A & W Root Beer

I would imagine there are a few folks out there who remember the A & W drive-ins. They are the ones that had the Papa, Mama, Junior and baby characters on the top of the drive-ins.

It was a big deal to get to stop for a root beer on a Sunday afternoon in the summer when you were out for the ride. The cap hops wore those half aprons and the jingly change counters. They had their hair in pony tails. I can remember thinking they had the best job ever because I had this crazy little kid thought they could drink all the root beer they wanted.

The car hop brought you frosty, cold root beer- no ice - in a glass mug. Yes, I said glass mug. These were appropriately sized depending on the size of drink you ordered. The grown-ups got big mugs and the kids got littler ones. The car hop would set the tray that hooked to the car window. It isn't like today's drive-in because they would leave the tray until you were done. You would beep them and the car hop would come return and gather the tray and glasses.

I can remember thinking how neat (that is the "cool" of yesteryear) it was going to be to be able to actually DRIVE myself to the drive in... however, that opportunity went the way of the drive in lanes at the fast food places.

This whole blog idea was brought up by a discussion the other day about how it used to be a big deal to get to go OUT and eat a meal. My experience was the A & W plus getting to go out on my parents' anniversary and order a Shirley Temple at the sit down restaurant!