Ah - Remembering the fifties! - Gordon and Roy Bray started their first hamburger stand in 1950. After an extensive investigation of all business opportunities available at the time, Gordon said to Roy "Man, I'm tired of being broke, we got a bunch of those little rugrats at home to feed, Why don't we find somewhere we can try and sell Coffee, Donuts and Hamburgers like they do downtown at whatchamacallit's restaurant." So they did. Check out the rest of the history of Bray's Hamburgers

Check out some of Bray's Hamburgers Special offers. You will think you are in the fifties.

The Music - Popular music in the early half of the decade featured vocalists like Frankie Laine, Patti Page, Johnnie Ray, Kay Starr, Perry Como, Georgia Gibbs, Eddie Fisher, Doris Day, Teresa Brewer, Guy Mitchell and vocal groups like The Four Lads, The Four Aces The Chordettes and [The Ames Brothers]]. Jazz stars who came into prominence in their genre at this time included Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk. Rock and roll emerged in the middle of the decade as the teen music of choice with Pat Boone, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard and Buddy Holly being notable exponents. Elvis Presley was the musical superstar of the period with rock, rockabilly, gospel, and romantic balladeering being his signatures. Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash were rockabilly musicians. Doo Wop was another popular genre at the time. Calypso enjoyed popularity with Jamaican Harry Belafonte being dubbed the "King of Calypso". The Kingston Trio was instrumental in launching the folk music revival of the fifties and sixties. On March 14, 1958, the RIAA certified crooner Perry Como's single, "Catch A Falling Star" its first ever Gold Record.

Television - Sales of television sets boomed in the fifties. Shows aired monochromatically. Popular programs included Your Show of Shows, a live 90-minute weekly sketch comedy television series (1950-1954) with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, and Producers' Showcase (1954-1957), a 37-episode, multi-Emmy Award-winning, 90-minute NBC anthology series that featured A-list talent such as Margot Fonteyn in The Sleeping Beauty Ballet, Helen Hayes in The Skin of Our Teeth, and The Fourposter with original Broadway cast members Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. Other anthology series included Lux Video Theatre, Fireside Theater. and Kraft Television Theater.

Sitcoms offered a paternalistic, conservative vision of idealized middle class American life with The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-1966), Father Knows Best (1954-1960), and ABC's The Donna Reed Show (1958-1966) exemplifying the genre. Emmy-winning comedy I Love Lucy (1952-1957) starred husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball and enjoyed such popularity that some businesses closed early on Monday nights in order to allow employees to hurry home for the show. In Life of Riley (1953-1958), blue collar Chester A. Riley (William Bendix) became the protype for a long line of bumbling television patriarchs that included Fred Flintstone and Archie Bunker. The show's first incarnation for the DuMont Television Network lasted a season (1949-1950) and won television's first Emmy. The Honeymooners (1955-1956) followed bus driver Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) and his sewer-working sidekick Ed Norton (Art Carney) while archetypal suburban life was limned in Leave It to Beaver (1957-1963), purportedly the first sitcom to be told from a child's point of view and the first to strike a blow for television realism by displaying a toilet in an early episode. Genre series were popular with Dragnet (1952) starring Jack Webb representing police procedural drama, British syndicated series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955) starring Richard Greene representing historical drama, and Gunsmoke (1955) with James Arness and Amanda Blake representing the western. Mid-decade, Warner Bros. produced a clutch of five westerns with Maverick starring James Garner and Cheyenne starring Clint Walker leading the group in popularity.

The Cars - This decade many auto companies produced large luxury cars designed to appear to flow through the air. Considered the "Jet Age", the new aircraft and rockets had an influence on vehicles. All Detroit manufacturers built cars with "Tail fins" and "bullet lights" --- for this reason the 1950s are referred to as the "Finned Fifties". The Cadillac Eldorado is an example of this. Cadillac is considered the epitome of luxury at this time.

And all through that, Brays's Hamburgers was there. Check out our 1950's Menu and identify the man sitting at the counter and you could win two free burgers a week for a year. At Bray's Hamburgers - we miss those days. So we try and live the nostalgic years and keep our prices affordable for our customers while dreaming of some of the fads of the fifties like:

• Sock Hops - Remember this? In the 1973 classic motion picture American Graffiti which is set in 1962 two kids named Steve and Laurie attend a high school freshmen sock hop dance. In one scene all the teens are dancing to "The Stroll" where a close up of their feet show them dancing in white or black socks without any shoes.
• The Drive-In Movies - The drive-in's peak popularity came in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly in rural areas, with some 4,000 drive-ins spreading across the United States. Among its advantages was the fact that a family with a baby could take care of their child while watching a movie, while teenagers with access to autos found drive-ins ideal for dates.
• Car Hops - a waitress on rollerskates who brings food to people in their cars. Carhops originated in the 1940s when drive-in eateries were popular and was at its height in the 1950's.
• The Twist - The song was written and originally released in 1959 by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters as a B-side (to “Teardrops on Your Letter”) but was a minor hit. The song, and the dance the Twist, was popularized in 1960 when the song was covered by Chubby Checker. His single became a smash hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 19, 1960.
• Hula Hoops - Plastic hula hoops were first manufactured and sold in Australia. In 1957, Coles department store sold bamboo hoops, but the supplier couldn't produce enough to meet demand. So they invited Alex Tolmer, the founder of Toltoys, to produce plastic ones. Toltoys sold 400,000 plastic hoops in 1957. In 1958, Melin and Knerr of Wham-O started to market hula hoops in the USA, selling 100 million over that summer.

So when you are thinking of things like cheap burgers in Westland, Michigan, nostagia, kids prices, kids menus, 1950's hamburger restaurants, thick shakes, 50's ambience, fresh grilled burgers, chesseburgers, breakfast, breakfast sandwiches, grilled onions, 24 hour restaurants, drive thru burgers, hamburger joints in Detroit, Michigan and souhteast Michigan, thick crinkle cut fries, homemade potato chips, sock hops, golden oldies, delicious sliders and greasy spoons, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Bray's Hamburgers