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Anybody like to share their memories of fast food places from years ago?
The town I lived in had an A&W, called a "root beer stand", not a drive-in. Somebody would come ou to your car to take your order, and then bring it out on a tray, that could only be affixed to your car window if it was up a few inches. Sonic still does that, but with electronic ordering technology. As far as I know, in 1950 A&W was the only chain around, but there was also White Castle, which I don't think had carhops.
For a quarter, a burger at A&W had four components. Bun, patty, ketchup, a slice of pickle. That was in the midwest. When I got to college in the south, I found that they were a great deal more imaginitive about what constituted a sandwich.
A&W root beer still stands in my mind as the single most awesome taste/mouth feel of anything I've ever had in my life. It was draft root beer, with a head on it almost as rich and full-bodied as whipped cream. A big mug was a nickel.
There was no dining room, but there were a couple of table ouside for people who didn't want to eat in their car. I think most such places in the midwest closed for the winter. Besides A&W, there was also an independent place, actually called a drive-in, that was similar. Somebody also opened a frozen custard stand, and that's all they had. Frozen custard is still the number one treat in Wisconsin, far preferred over ice cream.
In those days, fast food was never considered by a grown-up as a meal. When on an all-day family car trip, at lunch time you found a restaurant. There were no bypasses, so the highway went right through town. You park on Main Street, step into a diner or a cafe, ask the waitress for the blue plate special and a piece of pie and a glass of milk, observe how odd the locals are and how funny they talked, so you could imitate them when you got back in the car, leave a dime or two under the plate, pay the bill and hit the road.
Carroll's--like a McDonald's--but it came before McDon. or Burger King. In the 70's, upstate NY. I don't ever remember other Carroll's anywhere before?
I remember the Root Beer place, A & W's ? in Albany where they came to your car w/the food.
I grew up in a beach town in Orange County, CA. Right at the entrance to the Doheny surf spot there was a fast food joint called Page Boy Burgers. They were a small chain of approx. 5 stores, all located where surfers congregated.
They had a special called the Bag 'o Burgers for 1 dollar. You got 5 burgers for that dollar, with just ketchup, mustard and a pickle on them. I'll never forget how good those burgers tasted after a full morning of surfing. And I would eat all 5 of them, then head across the street for pizza at 25 cents a slice from Luigi's.
I couldn't eat like that now if my life depended on it.
When I was little, we would go to Horn and Hardarts for root beer floats. Don't remember what food we got, but probably hot dogs and burges. I think it was in Upper Darby, PA. Then, when we would go to visit relatives in SC, we would go to the Skyview Drive-in in Florence, SC for Vanilla Cokes and burgers.
Horn and Hardart's in NYC and the Bronx-so intriguing as a child to put your money in and the door opens to your food. Also A&W-JTR that root beer was awesome-it's not the same.
There are still a few A&Ws around, I saw them in Wisconsin and Michigan. The one I was at had a self service keg of draft root beer, but the stuff that came out wasn't the same as the good old days. It seems like now they are all built into convenience/gas stations.
The first McDonalds I ever saw was in Calais, Maine, in 1977. There weren't any yet in Canada.
The Texas What-a-Burger chain was in Baton Rouge LA before 1956, but has since withdrawn their expanse, and there are now very few outside Texas.
I love Sonic, they're mostly in towns that are too small to have a McDonalds, and are usually the only fast food in town. I lived in a little town in Missouri that had both, about a block apart, and there were always about twice as many cars in the parking lot at Sonic as there were at McDonalds, which restored my faith in humanity.
A&W used to be terrific--great hamburgers and delicious root beer. Taco Bell used to very good as well. When I was in high school (late sixties) my friends and I used to go to Taco Bell and get the bean burritos and ask for the green sauce. They cost 19 cents and were really tasty. Taco Bell, A&W, and KFC are now all owned by YUM. Sorry to say their standards don't seem too high.
I remember when the old fashion ice cream shops were still open. The ones that I remember were more new businesses trying to bring back the old fashion feel of the 20's. I also remember that the one that I use to go to had an old fashion candy store at the cash register. What a great marketing idea huh?
We had a Swensen's and Farrell's Ice Cream in Atlanta when I was a child. I wish they would come back to Atlanta!
Horn and Hardarts for me too I do remember those little doors. We would take home the egg custard cups in foil, 2 in a pack..................ahhhh, I could go for one of those now
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I do remember those little doors. We would take home the egg custard cups in foil, 2 in a pack..................ahhhh, I could go for one of those now
