Does this sign make your mouth start to water? Does it make you want to rev up your Bel Air Chevy and head on over?
If so, make room on the bench seat for me.
The warm weather is finally upon us and with it brings an uncontrollable longing for…
The Drive In.
For me it all started with Richard’s Car-Feteria. There were several outposts of this small chain, but the one my Wilmette parents always took seven year old me was on Lincoln Avenue in Lincolnwood.
I was gaga for their California Twinburger. Kind of like a Bob’s Big Boy or a Big Mac. But much, much tastier.
Check out their menu- and their prices.
(I LOVED that paper bag they served it in, too.)
Boston Burger Sidebar: I’m still a sucker for a burger gift-wrapped in paper. Although NOT a drive in, I recently dined at Tasty Burger in Cambridge, Mass. Check out the wrapper on this beauty. It’s got a little elastic “skirt” on the top and it was so cute. And the burger was old school drive in scrumptious.
But Richard’s was always a car ride away. Closer to home- and thus far more frequented- was this gem on Skokie Boulevard.
Henry’s.
This was my go-to spot whenever I could get my dad to indulge my cravings.
I loved their hamburger deluxe- complete with four strands of shredded lettuce, some faint remnants of tomato and onion and a hint of secret sauce- mayo and catsup? I also liked their cheeseburgers.
And check out their prices.
Nice!
But by junior year in high school, I was dating Jimmy and Jimmy had this.
In case you aren’t familiar with this baby, it’s a 426 Dodge Coronet- courtesy of Mr. Norm’s Grand Spaulding Dodge.
And back in 1965, if you had a muscle car, there was only one drive in for you.
Skip’s Fiesta Drive In on North Avenue in Melrose Park.
I can’t tell you anything about the food there. I don’t ever remember ordering one thing.
All we did on Friday nights was circle the parking lot – along with hundreds of others showing off their Mustangs and Corvettes and GTOs.
After high school, I headed up to Madison – and the University of Wisconsin.
And A & W.
Forget the burgers. At A&W it was all about the frosty mug of ice cold root beer.
Or the root beer float.
In 1975, my fiancé took me here.
And changed my drive in life.
I’ve already written reams of praise on the blog extolling the virtues of Superdawg. There’s only one more thing that has to be said.
But it’s not all nostalgia with me. I’m nothing if not aspirational. I always dream of visiting new and wonderful local drive ins. And I’ve got two on my bucket list right now.
The first is Paradise Pup on River Road in Des Plaines.
And the second is Hamburger Heaven in Elmhurst.
I’m looking forward to a fabulous 2018 summer drive in experience.
PAGING TBF: Come on! Let’s go!
Please.
No mention of GT 350?
The Shelby remains near and dear to my heart and I have written about it before. However,to the best of my recollections, we never took it to a drive in. You liked the burgers at home or at Green Acres, as I recall.
Nothing to do with burgers. Too much interference between the front seats and no room in the back.
Yes, the invention of the bucket seat killed romance.
What a fun post, Ellen! In my teen years, I spent quite a few hours hanging out at Richard’s Drive In on Green Bay Road in Wilmette. I even lied to my parents about going to the Wilmette library so I could spend some more hours at Richard’s. But I had to be home 15 minutes after the library closed. My parents always kept a tight leash on me, unfortunately.
It was only several years ago I found out my oldest brother pulled the same stunt but he did it for the purpose of spending time at his current girlfriend’s house. He and I had a lot in common when it came to getting around our parental rules.
Our family liked Andy’s Hamburgers the best. I think it was just over the Wilmette line in Evanston. My father was responsible for fixing the meals on Sunday. So, typically every other Sunday night he picked up carry out hamburgers from Andy’s.
We just got back our A&W after it closed several decades ago where I live. I need to come up with a reason to reward myself with a root beer float, or as we called it in our family, a black cow.
Do we need to teach our little grandchildren how to blow the paper cover off a plastic straw before plastic straws are banned for environmental reasons?
Thanks for the fun post, Ellen. I love revisiting my childhood memories and I very much enjoy reading about yours.
Thanks, Susan. Writing this post was my pleasure. It’s fun- and low calorie- to take a road trip to childhood past. Things were happy- and simpler- back then.
And yes, I understand the growing ban on straws but I will seriously miss them.
Nice to get this encouragement. Let’s share a black cow some day.
Another wonderful post by our generation’s leading chronicler of the way it was, complete with orange glow and rosy-colored glasses that look back at wonderful times. As a Richard, I am surprised that I missed Richard’s! But I do recall Henry’s and that hamburger Ellen describes; I always wondered why Henry’s didn’t make it McDonald’s did. Maybe because my friends and I would convince older brothers with cars to take us there, not Henry’s. Scintillating writing, and lovely details.
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