In the 1950s' most every community/town had a teen-age gathering place. This is a picture of one in Lubbock,Texas. Often referred to if one reads anything about Buddy Holly. Note the cars...often there would be "car-hops" some even on skates. Thousands of laps were made by many teenagers of that time...yours truly included...
LA
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Just some thoughts:
Buddy Holly's classic rock-n'-roll hit "Peggy Sue" was written about an actual girl Holly knew, Peggy Sue Gerron. In fact Peggy Sue dated and later married Jerry Allison the drummer for the Crickets, Holly's first band. Year's later she wrote a book What Ever Happened to Peggy Sue?"
Recently in reading her book I was taken by the number of things that so many towns, communities of the 1950s' had in common. Holly and Peggy Sue grew up in the west Texas town of Lubbock. In that town there was the Hi-D-Ho drive-in restaurant. Every town of any size in American especially during this time had such places.
"We also hung out at the Hi-D-Ho, drinking Cokes or a sour time, and talking---seeing and being seen. Every important thing that happened to a couple became common knowledge at the Hi-D-Ho drive-in in Lubbock, Texas. The main drive-in was on 19th Street. The building had plate-glass windows in the front that curved down the sides so we could drive all the way around and see who was there and with whom. We would drive from one Hi-D-Ho location to the other, park, get out of the car, watch the guys kick tires, and talk to our friends. All my girlfriends dragged the drive-in on Saturday night. If we had a date, we did the same thing. Going steady? The Hi-D-Ho was the place to be seen. Having problems? The Hi-D-Ho was the place to work things out. I always wondered how many girls were proposed to at the Hi-D-Ho and how many breakups happened there."
Peggy Sue Gerron--What Ever Happened to Peggy Sue
The movie "American Graffiti helped give credence to the popularity of such places in the lives of kids from the late 1950s'. A number scenes took place at Mel's Diner.
As I read that paragraph I thought back to my growing up days. The "strip," well that was Wabash Avenue in Terre Haute, Indiana. The Hi-D-Ho's for our generation would have been O'Days, TheTrianon and last on the strip, Henri's.
Up and down, round and round.
Where was your Hi-D-Ho?
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September 22, 2016
Keep on,
Larry Adamson