# Were drive ins with car hops a thing outside the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [June 25, 2023, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086 "2023-06-25T16:14:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2023, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/1 "2023-06-25T16:14:28Z")
They were all over the place in the US during the 1950s and 60s. Some had car hops on foot and others roller skated. There are still several near me that I go to a few times a year. In Elyria, Ohio there is the Dinner Bell and a Dog N Suds a couple of minutes from each other. And right here in North Olmsted is a Swensen’s, a chain that is expanding. Their gimmick is that the car hops run instead of walk. The Dog N Suds has a tradition hot dog and root beer menu. Dinner Bell has a full menu with fish, chicken and clam dinners (perch, cod and catfish) among over offerings. Swensen’s is a burger place but they do have grilled cheese and BLTs plus the best onion rings. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2023, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/2 "2023-06-25T16:42:58Z")
Does Canada count as “outside the US”? I remember when A&W had car hops. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2023, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/3 "2023-06-25T16:48:05Z")
I suspect that by the time countries outside of North America had enough car ownership to make car hops profitable, they had already been made obsolete by the drive-thru. Any present day car hops here or abroad are cashing in on nostalgic Americana. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/4 "2023-06-25T19:16:24Z")
The Dinner Bell and Dog N Suds have both been there since the early 1960s. They are just family owned doing business as they always have. Swenson’s was started in 1934 but the rapid expansion has been in the past 5 years or so. I guess they are intent on introducing new generations to the car hops. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2023, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/5 "2023-06-25T20:49:01Z")
By the time I was visiting Australian drive-ins in the late 1970s car-hops were not a thing. You made the effort to go to the central shop / toilet / projection building or your went hungry (or brought your own soup in a glass thermos - that’s how we rolled back then). Australia’s first drive-in was opened in [1954 in Melbourne](http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57694701) (the Burwood Skyline), and it had car-hops: > A small loudspeaker hangs on a post beside every parking space. You merely lift it into your car, attach it to your window or steering column, and adjust the volume to suit yourself. Above the loudspeaker’s volume control is a small switch which, when pressed, flashes a red light on your parking stand and summons an attendant to bring you refreshments or even do a car repair job. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2023, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/6 "2023-06-25T20:56:33Z")
Wait, what? They did car repairs while you were watching a movie at a drive-in? One problem with that is that many car repairs require the hood to be raised. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2023, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/7 "2023-06-25T21:13:32Z")
There used to be a at least a couple in South Africa - one in Cape Town, one in Johannesburg. They were already retro nostalgia affairs when they started, I suspect (Sha Na Na was _huge_ here in the early 80s, as a data point), and they don’t exist any more ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2023, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/8 "2023-06-25T21:57:31Z")
I suspect it would be a long line of flat battery replacements, and maybe the odd window trim that got wrenched out when they forgot to remove the speaker box. Still, a captive market is a captive market. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/9 "2023-06-26T02:42:42Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > By the time I was visiting Australian drive-ins in the late 1970s car-hops were not a thing. You made the effort to go to the central shop / toilet / projection building or your went hungry The US drive ins I talking about are not movie theaters, just diners. [https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4115589,-82.1417989,3a,60y,278.68h,90.34t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjXqsrzbGywtUQtmcU3zh4A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4115589,-82.1417989,3a,60y,278.68h,90.34t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjXqsrzbGywtUQtmcU3zh4A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/10 "2023-06-26T02:52:11Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Does Canada count as “outside the US”? I remember when A&W had car hops. Same here, also in Canada. Our family only went to the local A&W, and it had carhops. Of course, there may have been other drive-ins with car hops that we didn’t go to. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2023, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/11 "2023-06-26T02:59:14Z")
As an illustration of what a drive-in diner looked like, [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PChvvzeBgP0) is a 6 1/2 minute clip from the movie American Graffiti, showing the main characters at Mel’s Diner. You get a glimpse of the roller-blading car hops and the trays attached to the car’s windows. I don’t think drive-ins were a thing where I grew up in Connecticut but it seems to be something that only works well during warmer weather (what with the roller blades and the open car windows). ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/12 "2023-06-26T03:08:23Z")
Ah, I see. ‘Drive-in’ has that very specific use in Australia of a drive-in movie theatre. We did not get US fast food chains, which had various levels of drive-throughness, until our first Maccas in 1971. I don’t recall anyone car-hopping to me as a hungry passenger. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/13 "2023-06-26T03:18:00Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > ‘Drive-in’ has that very specific use in Australia of a drive-in movie theatre. In much (most?) of the U.S., as well. There are drive-up places in the southern U.S. (Sonic is a well-known chain), but they are never called “drive-ins” or “drive-in diners”. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/14 "2023-06-26T08:03:00Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > ‘Drive-in’ has that very specific use in Australia of a drive-in movie theatre. Yes, that was the sense I was replying to, as well. The “diner with service in the parking lot” sense would be a “roadhouse” here, I think some of those still exist - often with that retro Americana/Googie vibe . In fact, the Wimpy chain switched to that model for many locations during the pandemic, and kept it up at a couple afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/15 "2023-06-26T08:57:11Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > And right here in North Olmsted is a Swensen’s, a chain that is expanding. > [@mixdenny](#): > > Swenson’s was started in 1934 but the rapid expansion has been in the past 5 years or so. [Swensen’s](https://www.swensensicecream.com/) and [Swenson’s](https://swensonsdriveins.com/) are in for a hell of a courtroom trademark battle at some point. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/16 "2023-06-26T09:55:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > As an illustration of what a drive-in diner looked like, [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PChvvzeBgP0) is a 6 1/2 minute clip from the movie American Graffiti, showing the main characters at Mel’s Diner. You get a glimpse of the roller-blading car hops Roller _skating_, surely. Pretty sure roller blades weren’t really a thing during _American Grafitti_ days. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2023, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/17 "2023-06-26T11:35:06Z")
Sorry, yes. Roller _skating_ car hops. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-drive-ins-with-car-hops-a-thing-outside-the-us/986086/18 "2023-06-28T22:02:30Z")
I don’t think that’s true at all; I think the term is used equally. If I’m looking for a restaurant with car-side service I’m going to search for “drive-in restaurant,” and that term is often included in the name. In fact, Sonic Drive-In is the proper name used on Sonic’s website and facebook page, same for Swensen’s. There is also the well-known book called “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” which is about restaurants, not outdoor movie places. My thought is that both types of drive-ins have reached a state of obscurity that if you are lucky to have one or the other in your town you either call it by name or it’s clear what you mean within the context of the conversation.