Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo?

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (Hippygerl)

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:12:05 GMT

I remember the Smak's on Independence Ave. Also the Bly's Bakery...I LOVED their cookies at Christmas time. I have never been able to find them anywhere else!!!

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (1bbqboy)

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 18:26:31 GMT

I'm a Kansas side boy, Oakdog, but Zaatar knows her way around NKC. She probably worked at some of those places.
Welcome to RF. There's a bunch of KC nostalgia around here including the evergreen Italian Steak sandwich thread...
Italian Steak Sandwiches
which-YAY!-has moved up to #1 on google search.
We've also had a few discussions about In-A-Tub and other deep fried tacos from around KC and Kansas.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (oakdog)

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:10:20 GMT

Doubt if you'll see this but.....
I Googled Smaks because I grew up in P.V. I ate ate the Smaks in OP. Not great. Very variable. The hamburger patty was like Winstead's, very thin. Winstead's is heaven (with a Cherry Lime Soda). Smaks was great sometimes. But sometimes not. Hamburger could get pretty strange at 10 for a dollar. And I kid you not sometimes they used cabbage instead of lettuce.
I returned to KC in 73 and worked as a manager for Sydney Ginsberg who owned Smaks at that time. I worked at the Snooty Fox. A good steak house in a bad neighborhood that Sydney's brother Jerry ran. They hated each other but Sydney was in fairly often checking up on Jerry. He talked about Smaks so I'm sure it was his.
(added later) I hadn't seen all the other posts.....what memories! When I was little in the mid 50's the was a place in North Kansas City called 'Squat and Gobble'. Remember that? My mom would get me a huge chocolate ice cream cone for a nickle there.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (SoCalKC)

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 00:37:50 GMT

I grew up next to the Ward Parkway Mall Smaks. Nearly everyday of summer vacation, my working Mom left us two dollars each for lunch at Smaks. Two burgers and fries.
My high school friend, Pat, worked at Wylie's Burger Basket on Wornall. On Friday nights, they closed at 10. We would wait a half hour, then swing by and Pat would open up the doors. We spend the evening drinking beer and frying our own burgers!

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (blondie66)

Wed, 02 May 2012 20:17:03 GMT

My father was an assistant manager of a Smacks in North Kansas City MO. I remember going there after hours and getting to check out the kitchen. I remember all of the different burger options they offered in their burger bar menu. It was called something like = Create your own burger I think. They had quite a variety of choices.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (sundevil)

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:13:52 GMT

I worked at Smaks in Topeka on west 21st Street, between 1966 - 1970. I remember one night that all the employees went a block away to my folks house to take cover from a tornado.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (ChiliBill)

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 13:33:42 GMT

If I'm not mistaken, the first Smak's in KCMO was on Linwood Blvd., just east of Main a ways. They featured $.19 burgers.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (BuccaneerBruce)

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:41:05 GMT

My mom (Who lives in Florida) and I were talking about Smaks. She found some old pictures of my sister and I in front of the Smaks at Ward Parkway.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (Malt&Shake)

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:37:24 GMT

Does anyone remember Boots Drive Inn on 87th Street in Overland Park Kansas in late 1950's and early 1960's?

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (1bbqboy)

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:50:47 GMT

Country club dairy should have been around 60th and troost, unless they had a second retail location. Our milkman delivered Country Club milk and dairy products.
As I remember, the CC dairy exploded in true KC fashion.
Let me work on my memories.
This guy says 56& Troost-
The Country Club Dairy and Rockhurst High School | Kansas City Public Library

[font="verdana; line-height: 18px"] The Country Club Dairy and Rockhurst High School In 1954-55, when I was a freshman at Rockhurst High School, the students often walked home by way of the Country Club Dairy at 56th & Troost. The inside of the dairy faced west and was bright from the outside sun shining on the glassed front. It was a great place to sit at the counter and talk. I ordered a chocolate malt every time I stopped there. I had to keep this a secret because I didn’t want to be accused of spoiling my dinner.
Late one afternoon, a fellow student who happened to be black (Negro in those days) was refused service there. I remember being angry at the time, maybe because our principal suggested we avoid the dairy until he had time to “look into it.”
After a discussion he had with the dairy management, no one was refused service. The result was one of the earliest examples of integration in Kansas City. Money talked even then.
Kevin GrattonApril 1, 2008
Note: Rockhurst High was then situated on the campus of Rockhurst College. It moved far south on State Line sometime later.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (Malt&Shake)

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 23:00:25 GMT

Does anyone remember the Country Club Dairy around 38th or31st and Troost in Kansas City. This was back in the 1950's and early 1960's. They had excellent malts.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (saholt)

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 23:02:25 GMT

Hi ! I worked at Smak's in Topeka KS from 1965-66. My boss's name was Jim Duncan. Do you remember or know anything about him?

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (farawaymom)

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 09:09:16 GMT

Ahhh, the Hickory Smak was the BEST!!! The last Smak's in KC that I remember was in Ward Parkway Shopping Center, downstairs between the escalators. Does anyone remember Drummer Boy on Westport Rd? They were just down the street from the MCC Penn Valley building around 1970.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (Milt)

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 07:13:33 GMT

jschlicht

There was a Smaks in the Wyandotte plaza shopping center parking lot. 78th and State avenue in Kansas City Kansas.

Was that Smaks located where the Chinese restaurant is now? It is in the freestanding building near State Avenue. My son and I ate there a year ago when we were in the area.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (jschlicht)

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 15:51:03 GMT

There was a Smaks in the Wyandotte plaza shopping center parking lot. 78th and State avenue in Kansas City Kansas.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (Jason B.)

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:45:37 GMT

I was younger than 10 years old when they went out of business but I vividly remember eating at the Smacks at Indian Springs but also eating at another in Kansas City, Kansas. It was either off of Parallel or Leavenworth Road and was near a bank over there (Westgate State Bank maybe??).

Jason B.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (jfield)

Sun, 19 Sep 2010 22:47:20 GMT

Now this brings back some memories. I started working at the Allens Drive In in Topeka in Jan 1968. Was stationed at Forbes AFB at the time. After my discharge in July of that year went to work at the SMAKS at, I thing, 1410 N. Burlington in KC North. Across the ASB bridge.
Worked there untill November of 68.
One Smak-a-roo please....

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (KCJudy)

Sat, 18 Sep 2010 07:13:21 GMT

Beef&Fries

There were a bunch of Smacks around KC in the 60's -70's. 95th & Mission in Prairie Village, the place started off as something else, ?? House? I don't remember what, and Smacks moved in.

I think they had one on Metcalf too, I remember a Red Barn on Metcalf.

All these memories are making me hungry! We frequented Smak's on Wornell Road in the Waldo area when I was a young girl. I loved their fried chicken. Didn't they have a character called "Shmoo" or something like that?
Allen's Drive In - no where better in the world for pork tenderloin sandwiches and hot fudge sundaes after church. Does anyone remember a little drive-in place called "Mark 90"? I went to Boone Elementary School and it was across the street from there on Wornall Road. I believe it was named for the Lucky Strike Lanes bowling alley just behind it. It was one of those places where you could eat for $0.30, 19 cents for the burger, a dime for the coke, and a penny for a piece of bubble gum afterwards. Those places don't exist anymore!
When I take my family back home now, we go to Smoke Stack BBQ, I believe at 89th and Wornall. Best BBQ in the world, bar none (imho). Love the Red Barn, too, for their kids chicken dinner that came in a red shaped box.
Any memories of these places, I would love to hear. I love and miss KC. Go Chiefs!
Sincerely,
KCJudy

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (collinf)

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:48:21 GMT

vinnyd01

I remember Chutes, but I don't remember if I ever ate there. I don't think they were around long. Didn't all the Smaks become Chutes, or am I remembering incorrectly?

Vinny,

Chutes only lasted about 1 year: came in '77, gone in '78. I always wondered how they could have gotten away with an insignia design that was an exact copy of the Atari company. Smaks was gone by the early to mid 1980's. Their locations were taken over by various other fast-food businesses: Dairy Queen, Arby's, and Burger King from the ones that were around my neck of the woods.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (vinnyd01)

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:57:10 GMT

I remember Chutes, but I don't remember if I ever ate there. I don't think they were around long. Didn't all the Smaks become Chutes, or am I remembering incorrectly?

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (Mike Haney)

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:44:45 GMT

Beef&Fries:
There were a bunch of Smacks around KC in the 60's -70's. 95th & Mission in Prairie Village, the place started off as something else, ?? House? I don't remember what, and Smacks moved in.

The Smak's at 95th and Mission was preceded by Hasty House, a rather short lived hamburger joint with a special sauce as I recall. The sauce was not my favorite by a long shot as a kid of 8 or 9 years old in 1959-1960.

i ate at smacks alot as a kid. we lived at 95 and antioch then moved to around 95 and mission. my dads store was at ranchmart shopping center. was there alot. <message edited by kennyb on Wed, 02/11/09 5:50 PM>

kennyb what store did you dad own?

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (1bbqboy)

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:41:10 GMT

The Cryan' Shames opened Metcalf South in 1966.
I can remember how far away it seemed, right across the street from the French Market.
We lived about 3 blocks from Capers Corners and OK Joe's. (Then a Western Auto)

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (docputer)

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:47:56 GMT

Thanks, collinf, that was probably it. That is where I discovered that I loved putting blue cheese among other things on my burgers.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (collinf)

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:20:04 GMT

Doc, I bet the mall Smak's that you remember was at Metcalf South Mall. The Smak's was located on the third floor in the center area, just off in the corner. When Smak's left, it became a Dairy Queen, also.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (docputer)

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:12:01 GMT

I loved dressing my burgers at the burger bar at Smak's. I went to the one at one of the malls in the KC area, Possibly oak Park. We had a Griffs in Ottawa, which then became a Dairy Queen Brazier.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (BuccaneerBruce)

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:35:21 GMT

The 2 Smaks I remember were at Ward Parkway downstairs by where Dicks is and the other was on 71 highway in Grandview on the Southwest corner, they turned it into a gas station and now its a Walgreens.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (kennyb)

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:01:04 GMT

You're correct. It was out in front of a strip mall on the northwest corner of 95th and Antioch in O.P. They originally had great fish, but it suffered later on when they went to using lower quality fish. In fact, the Smak's was right across 95th street from the Arthur Treachers. That Smak's later became a Dairy Queen and now I think it is a Blimpie's sandwich place.

we lived just south 2 blocks back then. if i remember right, burgers at smak's were like 19 cents back then.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (collinf)

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:58:23 GMT

kennyb

i remember arthur treachers, might have been a drive thru one at 95 and antioch.

You're correct. It was out in front of a strip mall on the northwest corner of 95th and Antioch in O.P. They originally had great fish, but it suffered later on when they went to using lower quality fish. In fact, the Smak's was right across 95th street from the Arthur Treachers. That Smak's later became a Dairy Queen and now I think it is a Blimpie's sandwich place.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (kennyb)

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:01:43 GMT

i remember arthur treachers, might have been a drive thru one at 95 and antioch.

Re:Anyone Remember Smacks? Smack-a-Roo? (rickmu)

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:26:02 GMT

we had both a Smaks and Griffs in Leavenworth. The thing I remember most about Smaks is that you could dress your burger. When I moved to Kansas City I discovered Wylies and was stunned at how good their burgers were. Wish we had a Jack In the box in the area. I also miss Rax roast beef and Lawrence use to have a Arthur Treachers fish and chips. Not sure if I spelled all those right? Blessings rick