“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it's yours.” 

"So you think that money is the root of all evil?" said Francisco d'Anconia. "Have you
ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist
unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material
shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and
give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by
tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by
the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?
"When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction
that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or
the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears not all the guns in the world
can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive
tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor--
your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of
hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that
moral principle which is the root of money, Is this what you consider evil?
"Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator
and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try
to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it
for the first time. Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions--and
you'll learn that man's mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that
has ever existed on earth.
"But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength
do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man's
capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of
those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools?
By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the
lazy? Money is made--before it can be looted or mooched--made by the effort of every
honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he
can't consume more than he has produced.'
"To trade by means of money is the code of the men of good will. Money rests on the
axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to
prescribe the value of your effort except the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to
trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor
that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more. Money permits no
deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders. Money
demands of you the recognition that men must work for their own benefit, not for their
own injury, for their gain, not their loss--the recognition that they are not beasts of
burden, born to carry the weight of your misery--that you must offer them values, not
wounds--that the common bond among men is not the exchange of suffering, but the
exchange of goods. Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men's stupidity,
but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy, not the shoddiest they offer, but
the best that your money can find. And when men live by trade--with reason, not force, as
their final arbiter--it is the best product that wins, the best performance, the man of best
judgment and highest ability--and the degree of a man's productiveness is the degree of
his reward. This is the code of existence whose tool and symbol is money. Is this what
you consider evil?
"But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you
as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not
provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the
law of causality--the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the
mind.
"Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants:
money will not give him a code of values, if he's evaded the knowledge of what to value,
and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he's evaded the choice of what to seek.
Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for
the incompetent. The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve
him, with his money replacing his judgment, ends up by becoming the victim of his
inferiors. The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking
to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his
money. Is this the reason why you call it evil?
"Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth--the man who would make his
own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if
not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him. Did it? Or
did he corrupt his money? Do not envy a worthless heir; his wealth is not yours and you
would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed
among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back
the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root.
Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it. Is this the reason why you call it
evil?
"Money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your
livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life. If the source is corrupt, you have
damned your own existence. Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men's
vices or men's stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your
ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers
you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment's or a penny's worth of
joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an
achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you'll scream that money is evil. Evil,
because it would not pinch-hit for your self-respect? Evil, because it would not let you
enjoy your depravity? Is this the root of your hatred of money?
"Money will always remain an effect and refuse to replace you as the cause. Money is the
product of virtue, but it will not give you virtue and it will not redeem your vices. Money
will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit. Is this the root of your
hatred of money?
"Or did you say it's the love of money that's the root of all evil? To love a thing is to
know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the
creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort
of the best among men. It's the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest
in proclaiming his hatred of money--and he has good reason to hate it. The lovers of
money are willing to work for it. They know they are able to deserve it.
"Let me give you a tip on a clue to men's characters: the man who damns money has
obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.
"Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the
leper's bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need
means to deal with one another--their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the
muzzle of a gun.

"But money demands of you the highest virtues, if you wish to make it or to keep it. Men

who have no courage, pride or self-esteem, men who have no moral sense of their right to

their money and are not willing to defend it as they defend their life, men who apologize

for being rich--will not remain rich for long. They are the natural bait for the swarms of

looters that stay under rocks for centuries, but come crawling out at the first smell of a

man who begs to be forgiven for the guilt of owning wealth. They will hasten to relieve

him of the guilt--and of his life, as he deserves.

"Then you will see the rise of the men of the double standard--the men who live by force,

yet count on those who live by trade to create the value of their looted money--the men

who are the hitchhikers of virtue. In a moral society, these are the criminals, and the

statutes are written to protect you against them. But when a society establishes criminalsby-right

and looters-by-law--men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims--

then money becomes its creators' avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless

men, once they've passed a law to disarm them. But their loot becomes the magnet for

other looters, who get it from them as they got it. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at

production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the

murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins

and slaughter.

"Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the

barometer of a society's virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by

compulsion--when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from

men who produce nothing--when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in

goods, but in favors--when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work,

and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you--when you see

corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice--you may know that

your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns 

and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as halfproperty,

half-loot.

"Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is

men's protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its

owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into

the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an

equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed

by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal

looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the

day when it bounces, marked, 'Account overdrawn.'

"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do

not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder

of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting

rewarded. Do not ask, 'Who is destroying the world? You are.

"You stand in the midst of the greatest achievements of the greatest productive

civilization and you wonder why it's crumbling around you, while you're damning its lifeblood--money.

You look upon money as the savages did before you, and you wonder

why the jungle is creeping back to the edge of your cities. Throughout men's history,

money was always seized by looters of one brand or another, whose names changed, but

whose method remained the same: to seize wealth by force and to keep the producers

bound, demeaned, defamed, deprived of honor. That phrase about the evil of money,

which you mouth with such righteous recklessness, comes from a time when wealth was

produced by the labor of slaves--slaves who repeated the motions once discovered by

somebody's mind and left unimproved for centuries. So long as production was ruled by

force, and wealth was obtained by conquest, there was little to conquer, Yet through all

the centuries of stagnation and starvation, men exalted the looters, as aristocrats of the

sword, as aristocrats of birth, as aristocrats of the bureau, and despised the producers, as

slaves, as traders, as shopkeepers--as industrialists.

"To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, a country of

money--and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to America, for this means: a

country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement. For the first time, man's

mind and money were set free, and there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only

fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of

wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being--the self-made man--the

American industrialist.

"If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose--because it

contains all the others--the fact that they were the people who created the phrase 'to make

money.' No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always

thought of wealth as a static quantity--to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or

obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created.

The words 'to make money' hold the essence of human morality. 

"Yet these were the words for which Americans were denounced by the rotted cultures of

the looters' continents. Now the looters' credo has brought you to regard your proudest

achievements as a hallmark of shame, your prosperity as guilt, your greatest men, the

industrialists, as blackguards, and your magnificent factories as the product and property

of muscular labor, the labor of whip-driven slaves, like the pyramids of Egypt. The rotter

who simpers that he sees no difference between the power of the dollar and the power of

the whip, ought to learn the difference on his own hide-- as, I think, he will.

"Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own

destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then

men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns--or dollars. Take your choice--

there is no other--and your time is running out." 

AQUARIUS – Does It in the Water (January 20 to February 18)
Trustworthy. Attractive. Great kisser. One of a kind. Loves being in long-term relationships. Tries hard. Will take on any project. Proud of themselves in whatever they do. Messy and unorganized. Procrastinators. Great lovers, when they’re not sleeping. Extreme thinkers. Loves their pets usually more than their family. Can be VERY irritating to others when they try to explain or tell a story. Unpredictable. Will exceed your expectations. Not a fighter, but will knock your lights out. 2 years of bad luck if you do not share this post.

PISCES – The Partner for Life (February 19 to March 20)
Caring and kind. Smart. Likes to be the center of attention. Very organized. High appeal to opposite sex. Likes to have the last word. Good to find, but hard to keep. Passionate, wonderful lovers. Fun to be around. Too trusting at times and gets hurt easily. VERY caring. They always try to do the right thing and sometimes get the short end of the stick. They sometimes get used by others and get hurt because of their trusting. Extremely weird but in a good way. Good sense of humor!! Thoughtful. Loves to joke. Very popular. Silly, fun and sweet. Good friend to others but needs to be choosy on who they allow their friends to be. 5 years of bad luck if you do not share this post.

ARIES – The Aggressive (March 21 to April 19)
Outgoing. Lovable. Spontaneous. Not one to mess with. Funny… Excellent kisser. EXTREMELY adorable. Loves relationships, and family is very important to an Aries. Aries are known for being generous and giving. Addictive. Loud. Always has the need to be ‘Right’. Aries will argue to prove their point for hours and hours. Aries are some of the most wonderful people in the world. 16 years of bad luck if you do not share this post.

TAURUS – The Tramp (April 20 to May 20)
Aggressive. Loves being in long relationships. Likes to give a good fight. Fight for what they want. Can be annoying at times, but for the love of attention. Extremely outgoing. Loves to help people in times of need. Good kisser. Good personality. Stubborn. A caring person. They can be self-centered and if they want something they will do anything to get it. They love to sleep and can be lazy. One of a kind. Not one to mess with. Are the most attractive people on earth! 15 years of bad luck if you do not share this post.

GEMINI – The Twin (May 21 to June 20)
Nice. Love is one of a kind. Great listeners. Very good at confusing people. Lover not a fighter, but will still knock you out. Geminis will not take any crap from anyone. Geminis like to tell people what they should do and get offended easily. They are great at losing things and are forgetful. Geminis can be very sarcastic and childish at times and are very nosy. Trustworthy. Always happy. VERY Loud. Talkative. Outgoing. VERY FORGIVING. Loves to make out. Has a beautiful smile. Generous. Strong. THE MOST IRRESISTIBLE. 9 years of bad luck if you do not share this post.

CANCER – The Beauty (June 21 to July 22)
MOST AMAZING KISSER. Very high appeal. A Cancer’s love is one of a kind… Very romantic. Most caring person you will ever meet in your life. Entirely creative person, most are artists and insane, respectfully speaking. They perfected sex and do it often. Extremely random. An ultimate freak. Extremely funny and is usually the life of the party. Most Cancers will take you under their wing and into their hearts where you will remain forever. Cancers make love with a passion beyond compare. Spontaneous. Not a fighter, but will kick your ass good if it comes down to it. Someone you should hold on to! 12 years of bad luck if you do not share this post.

LEO – The Lion (July 23 to August 22)
Great talker. Attractive and passionate. Laid back. Usually happy but when unhappy tend to be grouchy and childish. A Leo’s problem becomes everyone’s problem. Most Leos are very predictable and tend to be monotonous. Knows how to have fun. Is really good at almost anything. Great kisser. Very predictable. Outgoing. Down to earth. Addictive. Attractive. Loud. Loves being in long relationships. Talkative. Not one to mess with. Rare to find. Good when found. 7 years of bad luck if you do not share this post.

VIRGO – The One that Waits (August 23 to September 22)
Dominant in relationships. Someone loves them right now. Always wants the last word. Caring. Smart. Loud. Loyal. Easy to talk to. Everything you ever wanted. Easy to please. A pushover. Loves to gamble and take chances. Needs to have the last say in everything. They think they know everything and usually do. Respectful to others but you will quickly lose their respect if you do something untrustworthy towards them and never regain respect. They do not forgive and never forget. The one and only. 7 years of bad luck if you do not share this post.

LIBRA – The Lame One (September 23 to October 22)
Nice to everyone they meet. Their love is one of a kind. Silly, funny and sweet. Have own unique appeal. Most caring person you will ever meet! However, not the kind of person you want to mess with… you might end up crying. Libras can cause as much havoc as they can prevent. Faithful friends to the end. Can hold a grudge for years. Libras are someone you want on your side. Usually great at sports and are extreme sports fanatics. Very creative. A hopeless romantic. 9 years of bad luck if you do not share this post.

SCORPIO – The Addict (October 23 to November 21)
EXTREMELY adorable. Loves to joke. Very good sense of humor. Will try almost anything once. Loves to be pampered. Energetic. Predictable. GREAT kisser. Always get what they want. Attractive. Loves being in long relationships. Talkative. Loves to party but at times to the extreme. Loves the smell and feel of money and is good at making it but just as good at spending it! Very protective over loved ones. HARD workers. Can be a good friend but if is disrespected by a friend, the friendship will end. Romantic. Caring. 4 years of bad Luck if you do not share this post.

SAGITTARIUS – The Promiscuous One (November 22 to December 21)
Spontaneous. High appeal. Rare to find. Great when found. Loves being in long relationships. So much love to give. A loner most of the time. Loses patience easily and will not take crap. If in a bad mood stay FAR away. Gets offended easily and remembers the offense forever. Loves deeply but at times will not show it, feels it is a sign of weakness. Has many fears but will not show it. VERY private person. Defends loved ones with all their abilities. Can be childish often. Not one to mess with. Very pretty. Very romantic. Nice to everyone they meet. Their Love is one of a kind. Silly, fun and sweet. Have own unique appeal. Most caring person you will ever meet! Amazing in bed!!! Not the kind of person you want to mess with- you might end up crying. 4 years of bad luck if you do not share this post.

CAPRICORN – The Passionate Lover (December 22 to January 19)
Love to bust. Nice. Sassy. Intelligent. Sexy. Grouchy at times and annoying to some. Lazy and love to take it easy, but when they find a job or something they like to do they put their all into it. Proud, understanding and sweet. Irresistible. Loves being in long relationships. Great talker. Always gets what he or she wants. Cool. Loves to win against other signs in sports, especially Gemini’s. Likes to cook but would rather go out
To eat at good restaurants. Extremely fun. Loves to joke. Smart. 24 years of bad luck if you do not share this post.

You’ve been through so many things in life, and that has caused you to become an entirely different person, one that you no longer recognize. You were once a very optimistic and outgoing person, and now you see the world for what it truly is, a very dark, scary, and unfair place.

a sadness that is both overwhelming and resolute, 
determined to make the world right, 
but understands that grief forever breaks our bodies and souls.

'

Only love could bring us
Bring us to this bitter plane
Only one of us
Who's gonna walk away
Here in the deep below
That only darkness really knows
I'm hoping for a humble seed to grow
No, I won't surrender to this hard hearted night
Though I know the sun's gonna bring the palest of light
And all that remains is everything has gone
This life is mine so I'll carry on


I'm just trying to hold on
I'm falling in the dark below
I feel I'm falling in the big unknown
Here in the deep below
I will rise
I will rise again
A humble seed will grow


I have to go back
To pull me from the wreck
I know it's not over yet
There's no fire and no flame
On this cold, cold plane
No way to measure my pain


I'm just trying to hold on
I'm falling in the dark below
I feel I'm falling in the big unknown
I will rise
I will rise
I will rise again
A humble seed will grow

1. Are the dinosaurs real or just plastic models? I read somewhere that they went extinct several years ago but, if you've found some "live" ones somewhere, I'd be anxious and thrilled to see 'em. And, those humans that ride them, how much training was needed to "break the Dino's in"?



2. How did Noah gather up all those animals? Did he send folks to Australia to retrieve the Kangaroos and to the South Pole to catch the Penguins? And who hopped with them back to Aussie land after the flood? I hope you kept the Penguins cool. I hear penguins can't sweat.



3. Do the ark exhibits show how the animals were fed and how the poop was disposed of? I hear one elephant can produce about 100 pounds a day. But for 40 days? Wow, that's a load a crap. Weren't Noah and his sons shoveling a lot?



4. Did Noah's sons procreate during the flood or after? I know that's a real personal issue. But seeing as they had to repopulate the entire earth with just THEIR offspring, I'd think they would have probably started building a family right away. But you probably know for sure. And how did Noah's kids deal with the incest problem? I mean, brothers and sisters? Come on, now! That’s kinda weird.



5. Where did all that water come from to cover the entire earth? Did some glaciers melt? And where did it all go after it quit raining? Was there a big sink hole somewhere? Maybe all the whales in the ocean drank it up. Good question, huh? But wait, they'd just pee it back into the ocean, wouldn't they?



6. How did you keep animals like tigers from eating animals like little lambs? Did you offer them canned meat instead? Did you reprogram their little brains?



7. Was there an exercise room on the ark to keep the animals fit and in good spirits? I know whenever I take a long airplane trip, say 6 hours or more, I really get bored and my legs go to sleep.



8. Since Noah was in his early 800's when he started building the ark, didn't he get tired and have to take a lot of breaks often? I remember, ( god rest his soul) my grandfather could only chop wood for 30 minutes at a time before having to sit down. And he was only 104.He was always out of breath. Whew!!



9. When those doves were sent out to check for dry land, how did they find their way back? Are you sure they weren't really homing pigeons? Can we see them, too?



10. Didn’t Noah and the Mrs. get on each other's nerves cooped up like that for 40 days and nights? Maybe their sons intervened in those fights...when they weren't busy procreating, that is...wink wink.



11. Can we hear God’s booming voice, when the rainbow appears and he promises “NO MORE FLOODS...TSUNAMIS? OY VEY, WE’LL SEE”.



12. Finally, do you offer any sort of guarantee for fortifying ones's fundamentalist beliefs? I'd hate to come back home with these same ole nagging questions.

 The Howard Johnson’s company launched in the 1920s, and grew along with American car culture. By the 1960s, over 1,000 of the restaurant/hotel chain’s distinctive orange roofs dotted American highways. However, within a few scant decades, they disappeared. The hotel portion of the business was sold off — still existing in name — but with none of the classic HoJo design elements. Meanwhile, the restaurants died a slow death. As of 2017, there is only one Howard Johnson’s still in business.

 Sam Battistone and Newell F. Bohnet opened the first Sambo’s restaurant in 1957. The chain’s name was a source of controversy: According to the company, the name was simply a portmanteau of the founders’ last names, as opposed to being a reference to the use of Sambo as a derogatory term for African Americans. The fact that the decor of the restaurants displayed the racist caricature Li’l Black Sambo didn’t help their cause. At its height, the chain had about 1,000 locations, but dogged by the controversy, the company shut down in the ’80s. Most of the locations were sold to Denny’s, while the others were shut down.

 Country singer Kenny Rogers teamed with business partner John Y. Brown to launch this chicken chain in 1990. While the food was popular, they were never able to break into the market and the restaurants were sold off to Nathan’s in 1998. However, the chain was immortalized in a classic episode of the sitcom Seinfeld.

 The story of Minnie Pearl’s Chicken has become a cautionary tale for franchisees. In the 1960s, businessman John Jay Hooker teamed with country singer Pearl to launch a chain of restaurants bearing her name. Initially a success, there were nearly 500 locations at one point. However, the lack of a cohesive menu or recipes sabotaged the food, and the whole franchise fell apart within a few years.

 The Southern California All-American Burger chain was never more than a regional fast-food joint. However, it became famous when it was featured in the hit 80s teen film Fast Time at Ridgemont High. The final west coast location closed in 2010.

If you’re on the east coast however, a Massapequa, Long Island establishment using the same name and logos has been open since 1961 and is still serving up delicious burgers to this day.

 The first White Castle opened in 1921, and became the first popular fast-food chain. As is prone to happen in business, numerous imitators quickly opened. One of these knockoffs was known as White Tower. Opened by John E. Saxe and his son, Thomas, White Tower copied White Castle’s menu, style, advertising, and even architecture. At its height, there were 230 White Towers, but the chain died after legal action from White Castle forced them to make significant changes.

 Chi-Chi’s was launched in the 1970s by Marno McDermitt and NFL star Max McGee. The chain quickly grew, introducing a rudimentary menu of Mexican-style food to many American towns. However, as the popularity and variety of Mexican restaurants grew, Chi-Chi’s began to die out. The death knell for the franchise came in 2003 when a Hepatitis outbreak in the food supply led to three customer deaths.

 Brothers Clifford and Stuart Pearlman launched Lum’s in Florida in 1971. The chain’s “beer-steamed” hot dogs and distinctive glass-doored storefronts made it popular enough to support 400 locations at one point. The Pearlmans eventually sold the chain to KFC for $4 million. The brand was eventually phased out, with the final Lum’s closing in 2009.

 Steak and Ale was ahead of its time. Much like Chi-Chi’s, it introduced a whole concept — cheap steak and a salad bar — to the American marketplace. The concept was an immense success, however the chain fell victim to its own success. Others took the model and improved upon it, leaving Steak and Ale in the dust. The chain’s final locations closed in the early 2010s.

However, the parent company of Bennigans has purchased the Steak and Ale name, and appears poised to bring it back according to their their website, which states, “Once revered for its succulent Prime Rib, warm bread and bountiful salad bar, Steak and Ale is poised for an epic comeback. Redefined as a 21st Century polished-casual concept, while retaining the signature elements that made it an American classic, the new Steak and Ale will once again set the standard for affordable steakhouses. Guided and supported by an expert operations and management team, qualified franchisees have the opportunity to generate immediate consumer loyalty by bringing back a beloved restaurant blessed with decades of goodwill and brand equity. The new Steak and Ale, offering a polished casual experience at a casual dining price point, is positioned for phenomenal growth.”

 Valle’s Steak House was its name, lobsters and steak was its game. Valle’s was an East Coast chain that saw good business from 1933 until the millenium. The weakened economy that followed the 1970s gas crisis sealed its doomed destiny however. It has been missed, as proven by eBay sales of artifacts from the chain.

 Football Hall of Famer Gino Marchetti opened the first Gino’s Hamburgers in 1957. By the 70s, he had over 300 locations, and held the franchise rights for selling Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Mid-Atlantic States.

Marchetti sold the chain to Marriott in the early 1980s, and the hotel chain quickly turned all the Gino’s into Roy Rogers. In 2010, he returned to the restaurant business, opening up a new Gino’s location.

 At one time, Burger Chef had over 1,000 locations and rivaled McDonalds. The chain also introduced several fast-food staples to the industry, including kids’ meals with toys. However, they were doomed by bad business practices, and Burger Chef was sold to Hardee’s in 1981.

 Mr. Steak was a chain of steakhouses that was popular in the 70s. These steaks unfortunately weren’t juicy enough to withstand increasing competition from upstart steakhouse chains like Sizzler and Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus and therefore folded after bankruptcy in 1987. At its peak, the chain operated nearly 300 locations across the U.S.

 Bob’s Big Boy’s double-decker burgers and iconic mascot became a staple of American highways in the 20th century. The chain is still holding on in about 100 locations in California and the Midwest.

 Bennigan’s was one of America’s first casual dining/sports-bar chains. However, they always lagged behind similar concepts from contemporaries Friday’s, Applebee’s, and Chili’s. The chain was sold several times, and filed for bankruptcy in 2008. New ownership has kept 23 locations open in the U.S.

 Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouses, now owned by the same parent company, once numbered around 600 combined in the United States. Today, the total of both stands around 80 across the country.

 Charlie Brown’s was a quickly-growing regional chain out of New Jersey in the 80s and 90s. The corporation went out of business, though some franchise owners have stayed open.

 Naugles had a very respectable 25-year run from 1970-1995. A Mexican fast-food establishment with locations all over the United States, its charming motto was, “Prepare food fresh. Serve customer fast. Keep place clean!”

Have to respect that, right?

There were as many as 225 locations by the mid 80s, with the final one — in Carson City, Nevada — closing its doors in 1995.

In 2015, entrepreneur Christian Ziebarth revived the restaurant. There are currently two locations in California.

 Druther’s, also known as Burger Queen, was a chain of restaurants that operated between 1963-1981. Based in Louisville, Kentucky, the burger/fried-chicken joint’s mascot was a giant bee named Queenie Bee. Another of the company’s characters, Andy Dandytale, was targeted at kids.

In the spirit of old-school slogans, the restaurant’s motto was, “I’d Ruther Go to Druther’s Restaurant.”

Though the chain is long defunct, one Druther’s remains in Campbellsville, Kentucky.

 In the 1950s, businessmen in the restaurant industry were attempting to mimic the success of McDonald’s, and thus you had establishments such as Henry’s.

Henry’s was a major player in the 50s, 60s, and 70s: By the early 60s there were over 200 of them—more than McDonald’s had at the time.

Failure to adapt to the industry’s changes, competition from other fast-food burger chains, and a controversy involving the use of horse meat are all cited as potential factors of the chain’s rapid downfall.

Only one Henry’s, in Benton Harbor, Michigan, remains.

 Pup ‘N’ Taco had a very diversified menu: You could get tacos, hamburgers, hot dogs, and pastrami sandwiches.

The first restaurant opened in 1965, and success came quickly after that: By 1973 there were 62 of them.

In 1984, Taco Bell bought 99 Pup ‘N’ Taco restaurants in California, but not three stores in Albuquerque, two of which went by the name “Pop ‘N’ Taco” (pictured). Those stores finally closed in the 2010s.

 D’Lites used a rather unusual tactic for a fast-food restaurant, selling itself on its nutritional value. It boasted about low-calorie cheese, buns high in fiber, and hamburgers made with lean beef.

Founded in 1978, there were more than 100 locations by 1985.

Success was fleeting, though. The company ceased franchising in 1986 and filed for bankruptcy, and a year later it sold 90 percent of its restaurants to Hardee’s.

 A&W Restaurants, Inc. is a chain of fast-food restaurants that came to be synonymous with draft root beer and root beer floats. Best known were its “frosty mugs”. Founded in 1919, it was one of the country’s oldest chains (noted for introducing drive-thru service), and it is set to continue that legacy when it opens more restaurants than it ever initially closed down. Nice to have you back, A&W.

 Believe it or not, there was a fast food existence before McDonald’s and Burger King. Carrols is the OG of burger dining. Carrols had the Club Burger, it sold special Looney Tunes glasses and hamburgers that were once 15 cents (okay, in the 1960s, but still!) When Burger Kings kept opening up around Carrols turf, founder Herb Slotnick eventually gave in to the stiff competition and transformed his restaurants into Burger Kings too. That was a whopper shame.

 Long Island-native Herb Wetanson, founder of the Wetson’s burger chain, was inspired to launch his own restaurant after seeing the original McDonald’s while on a road trip in California.

With help from his family, Wetanson opened the first Wetson’s in the Levittown neighborhood of Long Island in 1959. Initially, the chain and its 15 cent hamburgers were a massive success.

However, the chain fell on hard times when McDonald’s and Burger King aggressively expanded into the New York market in the 1970s. By the end of the decade, Wetson’s was but a memory.

 Rax Roast Beef has gone through several names over the restaurant chain’s history.

Originally Jax Roast Biff, and later Rix Roast Beef, Rax saw its largest period of success in the 1980s, when the introduction of salad bars and other food stations briefly made Rax one of the country’s more successful chains.

Mismanagement and other issues hurt the business in the early 1990s, and as of 2017 there are only a handful of Rax locations still in operation.

 Claudia Sanders, The Colonel’s Lady could best be described as the restaurant franchise that never was.

By the mid-1960s, Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Harlan Sanders had sold his interest in the franchise (though he maintained his spokesperson role).

Sanders and his wife then reopened a new, sit-down restaurant that served his chicken called Claudia Sanders, The Colonel’s Lady.

The couple considered expanding the restaurant into several locations; however, they were hit with a lawsuit by the owners of KFC.

Eventually, a settlement was reached that allowed the Sanders’ to continue selling the chicken at one location in Shelbyville, Kentucky, which is still in operation today.

 At its height around the middle of the 20th century, the Red Barn franchise — known for distinctive barn-styled architecture and Big Barney burgers —  had between 300 and 400 restaurants in 19 states, as well as outlets in southern Ontario, elsewhere in Canada, and in Australia.

However, corporate ownership withdrew support from the chain in the 1980s, beginning a slow death spiral for Red Barn. As of 2017, there’s still one still operating in Racine, Wisconsin.

 Sandy’s was launched in the mid-1960s by a group of McDonald’s franchise owners unhappy with the changing terms of their agreement with the company.

They offered similar menus to the golden arches, but there were key differences in their business structure, including operators of the restaurants owning their stores and not leasing from the corporation, and not being required to buy supplies from the corporation.

Sandy’s was a regional success for a period; however, by the early 1970s, financial issues forced them to sell to Hardee’s.