Ray Kroc

So I'll go see it for myself.

To understand what Ray Kroc saw when he stepped onto that lot in San Bernardino,

You have to understand what had been happening along America's roadsides.

The drive-in restaurant was a child of the automobile age.

In 1920, there were about 8 million cars in the United States.

By 1930, that number had tripled.

Henry Ford's Model T had made the automobile affordable for ordinary people.

And once Americans had cars, they didn't want to get out of them.

Not for anything, and certainly not to eat.

the first true drive-in opened in nineteen twenty one in dallas young boys in white shirts and black bow ties would hop onto customers running boards before their cars had even stopped take their orders and run back food when it was ready people called them car

By 1930, the roadside restaurant had become essential to American life.

Some were barely more than shacks.

Others were architectural fantasies shaped like giant oranges or airplanes.

Anything to catch a hungry motorist's eye.

But then came the Depression.

Fine dining collapsed.

Bread lines stretched around city blocks.

But the drive-in still thrived.

Its formula was perfect for hard times.

Cheap food, served fast, no need to dress up or tip.