A couple of drive-ins

Remembering carhops, 7 x 9" watercolor

Having left North Carolina for thirty-seven years, I remember carhops, but for the life of me, I don’t remember El’s Drive-In in Morehead City. I do remember pizza burgers. In high school in Goldsboro, going to the beach took precedent over going to the prom. Five or so gals would get together, get a chaperone, and rent a place at the beach. Most often, on prom weekend, we’d skip the prom altogether, and head for the coast. Crazy. At the end of a sometimes life-changing weekend, on the way out of Morehead, we’d stop for pizza burgers. I remember getting them to go, and as the sun set low in the western sky, we’d say goodbye to Morehead City as we chowed down our pizza burgers and headed back to Goldsboro.

Forty years later, I pulled into this popular Morehead drive-in and asked my carhop, “Do you have pizza burgers?”  With her positive reply, I knew it had to be the same place we’d gone to way back in the sixties.

Backed up to the Big Oak, 5.5 x 9.5" watercolor

The Big Oak Drive-In in Salter Path, North Carolina, south of Morehead, is a place I cannot recall. Never got down that way when I was growing up. My understanding is that it’s just as popular as El’s and possibly, even older. I wish it were as easy to sell paintings, as it is to sell burgers. I got to the Big Oak at closing time, 4:00. As I painted this watercolor, at least six cars pulled up, only to find the place closed.

Both paintings have found their way to Vision Gallery in Atlantic Beach, NC. Grab a pizza burger on your way there.