My collection on vintage Jack in the Box Drive-In restaurants for the 1960s and 1970s.
The story of San Diego’s cultural history can not be fairly told without a chapter about Robert Oscar Peterson, the founder of Jack In The Box. The brand is not only a San Diego success story, but there are at least 2100 shops in 18 States, making this a story of national significance as well.
But through and through it is all about San Diego. Peterson grew up in North Park. He attended Jefferson Grammar School and Graduated from Hoover High. He attended San Diego State majoring in economics and graduated from UCLA.
To pay for his last year of college he rented Balboa Park’s Cafe To The World (present site of the Timkin Gallery) and charged admission for Friday night dances. At least two notable names in history were a part of this enterprise. A young Gregory Peck tore tickets. Art Linkletter was a bouncer.
As stated in the above newspaper clip from 1983 “Robert Oscar Peterson has exerted a profound effect on the life of San Diego.” He was an active supporter of cultural and fine arts in San Diego. He was backer the Symphony and San Diego Zoo. And he had a great eye for architecture.
History Jack in the Box..
Robert Oscar Peterson already owned several successful restaurants when he opened Topsy's Drive-In at 6270 El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego in 1941. Several more Topsy's were opened and eventually renamed Oscar's (after Peterson's middle name). By the late 1940s the Oscar's locations had developed a circus-like décor featuring drawings of a starry-eyed clown. In 1947, Peterson obtained rights for the intercom ordering concept from George Manos who owned one location named Chatter box in Anchorage, Alaska, the first known location to use the intercom concept for drive up windows. In 1951, Peterson converted the El Cajon Boulevard location into Jack in the Box, a hamburger stand focused on drive-through service.[6] While the drive-through concept was not new, Jack in the Box innovated a two-way intercom system, the first major chain to use an intercom and the first to focus on drive-through.[7] The intercom allowed much faster service than a traditional drive-up window; while one customer was being served at the window, a second and even a third customer's order could be taken and prepared. A giant clown projected from the roof, and a smaller clown head sat atop the intercom, where a sign said "Pull forward, Jack will speak to you." The Jack in the Box restaurant was conceived as a "modern food machine," designed by La Jolla, California master architect Russell Forester.[8] Quick service made the new location very popular, and soon all of Oscar's locations were redesigned with intercoms and rechristened Jack in the Box restaurants.
10 апр 2012
