Classic Diners & Drive-Ins

About Classic Diners & Drive-Ins

Classic Diners & Drive-Ins is a free nostalgia trivia quiz with 15 multiple-choice questions with a mix of 6 easy, 5 hard, 4 medium questions. Relive the golden age of roadside dining! Test your knowledge of soda fountains, jukeboxes, carhops, and the diner culture that defined American life in the 1950s and 60s. A typical run takes about 7 minutes, hints are always one tap away, and your streak ticks up the first time you finish a game on a given day.

A few sample questions

1. 1. What was the name of the server who brought food to your car at a drive-in restaurant?

   Answer: Carhop

   Carhops were the servers at drive-in restaurants who brought food directly to customers waiting in their cars. The name likely came from the way they would hop onto the running boards of cars.

2. 2. What coin-operated machine was a staple in nearly every diner booth during the 1950s?

   Answer: Jukebox

   Tabletop jukebox selectors (called Seeburg Wall-O-Matics) were placed right in diner booths, allowing customers to pick songs for a nickel or dime while they ate.

3. 3. What classic diner beverage was made by mixing flavored syrup with carbonated water at a counter?

   Answer: Soda fountain drink

   Soda fountains were a central feature of diners and drugstores, where a 'soda jerk' would mix carbonated water with flavored syrups to create drinks right at the counter.

4. 4. Which fast-food chain, founded in 1919, became famous for its frosty mugs of root beer served by carhops?

   Answer: A&W

   A&W was founded by Roy Allen in 1919 in Lodi, California. The name came from partners Allen and Frank Wright. Their frosty mugs of root beer became an American icon.

5. 5. What was the person behind the soda fountain counter commonly called?

   Answer: Soda jerk

   The term 'soda jerk' came from the jerking motion used to pull the tap handles on the soda fountain to dispense carbonated water. It was a common job for young people in the 1940s and 50s.

Things you'll learn along the way

• ✓Howard Johnson's, often called HoJo's, was famous for its distinctive orange roofs and 28 flavors of ice cream. At its peak in the 1960s and 70s, it was the largest restaurant chain in the United States.
• ✓'Adam and Eve on a raft' was diner shorthand for two poached eggs on toast. If the cook was told to 'wreck 'em,' it meant to scramble the eggs instead.
• ✓Sonic Drive-In, founded in 1953 in Shawnee, Oklahoma (originally called Top Hat Drive-In), is the largest drive-in restaurant chain in the United States and is known for its skating carhops.