A&W Drive In Opens in Susanville

1971 Advertisement in the Lassen Cougar Yearbook. Courtesy of Jim Chapman

Seasoned residents will remember this establishment located at the bend in Main Street. It opened for business on May 22, 1961. It was established by John Gilliam and Leonard Porritt who invested $40,000 in this new enterprise. Decades later it shut down. It was first reincarnated as Chinese Kitchen and today it is the home of the Courthouse Cafe.

Subscribe

4 thoughts on “A&W Drive In Opens in Susanville”

  1. Seasoned we are but the Erbs ran A &W when we were Susanvillites. Recently enjoyed a filling breakfast at the Courthouse Cafe.

  2. Yep, the Erbs (we lived at opposite ends of Wildwoord Way) gave me a summer job chopping weeds at the A&W when I was 11 or 12 or so. One dollar an hour, plus a hamburger at the end of every shift. That’s the summer I found out just how bad my allergies were. After a Saturday morning of mowing, chopping and pulling weeds, I would be a sneezing, red-eyed and runny-nosed mess when I presented myself to the back door to get my Papa Burger.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.