Drive-Thru Culture - April 14, 2006

Ray Kroc was nothing if not a visionary. He knew that in the futuristic postwar world of the 1950s, Americans would hunger to drive to "gas stations, inexpensive motels, and restaurants that serve rapidly-prepared food" -- all without getting out of their conveniently-financed cars.  On April 15, 1955, in Des Plaines, Illinois, Kroc opened the first of nearly 40,000 franchised McDonald's restaurants.  Time has proven him correct. Today, people do their banking, dry cleaning, eating, manicures, gambling, weddings, and even mourning without leaving the privacy and comfort of their cars.  About the only thing they can't do from their cars anymore is go to the movies; the venerable drive-in movie theater has nearly disappeared from the American landscape. Americans love their cars so much, in fact, that some of them have buckled up for the final ride. Suggested Sites... National Drive-Thru Day - the good people at Jack in the Box salute their favorite drive-thru attractions. Miss Belvedere Finds a Home - In 1957, a Plymouth Belvedere automobile was buried at the courthouse in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as a time capsule for the far future of 2007. The American Roadside - you're in your car, all gassed up and ready to go -- now find out what to see.