All present-day photos on this site are the exclusive property of Mike Wheeler and may not be used for any commercial purpose.
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The Goody Goody was Tampa landmark since 1929 |
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The Goody Goody sported a
new look in 2004 with its refurbished sign.
Read about the "new old" look in the Sunday, April 11th Tampa Tribune.
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This photo of the drive-in shelters was taken before the improvements
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The Goody Goody first opened in 1925, when Tampa was in the midst of the Florida land boom. In 1930, it moved to its new building on Florida Avenue downtown, where it operated until Nov. 30th, 2005. |
A scene from the recently made movie was filmed at the Goody Goody. Exterior improvements had just begun by filling in some of the building cracks (2003 photo at left.) |
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"The production crew saw the place, contacted the owner and asked him to stop. They wanted it to look this way for the filming. |
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| Yvonne started in
1947 as a "curb girl" about 2 years after she graduated from
Hillsborough High, and now she is the manager, baker and half-day server.
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In 1984 the Stayer family, which had owned Goody Goody for decades, sold it to local accountant Mike Wheeler. He leased it to Yvonne until the final closing day. | |||
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The production company refurbished the counter so that now it is finished in aluminum. The above service counter photo was taken before the refinishing. On the right, manager Yvonne Freeman |
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| "When I first came to work, the whole area was full of car dealers; it was an unbelievably busy place," she said recently. In those days, curb service, or dining in one's car was popular, in part because women dressed up in hats and gloves to dine out, and when they weren't dressed up, they wanted to hide in their car. People ate less during the meal itself, they used to come in and order a hamburger, a cup of coffee and a piece of pie. Now, they order a double hamburger basket, with fries and everything." --Yvonne | |||||
A reproduction of an original menu circa 1943
Click the menu to see larger images of the complete menu.
See a current menu selection. Yvonne bakes eight flavors of pie by hand, including apple, coconut, lemon, banana, butterscotch, pecan, chocolate and pineapple cream.
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Click photo >>> |
Read Cal Sparks' 1990 article "Food for Thought" which includes his 1949 memory of eating a burger at the Goody Goody drive-in one rainy day. | ||||
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The walls were covered with Goody Goody history.
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| The Goody Goody still had some of its original tables and chairs, and the original green tile floor. These date back to the 1930's. The original basket weave seat portion wore out and were replaced long ago with wood. | |||||
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One of many newspaper articles about the Goody Goody
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 Goody Goody Framed Memorabilia
WALT Radio Top 50 Survey
WALT Radio was owned by bay-area broadcasting veteran Walter Tison, who started the station after obtaining the FCC license in 1946. On April 1, 1955, his television station went on the air in Tampa...WTVT. |
Tampa Tribune and Tampa Times Newspaper Advertising Executives Association Award Click to see
full size
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| Read article in the March 13, 2002 St. Pete Times. |
2002 Editor's Winner of Top 3 Hamburgers in the bay area
Read Steve Otto's April 23, 2004 column on the GG.
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Looking south on Florida Avenue from across the street in front of the Goody Goody |
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Goody Goody p1 | Goody Goody p2 |
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The End of an Era: Last Day P.1 | Last Day P.2 | Last Day P.3 | Last Day P.4 | Demolition |
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| Scene from the movie "The Punisher" filmed in the Goody Goody | |||||
