The First Ever Taco Bell & What It Was Like To Eat There
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- Опубликовано: 5 июл 2024
- You could buy anything off the admittedly short menu for pennies on the dollar at the original Taco Bell. But you also couldn't sit down. Would it have been worth a visit?
#TacoBell #FastFood #FoodHistory
Inauthentic pronunciation | 0:00
No space to sit inside | 1:03
Reminiscent of Mexican architecture | 2:00
Next to Mexico-themed strip mall | 3:21
Tacos fried in makeshift baskets | 4:15
Logo evolution | 5:15
Bell Beefer, by another name | 6:20
Five things on the menu | 7:20
19-cent menu items | 8:36
Read Full Article: www.mashed.com/896809/what-it... 
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Do you think Taco Bell's food has gotten better or worse with the menu changes over the years?
Worse
Considerably worse.
Worse. Got rid of too many staples.
it's nothing like real tacos
Worse
I managed a Taco Bell in the mid 70's when I was in college. Tacos, bean burritos and tostadas were $.29. Everything was made from scratch. We cut up all the lettuce, tomatoes & onions. Beans were sorted through by hand and then cooked with lard in huge square metal tubs. We used something that looked like a giant potato masher to stir them. You had to constantly stir them, or they would burn. It was a lot of work for us, but the food was superior to what they're selling today. Even with the low prices, we still averaged $2000/ night. Nobody ever sat down. I used to say, "I'm off to run my Taco Bell marathon..."
Julie, the beans were mashed in giant square metal bins but not cooked in them. For that, they had 3 big pressure cookers in which that added the beans, water, salt & a small brick of the lard. Yum. It was the day mangers 1st duty of the day @ 7am. I member fondly the freshness of everything. Tomatoes, cheese, onions, lettuce were sliced & shredded & the taco shells were fried on site.
@@emarr3720 You're right! (Brain fog) It was the ground beef that was cooked in those big square pans. Thanks for correcting me!
@@juliemccrea5481 thanks for being a sport!! People are too reactionary nowadays. You can’t have discussion anymore. I wish Taco Bell would get back to basics a la Panera. It’s ok now but it use to be something I looked forward to because it was so good. They use to even fry the shells for the Taco Salad (you could eat the bowl) & the Chalupas. No more fryer person.
My first job sorting through beans. I quit after a week and moved on to touching up Senior Life Touch pics with little pots of touch up paint. No kidding much better job.
Sounds delicious, indeed!
I'm so glad I'm a Boomer and actually got to enjoy the Taco Bell of the 60s and 70s. Such awesome, warm fuzzy memories of a time gone by.
Yea you are old man , today generation is a mess im jealous cheers
Lol yeah before they had food regulations
Me too! I have the boomerest car channel on RUclips. I know a thing or two about boomerism.
@@Nobody-bq7pl They had regulations...
Yep. My mom cooked dinner every night. When my parents would go out on the occasional evening, they'd pick up Taco Bell for me and my siblings. It was a real treat.
I ate at a Taco Bell in Shanghai China in 2004 it was a sit down restaurant with menus brought to you and served to your table. Food was the same as now and we were greeted by Chinese young people in Sunbraros saying Hola and Adios when we left. Very surreal.
Can’t be an actual Taco Bell. Isn’t China super against western stuff?
I ate at a Pizza Hut in China. You had to make a reservation to get in. Inside was super fancy, people where dressed super nice. The menu was a little different. I was pretty surprised, from the get go. Reservations for Pizza Hut????🤯
Sombrero*
@@sxbvstixn7964 my bad
Ha! I had a similar experience eating at a Pizza Hut in Punjab, India. It was so fancy, lol! White table cloths, actual ice in our sodas, nicely dressed servers. Pizzas all had Indian spices. Delicious.
Here in San Jose, CA many of the original Taco Bell stands with the arches and red tile roofs are still around, but they don't house a Taco Bell anymore. They are often check cashing places and other small businesses, but you can't miss that unique architecture of the original, tiny, restaurants!
I grew up there too. Sure miss those little restaurants. So much charm.
Yes, there are several like that here in Portland, Oregon. There’s a newer Taco Bell from the late 80’s across the street from one of these old ones. It’s a savings & loan now.
I made the double decker on Saratoga Ave back in 1989.
😢
Yes there are
My first job was at Taco Bell back in the 70s. It was the toughest job I ever have had. Everything was made in in-house, including shredding the cheese, chopping the lettuce and tomatoes and cooking the beef. We used to save the grease that came off the beef in tubs that were then sold to Love Cosmetics for use in their makeup. Closing time didn't mean everything relaxed a bit, because we then had to clean inside and outside before finally being able to leave for the day. All for minimum wage. But I learned what ended up being a life skill - how to fold a burrito!
I worked at Taco Bell in the 80s and I remember closing to be the hardest part of that job. Everything had to be dismantled and scrubbed and if there was a single crumb left on the floor the opening manager would be pissed the next morning.
The Bell Beefer was really good, along with the original Enchirito. I sure wish they would bring them back.
I miss the Enchirito and the Mexican pizza.
I wish they never changed the Nacho bell grande and they really need to bring back the taco salad.
I loved Bel beefers and a cup of beans and cheese. Good stuff
I bet itd be gross nowadays let’s leave that one in the 80s
God I miss the Bellbeefer
I can still remember the first Taco Bell in San Jose, California! They used to serve a burrito that was pretty good! The Bell Beefer. It was a favorite place to eat!
When I was a kid, a freaking billion years ago, I worked in a Taco Ball back when we fried the shells, cooked the beans in a pressure cooker, and fried up the beef. Doing the fry work was like a whole shift... different size taco and tostada shells, nacho chips, "taco pizza" shells, and those damned taco salad shells that always seemed to break when you were trying to hurry.
I remember those days. The shells would break so easy.
Do you remember the Taco Light? 😂😂😂
My Dad was a Taco Bell franchisee in the 70’ s and 80’s. I used to “ pick” the beans as a kid. That means sitting on a stool and picking through 50 lb bags of pinto beans to get the rocks out. Everything was cooked fresh and tasted so good. I’ve even been to Glen Bell’s house!
- Taco Bells used to be built in Spanish mission revival style
- tortillas were fried six at a time in chicken wired baskets and aligned as a trail, rather than premade shells
- Taco Bell was viewed as an establishment rather than a bathroom
*We used to be a country, a proper country*
a better time
Yeah, democrats are ruining the U.S....
Che Guevara nice history lesson
I really agree with you
Amén brotha
The Beef tostada was a mountain loaded with everything. My all-time favorite. Real beef included.
I remember in the early 90s Taco Bell still had tostadas, and meximelts! Miss those items, and the rice bean and red sauce bowels.
Yes my all time favorite but you had to eat there or it would get soggy I snapped mine in easier to eat but that's been 50 years ago still miss then
I was born and raised in Downey California.. Taco Bell used to have a fire pit with seating in front of their restaurant...A green burrito after a day at Huntington Beach was Heaven...
Their meat has drastically changed since the 70's and 80's. Real beef with chunks of onion. Man, i could sit there and eat a few beef burritos, laced with hot sauce. The sauces came in little containers, like Mcdonalds does their mcnugget dipping sauces. So, you got a lot more sauce then than you do now. It just tasted higher quality. I rarely eat there now.
Same, I don't eat fast food like I use to as a child....now if I want tacos, I go fully authentic with local Latin restaurants or food trucks. I only got a Mexican pizza when they brought them back, but that's about it.
@Elijah Alexander That's not true. Anderson Meats in Oklahoma City, only used the higher quality. I know. I had friends that worked there. And McDonalds had specifications on acceptable parts.
Up until the 1990 taco bell would cook all their meat in a pan with seasoning.
Now the Taco Bell meat comes in a bag to be boiled in.
Taco Bell uses great D meat, one step above dog food.
As more time passes, the food gets progressively worse and worse and worse and more expensive.
And skimpy
I remember the original Taco Bell restaurants they were open air seating depending on location then they enclosed them with glass. I miss those..and the food was much better 1970’s. Miss the enchirito menu now is just taco’s and burritos.
Enchiritos were my absolute favorite 🤤
The enchirito and tostada were my favorites, and I would order them now if available. They would be even better with the custom options.
Seems like they target the best items for removal from the menu.
Every item was the same price remember?- I think it was 34 cents right?
It was better 40 years ago.. it’s so bad now I don’t eat at Taco Bell ever..
Grew up in Souh Gate CA, just over the river bed from this location. Never knew it was the original first location in the 60's as a kid , but it was a busy location back then. The plaza next door also had an excellent Mexican restaurant in the 70's & 80s and TB had closed years earlier.
Loved the “Enchiritto”!!!!!
My first job in 1975 was Taco Bell in Northridge, California. There was like ten items on the entire menu. I made $1.70 an hour, and all you could eat or trade to the guys next door at 7-11 for beer on the late shift. No drive thru, a few tables and we made everything fresh. Including taking raw pinto beans and cooking them in pressure cookers to make the frijoles. Nothing came pre-cooked or packaged and it was good, a huge difference from today.
I live in Virginia most of my life, but my parents divorced and my mom remarried and we moved to California. My stepfather took us to Disneyland and I was introduced to Mexican food. I loved it. One day I seen a Taco Bell. I asked if we could go there. He said it was junk Mexican food. I still regret that I didn't get to try it in it's early days. 😩
It wasn’t that great back in the day
@@Nobody-bq7pl It was better
@@Nobody-bq7pl Wasn't about how good it was, but about trying and being there in the early days. Because of was he said I didn't even try taco bell until maybe 2 years after he passed away. Honestly I could understand if it was like the movie Demolition Man. "All restaurants are taco bell" 🌮. Lol 😆
Grew up eating Mexican food, and Taco Bell, they're not the same.
Sorry for your loss. The soft flour tortilla burritos were the best.
First job that I got I was 15 yrs old in Camarillo was for Taco Bell. The facade here looks EXACTLY like that very restaurant.
I remember when Taco Bell sauces came in a plastic cup.
There’s still an original Taco Bell style restaurant here in Downey called El Taco, which serves a “Bell Beefer” type sandwich, and other quality foods that are delicious!
El Tacos tacos are greasy but delicious. I like the flavor of their taco sauce as well. And the last time I was in there, they still had tostadas if I'm not mistaken.
It’s funny how Taco Bell likely started as a traditional Mexican taco shop but then evolved to the most Americanized modern fast food taco shop 😂 it’s all about the name.
Yeah its crap
no kidding
Well Pepsi bought the bitch out. Now everything is made with beans and its bland
My first experience with the Bell was in the 70s when I was a teenager. It was in Texas. Been hooked ever since.
When I was a young kid mid 70's, Going to Taco Bell was a fun experience. (kinda like Long John Silvers when it had a nautical theme) These days Taco Bell just plain sucks from the food to the decor.
LMAO
Even in the 90s I loved the first Mexican pizzas. Loved the Tacos in the 80s, but you can't even get as good of tomatoes let alone other ingredients to make Tacos. Everything is made ever cheaper to increase margins. And a lot of people don't care how bad the food tastes, just shove it in.
Taco Bell please bring back the beef on the taco.
What?
@@travixx07 Basically they barely put any meat in the taco 🌮
Please bring back the original green burritos and 7 Layer burritos!!!
They still have green burritos, you have to ask for green sauce instead of red sauce.. at least in California they still make them but they're not on the menu.
Some Taco Bell histories mention that early on they used an alternate name called Taco Tio. Supposedly only a few in SoCal, but we had one on the SF Peninsula in the mid '60s. Same classic building, same menu as Taco Bell. This one was later renamed Taco Bell, and is long gone.
Growing up in the 70s and 80s in the Midwest I remember there being a Taco Bell in my town in the 80s but really don't remember going to there to often, but I remember liking it. I don't really even remember having a Taco night at home. Now after I joined the Army and went to Texas right away for training, then I learned Mexican food, opened a new world of taste.
Anyone from Texas or Oklahoma who was around in the 1980s will tell you that Taco Casa is just like the way Taco Bell used to be back then. Menu, taste etc
What bout Taco Mayo?
Taco Mayo's better than Bell or Bueno but Casa's a hidden gem!!
The Bell Beefer was the best menu item. I have never heard anyone pronounce taco that way. I also miss the old architecture.
Wasn’t it “The Big Bell Beefer”? Also remember the tortilla Chips with Cinnamon on them? They were so light and crunchy, loved them
I ate there in the late 70s or early 80s Texas. The Burrito Supreme had black olives on it, yum!!!
I still remember the day they told me they no longer served black olives...I was not happy
That was pretty much the diagnostic feature then -- a Supreme burrito or enchilada meant black olives and sour cream on top.
Bring back the Encherito and the Bellbeefer😋
I remember taco's we're cheap and lived off of taco's and bean burritos when I was broke lol
Fax it’s so expensive now everything sucks nowadays..
I loved the Enchirito! I also liked how the hot sauce came in a small plastic cup. (Pup N Taco had better tacos.) 😁
I miss the Taco Salad. I wish they would bring it back!
I do too! I didn't buy tacos if I had the salad!
I remember being able to get 4 tacos for one dollar and a few pennies back when they first opened then a short time later was .25 cents each...It's amazing to me how the crunchy tacos still taste the same as back then.
Now 4 crunchy tacos costs me over 10 bucks smh
It's the government's fault. Every time the government tries to do good, it accomplishes evil that comic book villains can't imagine.
@@ladymacbethofmtensk896 mam, this is a taco bell
@@wooohoo2 You brought up how prices have gone up, and I brought up why.
ok boomer, i didnt bring up prices, i simply made a funny
I never forgave them for changing the green sauce when I was a kid. The enchirito needs to come back too.
When I worked there in the early 1990s they still had the "Green Burrito" ... a bean burrito with beans, onions, cheese and the green sauce. Or you could request the green sauce on a burrito supreme or beef/bean combo burrito. The latter was a pretty good deal at 99 cents.
@@joelcda6883 Yes! I loved it! But then they changed the sauce. Broke my heart. Lol. As a kid, Taco Bell was my favorite until the day they changed the dang green sauce. I think I’m still bitter about it. 🤣
@@An_Evangelist_Who_Loves_Jesus Oh, that was a good one too.
i remember the green sauce. it used to be in the quesadilla after they stopped giving out packets, now the quesadilla has some kind of pink hot sauce.
@@SidewaysBurnouts That’s sad news, my friend.
I live down the street. Man I miss this classic tacobell.
I remember as a kid in the 70's our family would eat there and it was so good, my favorite was the Enchirito with the three black olives. Later in high school I worked there in the 80's and if you worked a certain amount of hours you would get to eat like five dollars worth of food for free and that was alot, one of my most fun jobs I had because many friends worked there too...miss those good old days.
In the late 1900's early 2000's, in Mountain View, CA, the Taco Bell was closed for quite a while for remodeling and was rebranded "Border Bell." They seemed to be experimenting with an upscale version of Taco Bell, with many of the original items but with some higher end offerings that no longer come to mind, but fajitas(similar to Chili's at the time) seem familiar. It quickly failed and returned to a regular Taco Bell soon after. If I recall correctly, the indoor and outdoor fire pits remained for a number of years.
Taco Bell's food was better then--even in the 1980's. Something in their sauce recipe was different.
the beans used to have real lard, which is key to that good taste, now it tastes like they put ash in the burritos. del taco green sauce bean and cheese tastes like the old taco bell flavor.
We had a franchise in No. California too in late 60's. It was just like that walk up that you featured. The tacos were 28 cents. We loved it. When I drove through there reently...the building is still there...but no longer a Taco Bell. Loved it! It was cheap, for those of us who are fussy eaters, we appreciate the simplicity!
In 1967, my friends and I ate at Taco Bell often. Tacos were 19 cents a piece.
I miss the Bellbeefer! I still make them.
Use to eat at the Taco Bell on Rosemead Blvd/Lakewood Blvd, when I was young. I remember my sisters trying to scrape up 21 cents (19 cents plus tax) to buy a Tostada. The food was so good back then, made on sight fresh. loved Bellbeffer and Encherito too.
Yep, I remember them at 19 cents a taco👍🌮 and the gas fire pit w brown lava rocks.
@@ImTheDudeMan471 Yes! Loved sitting by the fire pit, especially in the early evening. They also had a unique drive through. (Didn't wrap around the building)
The best food was at Plaza Guadalajara, which was next door to the original Taco Bell. They had one video game (Pole Position) and a juke box that was always playing. They had ancient Aztec murals throughout the restaurant... They had the best bean burritos with homemade salsas that are nothing like any other salsas I ever had. It was a bummer when they went out of business in the 90s, like so many awesome places, like orange Julius... When hot dog on a stick had real lemonade and not that artificial stuff they have now...
As a kid I remember they had good stuff, I do remember not eating TB for years and then coming back to and wondering what happened? They used to make everything back in the day the beans, etc. Now everything comes in cans and bags. Not even sure it's real food. And then they get rid of stuff that you can't get other places. Like the Enchirito, Mexi Melts, Double decker tacos, for a while they had taquitos I know they had steak as I got those often, not sure if they offered chicken, I'm assuming so. cinnamon chips way better than those spiral things they offer. Even as an adult in the late 90s early 2000's when I started going back if you spent like 10 bucks on food it was an insane amount of stuff as most items were under a buck.
Yeah now it's $20 for a dozen craptacos
They shouldn’t have ever changed the ground beef
True. The stuff they use now doesn't fill you up because it doesn't have any protein. I don't know what that stuff is made of now.
One thing to remember when you are younger... THESE are the good old days... Make 'em worth remembering. And if you're older? Make these better than the good old days really were.
Had a similiar experience in Warsaw Poland when the country 1st opened up. It was a Pizza Hut with menus, waiters, maitre d, etc. It was very upper crust
Taco Bell should bring back their classic looking buildings as well as their classic sombrero man logo.
Also the Bell burger would be awesome with the nacho fries!
I remember when they built the one on the corner of Jackson Dr. and Fletcher Parkway back in the 60s, I loved the fire pit outside. My favorite item on the menu was the Enchirito, even after it was removed from the menu I could still get it for a couple years at my Taco Bell in Santee, Ca.
As a kid in the 60s and 70s my favorite thing was the open fire pit. We would chuck the used sauce packets in there.
I still miss the bellbeefer. I'm wondering if putting the filling of a taco into a hamburger bun would taste the same.
It probably would if you added the red sauce & that finely grated cheddar cheese on top of the meat. We used to have to pound up the hamburger until it was like fine sand. It also had that super-fine lettuce on it.
I always assumed that regular taco meat was used in the Bellbeeefer. I don't remember what else was used for ingredients. They tended to be sloppy to keep together.
@@loboheeler It was taco meat.
I remember the old locations had open fire pits on the outside.
must be why its so popular with hobos and homeless gang members. that was our first stop when we wanted to find a bum to get us a bag of alcohol in the 80s.
I used to live a 1/4 mile from there.. i remember riding my bike with friends to get the bellbeefers and tacos and remember the hot sauce that came in that square plastic container..
I remember back in the 60s a gold bell came to our house for a while… I later found that was when my brother (a McDonald’s employee) had engaged in some restaurant rivalry
The first Taco Bell only had about 10 things on the menu and they were 25 cents each, sodas were 10 and 25 cents. In my opinion the quality has suffered over the years...
Taco Bell from the 90s was so good
@@YoungMachette fax it was like crack
@@YoungMachette also super expensive now
Yup throughout the years all these fast food restaurants being sold to financial companies that’s what will happen quality goes down so they can make more money
I won't eat there no more they don't even have tostadas anymore
I'm Australian and I have wanted to try taco Bell since the Demolition man movie!!
back then it was good, its quality has changed.
My advice would be to just look at some images and re-create the tacos at home with some pre-made shells and ground beef.
It will taste 10 times better, be cheaper, and won't cost you a flight around the world.
I had a good friend that built a Taco Bell in 1980 in the upper midwest. It was the iconic architecture with the arch's and stucco design. It did have indoor seating due to the cold weather climate but the big difference from todays design was it had the restrooms in the back of the building and were only accessible to go outside and enter them. The construction company I worked for rebuilt a new Taco Bell in that location around 2004 with their new design and yes it finally had the restrooms inside. LOL!
The best Mexican place I ever knew was in Shelbyville, Illinois.
Back in 1968 my family moved from the east coast to southern California and our first visit was with an aunt and uncle. They had had this strange thing called tacos for dinner.
We would wind up having them fairly regularly there after
Back in the late 70's my favorite, the now canceled Enchirito was made with corn tortillas (not flour) and topped with 3 neatly place black olives...yummmmm
And bring back Mexican Pizza!
They did a couple months ago. They have been sold out since week 1 lol
I loved the Bellburger later the Bellbeefer from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. When I moved from California to Hawaii because my family was in the Navy. The Hawaii Public School Jefferson Elementary School had Taco Burgers which was served once a week as a school lunch. It had taco meat, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped lettuce, and chopped tomatoes, on a hamburger bun. I still make Taco Burgers today to remember my childhood.😋😋😋😋
I grew up on toco bell in So.Cal. And I miss the “Incharitto”❗️
It’s ok now but it use to be better. TB use to fry everything in house daily. There was a dedicated fryer position. The beans use to be pressure cooked on site in 3 pressure cookers. It was day managers job 1st thing in the morning-beans, water, a small brick of lard, & salt & 3 hours. Yum. The cheese was also shredded on site. I miss the Enchirito. It was made with a special tortilla that half flour half corn & your choice or red or green sauce that was mixed daily. I too miss the Bellbeefer and pintos & cheese(what the video called frijoles). Today TB has 2 standouts: the Mexican Pizza & Breakfast Crunch Wraps. I get a Breakfast Box 3-4 times a week. Great deal for $5.99, includes the wrap, hash browns, Cinnabons, & coffee.
Even if they brought back the Bell Beefer, it wouldn't taste the same, because it wouldn't be the same.
I rember this Taco Bell design as a kid in the mid 60's at: 16414 Crenshaw Blvd, Torrance, California. I think the old building is in there under all the new features. There used to be an A&W Drive In car hop burger across the street. We would get food there before going to the drive-in movie at the Rodium Theater up the street.
I started eating Taco Bell in the 60's at a West LA store that resembled the original store. The food was all freshly made from scratch on-site, so it was a lot better than the food now, but I still like Taco Bell today.
Unfortunately Taco Bell's food has gone WAY DOWN over the past 10 years. Portions are very small, beef on a taco is maybe a tablespoon at best. I used to like the refried beans, but found the cardboard cups were not flat on the bottom which gave a much smaller portion. Then we come to counter service which is poor and drive thru is even worse. I stopped going to taco bell years ago which was a shame as they at one time had half decent Mexican "fast" food. I now make my own at home with Old El Paso taco kits which include the shells, meat spice and salsa. Fry up some hamburger meat with the spice pack and you are ready. Just add sour cream, lettuce/tomato and your set. These are much better than taco bell !!
Yea your right
Even better, you can substitute chicken, fish, steak, etc. instead if the slime beef product that is used at Taco Bell.
@@crankychris2 Absolutely !!! Old El Paso has the wide stand up taco shells that really hold everything in and you can't go wrong making your own !!
Capitalism always starts great. Then the downward spiral
Calling it meat is a stretch. A long time ago they had a big beef burrito supreme that was good, and filling. Now it's snack food.
I bought 4 soft taco Supremes for at least $10.00 yesterday and when I got home in each one was about 2oz of beef mixture a small tad of lettuce and a few tomatoes with a dime size of sour cream, talk about getting ripped off, I'll make my own from now on, that was ridiculous.
Go to your grocery and get the " Old El Paso " taco kit, it contains the shells, seasoning mix for the ground beef and a pack of salsa. I get the wide stand up shells as they hold a ton. Just add ground beef, sour cream, grated cheese and what ever items you wish. You will NEVER go back to taco bell, the home made are 100% better !!!!
would have been 2 bucks when i was a kid.
I grew up in NYC. The first time I heard the term taco was while watching the Partridge Family in the early '70's. I had no idea what they were. I ate my first taco when I moved here in the early '80's.
I used to love the bell beefer,from around 1968 and you sat outside to eat, the food tasted so much better back then....
I think their sauces were better back in the late 70s and early 80s. And bring back the Mexican pizza!
And the Enchrito!
Mexican pizza is apparently coming soon! Sometime this month
Remember when it was the pizazz pizza in the mid 80's ?
@@HeatherSummerRaine And "The Noid" from Domino's Pizza ....
Yeah serpent eye in the bell with a triple 6 surrounding the building
yeah, i forget if its owned by coca cola, or pepsi, but at some point all the major fast food was bought up by either one or the other.
I began working at Taco Bell in Sept 1967. We fried our own meat, cooked the beans, grated huge blocks of cheese, fried our own taco shells. Even the sauce was hand pored into small plastic cups, shredded our own lettuce using a "Hobart" machine.
Tacos, Frijoles, Tostadas, Bell Burgers, Burritos (mild red or spicy green sauce). Drinks were only Carbonated Orange, Pepsi, Root Beer.
That was the entire menu. Tacos were 19 cents each. It was nothing to have lunch and dinner "rushes" every day with as many as 30 people ordering. Walk up windows (2). We made our own change... Cash registers didn't tell us how much change to give back.
Price of a Taco "jumped to 25 cents each a year later in 1968. Customers were very angry because Taco Bell was" gouging it's customers".
I met my husband there and in 1970, Jan., we married.
Those were the days and fun.
Car gas price was 20 cents a gallon. In 1971 the cost of gas rose to 23 cents a gallon.
When I te!l people the taco Bell I used to go to in the early 70s in CA didn't have any windows and we'd sit on the ledge to eat they don't believe me. Now I have.proof! We got 10 cent tacos after going to the beach all day! Great memories.
We're not going to talk about the Enchirito, the best item ever?
They used to have the fire pit out front! Imagine if they did that now!😃
Every pothead in town would be there
Worse. With the desensitization towards violence & the disaffection that’s everywhere, there’d be fights & persons thrown into the pit, horseplay & someone getting burned then a law suit, or lighting things on fire & torching a car. It wouldn’t last a week before they’d be yanked out. Everything was more civil growing up & I miss it. & no, I’m not a Boomer.
@@emarr3720 yeah i remember shootouts and stabbings at taco bell in the 80s. san jose california, those big bricks were good for stopping bullets. i had to duck many times back then till the late 90s over rival car loads of mexican gangs ending up in the same drive thru, and we as high school kids used to hang out and mix vodka in the soda and talk to girls. as crazy as it was i miss those days.
@@SidewaysBurnouts where were you? Story & King?
@@emarr3720 nah on the west side by san carlos. sj has alot of places that look ok in the middle of the afternoon but are like a war zone by midnight. some of the biggest gang fights i ever seen were at fast food places like jack in a box on san carlos downtown or the roosevelt park weinershitzel. in the 80s it was rocking and rolling from the time schools let out till 4am.
these were great, i loved the enchirito with the olives on top but taco bell came 2nd to Pup and tacos in that era
Taco Bell came to my town in 1968. I met my first love at Taco Bell. I loved their food then and I love it now. It hasn't really changed much if at all. Of course, I still only order from the original menu-taco, burrito or tostada. I do hate that they stopped having green sauce!
They used to have a green sauce in the late 70’s. Fantastic on $.51 bean burritos and pintos and cheese. Now their stuff is garbage.
i think the burritos were still about 59 cents in the early 90s.
I miss the beefy tostada it was like a open face taco, you snapped it in half then they started the Mexican pizza nope, the supreme barreto but they can't spread everything in the length of a tortilla you get a lob at one end in the middle and at the opening sour cream what's so hard to put all the flavors together.
Same when I go. One big blob of sour cream at one end! And they really believe they deserve $15.00 an hour. It's a rare occasion that I even bother to go. It's winds up being a effort in frustration.
@@kentmarsh6442 ya we used to catch the bus to go Elk Grove to Sacramento back
@@kentmarsh6442 ya back in the 70's my sister and I would take the bus into Sacramento California do a little shopping and the hit taco bell always made sure we had enough money for taco bell back then their card about the food,I'll guess it been 8 years since I've been back do miss the tacos, but I can make all the flavors in my tacos and burritos
I was.fifteen when the first Taco Bell opened in Santa Monica California. I believe the street was Lincoln Blvd. It was so exciting they were giving away Mexican Straw.Hats for each order. I'm Mexican, and l know the food was not authentic, but it was pretty good and cheap! Sure brings back memories of the sixties.
I don't think they mentioned it, but the original Taco Bell building in Downey was picked up and moved to Corporate Headquarters in Irvine, CA. The last known restaurant in that original building was a Taco's Raul. They closed up shop and moved. There's a Tacos Raul near Firestone and Lakewood in Downey, but I'm not sure if is the same owner. I also remember Plaza Guadalajara. There used to be a Mexican Restaurant in there too in the early 90's. A friend from High School worked there. That's all gone now. The only building left on that side of the street is a Target Carpet. Across the street though, there's a newer Taco Bell / Pizza Hut and a Home Depot.
I remember the BellBurger and it was sooo good lol..
It was taco meat and lettuce and shredded cheese on a hamburger bun...It was really good.
I wish they bring the wild sauce back.
Agree completely! I remember having my first Bellburger as a kid in the early 70’s. Sense memory of my childhood !!
@@briandelaney9710 Me too 😆
I just realized Taco Bell doesn't have southwest style building anymore, I always thought it looked cool as a kid
used to be a good place to hide from shootouts. those bricks stopped many a bullet from hitting me back in the day.
We still have a couple mission style taco bells in Knoxville, TN. Ones a Subway while the others an abandoned mkm and pop eatery that was called Chandlers. Its caught on fire and has never been reopened, but the structure remains. Taco Bell was GREAT back in the 80s when i was a kid, but its so americanized now that no one identifies it as mexican food cause its not.
I remember as a youngster Taco Bell opening in La Jolla on La Jolla Blvd. Food was $.019 for tacos and burritos and I was always torn as to which to order. Man, those were good. That's about the same time I was introduced to Mountain Dew. With that combination I was in fast food heaven. (back when there wasn't much in the way of fast food). I think Chicken Delight was just coming into being too where they'd actually deliver a chicken dinner to your door! That was a real treat back then!!!
The enchirito was terrific! I miss the old days. Their food was much better then. Bell burger and pintos and cheese were also favorites for me.
Great story. I remember they had taco sauce in square containers
I can't crap for a week after eating one bean burrito from taco bell. And I always go back for more.
Can you at least toot after eating a bean burrito? 😊
I remember when a TB opened in St. Petersburg, Florida (mid 60s).. It was a big deal.. The Mariachi band at the grand opening was quite cool for this little lad..
Taco Bell used to be great, now it is inedible
You're just cheap
Taco Bell was great and all back then, but it's pretty obvious peak Taco Bell will always be:
I'm at the Pizza Hut (what?)
I'm at the Taco Bell (what?)
*I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell*
I prefer McDonald's honestly, because there's nothing quite like having a Big Mac to relax after an important meeting at my palace
My first Taco Bell was in Parkersburg- Vienna back in the 70s, my favorite thing in the world was their tostadas back then. My grandparents took me as a treat, good memories. The Taco Bell is still there but not the original building.
I really miss the old taco bell. The bell beefer and enchiritos were awesome. After football practice/games, the entire team and cheerleaders would walk the 3 miles down the street to the taco bell and all eat for hours. It was so cheap and good back then.
They have came a long,and the food tastes great and fresh.
After YUM! Brands got Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC, all 3 places headed downhill pretty quickly.
Food is always hot there. Order is always correct unlike every other fast food joints. Only place I go.
My first favorite restaurant when I was a kid in the 80s, Winnetka park ca.