History Lost Drive-In Restaurants

Jim, I hope you won't kill me for slipping in this sweet shot from a "soda parlor" that
appears to be from the late '30s or early '40s. As my friend SixDogs says, life just used
to be, well, more civilized. (LowCat posted this one over on the "Vintage" thread.)

 

I just got back from Moab, Utah (southern part of state) and found a old drive-in that is still in business for over 60 years! Milt's Stop and Eat is about 4 blocks off the main drag. The last owner ran it for 37 years! The new owners are a husband and wife team. The hamburgers are made fresh each morning formed by hand! Real home style fries and real milk shakes.

 

Truman's in L.A., posted by HAMBer LowCat on the "Vintage shots from days gone by"
thread. He said it was shot in 1959. This is such a nicely lit shot of a traditional drive-in
restaurant that it just belongs on this thread. Anybody know if Truman's is still there???
If so, what's the address, or nearest intersection?

 

Here is the oldest one here in Southern WV , has been in contiuous operation since 1945 , the second oldest belongs to my uncle , it's called "Lynn's Drive -in".... the one in the pics is called "Sterling Drive-In" in Welch , WV.

 

Can't believe no one has mentioned the Big Bow Wow on Crossbay Blvd Queens NY. In the early sixties it was the mecca of drive in's and for setting up street races on Crossbay Blvd and the infamous Connecting Highway. We also frequented Schorrs Drive In on Sunrise Hwy in Rockville Center and street raced on the Jones Beach Causway. Where i now live in Kentucky the closest thing to a drive in is Sonic which is not frequented by rodders. It would be heaven to cruise to a place like Mels in AG. Too bad those days are gone forever.

 

RatRodDude, COOL! Wouldn't happen to have an EARLY pic in the old family album, would you??

 

This is the famous Wayne's Drive-In, located on the corner of Bluff St and US Hwy 50 South, in Delta, Colorado. This picture was taken sometime around 2005 or so, and I borrowed it off Bing somewhere. Mom and Dad started this restaurant in 1973, which was then the Kris-Klar Drive-In, and located one block South of the current location on US 50 S. The Kris-Klar was inside a converted mobile home, and IT was started in 1958. Dad promptly changed the name to Wayne's after he bought the Kris-Klar. The drive-in moved to the pictured site in 1975. Lots of high-school girls were carhops at Wayne's! During the time my parents owned the restaurant, the entire lot was gravel. It was concreted sometime in the late '90s. Mom and Dad had the restaurant, and the concession stand at the race track, until late 1978, when the business was sold. Over the course of the five years or so that my folks owned Wayne's, nearly my whole immediate family had worked there, at one time or another. The menu was kept simple - burgers, hot dogs, corn dogs, fries, rings, coffee, pop, shakes, malts, and soft serve ice cream. And occasionally, fresh donuts!

Wayne's was famous for the Wayne's Special Burger, which is a burger that was SO good, the subsequent owners could never really duplicate it. The only burger anywhere on Earth that I know even comes close to that these days is an In-N-Out Burger, which you CA/NV/AZ folks know so well!

We had our share of interesting people come in to the drive-in! One Saturday in 1974, a man was walking up to the patio area, where we also had a walk-up window to order at. He didn't really look like he knew where he was going, and we were very busy at that moment. Dad looks out the closed window and says back to us "Anyone helping that old SOB outside?" I opened the window and said "May I help you, sir?" He gives me his order for a Special, and Dad starts cooking it up. I recognized the man immediately, but said nothing about it. Mom takes the order to him and asks "Aren't you the mayor or governor or something like that?", to which I starting laughing out loud. He replies "Yes, ma'am, I'm Governor Vanderhoof!", to which Dad started laughing hard, too. "Anyone helping that old SOB outside?"

Wayne's went out of business shortly after the property owner died in 2009. It sat empty for nearly a year. Now, it is a completely different business with a new name and owner. The concession stand was so well-built, it far outlasted the racetrack. It is still on the former racetrack property, used as a storage shed, much closer to the highway! It's cool to know that Wayne's Drive In is a well-remembered Delta icon by a lot of folks out there! Like the Tastee Freeze, Callaway's Coffee Pot, and the Dairy King, all are now part of Delta's storied history pages.

 

I miss this place. Ate there many times in the past. My dad told stories about hanging out there in 56, 57, 58. He went to College of Sequoias across the street. It would be a shame if they changed the look!

 

Naw , I dont have one , we do frequent the drive in in the Fleetline from time to time , the inside is as nice and retro as the outside , canopy parking , and a 78 rpm wurlitzer jukebox that has been in the restaurant since the beginning...doesn't work anymore , but , it's there all the same..

 

G-Man, too bad the BIG BOW WOW drive-in is out of business. From the ton of stuff on the 'net, sounds like it was "American Grafitti" X10 -- AND on the East Coast! The pix I saw of Cross Bay Blvd. show it STRAIGHT-AS-AN-ARROW!

HOW COULD SUCH A POPULAR SPOT GET CLOSED DOWN???

 

Paul Pearson's....Best pancakes ever.Across the street from the Canteen.Loved the juke box at evey booth.

 

We had the Kau Kau Corner in Honolulu and A's in Kailua that are long gone.

 

In case ya wanna see, I found a video of the Sterling Drive-In in Welch , WV , here it is....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8ISrLFGXvM

 

Here are some pix that I've collected over the years or so.

 

Came across this one of my pal Buzz's '53 Ford coupe driving by the old A&W on Spring St. in Paso Robles, Ca. during the WCK cruise years ago.

 

Remember being there that weekend. Got crazy. My Pops told me he used to go there to. Back then you had to pay a quarter to drive through and if you ordered they would take that much off your ticket. Last time I drove by it, it was a pawnshop/bail bondsman. Sucks

 

Silhouettes, you have a NICE collection of CLASSIC drive-in shots,
man! Were any of them near YOU?

 

Now why would I kill you Jimi when you've been keeping this thread going. Thanks to you and the other guys who have.

 

Well, here's another "interior" shot at a spot popular with teens. The juke-
box (which would have played 78-rpm platters! ) is a joy to behold! And I
NEVER knew saddle shoes were popular as early as 1940! (Maybe I should
have paid closer attention to more Andy Hardy movies? LOL! ) Man, we
HAVE to give a vote of THANKS to LIFE magazine for capturing "candid"
shots of every-day life in the Free World, especially in the days before we
had to defend our way of life against the totalitarian regimes of the "Axis
Powers"! (Photo THANKS to LIFE magazine, Jan. 1, 1940. Photo by William C. Shrout for Time/LIFE.)

 

Read on the net that YUM Brands is expected to close all A&W's by 2012. Too bad, another icon bites the dust.

 

Neat old Drive in on the just southeast of Indianapolis call Edwards Drive-IN. Edward's was hit by a storm a few years back and had to renovate but it has been around since 1957. Cool place, I worked there in High School.

 

Once upon a time we had the Eat-A-Teria on Wabash (US40) in Terre Haute. The building is a KFC now. Further east on 40 was Henri's, which was at the far east end of the "cruising" route. The other end (west) was Scotty's drive-in. Back and forth all nite. Scotties was later an Arby's, but is now closed and lookin pretty bad.

 

I used to take my '56 to mearle's In Visalia, CA when i was in high school ('99-'02), it was a dump then, but was still a cool place to get a malt and think about the glory days of that place.

 

theres a place round here that isnt lost, at all really. it called Tuxy's drive in. they have a car show every friday. its a real ball, and the food aint bad either. i tell my dad every time we go we need to take the truck, never do though but people there know were the ones who drive it.

 

back in the day you could have buddy holly riding around at this joint

 

guess

 

How abour Peter's in Kansas City today !!

VOETOM (post #69).

We were in the area today so I stopped to take a couple of pictures. Oh the nights spent cruising through there. Also remember the night Car Craft came to town, not a spot to be had.

Best,
BC

 

BC, THAT is depressing! The place was famous, a Kansas City landmark.

 

Here's a cool drive-in restaurant pic, originally on another, more general thread.
Apparently from right before or after WWII. The faces in photos often tell a story!
This also shows, again, that "carhops" weren't always gals. The glasses were real
glass, the food wraps were biodegradable paper, and your condiments didn't come
in those annoying little plastic packets!


LowKat

 

Awesome drive-in shot. Anybody in HAMBland know WHICH one of the Bob's
Big Boy locations this depicts and IF it's still in existence???





JalopyJunkie

And for anybody interested in some interesting HISTORY about the Big Boys
and '40s and '50s drive-in ARCHITECTURE, this Wiki article is a good start!

Bob's Big Boy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bob's Big Boy is a restaurant chain started in Southern California by Bob
Wian. It is now part of Big Boy, an owner of several chain restaurants. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob's_Big_Boy