Laguna Beach Taco Bell closing down

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Timothy Leary & the "Brotherhood Boys" favorite hang out in the 70's.

I'll have some "White Lightning" to go please.

[Danimal16]

That place was friggin famous when I was in High School. It was a huge after hours stoner hang out. The place was known as "Narc Central", cops, everywhere.

[Bob Kontak]

1967. Third oldest of all time.

[javadog]

I ate at Taco Bell daily through my high school and college years and probably a few years after that. Sometime in the late 80s they changed some of the recipes, I remember the green sauce changing its flavor completely, and I quit going there. I haven’t been to one in years.

Started going to Taco Bueno and never looked back.

[fastfredracing]

In unrelated news, Pepto Bismol sales dropped in Southern California this week .

[tabs]

What is a Taco Bell?

[rusnak]

[Tobra]

Jimboy's Tacos were alway better than the ones from Glen Bell's outfit. You know they can't call them beef tacos because there is not enough meat in them

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

1967.

First one I every went to was on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, exactly as the above picture.

We'd ride our bikes, I was probably 12/13. Wow.

[JavaBrewer]

My Mom used to pick me up from middle school and take to TB in Goleta a few times a month. Old school location, I’ll have to see if it’s still there.

Edit, yep still there, corner of Fairview and Hollister. 😀

[astrochex]

Too healthy, right?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by javadog

Sometime in the late 80s they changed some of the recipes.

My brother and the woman he would eventually marry worked a Taco Bell in that time frame. They said that initially the ground meat and the spices would arrive at the store separately and they would thaw the meat, add water, the spices, & whatever and make the meat filling at each individual store. In about the mid-late 80s the meat filling came fully prepared and they just thawed it and heated it up. I wonder if that coincided with some change on the business structure.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

My brother and the woman he would eventually marry worked a Taco Bell in that time frame. They said that initially the ground meat and the spices would arrive at the store separately and they would thaw the meat, add water, the spices, & whatever and make the meat filling at each individual store. In about the mid-late 80s the meat filling came fully prepared and they just thawed it and heated it up. I wonder if that coincided with some change on the business structure.

I think it did. I think they grew to the point that they started centralizing production like that. They used to make the green sauce, then it came in plastic packets. Was great, then it became horrid tasting.

They lost my business, which was considerable, and I bet I wasn’t the only one.

[craigster59]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

First one I every went to was on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, exactly as the above picture.

We'd ride our bikes, I was probably 12/13. Wow.

I used to eat there. I liked the Encharito and the Bell Beefer. Then they came up with the Burrito Supreme and it was game over!

They had the menu outside with the various items and how to pronounce them (Buh-Ree-Toe, Free-Ho-Lays, Tah-Ko).

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

Edit, yep still there, corner of Fairview and Hollister. ��

yo quiero taco bell (Crunch Wrap Supreme)

[mattdavis11]

I wasn't a big fan, but did eat there on occasion. One night, a buddy and I were the next to last to leave one location in our home town. We saw the dudes (school mates, one I had a class with) in the parking lot, waiting. Then this happened.

Jessy Carlos San Miguel #650

I've only had Taco Bell a few times since then.

[ted]

Cool old Taco Bell photo with everything for 19 cents.
When I first got my drivers license my mom would have me drive to TB and get dinner when you could get 5 tacos for a dollar.

The Bell in Taco Bell is the last name of the company founder Glen Bell.
He lived on several acres in Valley Center a little north of San Diego.
A friend bought the property a few years ago and sub divided it in to many lots.

At 17 I worked at a TB for 4 days. lol
One of my jobs was to mix equal amounts of the ground beef with the extender.
Extender was the spices and ? soy or filler?
Back in the 70s TB got in trouble and could no longer call their hamburger the Bell Beefer.
Because it did not have the minimum amount of beef required in California to use the name beef.

[Zeke]

Since TB's were ubiquitous in SoCal the Laguna location meant nothing special to me. Of course, not being a LB local, I missed the vibe that was part of it. I haven't been in one for 10 years and then only because it was just a short walk from a job I might be on.

They just have lousy food. I had a Del Taco manger tell me once, "Well, at least we use actual beans." I told her TMI already. I will eat there once or 2wice a year in desperation. Non of their "meat" though.

[Ronbo]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

My Mom used to pick me up from middle school and take to TB in Goleta a few times a month. Old school location, I’ll have to see if it’s still there.

Edit, yep still there, corner of Fairview and Hollister.

I know that one well. Used to go there when I was a UCSB student and we wanted a late night snack.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Since TB's were ubiquitous in SoCal the Laguna location meant nothing special to me. Of course, not being a LB local, I missed the vibe that was part of it. I haven't been in one for 10 years and then only because it was just a short walk from a job I might be on.

They just have lousy food. I had a Del Taco manger tell me once, "Well, at least we use actual beans." I told her TMI already. I will eat there once or 2wice a year in desperation. Non of their "meat" though.

Taco Bell and Jimboy's started about the same time. One went for quality, one went for max profits.

You ever see a Jimboy's try it out. You will never set foot in a Taco Bell again