A good number of A&W's around our area ....food is great ......I don't believe any of the stores have car hops now . Good news is many of the stores sponsor a weekly cruise night .
A & W in Hawthorne was the south end of our cruise spots on Friday and Saturday nights when I started in 1960. The North end was the Wich Stand on Slauson at Overhill just up from Tom Liebs (Scat Enterprises) house. We ran south from the Stand on La Brea until it turned into Hawthore Blvd. and the street racing began light to light....Geez I wasted a lot of gas on the deal over the years.....
I was a young adult living in Eugene Oregon during the early 1960's. Our weekend routine was to drag the gut. Drive down Willamette street and back on Oak making a loop. At the end of our cruise on Willamette was a A &W drive in. This was the hot spot on weekend nights. Quite often street races somewhere in the valley were arranged there, and a caravan of cars would proceed to that rondevu. That drive in is long gone, and I don't know of any other A&W in our area.
... Like V860 says we have em around SE Mich ... I get their double bacon cheeseburgers there about twice a month ...
Stopped at a Sonic for the first time in Maryville Mo about 10 years ago. Asked to use the bathroom. There comment was go across the street and use Pizza Huts, Maryville`s didn`t have a public restroom. To this day, my daughter hates Sonic for that reason. I`m sure not all Sonic`s are that way.
There is still one in lake George N.Y. closed in winter. had a major fire couple years ago, now better than ever. Car service also, very little parking.
I enjoy hearing about this kind of regional terminology. In Ft. Wayne there's a couple of major north/south arteries that formed our usual cruising loop. The north end of it ended near the old Centlivre Brewery (Old Crown Beer and Ale) and making a run from the south end of town to the north and back again was referred to as "shootin' the brewery". And the Hall's Hollywood Restaurant out north still has "Big Busters" and curb-service!
No more around here. When I was a kid there was one about halfway between my Jr High and home. We would stop if we had the money, get a root beer float and make fools of ourselves flirting with the older women working there, of course I'm talking about the High School girls! It had car hop service but of course Jr high I was on a bike so we went inside to the counter service. Must of been normal, I remember it always seemed to be a little dirty and ran down. The A&W never was popular around hear with the car guys, we had Frank's and a Big Boy just up the street, they were the hangouts. Even though that A&W has closed many years ago the building remains and I still stop in sometimes for a "beer", it's now a liqueur store.
Also, the one in Rockwood across from Lake Erie Metro Park re-opened this summer after being closed for a year or so.
The old Creston, Iowa A&W. I remember having teeny little mugs of root beer in the back seat of our 1956 Ford. Then they built the new one down the street. Years later they got the wild hair to build yet another new building down the street from that one but it was combined with Long John Silvers and had a drive up window instead of the old canopy. It wasn't long after that they were out of business. All three buildings are gone.
My daughter loves goin to the one on south 84th street(Omaha) close to Frazoli`s on the east side of the road. No car hops but they have good old fashioned root beer. You can buy the mugs also for the people who haven`t been to one in a while.
Yes, Indianola Iowa on highway 92 southwest side of town. Still have car hop service with root beer in glass mugs and even have the old school metal change dispensers for making change. The one in Des Moines ( where I live ) is a newer restaurant combined with Long John Silvers, but Indianola has been there forever.
The only A&W around here is a combo restaurant with long john silvers which is horrible. When I was younger the cruise spots were either A&W, Frisch's big boy or Steak n Shake, All three were within a couple miles of each other so cruising between them was the thing to do.
In the 50's, it was a HUGE Treat if Mom/Dad took me to the local A&W for dinner, burger, glass mug of Root Beer and maybe an ice cream cone for desert. We still have them here in Wisconsin and occasionally will stop for a Root Beer float when I see an A&W, none located in my area, closest one is about 100 + miles away that I'm aware of. I remember the speaker deal, took awhile to place order, back and forth with all the static, they did have girls on roller skates that brought it out and hung on window tray, very good memories.
There is one about 3 blocks away from where I sit right now. My friend and I compete to be the one that spots when they open the first time of the year, because that means spring is here. Our A&W only has outdoor seating or delivery to your car(nothing inside). They open for the year in March and close for the year in October.
There's an A&W in the next town over but it's part of a gas station, nothing cool. Appleton had a couple of new Sonics and both closed within like 6 months. Part of that has to be the cold Wisconsin winters, but I went there once and the food was poor in my opinion. Not the kind of food I go to a drive-in for. Manitowoc used to have the ass kickiest drive in called the Penguin but it went through several owners until finally being closed and torn down to build a Hardees. It still haunts me. Apparently someone bought the giant Penguin neon sign and has it in their backyard. Here's a crappy picture of us at a great drive in called Charlies in Hortonville, WI. Really good food there. If you have a local place like this, go to it. That's the only way they'll stay around.
I used to look longingly at that old A&W while my semi got loaded with grain at the coop location by the fairgrounds just down the street from that A&W. I saw that there was a new one now located on highway 4 going through Jefferson. I never went to the old A&W since I haven't been to Jefferson in years driving a 4 wheeler and my 18 wheeler wouldn't fit under the canopy plus the fact that I was always pressed for time and had to get rolling. Now that my boss fired me for being too old and decrepit the end of November I probably will hardly ever make it to that town.
No car hop any more,but at lest its still making hot dogs today,place opened in 1961. We had 5 car hop drive inns in 3 miles of Bird Road,back in the 60s,A&W,Pizza Padio,Pizza Place,are gone now Frankie's Pizza an Arbetter's is, only 2 are left but no hops any more.
It is! I visited there years ago when they still had the original black phones at each stall. Looks like they've upgraded but still have the stalls. Sent from my Borg implant using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
A&W with car hops in Portage, WI, been there as long as I've been alive. One of the first stops we make when home visiting family!
The 1 in Ontario closed years ago. I was able to get 1 of the original drive up speaker menus. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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