The Speck — July 11, 1985

You know the Burger King in SE that sits on the triangular corner where Powell meets Foster? Did you know in the 1950s and 60s, that location was once home to a very popular drive-in that attracted hundreds of greasers, cruisers, bobby-soxers, sock-hoppers and whatever else?

It was called “The Speck” and back then it was the most popular hangout in town. I never knew it existed until I found Dad’s recording about the place closing. It was actually a Kentucky Fried Chicken that was licensed out and given a weird name, but it was full of waitresses on roller skates delivering food to cool dudes with fin-tailed Chevys.

Digging through the Oregonian archives, it seems there was more than one restaurant that called itself “The Speck” and they were all reskinned KFCs, but it was this particular one that made the most impact. Check out this description of what it was like back then, right out of Happy Days:

As time went on and the typical American teenager changed from a greaser to a hippie to a punk, The Speck became less and less trendy. The place slowly rotted throughout the 1970s until closing for good in 1982. In 1985 the land was sold, the building was razed and the Burger King was built in its place. And years after that, I grabbed Kids Club Meals from the Burger King having no idea what events had happened there. Crazy, man, crazy.