Imagine the building, shown in the photo, painted in vivid orange and yellow hues. It had a rounded front with windows arranged in a curved design.
To locals of the “boomer” generation, it was the site of the original Hi-Way Pizza Shop, located along Route 53, in Chester Hill Borough.
The building actually began as a restaurant named The Flying Saucer that was built sometime in the post-World War II era.
When it became the Pizza Shop during the 1950’s, it offered uniquely-cut square slices for as little as 15 cents each.
The Pizza Shop catered to families, but it was a big hit with teens, especially from the Philipsburg-Osceola, Moshannon Valley and West Branch school districts.
Crowds of cars, packed with teens, often filled the parking lot. The pizza was good and the place became a hangout for teens who could meet others from the neighboring schools.
Countless guys and young women, over the decades, saw the shop as a place to ask each other (or at least try) for a date.
Teenagers are teenagers, but, for the most part, even the rivals got along with each other. Looking back, the Pizza Shop may have been Chester Hill’s scaled down version of American Graffiti.
Student nurses at the old Philipsburg State Hospital School of Nursing also loved the Pizza Shop. Their house rules were incredibly strict and they had confined study hours from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. on weekday evenings.
Afterwards, the students were hungry and the Pizza shop delivered, almost daily, to their nurses’ home.
The building, shown in the photo was demolished, perhaps, 35 years ago. A new red-colored metal building replaced it, and it is still known as Hi-Way Pizza.
The shop is owned and operated by Jerry Lese, who supplied the photo, which still hangs on the wall today. He once worked at the old building and still uses the same sauce recipe.
