GOODY GOODY IN TAMPA
Newspaper ads marked with * are courtesy of Tampa Tribune archives.

Although most longtime Tampa residents associate the Goody Goody with its downtown Florida Avenue location, the restaurant's Tampa start was actually on Grand Central Ave., what is now Kennedy Blvd.

Ralph A. Stephens began the drive-in as "Goody Goody Barbecue" when he was 32 or 33 years old, along with 35-year-old partner Wm. L. Reid, in late 1925.  City directories show it was originally at 1603 Grand Central Avenue, between S. Dakota and Rome Ave., but closer to S. Dakota on the north side of the street.  It operated there for a few years, then moved to the corner at 1629 Grand Central.

The map at right shows this block in 1915 when dwellings occupied the area.  However, it is useful to show the relative locations of 1629 and 1603 Grand Central Ave.

Various classified ads for help placed by Stephens

*The first ads Stephens placed in the Tribune were help wanted ads.
Mar. 21, 1926 Want Ad for sandwich maker assistant.
 

  
April 25, 1926*                                                                                             June 16, 1926*

Jun 25, 1926*
 

Stephens seeks a new or second location
This Dec. 17, 1926 want ad by Stephens shows that he was looking for a corner location early on, and that ample parking was an issue.  He may have had a 2nd location in mind, or may have been considering relocating.   He preferred a location near Nebraska Avenue and Buffalo Ave. (today's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.,) or Seventh Avenue or Florida Ave.

Goody Goody moves down the block to the corner of Grand Central and Rome Ave.

By Nov. 1927, Stephens moved the Goody Goody down the block to the northeast corner of Grand Central and Rome, at 1629 Grand Central, where it operated until Oct. 1933. 

City street directory listings showing Goody Goody at 1603 Grand Central in 1926, 1927 and 1928*.

*Although Goody Goody is listed at 1603 Grand Central in 1928, a Nov. 1927 ad (see below) shows it had already moved to 1629.

                
Jan 10, 1927*                                                                                                                Apr. 4, 1927*

A second Goody Goody opens in Tampa

In 1927, Stephens opened another unit at 5201 North Florida Avenue, in the Seminole Heights area, a block north of the Seminole Theater.
                                                                                    

Goody Goody billboard from 1928-1930 advertising both locations
Photo from RetroMetro Oklahoma City
Place your cursor on the photo to see it colorized

Goody Goody in Seminole Heights first appears on the 1929 Tampa city directory, but the first promotional ad for Goody Goody, seen below, was for the Seminole Heights location and indicates that it opened by Nov. 3, 1927. 

Ralph Stephens sells to William Stayer

The collapse of the Florida land boom in the late 20s caused Stephens to once again want to bail out.

Stephens sold the Goody Goody to William B. Stayer in 1929 and the Stephens family returned to Oklahoma City with Ralph determined to settle his debts and prove he could be a successful restaurant operator.  He and his family left Tampa and returned to Oklahoma City armed with their "secret weapon" Before they came to Tampa, while in Hannibal, Amanda Stephens had obtained a recipe for “comeback” sauce from a barbeque stand in nearby Quincy, Ill. It may have been the origin of the famous Goody-Goody secret sauce used in Tampa.  He went on to successfully establish "Delores Restaurant," named for his daughter. 

Dolores' Restaurant in Oklahoma City opened at 33 NE 23rd on April 15, 1930.
It was named after Stephens’ daughter. Photo from RetroMetro Oklahoma City

The Ralph Stephens story and above photo comes from OKC History where you can read more about the Stephens family and the years after Tampa.  Stephens went on to open a successful restaurant named after his daughter, Dolores.
 

    Burgert Bros. photo courtesy of David Parsons, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library

Goody Goody at 1629 Grand Central Ave. and Rome Ave, 1932
Burgert Bros. photo courtesy of David Parsons, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library

Today, this is the location of KFC/Taco Bell and its drive-through on the north side of Kennedy Blvd. at Rome Ave.

"Then Papa met a real estate man at the Elks Club. Papa told the man that he had a little money to invest and the real estate man told him that he knew of a flourishing drive-in barbecue business. The man told him, 'There is a barbecue pit in the back where they do their own barbecuing.  The owner Mr. Stephens came from Oklahoma City and set up a good business. His wife couldn't stand it here because it was low class, only a barbecue stand.'"
 

Stayer first tries to improve on the Grand Central location

Goody Goody Barbecue at 1629 Grand Central Ave., Tampa - 1930

Notice the sign on the building, Goody-Goody Barbeque No. 2
(No. 1 was the Goody-Goody in Hannibal, MO.)

William B. Stayer opens a new location downtown

The new downtown Goody Goody

On Mar. 9, 1930, William obtained a permit to build a lunchroom for $3,400 at 1117-9 Florida Avenue.  On April 3, 1930, he opened "Goody Goody Sandwiches" at a new location in the northern downtown area--1119 N. Florida Avenue. 

*

The location at 1119-1121 North Florida Avenue downtown was previously a car lot in 1928, and August Richarde's confectioner, and Robinson's Used Car Market in late 1928-early 1929.

Goody Goody downtown on Florida Avenue in 1932   
Burgert Bros. photo from the USF Digital collections of photographs
See full size

  
Notice the same desk chairs from the Grand Central location.

 
Close ups from 1932 downtown location photo

Carl Stayer on Goody Goody's beginnings

"When Dad bought the business, he bought the recipes for the pies and the barbeque sauce, and stayed very close to the methods of buying and preparing the materials, especially the hamburger meat. We operated the business for 50 years and when we left it, the recipes and methods were the same as when we bought them."

Carl's memories of his father:  "He could not do short-order cooking, run the cash register or wash the dishes.  What he did might be called maitre d' in a class restaurant and public relations officer in a large corporation. He patrolled the drive-in section, directed traffic and met the customers. It was a popular restaurant with the most prominent people in town driving in. Very soon he was Mr. Goody-Goody in Tampa. In his leisure he went to the Elks Club, Paul Webber’s White Rose and other bars, and promoted the Goody-Goody the way those places he frequented sold their drinks. In the yard he kept selling himself and his product, also in clubs wherever he went. It was a humble business but he raised the restaurant up to his dignified and infectious personality and it became very well known all over south Florida."

Despite the depression gripping the country, the Goody Goody "clicked" at 1119 Florida Avenue. 

Even though "Barbeque" stayed on the signs and on the menu for years, the Goody Goody made its reputation with its hamburgers--liberally doused with a specially-made barbeque sauce--and its pies.  The sauce and pie recipes were closely guarded secrets.

Sep 17, 1933 ad* "Draft beer is at last GOOD," a reference to the end of Prohibition

Oct. 2, 1933*
See Rock Garden ad below

Feb 24, 1941 - Inside the Goody Goody, downtown Tampa
Some time by Feb. 1941, the Goody Goody was expanded in the front with the addition of this dining room. 
The original front wall of the building became the partition with archway seen at left.
See the layout of the Goody Goody through the years, with expansions indicated.
Robertson & Fresh photo from the University of South Florida Digital Collections

Close up portions of above photo

Sign at service counter "Open 11am, Close 2am, Except Fri. & Sat"        Sign: Pie with Ice Cream 15¢             Coffee mugs	Items on table: Stokley's ketchup, hot sauce, glass oil & vinegar cruets in wire serving basket with salt & pepper shakers, sugar bowl, water glasses, coffee mugs
Menu with image of milk carton on cover, napkin dispenser, ketchup bottle, unknown sauce bottle, chair back.	Waitress
	Customers
Dining room door, south side, and waiter	Customer
Customers	Customers
Customers	Customers
Customers	Customers

William Stayer returns to farming

"Around 1940 Papa's dream of living on a farm came over him again. This time it was a dairy farm in Palm River, but not a recently built dairy farm. He was going to expand, farm and pasteurize the milk for the Goody-Goody. This didn’t go far as the health department outlined extensive rebuilding and new equipment necessary.  So instead, he had a neighbor graze his cattle on the 10 acres to control the grass and weeds. He moved Sadie out there and in the evening when he went to the Elks Club, he would bring her into town to wait for him at the Goody-Goody."

Bob Stayer - Mainstay of Goody Goody

Sons Bill and Bob Stayer got involved in the business--with Bob, the youngest, becoming his father's mainstay in the day-to-day operation of Goody Goody.  Another son, Glenn, became a doctor in and lived in Tampa before moving to Birmingham, Alabama. 

Bill and Bob Stayer, with their father William B. Stayer. 

On Jan. 26, 1944, Bob Stayer, a popular young man, drowned in a tragic accident at age 28.  It was a grievous loss to the Stayer family as well as to friends and patrons of Goody Goody, and the loss of his favorite son caused William great anguish. 

Carl Stayer and his family moves to Tampa

It was at this time that William B. Stayer was able to convince his eldest son Carl, to leave his promising job with GM in Harrisburg, PA,  and bring his family to Tampa in 1945 to run the business.   

Carl remembered, "When we first went to Tampa to visit in 1932, stores downtown had signs that they spoke Spanish, but when I went there to live and do business, such a sign was not necessary.   The Spanish were very much a part of Tampa, making it a pleasant place to live, especially Ybor City and West Tampa and very much a part of the rest of the city. We dealt with Johnny Lala to buy our produce, the Garcia Brothers, Victor and Gonzalo for our insurance, Joe Gagliardo at the Florida Dairy, Poncho Gonzalez at Sealtest , Jose and Manuel Campoamor and Rudy Ginex for Seafood. Above all, we enjoyed the Spanish Restaurants. At the Spanish Park, as we came in from the parking area, Gus would seem to be walking away from us but when he came to greet us and take our order at the table , he already had our Martinis. Joe Valdes, the owner and his wife, along with Gus were our personal friends. Also, the Las Novedades and Cafe Seville on Howard Street."

"Most of us in GM working with the automobile dealers everyday had a yen to have our own business.  I was looking forward to the end of the war and having a branch of my own and being a top flight General Motors Executive. I was working in Pittsburgh for a new company, the General Exchange Insurance Corporation allied with General Motors Acceptance Corporation insuring financed cars. GEIC was a new business operated within the family of General Motors, itself in the early stages of competition with Ford."  

Stayer family life centered around 1119 Florida Avenue 

For William's daughter, Elizabeth "Betty" Stayer Hendryson, it was a great place to bring her high school friends after a dance.  Sometimes her tab shot as high as $2.50, which she charged to her dad.  But her dad soon ordered her to "cease and desist!"

Later, while Elizabeth was attending library school, her children Liz and Peter New came to live with their grandparents on the Palm River farm.  Liz, who lived there when she was 2 years old until she was 6, remembered getting bathed and dressed every afternoon for the trip to the Goody Goody.  After Liz and her brother ate supper in the restaurant, they would entertain themselves, waiting with their grandmother while their grandfather went off to play cards at the Elks Club.  "We would tear off one end of the paper wrappings on the straws and blow them at each other."  Although she was very young at the time, she remembers the employees.  "The waitresses always seemed so wonderful.  They were so good to us, and they were wonderful looking women.  They had a certain snappy talk, always cheerful."  She also recalls the managers--Lionel "Cicero" Roberts, William Mote and Milt Gaston.

Bill Stayer said, "I remember really looking forward to going into town to eat at the Goody Goody. I was known as the hamburger kid at the time. My favorite waitress there taught me how to place an order for a hamburger with just ketchup and a chocolate milkshake."

Goody Goody in 1941, with expanded dining room.
On the roof can be seen the partition which marks the location of the original front wall of the building.
Burgert Bros. photo from the University of South Florida Digital Collections

William Mote, former Goody Goody manager, recalls that there were big signs posted when he came to work in 1941:  "No Tips, Please."  The carhops were still young men, and the going salary was 20 cents per hour. 

Goody Goody letterhead, 1940. 

Milton Gaston, Goody Goody manager, by Carl Stayer

Dad had been our companion in baseball from the time we were about six years old. By the time Bill and I approached age 40 we were familiar with the personnel on the baseball teams and had followed the action daily. We idolized baseball players, but I had never met one.

When I got to Tampa, there was a real life player, Milton Gaston, as one of the managers of the Goody Goody. He had played for the Patterson Silk Sox in New Jersey, then on into military service where he was on the battleship "Texas," the champion of the service teams. After the war was over, his brother Alex, who was a catcher for the New York Giants, advised Milt to take an offer from the Yankees, where he played on that famous team with Babe Ruth. After a year he was traded to the Browns in St. Louis where he met his lovely wife Pearl, who was especially admired by my wife Peg. He then went to Washington, then on to Boston where his wife's sister was to meet another good pitcher, Danny McFayden, and they were married. Finally he closed his career with the White Sox.

When I worked with Milt I wondered again why Dad had asked me to come to Florida. Milt was a level-headed intelligent man that could have managed the business very well without the help of a member of the family. Our duties involved both being there at noon and maybe having a half hour at 2pm to sit together and talk, and better than that, about two hours on Saturday and Sunday evening. There, I was practically in the dugout at my favorite game of baseball.

Milt Gaston (86 at the time of Hampton Dunn's 1992 article) lived in Bradenton and was the oldest former ball player for the Boston Red Sox at the time.  He managed the Goody Goody for a number of years before becoming a Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputy. 

Goody Goody waitresses, circa 1950-51

When customers drove up for curbside service in the late 1940s, a hamburger cost 30 cents. 

The last car was served in May of 1984

Click menu pages to see full size

Goody Goody fed the Cincinnati Reds
After the WWII ended, the Cincinnati Reds returned to Tampa for Spring Training.  They had 175 players to try out, including all of those that had left the team for war duty over a period of 4 years.  Bill McKechnie sent Gabe Paul to Goody Goody to ask them to supply their lunches. Carl Stayer was very happy to have this assignment and would carry the lunches to the dressing room himself to get close to the team. "We would make 175 sandwiches a day of ham, roast pork and beef, and cheese. The property manager, Larry McManus would give us a list of the sandwiches to be made for each player the day before and I would take them to the dressing room at noon when they came in from morning practice." 

To get the order and to assure further business, Carl Stayer went to all of the games. "I would buy a ticket at the ticket window and try to walk by Gabe Paul and wave hello with a rain check (his ticket stub) in my hands so he could see I was a paying customer, see the game and go to the dressing room for the next day’s order. Gabe was fussy about people he did business with getting in on passes."

Everyone in the kitchen worked on the Reds spring training orders with José, a Cuban cook, taking charge. When the spring games started, Carl began to receive comments from some players that their sandwich had twice as much meats in it on some days than others. Not knowing why, Carl spoke to José about it.  It turned out that José was watching the box scores and rewarding the players that hit home runs or pitched shutout ball with a double sandwich. Carl liked the idea and told Jose to go ahead with it.

Carl Stayer's Advertising
 

KOOM ESSA, GOOT ESSA

When Carl joined his dad in 1945 they both agreed that word of mouth advertising was the best for a good restaurant, but by 1953 a great many new restaurants were started on Dale Mabry and Hillsborough Avenues-- McDonalds, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken, and there were many new people who moved to those areas after the war, taking some of Goody Goody's business with them.

In order to curb the loss of business, Carl advertised for a year or two to reverse the trend. He didn't need to reason with himself very long.  The business increased immediately, and so Carl went right on through the second year using a small ad each week.   He treated his new endeavor as seriously as the advertising manager for Oldsmobile treated the introduction of a new model, and worked very hard at it. He wrote his own ads, taking space in the Tampa Tribune once a week.  Carl was a heavy reader, and read about history a great deal, and when he read of the eating habits of the Romans or the people of Zanzibar, he had an ad for that week. When he read of the development of a new food, whether it was chicken, coffee, cheese, hamburgers, or whatever, Carl had his ads. When little things happened in the business that he thought were worth a headline, he had an ad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the 1940s and 1950s, there was a sign on the south side of the Goody Goody parking lot that read
Koom Essa, Goot Essa.  Here are newspaper ads circa 1950s that used the same phrase.

These ads show how Carl Stayer used history to advertise coffee, pies, steak, cheeseburgers and chili.

Carl Stayer was a master at advertising, and he didn't fail to give credit where it was due.

These three ads from the 1950s and 1960s give praise to the Tampa Police Department and Tampa Fire & Rescue.

Images below of circa mid to late 1950s Stayer & Sons Co. Goody Goody menu from the University of South Florida Special Collections of restaurant menus provided by Rex Gordon, Hillsborough High School historian.

Front cover	Page 1	Stapled on top of page 2	Page 2 under stapled insert	Back - Tribute to "Papa" Stayer

Click on each page to view larger in new window, then click in new window to view full size.

The back of the
Goody Goody menu in 1975

For a history of the Goody Goody during the Wheeler/Freeman years, 1980 - 2005, visit Goody Goody Tree and Goody Goody here at TampaPix.com.

Goody Goody in the 1960s
Photo of memorabilia on the wall at Goody Goody

1960s Goody Goody letterhead, courtesy of Mike Wheeler.

Sponsor ad in 1966 Chamberlain High School yearbook

Some time between 1932 and 1941, the dining area was expanded at the front of the building.
This partition marks where the building's original front wall facing Florida Avenue was located.

        
The original lettering on the front of the building could be seen in the crawl space above the dining area.

For a complete history of Goody Goody from beginning to end, and more photos,
visit  Goody Goody Family Tree

Goody Goody p1   |    Goody Goody Roots - p2   

 Goody Old Days  - Stephens brings Goody Goody to Tampa & the Stayer Years- p3

The End of an Era:  Last Day p1    |   Last Day p2   |   Last Day p3   |  Last Day p4  |  Demolition 

Behind the Scenes - Goody Goody Layout   |  Goody Goody Family Tree 

Scene from the movie "The Punisher" filmed in the Goody Goody

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