Restaurants

Fast Food

The '80s California Fast Food Chain That Tried To Make A Comeback

If you grew up in SoCal during the 1970s and 1980s, you probably remember a cheap that did tacos and burgers. It wasn't a major Mexican fast food chain like Taco Bell — it was a much more local favorite known as Naugles Tacos & Burgers .

Dick Naugle opened the first shop in Riverside in 1970, and over the next couple of decades, the business grew into a Southwestern fast food staple with items like Taco burgers and a the chain's green sauce. A series of corporate dealings led to a merger with Del Taco in 1988 and a buyout of both companies in 1990. Del Taco gradually converted or closed Naugles outlets — by the mid-1990s the latter chain had largely vanished.

The disappearance wasn't a dramat

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