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Originally Posted by Nerak936
One of the waaaay exciting things we did occasionally was go to a drive-up A&W restaurant (can't recall what town it was) where the girls would come out to your car to wait on you (albeit not on rollerskates). The ol' tray on the window of the car next to Dad.
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One of the first A&W restaurants in Canada was just a few blocks from our place, back in the early 60's. The "Car Hops" came to your car, took your order, and delivered the same way, with big frosty mugs of root beer and the burger family on a tray that hung on your car window. We had lots of drive-ins all over town that operated that way. A&W, Dog N Suds, and other local favourites. No roller skates here either. Not practical since these places were open 12 months of the year and roller skates aren't an option at -35 and 6" of white stuff. Ice skates, maybe, but not the roller variety. Haven't encountered snowshoes with wheels. Then they went to a system where you pulled up onto the lot and gave your order to a radio and a car hop delivered it, then I guess it all switched to drive-thrus. I think the last of the car hops disappeared some time in the late 80's. Out in BC, there was a chain of drive-ins called White Spot (still there today, but conventional restaurant layouts now), and their car trays had adjustable extensions on the ends so they would reach all the way from one side of the car to the other and you had a "table" across the whole seat to eat off of. A neat idea, but a Hell of a thing for the poor car hops to manipulate. Trying to collect mugs from the A&W was a popular trick back in our high school days. Go in with 3 people, order 4 root beers, and hope to be able to swipe the extra mug was a common tactic. The car hops were pretty sharp though, and it rarely worked. That was what qualified as "Street Crime" in those days. I guess I'm nostalgic for those days to. :o