THE ORANGE ROOT BEER STAND

By the late 50’s, I was able to get a driver’s license and I learned how to drive a stick or standard shift car with a clutch. My first car was a 49′ Chevy with the flat back or long back. It cost $99.00 at a dog lot for used cars that were ready to head to car heaven. The thing lasted about 3 weeks and it was sent to the junk yard. Then came “Pumpkin” the family car which I had painted Pacific Blue with Oldsmobile spinners  complimenting the whitewall tires. It stayed with us and intermittently drove it on special occasions. It was a 1948 English Ford Anglia. It’s top speed was 60 miles an hour. On ordinary days, there was a light green 49′ Ford with two sponge dice hanging from the inside mirror. It had a radio too. Somewhere in that list was also a 53′ Pontiac. Everyone in my family had their own car.

Then came a 52′ dark green Ford, followed by a 56′  Packard. It was a great big boat that lasted about 3 months. College meant a red 61′ Ford Falcon, followed by a red 56′ MG convertible. The MG had an ice chest and reel-to-reel tape recorder. 

One day, I was sitting in my parents living room studying for a test. My father came in from talking with some Shriner (Masonic Order.) He said that he could get a red 66′ Mustang convertible for $2300 dollars with air conditioning. It was used in the Shrine parades.  Would I like to have one? I choked. That would be great, I said. HE WOULD PAY FOR IT. So, that lasted until a few years into when I got married. After that, came cars that I am ashamed to talk about.

So what happened to the Orange Root Beer Stand?

 It’s coming, you just have to be patient.

In small towns, the main drag is the main street that swirls through the town. In the summers, you drive your car that is really clean hoping to bump into some girls who would pull over to the curb and jump into your car. Wow. Well in my hometown, you drove through drive-in diners. Cars would be parked all around it and folks would sit in their cars, eat some food, drink some beer, smoke and start kissing somebody of the other sex. Incredible! In the middle of this zoo, you drove through slowly so you could see those parked and they could see you. I don’t recall once when I saw a station wagon, unless it was a Woody. That means the car had wood panel decals on the side of a 49′ Ford and perhaps a surf board strapped on top. Bitchin’

Of course we had a place called Todd’s , but here it comes: the Orange Root Beer stand called A&W was the supreme event. The root beer stand was painted orange with a big A&W logo in the middle of the establishment. You could not go into the place. It was car service only. You got your order together, turn on your lights or hit the horn and out pops a car hop. It was usually an attractive young girl, but there were exceptions. She really knew your order of  ground beef burger French fries, and a glass mug with a handle that had the A&W on it.

Importantly, the drive through had a sandy and rocky  surface, so you had to drive slow. Thus, everyone could see you. A former girl friend who was nearly blind without contacts or glasses would drive through without glasses. The place was all a blur, but on came the glasses once the parade was  over.

My little Anglia really drew the looks. Mission was accomplished. My good buddy would drive shot gun. One afternoon, we were parked next to a car in which there was a guy and girl in the backing making out. Can you believe that? My buddy and I could not help looking over at their car. I believe that neither of us had kissed a girl like that. We were starved and groaning. This was going on in a summer afternoon. What was the world coming to? Then it happened. The girl in the back seat wanted her boyfriend to go to the front seat where her girl friend was listening to the radio. Well,  out of the door he went and started kissing the girl in the front seat. Oh my gosh. My buddy and I were simply overwhelmed that a threesome of sorts could happen right in broad daylight in the middle of the twentieth century. We hobbled home. Some guys have all luck.

I bet you know  the rest. A&W was leveled so that a new car wash could be built. A&W started nationally in 1919. Allen and a  year later Wright created a root beer from a pharmacist’s formula. By the time, my buddy and I drove my hometown’s A&W there were at least 2000 root beer drive-ins. Then one company bought out the founders, followed by another company, and another until today it is owned by Coca-Cola.

So it still stands today in various shapes  and venues. But the summer nights at the Orange root beer stand abides in the back on one’s mind for Boomers and others for all the years to come. But this is now and back then has gone.