb:

Local HHR owners, don't mourn the old Rock Road Chuck-A-Burger's demise just yet.

One of our favorite historic cruise-in diners stays open!!!

The venerable hamburger joint on St. Charles Rock Road, a fixture in the area for a half-century, still is rockin' and rollin'. At least for a little while.

The diner had been scheduled to close Dec. 31. However, owner Ron Stille has made a deal with the property's owner that would allow him time to try to arrange financing to purchase the tract at 9025 St. Charles Rock Road.The lease has been extended at least through February, Stille said, adding that the diner could remain open longer.

"We'll be there 'til March, anyway," Stille said in a telephone interview from his Chuck-A-Burger diner in St. Charles County.

Stille opened that restaurant when it appeared he would be unable to purchase the Rock Road property.

The lease extension grants Stille time to work on obtaining financing for the property. "I'm trying my darnedest," he said.

Stille took over the Chuck-A-Burger legacy when his father, Ralph, died in 1999. The younger Stille had purchased the restaurant from his father a few years earlier.

Chuck-A-Burger owner Stille said he was touched by the outpouring of support from St. Louis residents after the closing was announced last summer.

"It means a lot," Stille said. "It shows the respect that people have for the icon that is Chuck-A-Burger. It means a lot that everybody wants it to stay open."

Thay's good news, thanks for the update.

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St. Louis' Rock Road Chuck-A-Burger
"Cruisin' Capital Of The Midwest"

Stays Open For Good!


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:bow:

It seems the eulogies delivered for a North County landmark last summer were a bit premature.

Chuck-A-Burger, born in the mid-1950s when rock 'n' roll, hot cars, and burgers, fries and a Coke were the orders of the day, will live on at 9025 St. Charles Rock Road. But it won't look exactly as it has the past few decades.

Ron Stille, son of the late Ralph Stille, who opened the diner five decades ago, finally was able to buy the land on which the burger joint sits."It's only been a month since we signed the paperwork," he said in a telephone interview from his Chuck-A-Burger restaurant in St. Charles.

Stille opened the St. Charles location when it appeared he wouldn't be able to obtain the property across the Rock Road from Ritenour High School.

Speaking of the school, the longtime members of the Ritenour Alumni Association - some of whom were known to cut a class or two to get a burger and fries - were among the more vocal patrons bemoaning the expected closing of the diner.

"Now, we'll have to get the Alumni Association together again for a 'Glad-You're-Not-Closing' reunion," said Dean Nickens of the 3300 block of Havenbrook Drive in Overland.

Nickens was one of many longtime customers who shared their memories of the popular drive-in.

The group of alumni last year gathered for what was believed to be a goodbye party. The diner initially had been scheduled to close at year's end.

But Stille was able to obtain an extension and kept negotiating for the purchase of the land.

A chalkboard sign on the restaurant wall Friday proclaimed, along with an ad for a steak sandwich, that Chuck-A-Burger is open "permanently."

"That's the plan," Stille said. But, he noted, there's a big job ahead of him - a job other than making mortgage payments.

"Now, I have to do all the work to meet the building codes," he said.

The structure from the 1950s faces a major face-lift just to meet the regulations adopted since it was built. Also, Stille said, while that's being done he figured it would be wise to update the diner. An expansion of the dining area is on the drawing board.

He said he hopes he won't have to shut down for much more than a month to complete the work.

Stille said St. John officials have been cooperative in working with him on the necessary paperwork.

"They're very supportive. They want me to stay," he said. "But rules are rules."

One of those rules is that Stille must obtain a conditional-use permit for the site as the new property owner. He is scheduled to outline his permit application to the St. John Planning and Zoning Commission on April 28. If endorsed by that panel, a public hearing would be held to discuss the application, and then it would be considered by the St. John City Council.

SHOCKING NEWS!!!

:eek:

Just received this email from the Stille Family and employees of Chuck-A-Burger....

I was shocked at the news that Chuck-A-Burger has decided to instead close their NEW St. Charles location and keep the original location open. Here's the scoop...

:bye:



Everyone at Chuck-A-Burger would like to thank our great and loyal customers. We truly appreciate your support through all of the ups and downs we have experienced over the last few years.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we have to close the doors of our St. Charles Chuck-A-Burger Drive-In. Our last day of business will be Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 9 p.m. We hope you get a chance to come by and see us this weekend.

If not, please cruise to the Chuck-A-Burger St. Charles Rock Road Drive-In. We will continue our famous Friday night cruise nights at that location. With your continued patronage we can keep cruising alive in St. John, and hopefully one day we will be able to expand again.

Thank you again....

The Stille Family and Employees


Keep on Cruisin!

The one and only, original Chuck-A-Burger, since 1957
9025 St. Charles Rock Rd.
St. John, MO 63114
www.chuckaburger.com

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