Car Hops and Curb Service: A History of American Drive-In Restaurants 1920-1960

Travel back to the heyday of the American drive-in restaurant --complete with swinging ponytails, shiny new automobiles, and the aroma of French fries drifting through unrolled car windows. Beginning with the original Texas Pig Stand of 1921, this evocative compendium cruises through 40 years of drive in culture, tracing the history of roadside restaurant architecture and the people who created it. Engagingly illustrated with historical photographs and a rich assortment of related ?ephemera, from menus to matchbox covers, Car Hops and Curb Service chronicles a unique chapter of popular culture for anyone who sipped a malt, hung a tray, or cruised a drive in parking lot -- or wished they had.

Once upon a time in the United States, before the ubiquitous yellow arches of a certain hamburger chain spread like chicken pox, eating on the go was an occasion. Those long-gone days when customer service was number one--and meals were dished up by enthusiastic young women costumed to resemble drum majorettes--are captured in this compilation of vintage photographs and memorabilia, crammed to overflowing with nostalgia.