The Drive-In Restaurant: A Photo Essay by Loren Seel
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intro background/history signage a&w nowadays
3 From the National Archives 111SC box 692 329520.
THE DRIVE-IN Cars, cars and more cars! They just seem to keep coming in, nonstop. The summer weather is warm, especially warm for evening. The car hops are busily skating around the parking lot delivering sizzling hot cheeseburgers, mouth-watering milkshakes, and golden french fries. The kitchen is busy with cooks and waitresses running all over the place trying to fill the orders that are handed them by the operator. This was a common occurrence at drive-in restaurants in the ‘fabulous fifties.’ The drive-in restaurant is an old-time favorite that has been around since the idea was conceived by J. G. Kirby. He created what is believed to be one of the first drive-in restaurants with a ‘barbecue’ theme and a suitable name—The Pig Stand. It was built on the Dallas-Fort Worth Highway in 1921 at the beginning of the “Roaring Twenties.” Kirby’s idea was actually an update of the chain ‘destination restaurant,’ a theory begun nearly 70 years earlier by an Englishman named Frederick Henry Harvey. From then on, the ‘craze’ 4
caught on, and people were yearning for more. They liked the idea of eating in their cars. They liked the unique style of these restaurants. They liked the speedy service that they all offered. However, the very idea of a drive-in is, as the name states, to “drive in” to the lot. Without the inception of the automobile, there would never have been a drive-in built in Glendale, and there would not be any driveins around today.
Throughout the fifties, drive-ins were a popular commodity. They attracted many people because of their uniqueness and just the very idea of being able to be served in your car; however, that attraction began to wear out with the introduction of fast food restaurants like McDonalds. There were many cities that, in the fifties, had four or more drive-in restaurants because they were so incredibly popular, but as fast food made its rise, it became
more popular than the drive-in and the ‘fabulous fifties’ restaurants began to steadily close down. It was difficult for the drive-ins to keep hold of their customers, but some did remain. It was difficult for owners of these restaurants to hold on to them, they needed to regularly hold ‘fifties nights’ and events that would entertain their customers while they were eating. The very “nostalgia” of the restaurants kept them coming back.
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National Archives 111-SC box 692 329543
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Blocks Drive-In Alton, IL 1963
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Glazebrook Park in Godfrey, IL
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Lex's Drive-in on Route 18, 1952
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Drive-in restaurants employed a rather unique style of serving by allowing customers to eat in their cars. They would have women (or in some cases men) hand-deliver the food to the cars on special trays that would hang from the windows. (Be sure to roll your window over half-way down!) The majority of service personnel at drive-ins were women. The most popular case of men being employed at a drive-in that I have heard of was the “tray-boys” working for Roy Allen and Frank Wright serving the most popular root beer in existence today—A&W Root Beer.
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A & W Drive-In Restaurant 06/1973 Roadside Eating on Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island, New York (location per related photo in series [1] June 1973 Photo by Arthur Tress for Series: DOCUMERICA: The Environmental Protection Agency's Program to Photographically Document Subjects of Environmental Concern, compiled 1972 - 1977
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ROADSIDE EATING ON HYLAN BOULEVARD IN STATEN ISLAND Arthur Tress, 1940-, Photographer 06/1973
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14 Photographed on June 16, 1950. The couple on the left are Mr. and Mrs. Faiver.
Nowadays, drive-in restaurants seem to be making a comeback. Many of the ‘children of the fifties’ want to experience what they had back then, and the fifties-style that has become sort of a standard for drive-ins today is attracting more and more attention. Many different restaurants of that style are searching long and hard for the precious artifacts of the era. By obtaining the environment of the fifties, the owners of these restaurants can keep their customers coming back for more. Entertainment is also a key to keeping the customers coming back. Many owners of drive-in restaurants are holding “fifties nights” where they bring local bands in, and could even hold a sock hop! Even just the simplicity of piping in music from the 1950s can keep people coming back. Personal experience has proven this to me. Working in a drive-in has somewhat enticed me to do more research on the wonders of the ‘fabulous fifties.’
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The Original Dick's Drive-In; Seattle, WA Back in 1954, Dick Spady had a hard time convincing bankers that 19-cent hamburgers would sell like hotcakes, partially because they didn't yet know how hotcakes would sell, and partially because he was selling burgers for 19 cents. Nearly 60 years later, Dick's son Jim is thankful his dad didn't name him Little Dick still running his dad's successful chain of Seattle burger joints.
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This 1964 picture of Penny’s Drive-In was scanned from a Robert E. Lee High School yearbook from the same year. It once existed where St. Johns. Ave. and Herschel St. come together at Fishweir Creek. I don’t remember visiting it as Penny’s, but in 1968 or 1969 it became Ray’s Drive-In. By then the covered area to the right was gone but the building remained the same. The office on the left was converted into a game room with several pinball machines.
4th Avenue Drive-In, 1940, Item 18872, City Light Photographic Negatives (Record Series 1204-01), Seattle Municipal Archives.
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18 Photo courtesy of Aalberte.eu.
Text for this publication comes from: http://cruiselinehistory.com/social-history-drive-in-restaurants-the-fabulous-thirties-forties-and-fifties-in-southern-california/
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MCAD 2016 Loren Seel
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Image on front cover: Mearle's Drive-In in Visalia, California. This much loved Visalia landmark opened in the early 1940s as 'Tad's Drive-in'. It was known for fantastic food and happy roller skating car hops. But most of all that memorable neon sign flashing in the night sky was the drawing card to eat. In 1961 the business was sold to Mearle Heitzman, hence forth the name 'Mearle's Drive-In'.