If you didn’t have the amazing opportunity to experience a drive-in movie theater or a car hop, then you really missed out on one of the best dying or dead experiences ever. Even if it was stifling weather, we truly didn’t mind because a frosty, and I do mean frosty, mug of A & W Root Beer would take care of your thirst in no time flat! The mug had ice covering the outside and the Root Beer inside would be so cold it gave you brain freeze…but you didn’t care!

There were many drive-in restaurants around and some of them had servers on roller skates! It took a lot of skill to carry the tray and roll up to the car window without spilling a drop, and do you remember that your car window had to be down just right for the tray to hook over and rest against the car. It had just enough lean to stay put and still not let the food and drinks slide off. You could enjoy a foot-long Coney dog at A & W, or an amazing chicken sandwich at the Old Towne and then top it all off with a cream de mint sundae at the next drive-in just down the street. What a treat it was to sit in your car, eat and take in the sights of the bustling town.

Watching a movie outside in your car or sitting in the back of your pick-up truck was nothing unusual back in the day. There was an odd contraption hooked to a post that was just the right height to speak into your rolled-down window, as you watched the huge, and it was huge, outdoor screen. The contraption looked a lot like an old-time microphone, but was instead a speaker that almost always matched the mouth movement on the screen. You could count on there being a wise guy in the sea of cars that would sneak people into the theater in the trunk of his car. They seldom got caught. Equally fun would be the resounding cheers from the crowd in their cars encouraging the good guy, congratulating the guy who got the girl or screaming at the top of their lungs when the monster took his captive to the top of a building and tossed her around like a rag doll.

Yep, those were the days…the good old days. If you missed it, you can still find a few drive-in theaters and even a car hop or two, close enough to you so that there is no excuse not to experience one of the best times ever.

http://www.roadarch.com/eateries/aw.html