(WSB Radio) -- There's the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the NASCAR Museum. Now the Waffle House Museum has opened in metro Atlanta.
A ribbon cutting for the new museum was held at the site of the original Waffle House which opened on East College Avenue in Avondale Estates some 53 years ago.
Slideshow: Waffle House Opens Museum
WSB's Sandra Parrish reports
On hand were the two founders, Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner, both neighbors in Avondale who decided to go into business together.
"He said if I'd show him how to operate the restaurant, he'd build it and that's how it all got started," says Rogers whose son Joe Jr. now oversees operation of 1600 Waffle House restaurants across 25 states.
The original restaurant closed in 1973 and became home to various other restaurants, even a tire store. Waffle House purchased the property again to turn it into a museum that includes original menus, uniforms, and other memorabilia. It also includes a replica of the original counter, stools, and kitchen.
The museum will only be open on special occassions and for corporate events.
What others are saying
- Waffle House ProjectI am currently attempting to do a waffle house photo project in 10 states and I need votes to get the cash to do so, it only takes a minute.You can read about it on the link below. This is a dream photo assignment project and yes I picked Waffle House...After you vote you can right your waffle house in the comment section. THANKS
http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/DMONA/smothered-covered-the-way-of-the-waffle/ - Amazing chiefsWaffle house never let me down. I was always amazed by something. Only place open late one night so sat down for dinner while on a road trip. The staff were mopping the floor around me which was very aromatic. Orange juice container was almost empty so they gave me a tall glass for free so they could clean. It tasted like fermented fruit. I ordered an omelet and it had the most unusual consistancy, almost like a kitchen sponge. I asked the young cook exactly how he achieved such an amazing omelet. He proudly said it was his personal trick of putting eggs and some oil in the blender/beater and whipping it for 5 minutes. Then grill and you got the creation on my plate. Always a good time.
- worst food everI live on the west coast and have only seen the waffle house on the East coast, there all over. The last one I went to (I've only been twice)the service and food was the worst (the first time it wasn't that great either but at least the staff was personable). I asked for hard boiled eggs for my salad they came in a bowl shelled and soft boiled all 6 of them. no refil on coffee, we were the only poeple there, 5 of us. My son played some music on the jukebox and the staff did not like his choice so they reset the playlist. These people were just plain rude and uneducated in the manner and service business. I would go to the Museum though (as long as they did not serve food that is)
- Waffle House Forever"The museum will only be open on special occassions" I can just see some redneck couple having their wedding reception there, I only hope CMT covers it."
I was sent the pictures of a wedding at the waffle house just last week.
There have been many a night when I would stop on my way home from Athens for a cup of coffee and hash browns all the way. Usually as the designated driver where the whole group would get kicked out and sometimes banned from coming back for a while. Working night shift would not have been the same without a waffle house to stop at on the way home every morning for a cup of coffee and a grill cheese as I read the paper and smoked half a pack of cigarettes. Back then it could be bought under $2.00 and leave a good tip too. I was such a regular that they would put me to work when short handed on occasion. The memories that have been made at the waffle house. - MuseumI wonder what Jeff Foxworthy would say about this.
- I love the Waffle houseMom and I went to Waffle house for supper. Nothing too good for my bride. I did not make her pay, this time. I was out to impress her with my spending habits, so I left a $1.44 tip on an $8.56 supper. I impressed two people with that one. It wasn’t busy, just a pickup truck in the parking lot and a family of four in a booth. They had about wrapped up supper, Dad, Mom a teenage son and a teenage daughter. It is good to see America at the Waffle house. The daughter was loading up the juke box with quarters. We got to hear “I Got Friends in Low Places, Boot Scoot’N Boogie and Red Neck Woman all for free. The little lady who had picked them out could not contain herself and she broke out into a line dance right there in the Waffle House. Course it was hardly a line with just one moving around on the floor.
They left and the girl danced all the way to the truck. The son had left a little before the rest and must have noticed something wrong with the back bumper of the truck. He walked up to the back of that four wheel drive monster and began kicking the trailer hitch. I guess that was not helping the problem, much, so he began jumping up and down on the hitch, then the bumper. Like a chiropractor practicing his profession, the intended adjustment to the back of that diesel from Detroit must have been accomplished because he stopped and climbed up into the driver's seat. With practiced choreography, like the line dance moves, Mom got in slid over to the son, Dad got in and held his hands and arms to the backs of the seats. He slid in there like a puzzle piece waiting to be matched up with something of just the right size and shape. Daughter was just right. With a strange twist she climbed aboard and with a 45 degree turn she fit into the allocated space with no effort what so ever. They left the parking lot with the muffler doing about 25% of its job. Smoke and noise will follow them all the days of their lives. Now, I ask you, can you find that much entertainment at Long Horn Steaks? Of course not!! - Late NightsBeing a drummer in a local band, we still hit the Waff after a gig for some late night omlets, and java. We talk about the show have a laugh, then off to bed!
- more waffle house goodnessbonzo- On the grand scale you are correct about the WH not having fryers, the one I always went to did, nothing special just a single deep fryer. Maybe just a personal preference of that branch's owners perhaps? Who knows... Now I'm all hungry...
That said, does anyone remember the days of "All you can eat" anything there? Ah, good times. - Waffle HouseWH has the best sausage. As an Alaskan, I enjoy eating at a Waffle House whenever I'm in the Southeast.
- Open it for all...They should open it up to the public on a regular basis. After all, we are the customers that have supported the business all these years.
- Waffle HouseI LOVE waffles and I love waffle house, and I wish I were near one now!
-- faye kane, homeless brain Read more of my smartmouth opinions at http://blog.myspace.com/fayekane - PA needs more Waffle HousesI recently saw ONE here in PA but we need more more more!
- Deluxe Hamburger PlateAs the oldest of five children, and our Dad missing from the home scene at the time, I watched my younger siblings while Mom pulled a double shift at the Waffle House many a night in the late 60's and early 70's. When I could in the summer time, I'd ride my bike to see my Mom working and asked if I could have something to eat. I'd get the Deluxe Hamburger Plate. It was always my favorite. I fondly remember Mom teasing me about the bill, "Well, here's your ticket. That will be 'so and so' dollars and cents." After seeing me looking sad, she'd smile and reach into her apron pockets and pull out her hard earned tip money and pay for my meal. That's been years ago and Mom is in her 70's, unable to walk and bed-bound. Yet, she still has the charm, fortitude, and where-with-all to still smile and encourage all her children who depended so much on her in those days. Yet, in those childhood years of ours, we were oblivious to her sacrifices as a Waffle House waitress. Now that I'm older I appreciate more and more just what Mom did for us and how a waitress job at a Waffle House was a blessing to a needy single Mom with five children at home to support. As a professional now, I can eat at any restaurant I desire. But many times it is my first choice to sit at a Waffle House stool or both and order a special of "nostalgic comfort." The waitresses and cooks seem to get younger looking every year, but no doubt reflect the youthfulness and dreams of my Mother years ago. I often wonder if the Waffle House waitress serving me today is facing the same challenges as my Mother did way back in her days at the Waffle House. No doubt, many of them do. So, if not for them, for my Mom, I always leave a nice tip and a word of encouragement. I never berate them or scold them for forgetting to refill my coffee, or such. Who knows, they may have just broken up with their spouse, and were left as the only wage earner in a home with several children, and now must try to make it alone--alone, if not for the Waffle House. Mom and Dad are back together now and for me the Waffle House is more of a place of convenience now and not necessity. But I will always be grateful for what the WF has meant to my Mom and our family. So, "Thank you!" Waffle House for many years of not only "Good Food Fast" but a quality job opportunity for so many quality Moms. Congratulations and God bless you on a job (and T-Bones) well done! :-)
- Oh we know...Dennys:
"I like Dennies much better"
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
obviously a denny's ceo reading this article, misspelled Denny's to look like your typical southern breakfast eater... just give it up denny's... you can't even touch WH! It's a fact, not an opinion! :) - I'll take a Cracker Barrel breakfast any day! Waffle Houses can be a little on the seedy side.
- Deep fried?Hey Kyle, I think a lot of us can relate with your fond late night memories, but one slight correction- W.H. doesn't have a deep fryer.
- Scattered, smothered, CRISP! And a glass of sweet tea, please.
- Hooray Waffle House! Its been curing my hangovers for years.
- what a great dayDon't forget the waffle house songs on the jukebox. Also The Bloodhound Gang song "The Bad Touch" with the line
"I want you smothered, want you covered like my Waffle House Hashbrowns" - dennys can only dream of comming close to the house. their hash browns are the sorriest excuse for shredded potatos.
scattered smothered and covered is the only way they should be served unless you want the chuncked and topped. the ultimate in hash browns - In the northWhy, oh why, aren't there Waffle Houses in the north? I love WH. We just got back from two weeks in Florida and hit WH for almost every meal during our drive.
- waffle house museum & road kill cafe.
- Rawk!I wish they would open it as a museum all the time.
Why not have it be a working museum? Just think of the tourism $$$ you can bring to the community. - Waffle House: Mecca of road foodScattered, smothered, covered. Again, Denny's is a pale comparison to the raw, smoky atmosphere of the House. Thank you God for Georgia.
- American Cultureyep, American Culture at its finest. those Europeans have nothing on us.
- *Kneels before the Waffle House's greatness*Ah yes, the many road trips I've taken for work, stopping at the Waffle House on the way. Not to mention the number of drunken nights spent there sobering up with something deliciously deep fried, then smothered and covered... A heart attack never tasted so good!
- waffle housewafffle house is THE BEST! Dennies can only DREAM of being as good!
- congratsI live in NC. I have traveled from the coast to the mountains. Where ever I have stopped in need of a good meal, at a decent price, and honestley, to pass sometime with somenice persons, I always stop at one of your places. (ps, get the single waffle, plus two eggs -over easy, and bacon.) cup of joe and the small milk, your rready to go the next 300 miles. Seriously, I have never been dissapointed at "the House"
- "The museum will only be open on special occassions" I can just see some redneck couple having their wedding reception there, I only hope CMT covers it.
- DennysI like Dennies much better
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