I can remember growing up in Pineville, Louisiana and going across the Red River to Alexandria where we would go to the A&W Root Beer place in our 1949 Packard.
How could we ever forget those icy mugs filled with root beer? Those were a special treat since my parents didn’t take us kids out to eat very often in those days.
Roy Allen made the first root beer in a mug in June of 1919 in Lodi, California and sold it for a nickel. He took on a partner in Frank Wright one of the first people he had hired at the Lodi establishment. They took the first initials of both their names and named the root beer A&W Root beer.
A&W Root Beer was even better when mixed with ice cream in a root beer float. No other drink goes quite as well with ice cream as root beer.
- This photo brings back memories of when the carhops would bring our order to car in a tray like this.
An early barrel shaped A&W Root Beer stand.
Modern version of an A&W Root Beer stand.
It is getting very difficult to find an A&W Root Beer stand. They still exist but they seem to be in smaller cities mostly.
According to the A&W Root Beer website there are only twelve A&W Root Beer stands remaining in Tennessee.
I live about a half hour away from Lodi, Ca and have enjoyed A&W my entire life. Today they seem to share the same space with other fast food places like KFC.
I wasn’t sure where Lodi was located so now I know it is fairly close to Sacramento. I remember it being mentioned in the song by Creedence Clearwater. There are a lot of root beers out there now but A&W is still my favorite.
Pingback: 100,000th Visitor To Nostalgia and Now « Nostalgia and Now
Loved A and W Root Beer…Worked at A and W In Upland California for 4 years…Back when they still had car Hops…Great Hang out after foot ball games…
We loved A&W root beer too growing up in the 50′s. Will never forget those frosty mugs of cold root beer. They really hit the spot after leaving house with no air conditioning. That is about the only fast food place we ever went to.
We had a A & W rootbeer stand on E. Tipton Street in Seymour, Indiana in the 1950′s and 1960′s. Loved it as a teenager then we all met and ate there. Had car hops, frosted mugs (best rootbeer ever) and good food also. I am painting picture of the rootbeer stand as a gift. It was orange and white, had roof over parking on side. Is there any copies of pictures of this rootbeer stand??
Molly, I couldn’t find a photo online of the A&W root beer stand in Seymour, Indiana. We loved the frosty mugs, back in the days before we had air conditioners, so that cold frosty mug was a welcome respite from the heat.
Currently it appears like Movable Type is the best blogging platform available right now.
(from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
I am using WordPress and very happy with it. I like that I can do the blog without using HTML.
Anyone know of history, pictures of the A&W Root Beer stand in Pismo Beach California ?