Chuck E. Cheese's - The Beginnings and Other Stuff

Hi, I was wondering if anyone living in California state or ever visited the state of California ever visited the very first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre location that was on Winchester Blvd. in San Jose, California first opened in May 1977 and closed in the mid-late 1980's. This first CECPTT location had the original wall portrait robot CECPTT Pizza Time Players show starring Chuck E. Cheese, Jasper T. Jowls, Crusty Cat, Foxy Colleen, Pasqually (who even called out pizza numbers), and the Warblettes. Other CECPTT regulars who would later join included Madam Oink, Helen Henny, Mr. Munch, the Mopsey Sisters, and Dolli Dimples.

The second known CECPTT location opened in Huntington Beach, California in early 1979. The first CECPTT outside of California opened in Odgen, Utah in Summer 1979 and closed in 1992-1993.

I hope someone has photos and/or film/video footage of the first CECPTT locations and CECPTT Pizza Time Players show from the 1977 San Jose, California location and/or the 1979 Huntington Beach, California location that they can share or contact me via e-mail.

Also: Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre was founded and launched by Nolan Bushnell, who launched in the 1970's Atari and its early video games Computer Space and Pong. Nolan Bushnell nowadays works for UWink Bistro. And Chuck E. Cheese's merged with rival ShowBiz Pizza Place in the mid 1980's and by 1990-1992 Chuck E. Cheese's took over the ShowBiz locations. Even the CECPTT shows have modified in the past 3 decades from wall portrait to shelf/balcony to house stage to Munch Band Stage to Studio C formats. And the video game rooms have envolved from Skee-Ball and video arcade games and pinball to mostly ticket payout games to turn in for prizes and kiddie rides.

I remember Wisconsin had Chuck E Cheese's and Illinois had Showbiz Pizza. Showbiz had better pizza.

Our Showbiz turned into a Chuck E Cheese many years ago. I had and attened birthday parties for my son, attended birtday parties for my grandkids and hope not to go again until I have great grandkids. Chuck E Chesse is awful, loud and most of the parents are more obnoxcious then the kids. They push, pull and think they rule Chuck E Cheese.

I seem to remember Show Biz Pizza. Wasn't it called Show Biz Pizza Palace? I may be confusing it with something else.

I wish Chuck E. Cheese was not such an "attraction" for the kiddies. My grandkids love it, but, I agree with SassyGritsAL ~ "Chuck E Chesse is awful, loud and most of the parents are more obnoxcious then the kids. They push, pull and think they rule Chuck E Cheese."

The parents can be worse than the kids

Hmmm, the one I go to has a real good salad bar. Just stay away from tha pizza. And, yes, the grandzillas love the place. I am sure the soon to be 2yr old greatzilla will want to go there for her Bday. What fun watching the kids go wild somewhere besides my house!
Joe

I was at UpChuckie Cheese this weekend as I drew the short straw and had to cart my kid to a party. It is the worst place for such an event, as the kids scatter and don't even see the birthday celebrant. It is also way too noisy and some parents just turn their kids loose and let them roam without any supervision. To top it off the kids all obsess about getting tickets so they can get a "prize" which is a piece of crap. I find the place to be disgusting.

I was so glad when my daughter's friends out grew that place. We never hosted any parties there. Way to loud and dirty for my taste.

There was a Chuck E. Cheese's that my parents would take my brother, sister, and I in the Norristown, PA area that had this fun house type of attraction in it. It was huge. Tunnels, tubes, mazes, slides, dark rooms, compartments...ahh...something of its kind would never last in today's society. The fun house shut down at some point in the mid 80's, likely because of a lawsuit, but not really confirmed to us, and shortly after, the entire restaurant shut its doors for good.

Now, youth will make things bigger than what they were, but my older brother and I knew this thing was pretty large. I think it had something like a gnarled tree house-like exterior. Was this something anyone else remembers at any of the older Chuck E. Cheese's?

Thanks.We used to have ShowBiz Pizza here in San Antonio.Couldn't think of the name.

I used to enjoy Shakey's when I was a kid.
My child enjoyed birthday parties at Pizza Hut and absolutely loved Chuckie Cheese's. Loved it.
The nearest to us is in Savannah, and every time we went to the mall, if she saw it, we had to stop.
It eventually became a place you didn't want to visit after dark as parents seemed to use it as a legal place to drink beer and let their kids run wild. And I'm not anti-drinking, they just seemed to come out of the woodwork, so to speak, and were kind of scary in nature. Maybe it's changed by now. But that's the way it was when we quit going.

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Bad

I find the place to be disgusting.

I don't think it's that nice at all.