Next time you find yourself at the Skyline Chili in Clifton, you might just bump into Tom Yunger.

No guarantees though. Tom is in his 51st year at the corner of Clifton and Ludlow, and he’s down to part time. He started in 1965 at the Price Hill Skyline, right down the street from where he grew up, before moving to Clifton. He’s seen a lot in a half century like class after class of University of Cincinnati students looking for a late-night bite. “A lot of the college kids were a lot rowdier in those days,” Tom says over the bustle of the lunch rush, “It seems like a lot of them have really calmed down.”

When Tom talks about his customers, meeting their kids, and meeting their kids’ kids, you can tell this isn’t just a job. It’s all about family. He credits the good food and the family atmosphere for keeping the customers coming back year after year, decade after decade. Staying open for the decreasingly rowdy UC students after the bars close is probably helping business too.

You may also like…