After a great day at the Getty Villa (and the lunch there was delicious, too), we enjoyed a classic dinner at Mel’s Drive-In, where a great waiter served us.
While waiting for the food, I played my favorite 1950s tunes to get in the mood!
While sitting in our booth, I noticed a picture from the George Lucas film, American Graffiti of the original Mel’s Drive-In, in San Francisco.
In 1947, the temperate California weather inspired Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs to open a drive-in restaurant with car hop service (sometimes with roller skates) year round.
Within seven years they were flipping 15,000-20,000 burgers daily, which brought in $4 million a year.
Due to the new competitive market of fast food, Weiss and Dobbs sold their drive-in to another company in 1972.
The following year, George Lucas used the site for his coming of age movie from sunset to sunrise.
Uniquely shooting the film sequentially, Lucas told the young unknowns that his intent was for their natural fatigue to show through the shots of the story set from sunset to sunrise.
Soon after the movie shoot, the diner closed its doors.
In 1985, the original owner’s son, Steven Weiss, partnered with Donald Wagstaff to reopen Mel’s in San Francisco.
Their success allowed them to gradually open four more locations throughout Southern California, and three more in San Francisco.
In 2018, the Santa Monica location, where we were eating, opened in the Penguin Building that was built in 1959.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of American Graffiti, memorabilia and signage was everywhere.
This spot is a major terminus point for both famed Route 66, which runs through Amarillo, Texas, and I-10, which runs through my hometown of San Antonio, Texas.
