Last month, we flashed back to Chubby Lane’s. Readers commented rapturously about the fantastic burgers at his 2 locations: Compo Beach (where the volleyball courts are now), and Post Road East (current site of Willows Pediatrics).
There was another great burger spot in that 1960s and ’70s era too.
We’ve written several times about Big Top. Today it’s McDonald’s. For a while it was Roy Rogers.
But back in the day, it rivaled Chubby’s.
If Chubby’s was the Beatles, Big Top was the Rolling Stones. You know — scruffier, edgier.
This is not our first time honoring Big Top.
But we’ve got a great new photo to show:
(Photo courtesy of Jim Roderick)
As soon as you’ve finished salivating, click “Comments” to share your Big Top memories.
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The mouth watering smell as we drove by…..
Andrea Harrison Botelho Staples ’75
When I was a kid, my older brother sent me to Big Top to order a chicken basket to go. The cashier conveyed my order to the kitchen on the microphone saying, “One bird, make it fly.” Good times.
I remember Big Top well but back then my parents weren’t fans of fast food places so we only ate there a few times. I forget when they closed up shop but they were an iconic presence on the Post Road.
Our son’s first of many stops there on 1/28/1973…the day we moved to Weston. It also became a favorite of our daughter when she arrived on the scene. Great ribs, burgers and hot dogs. Can still taste the onion rings and fries. We often talk about Big Top when we pass McDonalds.
Comment used to be , It’s so hot to work at that grill, how do they stand it. They’re all high. Only know the comments , don’t know the truth
Either way the food was great
I worked at the Big Top in the late 1960’s while also working at Sherwood Island; served Paul Newman and his daughter at the Big Top. Bragged about the place so much to my girl friend at Boston U. that she had to stop there on one trip home and bring me back a cup or some other memento. The Shoppe and its parking lot were our fave hangouts (and make out spots) while at Staples (class of ’65). Great memories. Chris Wood
It was a Saturday ritual….a day at the beach and a stop at the Big Top on the way home for that night’s dinner.
Besides the cheeseburgers, I remember the milkshakes being really great also.
I lived across the street from the BT in the 1970s and went there often without a clue that the chief burger flipper and Staple grad (1971) Geof Ferguson, would go on to become Connecticuts worst mass murderer in 1995 for shooting five men in a Redding apartment and setting it on fire to conceal the crime. Something about him and flames. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Ferguson
Hi Miggs..But he cooked a hell of a cheeseburger.He was my class at Staples.Very strange dude then as well. I remember when all that went down.
I remember going to Chubby Lanes as kids. We would bring home glasses that had Looney Tunes characters on them. I guess that’s what our drinks were served in. We had them for so many years!
To paraphrase Maurice Chevalier : “Ah, yes, I remember it well”. The taste of those cheeseburgers on toast has never left me.
Back in the 60s, after a day at Compo Beach, we would always stop at either Dairy Queen or Big Top. It was interesting that Chris mentioned Paul Newman because we lived fairly close to the Newman family. Their house was down the road from Coleytown Junior High School, where I went to school.
We saw the Newmans around town quite often, usually driving the VW Beetle that Paul was known for. One afternoon after the beach, we stopped at Big Top and, as we walked up, there was Paul and his family sitting outside.
We went inside, ordered our food, and when we came back out, the only available table was right next to them. It seemed that no one else wanted to sit there. My mother, however, was never one to stay quiet, especially in situations where most people probably would have.
Before long, she and Paul were sharing stories about Broadway and laughing uncontrollably. My mother had worked on Broadway before she married my father in the 1950s, so apparently, they knew many of the same people. Don’t ask me who those people were, I have no idea. I was only about eight or nine years old at the time.
My go to place was the Crest. People would hang out in the parking lot. Their hot dogs were great!
Worked there it was the best job. Jimmy owned it and he let us have a keg in the back when we worked holidays. Everybody was cool back then!
Jen Hauhuth
Who’s the female that worked there and went on to become a movie star and a model?
There were several BT locations- Waterbury, New Haven, Hamden and Westport. The Meadows family owned the franchise- I think they were from Westport. I grew up in Waterbury, and BT was the go to place after high school games. I worked there for a while in high school and also the New Haven shop when I attended SCSC. In both cases, got to eat for free. After a few years, the Waterbury shop bought out the location and was owned by Pete & Jim Morcey.