Little Tavern
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Little Tavern Shops was a chain of hamburger restaurants in Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The last restaurant closed on April 29th, 2008. [1].
The restaurant chain once had many locations: in 1939, there were 21 in Washington, D.C., and 50 in the Baltimore-Washington area. The slogan of the chain was "Buy 'em by the bag," and its signs promised "Cold drinks * Good Coffee." The stores were quite small and could accommodate only a few seated customers, while most business was take-out.
The chain was founded in 1927 in Louisville, Kentucky, by Harry F. Duncan, who soon relocated to Washington, D.C., in 1928, where he opened a Little Tavern Shop in 814 E Street NW.
The standard "Tudor cottage" restaurant design used by the chain was designed by engineer Charles E. Brooks and architect George E. Stone of Baltimore's Stonebrook Corporation.
The former Little Tavern in Laurel, MD is now the Laurel Tavern which re-opened at the same location on Rt. 1 South on Friday January 4 2008 - the exterior of the restaurant hasn't changed much, however the new owner has removed the familiar counter and seating and the location is now strictly carryout. Laurel Tavern now features doughnuts in the morning and the familiar Little Tavern style tiny burgers, now called "Famous Little Burgers", for lunch and dinner.
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[edit] Similar chains
- White Tower Hamburgers [2]
- White Castle
- Krystal
- McDonald's in its early years
[edit] See also
- White Coffee Pot another Baltimore-based restaurant
[edit] External links
- Ghosts of Baltimore website
- Little Tavern at Scripophily
- Historical preservation of Little Tavern in Silver Spring, Maryland
- The adaptive reuse of Little Taverns
- Roadside Magazine website
