Sarasota boasts many legendary restaurants, but only one served the King of Rock ’n’ Roll.
Alas, the downtown diner open for more than seven decades — with a prominent blue stencil on the window that reads “Elvis ate here!” — will soon join the list of local restaurants that permanently closed in 2024.
Waffle Stop, a breakfast and lunch spot located at 660 S. Washington Blvd., where Elvis Presley memorabilia lines the walls, will close for good after regular business hours on Dec. 31.
“Hopefully, if I don’t run out of food,” said owner Dolly Hollinger when reached by phone Monday, Dec. 23.
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Waffle Stop permanently closing 68 years after serving Elvis Presley
The iconic Sarasota restaurant has been open since 1951, initially under the name Waffle Shop. It appears the menu has changed very little over the past 73 years. Breakfast staples such as ham, eggs, and toast served myriad ways, perhaps augmented by a Golden Waffle, are joined by lunch offerings including salads, chili, and sandwiches like egg salad, tuna melt, and a “Hunka Hunka Burger.”
Yes, Waffle Stop’s most famous visit occurred five years after the restaurant opened, on Feb. 21, 1956, when Elvis Presley drove up in a pink convertible Cadillac and strolled in alongside his bandmates, Scotty Moore and Bill Black.
Edith Barr Dunn worked as a waitress at her father’s Waffle Stop and served Elvis Presley in 1956. “He was dressed nice. His hair had a pound of lard, real slick. Dad said, ‘Be nice to that chap.’ I didn’t treat him any different,” she recalled in 2007. Elvis left her a fifty-cent tip — at that time, 35 cents would buy a meal. She was photographed here on Aug. 6, 2007, and passed away at the age of 94 in 2015.
The svelte 21-year-old Presley, who was still months away from scoring his first No. 1 single and becoming a superstar, ordered three eggs, three pieces of bacon, two orders of toast, pan-fried potatoes, and three glasses of milk.
Longtime Sarasota resident Edith Barr Dunn, who passed away at age 94 in 2015, worked as a waitress at her father’s Waffle Stop and served Presley in 1956.
“He was dressed nice,” she would later tell the Herald-Tribune. “His hair had a pound of lard, real slick. Dad said ‘Be nice to that chap.’ I didn’t treat him any different.”
Presley reportedly left her a fifty cent tip. At that time 35 cents would buy a meal.
He also told her, “Ma’am, your skirt should be shorter because your gams are too pretty.”
“I thought he was conceited,” Edith recalled in 2007. “He was just a flirt.”
Presley’s visit became a key part of Waffle Stop’s identity in the following years, with the restaurant’s front windows featuring a stencil of Presley’s signature and the words “Elvis ate here!” The menu eventually included the special “Elvis in the Building,” consisting of his famous order.
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Why is Waffle Stop in Sarasota permanently closing after 73 years in business?
Sarasota restaurant Waffle Stop, open since 1951 and best known for serving Elvis Presley in 1956, is photographed here on Dec. 22, 2024. It will permanently close after its final day of business on Dec. 31, according to owner Dolly Hollinger.
Hollinger, who has worked at Waffle Stop as a waitress, manager and owner over 34 years, said she is closing the restaurant because of trouble finding cooks and other help.
“I’ve been coming in every morning, getting up at 2 a.m. and coming in here between 3 and 3:30 for the last year, and I can’t keep doing that,” Hollinger said. “I’m 76, so I just can’t keep that pace up.”
Why was Elvis Presley in Sarasota?
Waffle Stop, a breakfast and lunch spot located at 660 S. Washington Blvd. in Sarasota, where Elvis Presley memorabilia lines the walls, will close for good after regular business hours — 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. — on Dec. 31. This photo was taken in 2018.
Not long after eating that massive meal at Waffle Stop, Presley performed four shows at the Florida Theatre — now the Sarasota Opera House — while accompanied by lead guitarist Moore and bassist Black. Presley’s manager, Col. Thomas Parker, most likely watched the performances from the wings.
The show times were 2:15 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7:35 p.m., and 9:45 p.m. Tickets for the two afternoon gigs cost 76 cents each, while the evening shows were $1. Between each show, a “B” Western movie was screened. The lineup that day included country music acts the Louvin Brothers, the Carter Sisters, Justin Tubb, and Benny Martin.
Each Presley performance was likely no longer than 20 minutes, with the setlist probably including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Tutti Frutti,” “Baby, Let’s Play House,” “Shake, Rattle and Roll” — and perhaps “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” “Mystery Train,” and “That’s All Right” — along with his newest single, “Heartbreak Hotel,” recorded Jan. 10, 1956, and released later that same month, a few weeks before the singer arrived in Sarasota.
“Heartbreak Hotel” would hit No. 1 on the pop charts not long after. His other No. 1 singles in 1956 were “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You,” “Hound Dog,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Love Me Tender,” and “Too Much.”
Presley’s self-titled debut album, released several weeks after his performance in Sarasota, also shot to No. 1. The famed “you can see his tonsils” picture that adorns the original LP cover was taken in Tampa at a Hesterly Armory show on July 31, 1955, by William Robertson, according to the old Tampa Tribune archives.
Presley’s star-making “Ed Sullivan Show” appearances began on Sept. 9, 1956, followed by his silver-screen debut in the film “Love Me Tender,” which premiered on Nov. 15 of that year. By then, Presley was likely greeted by mobs of teenagers wherever he went — and recognized by all, making appearances at places like the Waffle Stop nearly impossible.
Edith Barr Dunn skipped seeing Presley perform in Sarasota in 1956, but he returned to see her at the Waffle Stop the next day. He told her he would give her “another big tip” if she could recite what he had ordered the day before. She did, and the order would spend decades posted at the Waffle Stop.
Presley never played Sarasota again. In fact, after 1956, he didn’t return to perform in the area until 1970, when he sang in front of a sold-out crowd at Curtis Hixon Hall in downtown Tampa. Curtis Hixon Hall was demolished in 1993.
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When can you visit Waffle Stop before it permanently closes?
Jim “Elvis” Reese is seen here performing an Elvis Presley hit in 2014 at the Waffle Stop in Sarasota, where Presley famously dined in 1956. The Waffle Stop is permanently closing on Dec. 31, 2024.
For those wanting one last connection with The King in Sarasota, Waffle Stop’s hours are listed on the window — right by the exclamation mark after “Elvis Ate Here!” — as 6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The diner is closed on Wednesday and open 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The final meals at Waffle Stop will be served at the Sarasota restaurant from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. — if the food doesn’t run out — on Dec. 31, which will be 47 years since Elvis Presley passed away on Aug. 16, 1977.
Sources: Herald-Tribune archives, in-person and phone interviews Wade Tatangelo conducted in 2006, “Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley” by Peter Guralnick, Presley CD liner notes, and various other websites including allmusic.com and imdb.com.
Wade Tatangelo is Ticket Editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and Florida Regional Dining and Entertainment Editor for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached by email at wade.tatangelo@heraldtribune.com. Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Waffle Stop, a breakfast spot Elvis Presley ate at in 1956, is closing
