# A question about roller skates and food service **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141 "2021-11-29T15:25:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/1 "2021-11-29T15:25:57Z")
So I’m watching _Michael Nesmith’s Elephant Parts_ the other day, and a question comes to mind- What is the origin of the drive-in roller skating car hop? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/2 "2021-11-29T16:11:11Z")
It seems from what I’ve read that the roller skating rink boom of the late 40’s and early 50’s is said to be a cause of local drive ins trying out the idea of putting skates on their carhops. Wish I had better documentation than claims on pinterest and 1950’s nostalgia sites though. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/3 "2021-11-29T17:02:23Z")
I wonder about the whole idea of the drive-in restaurant, where you order at the car window, and it’s brought to your car on a tray that hangs on the window. Where did that come from? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/4 "2021-11-29T17:06:27Z")
Several sources I’m finding with a quick googling indicate that the first drive-in restaurant was Kirby’s Pig Stand, which opened in Dallas in 1921, and later expanded to other cities. > **[The Timely Return of the Drive-In Restaurant](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/timley-return-drive-in-restaurant-180974973/)** > > During the COVID-19 pandemic, carhop service is making a comeback. Is it here to stay? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/5 "2021-11-29T17:17:52Z")
[_Food and Drink in American History: A “Full Course”_](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Food_and_Drink_in_American_History_A_Ful/o7gxBgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=skating+carhop+history&pg=PA149&printsec=frontcover) has a section on carhops. [Carhops in fact and fiction](https://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/2017/07/23/carhops-in-fact-and-fiction/) is the best article I found. Tray service started around 1920, with boys carrying trays to cars. They were called tray boys, and the trays were fastened to windows. Girls were brought on later, because of the reason you’d suppose. Skates probably became a thing in the 1930s, with carhop itself becoming a word in 1937. Some sites say that carhop was coined to resemble bellhop, but the Food and Drink page claims it was because they “hopped” on cars’ running boards. I think the former is far more plausible. I couldn’t find a 1937 cite, but there was an article in the [Longview [TX] News-Journal](https://www.newspapers.com/image/170690963/?terms=%22roller%20skates%22%20carhop&match=1) in 1938 talking about the thousands of southern girls taking jobs as “car hops.” People were already protesting the shortness of the outfits. I put in the link, but it’s probably paywalled for you. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/6 "2021-11-29T17:22:32Z")
The thought of a tray full of frosty mugs of A&W root beer hanging on a car window evokes all manner of nostalgia in me. There was no bigger treat than that in the mind of Young Boy Mustard. mmm ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/7 "2021-11-29T17:24:26Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > The thought of a tray full of frosty mugs of A&W root beer hanging on a car window evokes all manner of nostalgia in me. There was no bigger treat than that in the mind of Young Boy Mustard. Same here, though in my case, it was at the Dog & Suds which was up the road from my childhood home. For years, I had a child-sized Dog & Suds mug, which I am pretty sure that my parents “forgot” to put back on the tray before we left the restaurant one time. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/8 "2021-11-29T17:24:56Z")
Will any of that tell me about _roller skating_ car hops? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/9 "2021-11-29T17:31:19Z")
The article from Smithsonian Magazine linked to upthread says, “He also points out that in the original days of drive-in restaurants, the reason that servers wore roller skates was to increase speed and service.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/10 "2021-11-29T17:57:55Z")
Two questions. 1) Did you read the links? 2) What is it that you want to know that the articles don’t say? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/11 "2021-11-29T18:20:38Z")
Yes, I read the links. The first link mentioned in brief that, among other gimmicks, roller skates were used to drum up customers, the second link was about the hardships females faced as carhops(with no mention of roller skates at all, as far as I can tell), and the third link required my credit card info to access their 7 day free trial. What do I want to know that wasn’t covered in the articles? How about what was asked in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/12 "2021-11-29T18:53:02Z")
Easy. Somebody thought to put the girls on roller skates. Nobody knows who or when. It caught on. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/13 "2021-11-29T18:57:10Z")
Thanx for your contribution, but post #4 actually gives us a good bit of solid info about the subject. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/14 "2021-11-29T19:20:43Z")
I’ve heard, but it might be a tall tale, the skating might have started at Drive-In movies in New Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/15 "2021-11-29T19:26:04Z")
What’s your problem? That article gives exactly one line on the history of skates, the one that Dewey\_Finn already quoted. That’s not a “good bit of solid info” nor does it answer the question of origin. You don’t like me, I gather. But I gave a good bit of solid info to an FQ question. Take your personal animosity elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roller-skates-and-food-service/955141/16 "2021-11-29T19:28:21Z")
_ **Modhat on** _: Please cool off, your reply is very out of proportion to anything **Czarcasm** typed. You’re the only one showing personal animosity in this thread.