The long rows of picnic tables end-on-end facilitated large groups. īy the early 1970s, Shakey's had become popular with families and youth sports groups in Southern California. By 1975, the company had expanded to the Pacific Rim, including Japan and the Philippines.

The first international store opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, in 1968. By the time Johnson sold his interest in 1967, there were 272 Shakey's Pizza Parlors in the United States. According to Johnson, Shakey's Pizza engaged in little market research and made most of its decisions on where to locate stores by going where Kinney Shoes opened stores. Shakey's opened their third parlor in Albany, Oregon, in 1959, which was the first building Shakey's actually owned and the first building to be built in the distinct building style for which Shakey's is known. The second Shakey's Pizza Parlor opened in Portland, Oregon, in 1956.

The original parlor (a remodeled grocery store) at 57th and J Streets in Sacramento remained in business until the mid-1990s. Up until the early 1970s printed menus included lyrics to classic barbershop songs so that the customers could sing along with the band while their meals were being prepared. Other live music, including piano, was also a staple in the old Shakey's parlors. Shakey Johnson is honored in the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for his longtime use of banjo music at his pizza parlors. Shakey's also became known outside Sacramento, not for its pizza, but for the jazz program it sponsored on a regional radio network. Eckland has given this band the credit for the jazz revival in Sacramento that extended to the formation of the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society. This brought the music of Lu Watters to the Sacramento area and caused a local sensation. (Shakey soon realized it was cheaper to pay the musicians scale). Shakey personally played Dixieland jazz piano to entertain patrons, also hiring the original members of the Silver Dollar Jazz Band, paying the musicians $10 each plus all the beer and pizza they wanted. Shakey took the profits from beer sales and bought ingredients for pizza the following Monday. The parlor opened on a weekend, but since the pizza ovens were not yet completed only beer was served. Johnson's nickname resulted from nerve damage following a bout of malaria suffered during World War II. Shakey's Pizza was founded in Sacramento, California, on April 30, 1954, by Sherwood 'Shakey' Johnson and Ed Plummer.

Shakey biography