Wimpy's Drive-In Archives

June 8, 2016June 8, 2016

Is McDonald’s Wimpy’s?

Road Warriorette Shari came down from St. Louis for a few days to see her mother and to attend a ceremony recognizing her late grandmother’s work on the Capaha Park Rose Garden.

While we were cruising town looking at all the changes, it dawned on me that I had never been in the McDonald’s on Broadway near Central High School. We wondered if McDonald’s was this generation’s version of our Wimpy’s Drive-In with teenage drivers making an endless loop of cars between the long-gone burger joint and Pfisters. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)

Lines, but no looping

There was a steady stream of cars pulling into the parking lot, but they usually just queued up at the drive-in window, picked up their orders and took off. There weren’t any cars full of teenagers checking out each other or sitting and talking. Maybe they were all on social media.

The first Broadway McDonald’s was built in 1967 by Jerry Davis, who owned several landmark Cape eateries. He and flight instructor Kenneth Krongos were killed when the small plane they were in crashed in bad weather in 2003.

You can read about Mr. Davis’ restaurants here.

My perfect record is intact. I still haven’t been inside the store. That’s not to knock the business; it’s just that there are too many other places I’d rather eat in the area.

September 20, 2015

Wimpyburgers Went Flying Out

I never expected so many people to show up for Wimpyburgers made using the original recipe and cooked by members of the Lewis family. The folks at the Centenary United Methodist Church told me they were printing 600 tickets good for two burgers, fries and a drink, but I thought they were being optimistic.

Running late

Brothers Mark and David converged on the house Saturday morning to talk strategy about how we were going to tackle Mother’s house next week with the help of Laurie Evertt of Annie Laurie’s Antique Shops. That made me miss the 11 a.m. start of the burger fest.

(It also meant that I have a bunch of my iconic Wimpy’s left prints that you’ll be able to pick up at Annie Laurie’s and at the Cape County History Center on the square in Jackson in a couple of days. They are $5 each.)

Photo gallery of the Wimpy extravaganza

I didn’t have much of an opportunity to wander around taking pictures. In fact, I got one of the last burgers off the grill just as everything was winding down. Fred Lynch did a nice video interview with Freeman Lewis that is worth watching. Click on any of these photos to make them larger, then use your arrow keys to move around the gallery.

Wimpy’s Day at Centerary United Methodist Church 09-19-2015

September 18, 2015

Wimpy’s and Other Prints

If you were lucky or quick enough to get one of the 600 tickets to September 19th’s Wimpy’s Day at the Centenary United Methodist Church, look for me if you’d like a photo of what Cape’s iconic hangout looked like in the day and night of 1966. An 8-1/2 x 11″ print will go for $5 (with 10% of net going to the church).

Here’s one in the stack

I’ll also have a bunch of 11 x 17″ photos from Cape, Perry and New Madrid counties for you to look through. I know you’ll recognize SOMEBODY in at least one of them. I’m tired of hauling them around, so I’ll part with those for $10 each. Here’s where this photo was taken. Click on it to make it large enough to see if you were dancing in the bank lot.

Here’s my earlier post about the event.

April 9, 2015

Dog and Suds

I get lots of requests for info and photos of Wimpy’s, Pfister’s, A&W Root Beer and, less frequently, Dog and Suds. The first three are long gone, but I had a nagging suspicion that the green building at 605 North Kingshighway, just south of the entrance to Arena Park, might be the latter.

While Mother and I were rambling about, I said, “I’m going to pull in, shoot first, then ask questions later.” And, I did.

Walking in the door, I told a guy that his hair didn’t look gray enough to know the answer on his own, but that he might have heard from someone else if this building had once been the Dog and Suds. He confirmed it had been. (By the way, The Missourian spelled it as Dog and Suds, not “Dog ‘n’ Suds,” the way I thought of it.

Lots of different things

That building had been used for lots of different things.

April 29, 1958 – Preston Sign Co. to erect and install an electric noncombustible advertising sign at 605 North Kingshighway. Size, 7 feet by 8 feet and declared cost, $700.
January 17, 1964 – Advertisement: Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Harrington have purchased and taken over the management of The Gas Lite Drive-in. We will feature Pit Barbecue and Frog Legs, and serve the choicest of foods. 10:00 A.M. to Midnight; 10 A.M. to 2:00 A,M. (on weekends).
October 4, 1969 – D. and D. Plumbers have leased and moved into a building at 605 North Kingshighway. The firm [is] owned by David Franklin… The new location was leased from Barney Zimmerman, and until recently was used to house a restaurant.
1979 City Directory – The Flower Shoppe
April 8, 2015 – Car Title Loans