During the 1970s, there was a real-life Olympia Cafe on the Upper West Side of Manhattan which was very similar to the diner in the sketch.
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According to Don Novello, who penned the first Olympia Cafe sketch, the diner was based on the Billy Goat Tavern on Lower North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, which is still operating (and part of a small chain).
Olympia, Washington | Olympia | Olympia Dukakis | Mr. Olympia | Hard Rock Cafe | Olympia, Greece | The Vinyl Cafe | café | Olympia Snowe | Bagdad Café | World Cafe | Penguin Cafe Orchestra | Internet café | Café Society | Café | The Gaslight Cafe | Sturm Café | Olympia Press | Olympia (Manet) | Olympia Brass Band | Olympia (1938 film) | Nuyorican Poets Café | Internet cafe | Café de Paris | Café del Mar | cafe | Bluebird Café | Working Man's Café | The name of this cafe, ''Dorothy's Sister'', in Ponsonby, New Zealand | The Atomic Cafe |
When Cheeburger Cheeburger opened a restaurant in Glenview, Illinois, they were sued by Billy Goat Tavern, which had served as the inspiration for the original Olympia Cafe Saturday Night Live parody.