The Waylan’s Ku-Ku Burger restaurant in Miami, Oklahoma, has been designated to the National Register of Historic Places.
The designation officially occurred on July 16, according to an email from the National Park Service, which administers the program.
Waylan’s, located at 915 N. Main St. (aka Route 66), is the last survivor of a chain of about 200 Ku-Ku Burger restaurants in the Midwest during the mid-1960s.
According to Roadside Architecture, the Ku-Ku restaurant installed a bird over the roof that chimed every hour.
Gene Waylan purchased the Miami restaurant more than 50 years ago and continues to work behind the grill today.
According to Route 66 Times, drive-through service was added to the Miami restaurant in 1977.
NewsChannel10 just a few days ago produced a segment about the last Ku-Ku and its longtime owner:
“I came here in 1973 because the franchise quit paying for it. The guy that owned this was a firecracker salesman, and he didn’t know how to run it,” said Waylan. “So I was able to buy it from him.”
Waylan says he came to town with no money just to build a business. When he came, he found the place was run down.
“When they found out I was running it and found out I was cooking the right kind of hamburgers, I did pretty good,” said Waylan. […]
“Miami has been a good town. Miami has really been the greatest place I’ve ever thought I could be. I raised my kids — I came to town with my kids 6 years old, 8 years old, 10 years old — and now they’re 60,” said Waylan.
Waylan has consistently said over the years that he has no intention of retiring.
(Image of the Waylan’s Ku-Ku Burger sign in Miami, Oklahoma, by Chuck Coker via Flickr)