A & Dubs
By wildgoose on May 14, 2012 in Overheard in Duluth, Photos, Restaurants
It’s back. First day I’ve seen A and Dubs open this year.
I couldn’t find any reviews from burgerdogboy for some reason and he’s usually got Duluth hand food pretty well covered. However, I did find this little blurb on Jim Heffernan’s blog.
PDD reader-generated A & Dubs stories are most welcome in the comments.
Do they take plastic this year? Or strictly cash or check?
I love A & Dubs, but they really need to add cheese curds to their menu.
Today was indeed the first day it was open. Thanks for the tip, Wildgoose.
My A & Dubs advice is always this: If you order French fries, ask for extra ketchup right off the bat. You’re going to need it.
The A & Dubs opening means it’s officially spring in Duluth. My wife and I stopped by after work for root beer and a bite to eat. The parking lot was jammed with cars parked three deep. Well worth the wait.
A 2010 News Tribune Attic post on A & Dubs, referring back to an article from 1996:
West End Icon: Duluth’s last drive-in serves side of tradition with burgers
For those who don’t recall (or know), A&Dubs opened as an A&W on that very site shortly after World War II, probably about 1947. My older brother worked there when it first opened, but he quit after about a week because our parents didn’t want him, just starting high school, to work until 2 a.m., when the drive-in closed in those days. Ten years later, when I was in high school (Denfeld), it was an in-season social center for kids from West End and West Duluth. I believe there was one drive-in in Duluth before A&W. If memory serves (and it so often doesn’t), it was on the lower side of Grand around 42nd Avenue West. Didn’t last long.
Jim Heffernan
By the way, current A & Dubs hours are 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
My sloppy brain recalls that Sandy’s was a drive-in on London Rd. about 15th Ave. E. Oh, and wasn’t Henry’s drive-in-style, too? Oh, yeah, and Duffy’s in Kenwood was a drive-in.
The closest thing to an independent drive-in that I remember here in Duluth from my youth was the Dairy Delight on Arlington and Arrowhead Road. It lasted into the 90s and has been a revolving door of other businesses since (correct me if I am wrong.)
Also, Jim and Tim, you have just whetted my appetite. Let’s have some stories of the “in-season social center.” Seriously, it was open until 2 am! I’m thinking maybe it was the “House of Donuts” of its day.
Re: the other drive-in restaurants mentioned above -- here are other Attic entries on most of them; some more background info is included in the comments with each post:
Henry’s Hamburgers
Fountain Drive-In
Fountain follow-up
Dary Delite (no “i” in “Dary” is correct)
Guppy’s Drive-In
Mars Drive-In
There was an entry on Sandy’s, too, but the link is not working. I may have to re-create that page.
Burgerdogboy is on the job, get there soon!