For four decades, The Chuckbox has occupied the corner spot on University and Forest.
For four decades, The Chuckbox has occupied the corner spot on University and Forest. The little shack consistently serves customers from throughout the valley. It stands as a reminder of the days when Tempe was an old frontier farmland.
The Chuckbox was built to resemble a wooden shack in the Old West, with a sign out front boasting their “real charcoal broiled burgers” and tree stumps for seating on the front porch.
The Chuckbox seems to have an ideal location sandwiched between Arizona State University and Tempe’s downtown. With high-rises popping up throughout the city’s core and Arizona State University’s constant expansion, the little western burger joint practically stands alone in the new high-density construction. Still, The Chuckbox has had a resurgence in popularity, catering to students and staff of ASU. According to the restaurant supervisor, Paul Marquardt, their motto is “If it hasn’t been broken, we don’t need to try and fix it.”
The growth of the Arizona State campus over the years, in student numbers and buildings, has been occurring since the school first opened in 1885, and it will continue to grow to support its increasing student body. The ASU Tempe campus is already 15.9 million gross square feet. While the restaurant has not changed much over the forty years it has been open, the land around it has been experiencing continual change. Downtown Tempe has become a thriving, attractive, diverse destination for tourists. Fans of The Chuck Box hope that the continued growth of Tempe as a whole will increase traffic in the restaurant and ensure that it remains despite the ever-expanding campus nearby.
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