Cruisin’ Down Memory Lane

…well, at least our parents were.  Phillips Drive In (P.D.I., as it is affectionately called), the restaurant we co-own and Barry manages, has been around since 1948 and was a popular hangout during the 50s, 60s, and 70s.  Folks our parents’ ages who were teenagers during those years met at P.D.I. to hang out, show off their hot rods, “pick up chicks,” and many eventually married.  It was the place to be around here, and it has stood the test of time.  After all these years, people still come to P.D.I. for great food, great service, and for the nostalgia. Barry and his dad have worked hard over the years to keep the menu the same as well as the quality of the food and the service.  For the people who have moved away, it’s always top of their list of places to stop when they come home.

PDI back in the 50s. It was a Dairy Queen for the first few years.

This past weekend we hosted the first ever P.D.I. Reunion which included a popular band (The Untouchables) from that era, a classic car show complete with several burn-outs throughout the night, door prizes, a memory wall to sign, and t-shirts to remember it by.  It is estimated that there were somewhere around 700-800 people who attended (some from as far away as Alaska and Washington), and it was unanimous that we must do this again next year.  It was definitely enjoyed by all.

A couple of guys at the reunion attempted to recreate the original picture - I think they got pretty close.

My favorite part of the reunion, the memory wall, was open for anyone to write a memory or just sign their names. Couples told of how they met at PDI and are still together, some people just wrote of their favorite item on the menu, and some remembered Barry's dad. The wall included a mural of his dad at the grill, which was where he spent most of his life. Barry's mom first saw him at PDI in 1959. He turned around and winked at her and stole her heart. I sure do wish we could have done this when he was still living.