Alan Morrell

Joe and Ken Schaller worked at Eastman Kodak Co., but had dreams of something different.

The brothers pooled their resources, mortgaged their homes and opened a hamburger joint on Edgemere Drive in Greece. Schaller's Drive-In has been an institution since it opened in 1956.

Crowds are especially big in the summer, when customers flock to Schaller's to cool off with the breezes off nearby Lake Ontario and savor the popular ground rounds, hot dogs, French fries and custard. The area was a lot different when the Schaller brothers decided to put their business there.

"It was a swamp," said Tom Schaller Sr., one of Joseph's sons and the company president. "Nowadays, they wouldn't let you build there. It was all wetlands with cattails in it. But they filled it in."

The restaurant's old-fashioned ambience has drawn generation after generation. The site still has a rustic, out-of-the-way feel that adds to its charm. Fishermen and -women can usually be found on the shores of Buck Pond, across Edgemere from Schaller's.

Except for a couple of expansions (one of which added indoor bathrooms), the eatery hasn't changed much since it debuted. Tom Schaller likes it that way.

"I want to do things the way we did in 1956," said Schaller, who lives in Webster with his wife, Kathy. Their son, Tom Jr., runs day-to-day operations now.

Back in 1956, two hot dog stands were behind Schaller's, right on the lakeshore where an apartment building now stands. The Edgewater Restaurant was just down the street, and the Island Cottage Hotel — which the Schaller family owned for decades — was across the road.

Those businesses are long gone, but Schaller's has survived, even thrived. So much so, in fact, that Schaller's opened a second restaurant on East Ridge Road in Irondequoit in 1959 and on West Henrietta Road in Brighton in 1996.

But the Greece Schaller's, the grand-daddy of them, has its own charm. The red-shingle-topped brick building is illuminated by a neon sign that spells out "Schaller's" in script and adorned by a sign of a smiling chef in a chef's hat. "My dad designed the chef head," Schaller said. The restaurant once had three roll-up garage-style doors in the front, hence the "Drive-In" in the moniker.

A few counter stools remain beside the glossy countertop; the rest of the restaurant is lined with booths. Old postcards of the lakefront area hang above some of the booths. A large sign with drawings of the three restaurants is displayed on another wall.

Picnic tables are outside in warm-weather months. Across the parking lot from the entrance is another neon sign that says "Schaller's Drive-In."

"One of my favorite stories is about people who have left Rochester, when they come back to visit, the first thing they do is go right from the airport to Schaller's," Kathy Schaller said. "I think it's the nostalgia. A lot of customers are older. They've brought their children, who are bringing their children. It's a family thing."

They visit for the food, too. Schaller's has often finished tops among burger-and-hot dog joints in local contests. USA Today last year (2013) ranked Schaller's hot dogs the fourth-best in the country and touted the "distinct Happy Days atmosphere (that is) purely authentic."

The quick service is impressive, especially on those packed summer days. Counter employees clad in Schaller's T-shirts and golf shirts move the crowds through rapidly with rat-a-tat-tat calls of "One Texas, One! Two orders, Two!" to the grillers.

"When we're busy, nobody does it like we do it," said Tom Schaller Sr., who worked the counter decades ago. "It was like show biz: People used to think we got paid on commission. We competed to see who could get the customers out the quickest."

Schaller's used to host Monday night classic car shows, but stopped when a dispute arose over music royalties not paid by a disc jockey, Schaller said.

The three restaurants are open year-round. The Greece locale might be quieter when the weather gets cooler, but regular customers still pour in.

"People remember going there as a kid," Schaller said. "Then they went there in their teens. I don't know. I don't know what we're doing right."

Appreciative patrons do.

Morrell is a Rochester-based freelance writer.

*****

Go deeper on digital

Join the conversation about our history and our heritage at RocRoots.com, where you'll find stories, videos, photo collections and more.

Follow us at Twitter.com/RocRoots and like us at Facebook.com/RocRoots.