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Historic place

Hires Big H

425 S 700 E, Salt Lake City, UT

A former grocer built a cinder-block drive-in near the University of Utah in 1959 and put a family pink sauce on the burger.

📅 1959–present🏛️ RestaurantStill here
Open on the mapSlide back to 1959

The story

Don Hale grew up working in his family's grocery store, then turned to burgers. In 1959 he opened Hires Drive-In, with help from his wife, Shirley Hickman. He built the cinder-block building at 425 South 700 East, a few blocks west of the University of Utah, and it still stands.

The sauce on the Big H burger comes from a Hale family recipe, a pink condiment that Utahns call fry sauce. The restaurant is also known for its Hires Root Beer, a drink first made in 1876 in Philadelphia by pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires. Dr Pepper owns the brand, and it is now sold only at Hires Big H restaurants. Hale died in January 2011 at 93. Next door sits Litza's Pizza, another Hale venture.

What's There Now

Hires Big H is still serving burgers in the same cinder-block building.

Everything that was here

Did you know?

The root beer was created in Philadelphia in 1876 and is now available only at Hires Big H restaurants.
Hires fry sauce is sold in grocery stores across Utah.
Litza's Pizza, next door, is another Don Hale business.

Nearby history

Bill and Nada's Cafe

479 S 600 E · 271 m away
A 24-hour cafe that served brains and eggs, kept Nada's name for decades after her death, and closed with Bill in 1999.

Trolley Square (Utah Light and Railway car barns)

602 E 500 S · 377 m away
E.H. Harriman spent $3.5 million on streetcar barns here; the last trolley left in 1945 and a mall opened in 1972.

Centre Theatre

299 S State Street · 1.5 km away
An Art Deco movie house with a 90-foot tower opened Christmas Eve 1937 on the site of the old Knutsford Hotel and was go

Auerbach's Department Store

324 S State Street · 1.6 km away
Auerbach's started as a small shop in 1864 and moved into this State Street building in 1911; it is now offices.

Salt Lake City Hall (Council Hall)

120 E 100 S · 1.6 km away
City hall where Utah woman cast the first woman's vote in 1870, then moved stone by stone in 325 numbered slabs.

Newhouse Building

10 E Exchange Place · 1.7 km away
One of Salt Lake's first skyscrapers, built by a mining magnate hoping to move downtown south to Exchange Place.

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Sourceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hires_Big_H