curmugeon | thinking...

Thinking of Friday nights, the A&W Drive In, carhops, rootbeer floats, good food, good friends, fast cars. I had my '57 Chevy Bel Aire. another friend had a '50 Chevy Coupe with a Chrysler Hemi under the hood. It was days of had work, time spent polishing and cleaning so your car shined as you entered the lot. Cheater Slicks, fuzzy dice, the sounds of horsepower, AM Radio, eight track tapes, and gasoline for about 25 cents a gallon. My car got 10 MPG on a good day... you could watch the gas guage fall as you accelerated. Cruising would take two or three tanks of gas, there was Bob's Big Boy in Whittier, Carl's Restaurant in Anaheim, In and Out in Azuza, some of the many places we gathered.

It was American Graffitti in real life....