Jump to content

Mel's Drive-In

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Mel's Drive-in)
For the restaurant featured in the TV show Alice, see Mel's Diner.
Mel's Drive-In
Restaurant information
CountryUnited States
Websitemelsdrive-in.com
originalmels.com
Mel's Drive-In neon sign, Los Angeles, CA

Mel's Drive-In refers to two American restaurant chains, the successors of a chain founded in 1947 by Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs in San Francisco, California. The original chain operated until the 1970s. A new generation of Mel's Drive-In restaurants then began opening in the 1980s, with the business split into two separate groups: one doing business under the original Mel's Drive-In name and the other under the name Original Mels.

Mel's Drive-In became closely associated with the 1973 film American Graffiti after one of its restaurants was used as a filming location. The film's distributor, Universal Studios, licensed the Mel's Drive-In brand to recreate the restaurants in its Universal theme parks.

The signage and menus on the original Mel's Diners did not have a possessive apostrophe in the name, as would be expected. However, Universal Studios opted to include the apostrophe in all Mel's Drive-In signage, literature, and media.

History

[edit]

The first Mel's Drive-In was founded in 1947 by Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs in San Francisco, California. It later expanded to several other locations.

After the last of the original restaurants closed in the 1970s, Weiss's son Steven Weiss and partner Donald Wagstaff opened the first of a new generation of Mel's Drive-In restaurants in 1985.[1] A family rift between father and son caused them to part ways and form two chains, with Steven retaining the "Mel's Drive-In" name and Mel called his restaurants "Original Mels". The elder Weiss then sold his company in 1994.[2]

Locations

[edit]

Next generation Mel's Drive-In

[edit]

As of 2025, the next generation Mel's Drive-In chain has eight locations, four in San Francisco and four in the Los Angeles Area.[3] Some Mel's Drive-In locations are not drive-ins but rather diners. For example, while founded in San Francisco, none of the locations in the city currently serve food to patrons' cars.

The location near Downtown San Francisco, rechristened "Mel's Kitchen", has gone upscale, serving $12 cocktails, $16 burgers with locally sourced beef, ahi poke, acai smoothies, and avocado toast.[4][5][6][7] That site was almost demolished in 2018 to build housing.[8]

Mel's Drive-In in the historic Max Factor Building in Hollywood

All four locations in the Los Angeles area are housed in historic buildings. Mel's Drive-In in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles was built as Kerry's coffee shop in 1953. The googie style building was designed by Armet & Davis. Mel's Drive-In in West Hollywood was built as Ben Frank's in 1962. The googie style building was designed by Lane & Schlick. Mel's Drive-In in Hollywood is located in a portion of the former Max Factor makeup studio designed by theater architect S. Charles Lee. The Hollywood Regency style building was designed by S. Charles Lee and built in 1935. The Mel's Drive-In in Santa Monica was built as The Penguin in 1958. The googie style building was designed by Armet & Davis.[9][10][11][12]

Original Mels

[edit]
The Original Mels - 2009

The Original Mels chain has 22 locations across Northern California and Nevada.[13] There are some Northern California locations that share the same general American Graffiti nostalgia theme and the similarly styled Mel's logo.

Protest

[edit]
Interior of an Original Mels Diner

Starting on October 16, 1963, the Ad Hoc Committee to End Discrimination organized pickets and sit-ins at the Mel's Drive-In locations in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley[14] over the fact that while the restaurant would serve food to African Americans and hired them as cooks, they were not allowed to work "up front" where they could be seen by white customers. More than 100 protesters were arrested. The picketing ended when Harold Dobbs, Mel's Drive-In co-founder who was serving as a San Francisco City supervisor at the time, settled with the protesters and began to allow black workers upfront.[15]

[edit]
Mel's at Universal Studios Singapore

In 1972, the restaurant was selected as a feature location by George Lucas for his 1973 film American Graffiti. The Mel's used was located at 140 South Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.[16] It serves as the setting for the opening scene of the film as well as the backdrop for the opening credits, accompanied on the soundtrack by Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock”.

The prominent play given to the location has been credited with having saved the company from possibly going out of business.[citation needed] Signage and artwork from the Mel's chain are frequently used in marketing for the film.

Universal Studios has built replica Mel's Drive-In restaurants, resembling the one featured in American Graffiti, at their theme parks in Hollywood, Orlando, Japan, Beijing, and Singapore.

Prior to American Graffiti, Mel's was used as a location in the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn are out for a drive, and Tracy pulls into Mel's and orders Oregon boysenberry ice cream; he then has a minor traffic altercation with a black man. The Mel's was located in the Excelsior district of San Francisco. Hepburn and Tracy never actually visited the location.

Mel's restaurants have since been featured in other media, such as Melrose Place (1996, Season 5, Episode 1), Doonesbury comics (December 18, 1989), and the book The American Drive-in by Mike Witzel.

The address for the Mel's Drive-In location in West Hollywood is listed at the bottom of the signed headshots found in the VIP packages for the band Ghost's "A Pale Tour Named Death".

[edit]
  • Mel's Drive-In sign in San Francisco.
    Mel's Drive-In sign in San Francisco.
  • Bar seating at a Mel's Drive-In
    Bar seating at a Mel's Drive-In
  • Mel's drive in Hollywood
    Mel's drive in Hollywood
  • Sweet potato fries at Original Mel's Diner
    Sweet potato fries at Original Mel's Diner
  • Original Mel's Diner at Boomtown in Verdi, Nevada
    Original Mel's Diner at Boomtown in Verdi, Nevada
  • Mel's Drive-In on Mission Street in San Francisco
    Mel's Drive-In on Mission Street in San Francisco
  • Mel's Drive-In sign in San Francisco
    Mel's Drive-In sign in San Francisco
  • Breakfast at Mel's Drive-in
    Breakfast at Mel's Drive-in
  • Original Mel's in Fairfield, CA
    Original Mel's in Fairfield, CA

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Eng 2010, p. 103
  2. ^ "A 24-hour diner, Original Mels, soon to open on Howe". Sacramento Business Journal. February 18, 1999. Archived from the original on May 25, 2011.
  3. ^ "Locations". Mels Drive-In. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
  4. ^ "Mel's Drive-In revamps its Van Ness location with cocktails and dry-aged, locally sourced burger". SFGate. 2018-09-19. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  5. ^ "Mel's Drive-In Transforms into Swanky Destination for Avocado Toast and $12 Cocktails". Eater SF. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  6. ^ "SF's shuttered 'Mel's Drive-In' to reopen with new concept". SFGate. 2018-02-26. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  7. ^ "Avocado toast and cold brew … at Mel's Drive-In?". The Mercury News. 2018-09-19. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  8. ^ "In unusual twist amid development boom, Mel's Drive-In will not be torn down for housing". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  9. ^ "Santa Monica's Penguin Coffee Shop Is Being Restored". Los Angeles magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  10. ^ "Mel's". Los Angeles Conservancy. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  11. ^ "Mel's Drive-In". Santa Monica Conservancy. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  12. ^ Hess 2004, p. 113
  13. ^ "Our Story". Original Mels. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
  14. ^ "The Civil Rights Movement in The Bay Area". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 2025-02-16.
  15. ^ "From Freedom Now! to Free Speech: How the 1963-64 Bay Area Civil Rights Demonstrations Paved the Way to Campus Protest" by Jo Freeman
  16. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-01-27. Retrieved 2014-02-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mel's Drive-In.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Original Mels Diner.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mel%27s_Drive-In&oldid=1291009624"