Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Photos: This 1950s Drive-In Used Conveyor Belts To Serve Food
Los Angeles' car culture was in full bloom after the war, and the innovations that came along with an auto-centric lifestyle were also booming. No other region is more associated with drive-thru, drive-in restaurants and drive-in theaters than Southern California. And while the drive-thru restaurant has endured through the decades, the rest feel like novelties at this point. The "Motormat" is no exception.
|
Support for LAist comes from
Patented by Kenneth C. Purdy in 1948, the Motormat was designed to eliminate the need for carhops to take your order and deliver your food by having everything done via conveyor belt. The Track restaurant, originally at 8201 Beverly Blvd. in Beverly Grove, had 20 stalls utilizing this technology that were arranged around the central building like the spokes on a wheel. A metal bin on a conveyor belt served as the waiter, busboy, and server. "It saves from 30 to 50% of the time it takes you to eat at an ordinary drive-in," Purdy told The Milwaukee Journal in 1949. "You don't have to wait for a carhop, blow dust out of your food, honk for your check or wait for change."
Indeed, the process was quite comprehensive. Purdy's Motormat all but cooked the food for you, as the book Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America explains:
A customer would drive up to a window-high bin, mounted on rails, containing glasses of water, menu, pencil, and pad. He or she would then fill out the order, push a button, and send the bin scooting back to the kitchen, which lay at the center of the circular structure. While the order was being prepared, the bin would be sent back with the bill. After the bin was returned with payment, the food and change would be sent back down the rails, with no need to tip a waitress.
The top speed, by the way, of the Motormat was only 120 feet per minute, less than 1.5 miles per hour. At least that reduced the possibilities of spills!
Although the Motormat never quite took off—it's tough when you're replacing girls in rollerskates with slow robots—the novelty was enough to garner some hype. Purdy told The Milwaukee Journal that The Track sold three days worth of food to 3,000 customers on its opening day, and fed almost 40,000 mouths in its first two weeks.
The Track no longer stands where it once operated on Beverly Boulevard, down the street from what is now The Beverly Center, though the Historic Los Angeles blog points out that there once was a listing for "The Track No. 3" in Culver City, so it seems there was an expansion to at least three restaurants. The Motormat's legacy lives on, though. In 2006, a Chick-fil-a in Houston opened with a second "remote" drive-thru lane that features food delivered via conveyor belt.
Support for LAist comes from
Related:
Photos: The Beverly Grove Theme Park That Inspired Walt Disney
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
If approved, the more than 62-acre project would include 50 housing lots and a marina less than a mile from Jackie and Shadow's famous nest overlooking the lake. -
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted limits on immigration sweeps in Southern California, overturning a lower court ruling that prohibited agents from stopping people based on their appearance.
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars.
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
Best of LAist