Benny's Burgers

* 1986
* 1983

**Benny's Burgers** was a diner in Hawkins, Indiana. Located at 4819 Randolph Lane, the diner was family owned and operated by the Hammonds since 1956. The diner's last owner was Benny Hammond, who was found dead at the restaurant on the morning of November 8, 1983. Following Benny's death, the restaurant fell into disrepair; by 1986, the abandoned diner had become a hang-out spot for the Hawkins Tigers.

## History

### 1956

The restaurant was founded in 1956 in Hawkins, Indiana.

### 1983

After escaping Hawkins Lab, Eleven entered the diner on November 7 and stole french fries. She was caught by Benny. Benny gave Eleven clothes and food, and questioned her about her past. Believing that Eleven had been abused, he called social services. Late that evening, agent Connie Frazier arrived at the restaurant. She pretended to be from social services. She shot and killed Benny. Eleven fled from the restaurant, out the back door killing two agents in the process.

When Benny's body was discovered by the police the following day, it appeared that he had committed suicide. Chief Jim Hopper appeared to be skeptical of his friend's suicide.

### 1986

By 1986, the abandoned restaurant had become a hangout spot for the members of the Hawkins High School basketball team, including Lucas. On March 21 the basketball team went to Benny's Burgers after the championship game and spent the night there partying. The next morning on March 22 Lucas had a hangover in the bathroom, Jason Carver asks if he is ok and Lucas tells him that he is fine. Jason then walks over to the tv and sees one of his teammates trying to fix it. Jason is confused on why they weren't watching the show they were planning to watch until he was informed by Patrick McKinney that a student from Hawkins High was murdered. The cops later show up and Jason is interviewed by Phil Callahan and Calvin Powell about the death of Chrissy Cunningham which he then learned that Chrissy was the student who got murdered the previous night and that she was last scene with Eddie Munson buying drugs. Jason later runs into the woods upset that his girlfriend was killed. Jason later shows his teammates photos of Eddie and the Hellfire Club believing it to be a satanic cult and that Eddie had murdered Chrissy in a ritualistic murder. Lucas tries to explain that Hellfire isn't a cult but gets questioned by Andy on how he knows a lot about Hellfire. Lucas lies and says his sister is a part of the club. Jason later burns the picture of the Hellfire Club as Lucas realized his teammates are now hunting Eddie. The next morning on March 23 Lucas wakes up and goes outside to find Jason, Patrick and Andy preparing to hunt for Eddie. Jason tells Lucas that if he doesn't want to go with them he didn't have to and he could go home, but he then says he wants to help and then they all go out to look for Eddie. The Night of March 27 Jason practices shooting his new gun and gets alerted by Andy about something suspicious going on at the Creel House. Together to leave to go investigate at the house.

## Behind the scenes

The real life filming location is Tiffany's Kitchen located in Lithia Springs, Georgia, a few miles west of Atlanta. The restaurant was closed for filming from Monday October 19 to Friday October 23, 2015.

The Benny's Burgers logo is suspiciously similar to that of the defunct Rhode Island discount chain Benny's.

## Trivia

* In the original pilot script, the restaurant was named "Benny's Fish 'n Fry", and sold cooked fish rather than burgers. This unused name was likely a source of inspiration for "Yuri’s Fish 'n Fly" from the fourth season.

## References

1. ↑ "The Weirdo on Maple Street"
2. ↑ "The Vanishing of Will Byers"
3. ↑ "Vecna's Curse"
4. ↑ "Netflix Filming "Stranger Things"" Event by *Tiffany's Kitchen* on Facebook. October 19, 2015.