In Traverse City’s East Bay, on the busy hotel strip on U.S. 31, is Don’s Drive In. The pink and turquoise restaurant is known for its burgers and shakes and the fact that it’s kind of old school.
It's considered old school because, for one, it has menus with squawk boxes lined up outside along a row of parking spots. Drivers, like Mary Korson in her pickup truck, park next to one of the boxes, check out the menu and push the button when they're ready to order. Then server Krystal Coyne responds over the squawk box, says "I'll be with you in a moment" and heads out to take the order in person.
Krystal is entering her senior year at St. Francis. She's been working at Don’s Drive In for about a month. She takes Mary's order: a BLT on white bread and a medium strawberry milkshake "with the strawberries crushed up good." It's to-go. Her total comes to $12.12.
The inside of Don’s is about as old school as the outside. The drive-in opened in 1958, and General Manager Dan Reed says the interior hasn't changed much since then. It has a checkered black and white floor, red and white booths, a jukebox and an old pinball machine. He says the menu is also pretty much the same, except they’ve added things like fried pickles, curly fries and mozzarella sticks. Dan says burgers still make up roughly 90 percent of their sales.
Krystal normally brings the food out to drivers on trays that hook to the car window and stay put while they eat. But since Mary’s order is to-go, she doesn't get the tray.
Mary says Don's is a blast from the past. She’s been coming here every couple of weeks on and off for the past 20 years. She says it reminds her of when she was young.
"They were all like this when I was a kid," Mary says. "It just brings back good memories."
