Cruiser won't forget Woodward hotspots

Royal Oak

They were the places to see and be seen for anyone devoted to Woodward Avenue's hangout culture. With names like Totem-Pole, Mavericks and Ted's, dozens of drive-in restaurants dotted Woodward from the 1940s until the late 1960s, serving as stopping points and social hangouts for youngsters who sought greasy food, friendly conversation and the main attraction -- cars.

Over time, the last of these nostalgic spots closed, living only in books and in memories of cruisers. But just in time for the 16th annual Woodward Dream Cruise on Saturday, one man is on a mission to remind car fans of the drive-ins' place in history and their literal place along Woodward Avenue.

Self-described "early" cruiser Ed Aulph has spent the past year researching and locating dozens of displaced drive-ins along Woodward Avenue from Ferndale to Bloomfield Hills. For his research, Aulph went to the Royal Oak library, contacted the Royal Oak Historical Society, called old friends and used a 1996 calendar that profiled vintage drive-ins in Metro Detroit.

Aulph has located 20 of the old carhop restaurants, and now the 80-year-old bricklayer from Clawson is working with city officials in Royal Oak to create signposts to mark the old spots so cruisers can learn more about Metro Detroit's auto-driven heritage.

"Most people who go to the Cruise are younger. They've heard of drive-ins but they don't know where they were," Aulph said. "I thought if we knew where all of them were, we could put a sign in front of them."

Greg Rassel, head of Royal Oak's Department of Public Works and president of the Woodward Dream Cruise Inc. board, said the task presents a slight challenge since state transportation officials changed all Woodward Avenue addresses more than a decade ago to make them consistent city to city.

The drive-ins used the old number system, but Aulph has been able to provide an approximate location for most.

"It's always good to see people interested in the Cruise and it's definitely a different take on this," Rassel said. "It's why people came to Woodward in the 1950s and 1960s -- to hang out. And there is a resurgence in the interest of drive-ins now with the Sonic (restaurant) in Royal Oak."

Some landmark drive-ins stand out, including Ted's Drive Inn, which claimed to be Michigan's first on Woodward, near Square Lake Road in Bloomfield Hills. It became one of the most popular destinations and was known for "the world's largest hot dog," priced at 35 cents.

Then there was the Totem Pole, opened in Royal Oak in 1954, which featured a 16-foot totem pole. The restaurant introduced the "Teletray," a two-way speaker through which customers could order the popular Big Chief Burger.

At these places, waitresses sporting hats and uniforms served trays of hamburgers and milkshakes. Drivers turned lights on for service and later turned them back on to have a tray removed. But the biggest thrill was meeting other people and racing cars down Woodward.

By the late '60s and early '70s, the cruising heyday was about over, Woodward historians say. Gas prices rose, the drive-ins were closing up, cops were cracking down on street racing and the baby boomers went off to college or Vietnam.

Aulph remembers the smells, thrills and excitement of the drive-ins along Woodward when he was a young man in 1947.

Aulph describes himself as an "early cruiser," but when he first visited a Woodward drive-in, he wasn't behind the wheel -- he was on horseback, thanks to a stable nearby where you could rent horses. He and his friends would tie the horses to a utility pole and order food from the car hops.

Then Aulph got his father's old but fixed-up 1937 Plymouth pickup. He took his buddies on Woodward, where they ordered from waitresses clad in white hats and boots with short, dark uniforms.

"I was there every Friday and Saturday night and sometimes on Sundays," Aulph said. "It was a place to congregate, a place for socializing. That's what it was all about. Young people can go there, meet each other and have a good time."

But it was the cars too he remembered, even the old pickup.

"I'd race that car down Woodward -- it had a standard block engine -- and there would be these cars made after World War II and I would still beat 'em," Aulph recalled with delight.

Retired newspaper publisher Ron Shamma recalled cruising Woodward Avenue in the late 1950s, when kids spent all evening driving up and down the thoroughfare, stopping at drive-ins, checking out who was there, ordering as little food as possible, then heading back out onto the road.

"Everybody who was anybody was there," Shamma said. "That was part of the mystique. We would make the circuit cruising Woodward, from the Big Boy to Ted's and the Totem Pole, and swing back around and go back."

One night, when Shamma was allowed to drive his father's 1956 Pontiac, he took his then girlfriend and now wife, Molly, out on Woodward, hitting all the drive-ins.

"The next morning, my dad is shaking me awake and screaming at me: What did I do to his car? What did I do to his car?"

There was no accident, Shamma, now 67, said. "So I said 'What, what?'

"He said 'You put 166 miles on my car last night. What did you do?' " Shamma recalled.

" 'I went to the drive-ins, Dad,' " Shamma recalled telling his father. "But to this day I don't think he ever believed me."