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Hot Rods and Car Hops ... Perfect Together!
On April 9, 2021, NJ Cruise News met with the new owner, Darren DeSumma, of Weber’s Drive-In in Stratford, New Jersey, to gather a little history on this iconic establishment.
The Weber's Root Beer chain was founded in Tulsa in 1933 by Oscar “Weber Bilby”. The company expanded to 67 locations with most of them built in the Midwest. The only ones left are the one in Tulsa and two locations in New Jersey. The New Jersey restaurants are in Pennsauken (opened in 1951) and the recently re-opened Stratford (1959-2015, 2020—) locations.
According to Rick Bilby, the secret Weber’s root beer recipe blends 14 natural ingredients ("Every one of them are native to Oklahoma,") with pure cane sugar and purified water that is aged in birch bark barrels, and then bottled into a creamy, delicious drink. It was Oscar’s son Leo who took the family recipe and started the root beer company back in 1933, selling it from a drive-through window in Tulsa’s Brookside district.
As a Jersey boy growing up, Darren recalls cruising down Route 73 on the way to the shore, pulling into Mr. Bill’s grill for a cheeseburger and a soft drink.
“No matter where we went on a road trip, those places always spiked my interest.” Darren said. “Back in that time, things were simpler. I like the idea of that.”
“I always wanted to be in the food business. It’s something I’ve thought about since my early 20s. I always liked the uniqueness and character of it.”
He was so enamored with the idea that when the opportunity arose, he bought the Webers Drive-In on the White Horse Pike in Stratford from Mae Komesaruk who owned it with her husband from 1959 until retiring in 2015.
Darren and his wife, Shannon, extensively renovated the property, keeping the original building and car hop ambiance, opening for business in late summer 2020. However, due to the pandemic, they closed for the season after just a few short weeks , re-opening on April 6th, 2021. Things are hopping at the car hop as Summer approaches. The food is all freshly made and, of course, the root beer is the original Bilby family recipe served up in ice-cold frosted mugs.
The other Weber’s in Pennsauken — about 10 miles up the road from Stratford — is a retro throwback with a swooping Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired, space-age roof car port. It is reminiscent of the age of waitresses on roller skates delivering food to your car after flicking on your headlights.
How it all began…
During the early 1900’s two men, a businessman J.G. Kirby and a physician R.W. Jackson, realized that with the advent of the automobile and more and more people owning them, it would be a perfect time to open a restaurant. But not just any restaurant; wouldn’t people rather not have to get out of their cars to eat?. In the Fall of 1921, they opened a restaurant called The Pig Stand (Texas Pig Stand #1), at the busy intersection of Highway 80 and Cockrell, in the Chalk Hill area of Dallas. They hired young boys to take orders from the drivers and deliver the food right to the driver’s window before the engine had even cooled down.
The name "carhop" came from the practice of the waitress or waiter jumping up on the running board of a patron's car rolling into the parking lot. This car hopping showed that this particular car was that server's car, as tips were the main income of these waiters and waitresses.
During World War II, when most men left their jobs to join the military, women replaced the male carhops and though a pretty girl sold more food than a male, as men returned to the workforce, the pretty girls were seen as having an adverse effect on business by attracting loiterers.
The idea of drive up restaurants quickly caught on. In New Jersey there were two chains, Stewart’s and Weber’s, along with a multitude of mom and pop restaurants across the State. More recently, we’ve seen the Sonic chain spring up around the State. Unfortunately, many of the mom and pop car hops are now out of business. Names like the Chatterbox in Frankford Twp, New Jersey, and the Circus Drive In in Wall, New Jersey, have gone the way of Two Guys from Harrison.
Stewart’s Root Beer or Stewart’s Drive-In, is a chain of root beer stands started in 1924 by Frank Stewart in Mansfield, Ohio. Stewart opened up a small stand to make extra money in the summer to supplement his income as a school teacher. The restaurant was originally a West-Coast-style fast-food eatery serving only root beer and popcorn. Stewart added extra salt to his popcorn to boost his root beer sales...genius! It was such a success, he opened up more locations, many of them with carhops.
During it’s heyday, there were as many as 67 Stewart’s across the United States. To date, as of 2021, there are 30 locations open in the United States, 20 of which are located in New Jersey with the rest in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
The Pig Stand, Texas, 1928
Weber's, Stratford (pictured left to right, "Hot Rod" Mike, the crew, and Owner, Darren DeSumma)
Mr. Bill's, Winslow, NJ
Weber's, Stratford, new sign
Opened in 2003, the 50’s/60’s style Chatterbox closed in 2018, demolished in 2021
Built in 1954 , the Jersey shore landmark was demolished in 2018; the sign was donated to the town and is being preserved.
Opened in 1997, Stewart’s, Tuckerton, New Jersey is celebrating it’s 24th year in 2021.
