Local A & W closes after 47 years.
Sad to see this happening here.
They had the best crinkle cut seasoned fries in town.

http://www.pasoroblesrealestate.biz/blog/index.html

Same here in Manitowoc WI. the penquin, burger place, cars every thursday, pretty neat place, closed last week.

Started in 1946, six decades.

Rob

If you have KFC, Long John Silvers or Taco Bell in the area watch for them to possibly open a co-branded store with an A&W. I do stores for all in 11 states and if there are existing A&W's we can't co-brand within a certain distance. But once the stores close my clients can pick up the franchise and build co-branded stores. Good work for me because the parent company requires that each have a separate kitchen cook line to avoid cross contamination and new interior and exterior decor and identity packages. I have done work for KFC in Paso Robles, I will see if there is anything in the works that I can talk about here.

If you have KFC, Long John Silvers or Taco Bell in the area watch for them to possibly open a co-branded store with an A&W. I do stores for all in 11 states and if there are existing A&W's we can't co-brand within a certain distance. But once the stores close my clients can pick up the franchise and build co-branded stores. Good work for me because the parent company requires that each have a separate kitchen cook line to avoid cross contamination and new interior and exterior decor and identity packages. I have done work for KFC in Paso Robles, I will see if there is anything in the works that I can talk about here.

I believe the KFC down the street already has an A & W in it. That's new within the last year or so. Not the same though, not the same at all.

Haven't been to an A & W drive-in since I was a kid- really miss that root beer and those big heavy mugs and of course the car-hops!

Man I hate to hear that. We have a local place with better root beer and friendly folks called Coits. have a cruise in every month during the season. Man I could kill for some Coits root beer right now haha.

Long John Silvers and A&W are combined here.
no car hops though :sad:

Man, you guys are making me feel old talking about car hops !!!
My Dad took me to White Castle when I was 5. He had a 51 Dodge with a push bumper on it for his work car. He owned a Mobil station. That station was brand new and that flying horse sign was soo Cool !! Any way back to the car hop. This girl was beautiful and on roller skates !!!! I remember that day like it was yesterday !!!! It's been 40 yrs ago !!!!

one of my friends familys owned an A&W back in the day......
I have many great memorys of hanging out there ...
we pretty much got what ever we wanted for FREE ... :thumbsup:
what could be better when your 10 yrs old ???

we have a sonic that still has hops. some of them even use skates for the full retro effect. my old home town in MI had an A&W with hops. a great hang out place. you could pull in there on a saturday nite and see every imaginable boulevard beast on the planet parked in there.

Haven't been to an A & W drive-in since I was a kid- really miss that root beer and those big heavy mugs and of course the car-hops!

I remember the Mama and Papa burgers coming in the little foil bags. Haven't had those in years.

Not the same though, not the same at all.I agree. I've been to a few A&Ws that were in gas-stations, malls, other restaurants, etc... They all left me dissappointed. I think it's the glass mug vs. the paper cup that makes the biggest difference.

There are 2 of them pretty local to me that are seasonal, and still have car-hops. I used to go to try to meet them... back when high-school girls were still legal. :thumbsup:

We used to have 3 A&Ws real close by. All have been gone for over 25 years.

I miss the Bob's Big Boys that used to be around too.

I've been to 3 A&Ws in my 43 yrs on the earth and each time it was great!! One in Williamsport PA, one just outside of Vine Grove KY, and one in Shelton WA. The one in Shelton has loads of pics from cruise-ins and some nice iron pulled in while I was there. Drive-in movies and drive-in resturants are/were a part of americana that I wish would stay around forever!

I remember the Mama and Papa burgers coming in the little foil bags. Haven't had those in years.

Yes, those were great too.

I can't imagine why a place like that wouldn't do a good business. Stupid people with kids all wanted to run to McDonald's instead I guess.

Yes, those were great too.

I can't imagine why a place like that wouldn't do a good business. Stupid people with kids all wanted to run to McDonald's instead I guess.

They dont want the food, just the stupid toy inside !!!!!! or the play ground

Haven't been to an A & W drive-in since I was a kid- really miss that root beer and those big heavy mugs and of course the car-hops!

I heard that...Last one out here was in Camarillo when I was a kid, good root beer and food that had a tase (and aftertaste:D ) all its own. I miss it..

Only A&W Ive seen was in Arizona, usually inside a truck stop. Along with a mini taco bell, etc.

As one poster put it, not even close to being the same.
Another peice of Americana lost:(

InNout is where we go or sonic havent been to sonic tho. McD's and Burger King are a dying bread all in its own.

When I went to the A&W we had it was in the 50"s and early 60's..Can't beat a frosted mug of A&W root beer and a footlong hot dog with the slaw on the left and chili on the right.. Yea I know, they always looked at me funny for saying that too..

yea the one that we have a&w is about 20 miles away not to far but it doesnt taste that great, price is kinda high and u gotta pay an extra 3 bucks for a mug of rootbeer since you get to keep it. and its not even frosted its in a plastic bag.

Luckily I still have an A&W about 2 miles away... still open but closed for the season. In the Akron area we have 2 drive-in restaruants/burger joints... A&W and Swensons. I guess since there's more than 1 this creates a good competition. God I can't wait until the car is done... errr started to be torn down....

My kids only know it as the root beer store. They think it's like a bar, but for kids.

I believe the KFC down the street already has an A & W in it. That's new within the last year or so. Not the same though, not the same at all.

I agree its not just the same. I remember as a kid in the 60's taking the glass gallon jugs and getting them filled for like 75 cents. We would also wait until Diary Queen had sales on banana splits and buy 4 and freeze 3 for the future. The A&W root beer is supposed to be the same formula mix but there is something different. I don't eat the food there, better burgers to be had at local 911 cafes. All the Arctic Circles are gone here too. Patrick

artic circles?

I'm just a few miles away from the *ORIGINAL* A&W. They still hold local car get togethers there weekly, and the drive-in portion is still there but only 8-10 spots or so.

One of the other A&W's here in town, one of the first 10 or so built and was still very much a drive-in was bulldozed about 8-10 years ago to make way for a KFC. I used to love doing burnouts in the alley next to the place, really echoed off the walls. Funny thing is my Dad used to love doing the same thing in his Corvette, in the same alley, next to the same A&W back in the late 60's. :p

They had all sorts of cool car photos taken at the restaurant starting back from the 60's and going until the day it was closed. Don't know what happened to all of them.

Neat history, but the food could use some improvement-- it's not bad but certainly nothing really better or above their market competitors. Also, the change from real ice cream floats over to soft-serve floats never really went over well with me...

In all honesty the only reason I really go there is for the weekly car get together-- better food for the same money can be found elsewhere.

The root beer is still good though. :)

They had the best crinkle cut seasoned fries in town.

Oh man, crinkle cut fries are awesome! Our A&W has regular boring fries. I used to remember when Carl's Jr. had crinkle cut fries (I'll never forgive them for the change, probably been at least 15-16 years ago now-- LOL) along with a couple local burger stands. I can't find them anymore, anywhere.

A new restaurant here in town now makes home-made beer battered fries... best fries I've ever had but I can only imagine what they do to your arteries. :p

carls jr still has them here

Not to hijack, but another one gone is Pioneer chicken. :(