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A & W RESTAURANTS
I do not know if they are still in business but in the late 1980's Boise, Idaho and several smaller towns in Idaho as well as Aztec, New Mexico had nice modern sit-down family style A&W restaurants that included drive inn service. These locations offered a full menu as well as a salad bar.
Does anyone remember this type of A&W restaurant in other locales? |
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A & W on So. 12th Ave.
I don't know exactly when the A & W closed. From 7/1/1977 to 6/30/1979 I had a bakery distributorship, & 1 of my customers was El Molcajete restaurant at the A & W location. One day while I was making my delivery, a Border Patrol Van drove in & took away all but 1 employee & the owner. Rumor was that the owner preferred undocumented employees so he could pay them less that minimum wage, & they were afraid to complain.
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Re: The Fineline
--- In vanishingtucson@..., "lms1967" <division@...> wrote:
============================= Oh Wow.... That brings back memories but I never went to the Fineline but my 2 sons would go there just for fun. How my younger one got in I don't know he was only 17 of 18 but he was a tall good looking kid so guess they didn't check his ID . They were good kids and never got into any trouble as they both had intentions of going into the Marine Corps llke their Dad. But they weren't angels either . They use to say the Fineline was a place for straight and gays, guess that is why it was called the Fineline? Anyway my little angels told me they and some other guys would go in and dance with the straight girls but would go upstairs ( I think) and dance with gay girls and even made a of friends, of course didn't make their steady girlfriends too happy ! But my sons never judged anyone, they both graduated from Pueblo HS and grew up with all races on the south side even some of the gang members knew and accepted my sons even though they had different interests. But they would go out on Saturday nights once in awhile to the Fineline and guess they had a good time. Not saying I didn't worry about my wandering sons but I just prayed that God would watch over them just Ike He did when my sons ...Later Marines who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan . Oh...and both of them married their high school sweethearts and We have some beautiful grandchildren. Sorry Lee if I didn't know more about the Fineline but I hadn't thought about that place in years !!!! Hope someone knows more for you.- --Debkaye |
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The Original Tanque Verde Swap Meet
I remember driving way out to the swap meet from the SW side of town on Grant Rd to that small area on a corner lot browse around the place but I can't remember the year, maybe the mid 1970's ?? It was mostly old furniture and household stuff, a few venders. It was just something to do on a Saturday afternoon. Maybe bought a few gadgets and my husband use to look for tools even though he had several toolboxes full. Does anyone remember about when the swap meet moved out on Palo Verde Rd? For awhile I believe they kept the Tanque Verde name before it changed to Palo Verde. It soon became a conglomeration of permanent venders and the parking became terrible!!! If you didn't get there at the right time you couldn't find a place to park and I seen many fights go down over a space also quite a few fender benders too. Until the sheriffs dept started patrolling the place a lot of crimes were happening day and night. A lot of drug activity too so a lot of undercover detectives roamed thru the place. I moved from Tucson in 2005 so I have no idea on how the swap meet is doing now. One time a neighbor and I cleaned out our garages of unused stuff and rented a space not expecting to sell much but we sold out of nearly all our junk within about 3 hours...we were surprised of what some folks will buy. It wasn't real junky stuff but it wasn't anything I would have bought !!! But we had some fun, seen a lot of strange and weird people you just didn't see everyday and of course we had cleaner garages, made a few bucks and most likely spent it at the next yards sale we ran into ...LOL
DebKaye |
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Re: A&W DRIVE INN
There was also an A&W Drive in on Speedway ... Don't remember what block # but there was an animal hospital adjacent to it. Mind you this dates back to 1961~1962 so please forgive my Swiss Cheese memory.
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Felix --- In vanishingtucson@..., "James Sorrell" <tritt42@...> wrote:
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Re: A&W DRIVE IN
N7IQV
James...
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There was, indeed, an A&W located on the west side of Flowing Wells Rd, just north of Prince. It was just south of the Flowing Wells High School auditorium. That location closed up shop in the 1970s, to be replaced by a church building. There were a couple other drive-up (NOT drive in, as in the classic sense) restaurants in the vicinity of FWHS, including Sandy's/Hardee's on Prince (building is still there, but it is now a Mexican themed eatery). Also on W Prince was El Taco, on the NW corner of Prince and Caballero Dr..which is now a parking lot for the Flowing Wells school district. Another favorite of the FW students and teachers, farther south along Flowing Wells Rd, was the Patio restaurant. That was more of a sit-down venue. It is now (again) a Mexican themed restaurant, serving food in Michoacan style, rather than Sonoran. John H --- In vanishingtucson@..., "James Sorrell" <tritt42@...> wrote:
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Re: A & W Drive-in on 12th Ave.
John C and I will be working on a project of drive-in restaurants.? If any one has any photos of the original buildings to share, other than those we already have here on VT, that would be great!? Starting point is late 1940's.?? Also any memories, or if you know the original owners names, some who might even still be around here, that would be terrific as well! Catherine |
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A & W Drive-in on 12th Ave.
I live about a mile from where it was located. The building still stands, & has been through several renovations and owners. The second person (I think) to open (reopen) it was Robert Perez, who also had a restaurant in South Tucson near So. 4th Ave. & 29th Street. He opened it as El Molcajete Mexican Restaurant & I delivered bakery products there around 1977-1979? when I owned a Sunbeam Bakery distributorship. It has since been through another remodeling and is a quite attractive Mexican Restaurant called (I think) El Merendero.
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Re: A &W Drive Inn on S. 12th. Street
Oh yes. We lived not far away it was one of the few fast food places on the SW side. My first son loved the little kids mugs of root beer I could buy a little mug the mgr said they didn't usually sell them but he just handed me one, my son who was about 3 insisted everything he drank be in that little mug. I saved it and gave it to him, he is grown and has been in the Marine Corps for years and he still has it thru several transfers around the country. I still remember the trays the car hop would put on the window, I almost drove away with one still on my car. It was sad when they closed down. I think some other business tried to have some kind of drive up service then a Mexican food place opened up don't know if its still there or not. I moved from Tucson in 2005 after living there over 42 yrs. Also A&W had the best burgers and Ifries, plus the root beer floats were habit forming!! Their store bought root beer just don't taste the same......
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-DebKaye =========================== --- In vanishingtucson@yahoo >James tritt42@...> wroteI:
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Re: A &W Drive Inn on S. 12th. Street
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýWhile I do not remember the A&W itself, the history of the restaurant as recorded on the menu indicates that it is now El Merendero. |
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Re: A &W Drive Inn on S. 12th. Street
I remember the A & W on the east side of S. 12th Ave. My buddy and I went there on just a couple of occasions in our graduation year of 1966 from Pueblo. My friend wanted me to see this very pretty girl that worked there. This wasn't a business that we frequented though.
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Re: Historic Drive-Ins
N7IQV
Debkaye,
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Just a Quik Note...Quik Mart #5 is still in operation at Mission/Silverlake. Laundromat is gone, but the store remains. Usually the first stop for anyone leaving the Pima County Jail. (authorized or not!) John --- In vanishingtucson@..., "debkaye2001" <debkaye2001@...> wrote:
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Re: Historic Drive-Ins
Catherine , of all, Congratulations on your upcoming marriage, may you have many years of happiness and blessings ...
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I was raised in Long Beach CA. Where in CA did you live? I don't miss it all as the city had changed so much especially the downtown area. I was there in a great 60's the Beach Boys era .... Sun, Surfing and bleached blondes ;-) !! A lot of fun times but now the beach area where we hung out has a big parking alot, bicycle and skating paths that pretty much ruined it for me. We lived near Pacific Coast Hwy and there was a drive-in called the Circle and it was on a circle right near Long Beach Memorial Hospital. I can remember being in the hospital and I was able to see the screen of the drive-in I would watch the movies but of course no sound. At least it was good because back in those days they didn't have TV's in the room, pretty boring just reading old mags and comic books. I was about 12 I think and had my tonsils taken out but had some infection or something so I was there for about 2 boring weeks but at least I got a lot if ice cream and marshmallow green jello and at nite watching silent movies!! I do remember a Quik Mart (?) across the street where I worked at the old Sheriffs dept on Mission/Silverbell. Don't know if its still there I do know they built as bigger convienence store further south on Mission Rd, I think about 36th St. Don't know the name of it but it had like a drive-thru burger jointI on the backside. I do remember a Dairy Queen on Alvernon by the Cactus drive-in . When we do visit Tucson we don't really go much on the east side so it's probably changed quite a bit like sadly like most of the town. Oh, you wrote about drive-ins turning into churches and swap meets. That Circle Drive-In I wrote about also was a church, I believe even while it still showed movies at nite. My Mom use to takes us all to a regular Sunday school and church but my Dad didn't go with us. But we found out later that he use to get up earlt on Sunday mornings and would go to that drive-in church in his work truck, he ran his owner home service repair and worked hard to support our large family and I think all he ever wore was work clothes and I don't think he had any dress clothes so he may have felt bad to go in the church so he'd go to the drive-in church, it still makes me feel sad because he very rarely spent money on himself everything was for his family, at the time there was 8 of us kids. I didn't know there was a drive-in theater in Mesa? We use to go there a lot since some of my family live there and also in Tempe, Chandler and Apache Junction. And we had a small cabin up in Payson and there use to be a Jack-in-Box in Mesa just before the Beeline Hwy on our way to Payson we'd stop at to load up on taco's and onion rings. Boy!! I wish we would have hung on to our place a bit longer before selling it as Payson grew so much we'd have got more money for it. But I really don't like how Payson has grown its just not the same little place. -Deb K ---------------------------------------- --- In vanishingtucson@..., Catherine westergaard <cfw61@...> wrote:
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Re: Historic Drive-Ins (Cactus)
Hello All,
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Those fun mini drive-in events were an effort to raise funds and awareness for the larger effort to rebuild an updated, contemporary version of the Cactus Drive In. The big project is still moving forward, but will take a lot longer than many of the original participants expected. Also, the project will take a lot more money than those mini drive-in popcorn sales. We're working on it. Coincidentally, the Cactus Drive In Theater Foundation 501c3 is currently looking for a new place to store the original Cactus Drive In screen parts, which were disassembled and saved from demolition. George was kind enough to let us use his property, but he now needs to use the land for other purposes. If you or anyone you know might be willing to help us with moving and/or storage, please contact me ASAP. Thanks, Carlos --- In vanishingtucson@..., catherine westergaard <cfw61@...> wrote:
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Re: Historic Drive-Ins
Thanks DebKaye for sharing your memories!? When I moved here in 2003 I think one was still open (I think on Alvernon, where the new QuikTrip is) but I never had the chance to go.? Coming from CA, most of the ones there if still standing are now either drive-in churches (my dad, a retired minister is a bit peeved with those, but hey you don't have to worry about looking good for church!) or flea markets where most of the stuff sold isn't your typical flea market stuff but toiletries bought at a dollar store and resold.? My fiance remembers going to several of them and was excited when the preservation folks and Vanishing Tucson started showing films on the side of a building downtown in the summer.? Not sure what happened to that - do you know Carlos?? Some friends of ours in Mesa say there's a drive-in
not to far from them so we're planning to go, when its not still 80+ degrees at night! Thanks for sharing DebKaye!? By the way, did anyone ever go to Mr. Quick on the south side before the drive-in?? My fiance remembers that as well....that building, or what's left of it, is what brought us together 2 years ago...now we're getting married :) Catherine |
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A Mountain Fireworks
Every 4th of July we looked forward to getting our spot on Mission Rd when our kids were younger and the crowds got bigger and bigger every year. But I did go to work for awhile in the early 1980's for the Sheriff's department when the office was on Mission Rd so we were able to go park on the county property.
My boys loved the fireworks but I think their favorite time was when the side of the mountain would catch fire and they'd see the fire trucks. This would happen almost every year but if it didn't they'd get disappointed. That's just one of the nice memories I have as they are grown now . Later my husband and I would just park out on Valencia near Indian Agency Rd not far from our home and we had a clear view of A mountain at the time, we'd set outside the car listening to the radio station playing patriotic music . I hope it doesn't rain on the 4th of July like it use to do some years. But anyway I wish you all out there in my old hometown of Tucson a Happy 4th of July !! I do miss it there a lot. And I hope we are able to get out there soon to visit our old Tucson homies !! -DebKaye |
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Re: Spanish Trail Motel
I too remember the glorious Spanish Trail in its hey days ... We only went a few times mainly a special occasion like a anniversary or birthday. Sometimes you'd see fancy dressed folks and once we seen Joe Bonnano's son with some characters that looked straight out of the Godfather. We heard that Joe Jr was a regular at the barber shop there . Years later I worked as a nurse at the Veterans Hospital on S 6th Ave and met some Vets who were going thru addiction programs that were living in the outside motel rooms at the Spanish Trail . I don't think it's being used anymore and it's all being torn down. But I bet if those old walls and that ballroom could talk that would make one big interesting story of the Tales of Tucson !!!!
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-DebKaye ============================= --- In vanishingtucson@..., "kenethridge66" <ken@...> wrote:
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