American Graffiti, Northeast style

It was a time of heavy cars with big block engines. Cruising Central Avenue on a weekend night was the thing to do. What better place to grab a bite to eat than a drive-in restaurant?

Drive-ins got their start in the 1920s, just after the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918. They grew in popularity as the 20th century progressed, hitting their peak in the 1960s. In a time when the Argus newspaper was advertising home fallout shelters in case of nuclear war and teenage girls attended “charm classes” in St. Anthony, drive-ins were the places to be.

Davy Crockett

Owned by Ed Karbo, Ed Grabowski, Michael Karbo and Frank Wolinski, the Davy Crockett drive-in was set up in a little log cabin that had originally housed a car dealership, just south of the baseball diamond on St. Anthony Blvd. and Marshall Street. They rented the land from Northern States Power (Xcel Energy).

Eight stools were available for folks who wanted to dine inside, but most stayed in their cars and had their food orders brought to them by carhops whose uniforms were designed by Karbo, a tailor who taught sewing at Vocational High School in Minneapolis. He sewed the car hops’ Western-style outfits, with fringed skirts and tops. “The girls looked Western. They had ribbons in their hair, and they were cute,” he told the Northeaster’s Gail Olson in 2006.

Not content with selling 35-cent hamburgers and baskets of broasted chicken for $1.25, the partners added a merry-go-round “for the kiddies” and a golf driving range. An ad in the Argus enticed customers with “Davy Crockett is Open Nite and Day and is a Good Place to Eat and Play.”

Davy Crockett was in business for six years.

3 Circle

There’s not a lot of information about 3 Circle, but we know it existed at 2700 Coolidge St. in St. Anthony, which puts it in the vicinity of BLVD Auto Works. An ad in the Argus teased, “Come once … you’ll return.” The menu included hamburgers, shrimp and chicken. On the I Grew Up in Northeast Minneapolis Facebook page, Mary Steinke Dean recalled the pork tenderloin and steak sandwiches as “the best.” The drive-in was open 11 a.m. until midnight.

Perry’s Drive-in

Perry’s Drive-in claimed the northwest corner of 28th and Johnson St. NE. According to Minneapolis inspection records, Burgess Perry built the 27 x 25 x 8-ft. building in 1956 for $9,500 and added on to it in 1957. He owned another drive-in on West Lake Street, according to a Dec. 1, 1956 classified ad for Christmas trees in the Minneapolis Star.

Doug Jones said the Northeast Perry’s was on his paper route. “I delivered the newspaper to Perry’s Drive-In for probably three to four years. They had an indoor sitting area for those that walked over or did not want to eat in their car. During the winter I would come in and warm up and in the summer I would stop to cool off. I was always treated well. On occasion I was given food that was misordered for free.” Jones recalled that Perry lived on 31st and Ulysses. “He was very good to me.”

According to Minneapolis building inspection records, Perry sold the property in 1951 to Buzz and Clyde Haug, who erected a gas station on the corner. Perry moved his building to Old Hwy. 8 and Co. Rd. D, where it now is an office for Avis Car Rental. The gas station was torn down and the land sat empty until the Audubon Neighborhood Association established the Northeast Market Farm on it in 2023. 

Debbie’s Drive-in

Debbie’s coincided with the arrival of the Apache Plaza shopping mall in 1961. Located at 3005 37th Ave. NE (Silver Lake Road), Debbie’s Drive-in had an extensive menu that included lamb chops, steak and shrimp. Open 24 hours a day, the restaurant also offered free delivery. The following year, the restaurant expanded to include indoor seating for 40 and a picnic area with umbrella tables. In one promotion, you could get five hamburgers for 85 cents. Sundays were all-you-can-eat days; kids ate for $1, adults, $1.50.

Sandy’s

Sandy’s was a national chain that competed with McDonald’s. The St. Anthony restaurant, No. 15 in the chain, opened at 2626 Kenzie Terrace, where Walker Methodist is today, in 1960. In the ’70s, students from Edison would hop into their cars at lunch time and head to Sandy’s for a burger and a shake. Students from St. Charles Borromeo answered the restaurant’s siren call, too. David G. Thompson recalled on the I Grew Up in Northeast Minneapolis Facebook page, “I used my St. Charles $.25 lunch money to run down the block to Sandy’s.” Jon Knox had a different memory: “My sister drove the front end of our Country Squire through a window there.”

Sandy’s was bought out by Hardee’s in 1973.

Sun Drive-Inn

If there’s an iconic drive-in in this group, it’s the Sun. Located at 2951 Central Ave. NE (Prime Market & Deli is there today), it was established in 1954 by Bill Warren. As in the movie, “American Graffiti,” it was the gathering place of the young, where boys met girls and both sexes kept tabs on each other. Candy Sowden-Gettings said she really didn’t care about the food. “It wasn’t about the burgers for me. I wanted to see who was there.”

And then there were the cars. Sue Kinch recalled, “GTX, GTOs, Cameros, 442s, Super Bees, Road Runners, AMX, you name it you would find it hang[ing] out at the Sun.” Said William Keller, “I think there is still more rubber than tar on Central Avenue in front of that place.” The Sun was a regular stop for cruisers, who drove a circuit from Porky’s on Lake Street to Northeast and back. John Hoyny said dragsters would race to 37th and Central, then come back toward the Sun. “When they made the U-turn, the cops would be waiting to write them a ticket.”

The Sun was so popular, Warren hired a cop to keep order on the premises, and eventually charged 25 cents just to enter the parking lot. And still the cars lined up along Central.

“Once you got in,” Hoyny recalled, “you rolled up to a telephone on a pole and you could call in your order.” For many, the order included the Sunburger, which had a “secret sauce” that customers loved. When Warren sold the Sun Saloon on 16th and University to Mike Shaw, he sold the Sunburger recipe to him.

The Sun provided first jobs for many teenagers. Gail Duncan recalled working as a car hop 1964-1967 “$.90 hour felt like a fortune,” she wrote on Facebook. “Bill was a compassionate boss.” In help wanted ads directed at teenage girls in the Minneapolis Star, Warren offered free rides home at night. Eventually, employment ads sought out boys and stay-at-home moms. In 1968 the ads sought virtually anyone between the ages of 16 and 60 and offered $1.50 per hour.

Long before the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District came into being, Warren sponsored local artists. One was Willy Dawydenko. “Bill provided me with an open-ended account for paint,” he recalled. Dawydenko’s murals graced the fence more than once.

By 1976, the business had slowed down and Warren put it up for sale for $125,000. 

It operated briefly as Mr. Lic’s, selling Italian ices, lemonade and sandwiches. In 1982, the building was replaced by a convenience store. 

Sources

Hage, Dave, “The Neighborhood’s Not the Same Anymore,” Hennepin History, Summer 1984

Olson, Gail, “The car hops wore fringed skirts and tops, part of the frontier ambiance,” Northeaster, Aug. 23, 2006

Minneapolis Argus ads, 1955-1965