History Lost Drive-In Restaurants

From Big Boy's own site, a cool piece of history! I didn't know this background, so maybe other HAMBers will find it edifying, too.

In 1936, Bob Wian sold his prized DeSoto Roadster to buy a small hamburger stand in Glendale, California. He named it Bob's Pantry.

One night in 1937, a regular customer requested something different for a change. Bob went to work and the first double-decker hamburger was born. Customers couldn't get enough of Bob's new creation.

One fan in particular was a chubby six-year-old boy in droopy overalls. He would often help Bob sweep up in exchange for a free burger. In honor of his young friend, Wian decided to name the better burger the Big Boy®. Another regular customer, a movie studio animator, sketched the now famous character on a napkin.

The rest is history.

 

Here's one close by , It's in Beckley , WV , been in service since the '50's , good food , canopy parking , all the good stuff..

 

Any more pix of it, RatRodDude? THANKS for the post!

 

We have a drive in restaurant here in middletown, OH, its called the Jug and its been around since 1932 and they have cruise ins every tuesday!

 

I dont now if its been mentioned (Youngster here, 15 years old). But in Lewiston, Idaho is this place called "410" that my dad used to go to when he was a punk kid, its still open, an when ever we stop in Lewiston to visit the Grandparents, we hop in the Olds and go to 410 and get some shakes.

 

TRAD AND MULTI-GENERATIONAL! It doesn't get any better than THAT!

 

we hung out in Burgie's in Navato Ca
there was A&W in San Rafael we hung out at

 

I remember Allen's Drive-in on Topeka Blvd when I was stationed there in the 60's. We always had their "Allen's Royal". I sure would like to have a picture of it if anyone has one.

 

Blue Car, that is truly depressing to see Peter's today.

Here is a behind-the-scenes shot that night. This gentlemen was the owner of one of the neighboring institutions and he "emphatically" was telling Neil from CarCraft to "empty his lot". Neal reminded him he was from CA and it was the KC people filling his lot. Neil later said the gy was packing heat...

I have a lot of under-the-counter and behind-the-scenes treasures from that wild weekend in May 1980.

Tom Hand

 

Posted by RoadKill on another thread, this outstanding drive-in photo was
shot by photog Bob Miller in 1960 at Don's Bar-B-Q Chuck Wagon, 4902
Aurora Ave. (near Greenlake), Seattle, in 1960. Cowboy cutouts highlighted
the Western motif, and waitresses served Western-style grub on aluminum
trays hung on one's car window. The photo was apparently shot for some
sort of promotional use, as the women are wearing ribbon sprays with the
slogan, "Keep Washington Green, Bring Money"! Bob apparently donated
all of his collected work, as the pic is part of the Robert H. Miller Collection
in Washington's Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) Photograph Col-
lection. And the museum offers quality prints for display, though I get the
impression you'd need to talk with them, if you'd want to publish the pic in
a for-profit production.

 

For you South Carolinians, I found this link when looking for the same thing since I'm new to the area. There are more than on this list though.

http://dining.discoversouthcarolina.com/restaurant-search/sc-drive-in-restaurants.aspx

I searched Google for "drive in restaurants in (add your state)"

 

http://www.jerryscurbservice.com/pmbeaver.html

If you're between Youngstown and Pittsburgh it's a cool place. Not the original building but original location since 1947. The food ain't bad - and it's a hot place on a summer Saturday night.

 

Just went to the 60th Reunion of Busch's Drive In in Tacoma.....was the happening place in the late 50's early 60's.....building is still there but it's a totally different business now..........they still got Frisko Freeze though!

 

Ok this one had a Movie too! But was a Drive-In Restaraunt.......I even got a chance to buy one of the Menu signs to fix up......then gave it to a buddy.

The Big M...Churchville, MD R.I.P.......so sad

 

This is our Harvey's,Johnie's and now Bob's Big Boy Broiler in pix.
As Bad Bob stated above we did lose our Drive-In and worked as a group
diligently to bring it back to life. It took a group of individuals that have been
dedicated to seeing this vision thru.
We are one of the lucky two. The 2nd being Tad's,Neilsen's,Mearle's in Visalia,CA. that just openned as a Habit Grill last week.
The topic here is lost drive-ins, I have seen so many close here in the greater L.A. area ever since I was like 6yrs old. The 1st being one not mentioned by 296 ardun.
Henry's Alhambra on Valley @ 1st.(It was on our Ghost Cruise). An A&W @ Peck Rd. & Lower Azusa, another one @ Del Mar & Rosemead Bl. and of course 2EE's which was demo'd in 1977 and rebuilt as a walk in only the same year.(Mind you it had the Car Canopy from another famous Drive-In = Carpenter's Arcadia).

Thanks to all the restaurants patrons that support it and make it out to our cruises
and use the Drive-In feature when they can. Being there most weeks,I've noticed that people just like to hang out and not use the drive in feature,but would be disapointed if we did away with it,(Which Jim does during the winter months).

Bad Bob stated above it was the 1st time that he had ever used a Car Hop with his Merc, I remember when he tried to get the Malt through the window,he had to turn it sideways=.

We are coming upon our "Terrible Two Birthday Cruise" since we're now a Toddler=. Come on out and celebrate with us on 10/19/11. It's on our regular cruise nite, so hopefully the usual suspects will be on hand to chat and eat some chow with.

Thanx for putting up this thread=so cool to see all of these places! Someday I'll get around to seeing the ones that still survive.

 

Great posts, guys and gals!



NOT a drive-in, but I love to sneak in a classic shot of the long-gone American soda
fountain now and then! This soda-fountain shot really grabs the eye, doesn't it?
At the time of the 1935 Pacific International Exposition in San Diego, soda fountains
were very popular, and impersonal coin-op "pop" dispensing machines and drive-
throughs had not yet displaced them. Known at the time for using provocative
artists like Wyeth and Rockwell, Atlanta-based Coca Cola created this show-piece Art
Deco fountain for the expo, featuring black marble over a tableau of water nymphs.
To me, this photo speaks of a time when human attendants, not machines, still
manned a plethora of posts, back before automation and self-serve eliminated so many
jobs.

 

Great thread, fantastic photos! Reminds me of how much I loath corporate fast food.

 

Cant beleive this has not been answered yet. Yes its still around. Its on Riverside Dr. in Burbank Ca. On another note, Papoo's that was across the street from this Bob's has closed it's doors. Adriene here from the HAMB and also posted on this thread is working to have it reopened.

 

Cool post.

 

The Old Mearls Drive In "Visalia, CA, recently opened as the Habit. New owners kept the Mearls Look and saved the old historic building. Mearl was the first served customer!

 

Cool pic ,Jimmie!!!! It was cool when I had my merc and drove up there in the lot by the front door !! Looks like now they have tables all over !!!! Mearl's was cool ! Glad it back open !

 

Jeff
That picture was a few days before opening. Lots of neon looks pretty cool. It is really different, but glad they saved the building from demo! Gonna drive my 41 Taildragger over tonight and have a burger!

 

Awesome shit dudes & dolls. I know this has to be the kind of exchange
SunRoofCord was looking for when he posed his query on Post #1 !!!
Damn! Ya gotta love the HAMB!

And JohhnyGee, HUGE thanks for the update! Just 'cause of the chains,
doesn't mean all the oldies HAVE to just fade away, eh?

 

Somtimes chains or should I say corperations are not a bad thing. Example reply 166 on this thread. Adreine that I had mentioned before worked and made this place a landmark. But sometimes that still does not help. Got knocked down anyway. Well right away she and others hand more on there hands than save and refresh. Cyclone Kevin got onboard and helped Adriene with matters. Things started moving, now they needed a backer. Found a person to do so, but still there was clearly tons more money needed. So in comes Bobs in the picture. See if it wasn't for Bob's the rebuilding may have never happened. It toke a big team effort and to all my friends Thanks for bringing back the Broiler. Johnny

 

We had one that was called the Sip 'n Nip on Telegraph Rd. in Dearborn.. I think it closed down in '59... That was before I was hatched... Sorry! No pictures...

 

Thanks, Johnny. I should have spoken plainer, so MY fart there. By "chains," I meant the national ones like Mickey-D's, the King, Wendy's and such.

 

Id still love to see pics of the Adventure Car Hop in Saugus MA!I don't know why there so scace.

 

There's an old Dog and Suds building and partial canopy still standing and for sale in Radcliff, KY at Wilson Road and Elm.

http://g.co/maps/ts3ab

And of course Lexington has the landmark Parkette that's been around since the 50s.

.

 

Seems we both Farted. Only you didn't have chilli the night before and I did . My intent was not to through this back at you, but just to say that "SOMETIMES" good thing come of them .