Vintage Roadside Visits: The Frostop in LaPlace, Louisiana

As we celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, we thought this would be the perfect time to share some history behind a classic roadside drive in. Nothing says summer like a meal at a mom and pop place with some history behind it!

We were thrilled to recently talk with Terry Toler of the LaPlace Frostop and here’s some history she was kind enough to share with us.

Vintage Roadside: What year was the LaPlace Frostop built?

Terry: 1958.

Vintage Roadside: Who built the restaurant?

Terry: My grandfather, Morris Terry built the LaPlace Frostop as an investment. He, my grandmother, and mom would take rides to one in Kenner, LA and he decided to build one in LaPlace. He never ran it - he leased it out.

Vintage Roadside: So the original restaurant was built as a franchise location?

Terry: Yes, this restaurant was built to be a Frostop.

Vintage Roadside: Did your grandfather have prior restaurant experience?

Terry: My grandfather and grandmother May Terry actually had a restaurant near where Frostop is today named Terry’s Restaurant. It burned down in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s.

Vintage Roadside: Has the restaurant always been owned by your family?

Terry: Starting with my grandfather it has been in our family the entire 51 years. The first man to lease it, not sure of his name, ran it for about 6 months. He was followed by Sonny Kendrick and then his brother Wayne Kendrick who ran it until 1966. The Frostop was run from 1966 - 1973 by Bill Gooding, Dave Millet, and Roland Millet.

Vintage Roadside: How long has your family been actively operating the restaurant?

Terry: My parents, Jimmie and Evelyn Toler, took over operation of the Frostop June 1, 1973. I joined my parents after graduating from LSU in 1993. I actually started back in 1979 cleaning tables and washing dishes and progressed from there on!

Vintage Roadside: When did the Frostop chain cease operation?

Terry: The best we can tell it was around 1981. My Dad called in an order for Frostop merchandise - cups, napkins, etc. The company handling that said they were no longer handling those items. Apparently we were the only Frostop buying the items. We never received any formal notification.

Vintage Roadside: How many Frostop restaurants are left?

Terry: There are several left scattered throughout the United States. There are more in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas than anywhere else in the country. The one in Thibodaux moved to a new location, as did one that was in Jefferson - it moved to Destrehan, so they no longer have the original look. Several “new” Frostop’s have opened and closed in the area in the past few years. There is no franchise so everyone does their own thing. Outside of Louisiana, there are Frostop’s in Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Illinois, Utah, and Idaho. Many of these are no longer operating in their original buildings. The Frostop in Huntington, West Virginia seems to be the one that has most maintained its original look. It was built in 1959. The internet has really allowed us to see the other Frostop’s across the country.

Here is a great website detailing some of them.

Vintage Roadside: Your building still has that classic, original look to it. What changes have you made since 1958?

Terry: The building has changed some through the years. The original building was much smaller. The mug was on the roof and there was no neon on the building or mug. Below is the original look:


The mug was moved to a pole sometime in the 1960’s and neon was put on the building and mug. No one seems to remember the details of mug move and neon. The dining room was added in 1962. At some point an office, back area, and storage room were added. In 1981, my Dad Jimmie, decided to do a renovation and changed the layout of the kitchen and serving area. The cooking and serving were all done in a small area. We had the room so they changed it up making things much better. The only change to the outside of the building was covering the original tile with wood. That was a decision that would come back to haunt us!


Serving cooking area before remodeling:


The mug received its first minor renovation in 1987, scaffolding was erected and the neon was taken off. Mugs Coleman, a local man, did some minor repairs to the metal and then repainted it. We had the rotation repaired by Brightway Signs and then put the mugs rotation and neon maintenance under contract with them.


In the early 1990’s a cream colored siding went on top of the wood and original tile.


Then in 1996, we found out that the building had Formosan termites! The wood under the siding was NOT a good idea, so off came the siding and the wood underneath it. We put cream colored tiles over the original tiles. The decision was made to change out our floor and put a slanted metal roof instead of the original flat roof. One week into the project with the roof off it stormed and our ceiling and walls buckled. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We found out we had termites in every wall! That started the process of almost 2 months of being closed and having every wall redone. The roof now has a different look thanks to that! The neon on the face of the building was changed a bit. Hamburgers - Hotdogs -BBQ now reads Burgers - Poboys - Hotdogs.


We were very conscious by 1996 that we wanted things to go back as they had been. I think had we bulldozed and started over it would have greatly changed people’s perception of the LaPlace Frostop.

The next change was the 2007 complete restoration of the mug. The original mug was sheet metal but it was redone in aluminum. The original frame, handle, and fiberglass frame were kept. Brightway/American Sign did the work. They still had the maintenance contract and completely reworked the transformers for the neon and rotation while it was in their shop.


I feel the building has stayed true to its roots while keeping it looking as original as possible. The only thing we would like to do is remove the siding under the canopy - under the siding is the original checkerboard pattern on the canopy.


Vintage Roadside: You mentioned the restoration of the mug – while being such an important piece of your history, it must have been one of those things that can really affect a budget.

Terry: I didn’t change the neon in the renovation - they took it off and put it back on. The rebuilding of the mug was just under $19,000 - to do the neon all new would have been at least another $10,000.

Vintage Roadside: Was there ever a thought to not restore the mug and replace it with a less-expensive plastic sign?

Terry: That was NEVER even considered!!

Vintage Roadside: The rest of the neon on your building also looks amazing. How tough is it to maintain those signs?

Terry: That is what we’ve had the contract since 1987 for! It currently runs us $106.58 a month for neon and mug rotation - VERY worth it. Insurance also covered the neon damage after Hurricane Katrina.

Vintage Roadside: Do you have vintage memorabilia from the restaurant?

Terry: Some - wish we had kept more! Now we have to buy it back on eBay! I am currently restoring on old rootbeer barrel for display in our dining room. We still have some mugs with the logo. We were having them printed with the logo until 2004. The last batch had a problem and the mugs broke very easily. We think there was a problem in the firing process putting the logo on…that ended the logo on the mugs. One of the coolest items to me is the metal sign that shows the original patent.


Vintage Roadside: Do you offer inside and outside dining?

Terry: Yes, inside and outside dining as well as phone orders

Vintage Roadside: What are some of the items we might have the pleasure of ordering at the Frostop we might not find at another drive in?

Terry: We have expanded way beyond the original Frostop menu. We have a golden grilled chicken sandwich and salad that are excellent. We actually have a huge menu. We also cook everything when it is ordered - so everything is fresh and hot.

Vintage Roadside: We've heard you've got your own onion ring breading. Is it as amazing as we hear?

Terry: People seem to love them. We didn’t have them for months after Hurricane Katrina due to our supplier going under water in New Orleans. We found out how much our customers missed them. We now sell our onion ring breading in 3lb bags for home use.

Vintage Roadside: You offer frosted mugs of root beer. Any guesses on how many of those mugs have been "accidentally" taken home over the years?

Terry: More that I would care to count. I went to someone’s house once and they showed me a cabinet full!!

Vintage Roadside: How long have some of your regulars been eating at the Frostop?

Terry: Some since the beginning….we have even had people tell us they got engaged here!

Vintage Roadside: When/where can we stop by for a meal?

Terry: We are open Monday - Saturday 11am - 6pm. We are located at 411 E. Airline Hwy. LaPlace, LA stop by and see us!

Vintage Roadside: Thanks Terry for sharing your history, and also thanks to your family for keeping the Frostop going for over 50 years.

Terry: You’re welcome!

So, if you find yourself down in Louisiana and are looking for a great meal we’d highly recommend a stop by the Frostop! We’ve got our eye on the Lot-O-Cheese Burger, the Golden Grilled Chicken Sandwich, two orders of onion rings, a rootbeer and a banana milkshake!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

All images courtesy of the LaPlace Frostop.

Vintage Roadside heads for Billetproof NW!

If you happen to find yourself in Oregon or Washington this weekend and enjoy traditional hot rods and wonderful original cars, we'll be at the second annual Billetproof NW. Last year was an huge success with close to 700 cars on display.

The weather is looking perfect so we hope to see some of you this weekend! As an added bonus activity there will also be a cruise through historic downtown Centralia on Saturday night.

What: Billetproof Northwest
When: June 27th & 28th
Where: SW Washington Fairgrounds. Chehalis, Washington

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer.

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Vintage Roadside designs a T-shirt for Jake the Alligator Man!

We're huge fans of roadside attractions here at Vintage Roadside. One of our favorite stops is Marsh's Free Museum in Long Beach, Washington which houses a large collection of vintage arcade games, taxidermy, nautical items, and the star of the show - Jake the Alligator Man.

On August 8th, 2009 Jake fans from far and wide will be in Long Beach for Jake's "Third Annual 75th Birthday Party". The party will feature, among other activities, a hot rod show, live music, birthday cake, burlesque performances, and a drive in screening of The Creature From the Black Lagoon. For those looking to bring home a piece of Jake there will be a limited edition Birthday Party T-shirt. That's where we come in. Below is the first look at the front of the t-shirt we've designed for the party.


We'll have more party information in the coming weeks. You can also find additional images of the t-shirt design on our Facebook page here.

Hope everyone has a great weekend,

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Need a place to park your travel trailer for the night..... circa. 1949?

We love old magazines here at Vintage Roadside. Recently we picked up a few vintage travel trailer magazines from the 1940s, and in addition to the fantastic advertisements, the articles are a wonderful read. We were thrilled to find that the September 1949 issue of Trailer Travel had not only a Route 66 trip report but also a Highway 99 report. Since we just had our own Highway 99 journey it was wonderful to read of the same route taken 60 years ago!

One of the fun services the magazine provided was a list of the newer trailer parks in several states. So, if you've ever daydreamed about living in a 1949 Spartan Royal Mansion - here's a few places you could have called home.

• Vulcan Trailer Park. Birmingham, Alabama. "Modern Laundry, Inside Drying Room, Near Shopping Center"
• Peek-A-Boo Auto & Trailer Park. El Cerrito, California. "On U.S. Highway 40, Modern Paved Streets, Finest in Bay Area"
• Trailer Farm. Grand Junction, Colorado. "Artesian Water, Sheds for Shade"
• Briny Breezes Park. Delray Beach, Florida. "Located on the Atlantic Ocean, 40 Acres, Close to Gulfstream's Famous Polo Fields"
• Green Star Trailer Park. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. "Shade Trees, Restaurant, Bar, Dining Room, Complete Grocery and Meat Market"
• Shady Acres Trailer Park. Danville, Georgia. "New, modern, spacious, livable. 20 acres of beautiful century old maple trees"
• Ted's Dryv-Inn & Trailer Town. Gary, Indiana. "Tumble-type clothes dryers, Telegrams, Telephones available 24 hours a day, Special deliveries reported on P.A. system"
• Tredwell's Lakeside Grove. Cape Cod, Massachusetts. "The Threshold of Cape Cod, Private Sandy Beach, Shuffle Boards, Store, Cabins & Cottages"
• The Palms Court. Overton, Nevada. "Year around bass fishing - Grass and Shade - A friendly and healthy place to spend the winter - $15.00 a month"
• Cedar Lane Trailer Park. Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "22 1/2 Acres of Large Beautiful Oaks, Tennis Courts, Children's Play House, Lounge"
• Village Green Trailer Park. Media, Pennsylvania. "Swimming, Dancing, 100 lots, A Tree for Every Trailer"
• Wagon Wheel Trailer Court. Amarillo, Texas. "Located on U.S. Highway 66 - All gravel grounds - close to drive in theatre - $1.00 per night - $4.50 per week"

We hope everyone had a great weekend!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

1964 Downers Grove, Illinois Drive In Restaurant History

By early 1964 the City of Downers Grove, Illinois had its fill of rowdy teenagers at the local drive in restaurants. Fed up with the seeming lack of response by some of the drive in operators, councilman John Behnke, with the assistance of the Illinois State Highway Department, took it upon himself to conduct a study of the behavior at one local drive in.

His study was conducted on a Friday night between the hours of 9:00 pm - 1:30 am. On that single evening, Mr. Behnke counted an amazing 654 cars "looping" through the lot of this drive in! Interestingly, not one of those cars made a single purchase. He also noted that some of these cars were from as far away as Chicago and Aurora. The reason behind this huge volume of traffic was that every other drive in closed at midnight on Friday night while this one stayed open until 2:00 am.


The next city council meeting found Mr. Behnke presenting his findings to the rest of the council including the Mayor. It was decided that the following city council meeting would result in a city ordinance to limit the closing hours of all drive ins.

Fearing that their restaurants would be affected by the behavior of one business, the next meeting was heavily attended by local drive in owners. The owners proposed a set of rules that they would personally enforce (without the need for a city ordinance). The city agreed, and on September 30th, 1964 the "Code of Conduct" was adopted by all drive in restaurants located in the city of Downers Grove. While the new rules were suitable to both the city and the owners, it still took 3 or 4 weeks for the patrons to realize the rules were going to be seriously enforced. Those first few weeks resulted in numerous arrests for "peeling, speeding, reckless driving, loud mufflers, etc.".

Below are those 12 rules.

WE WILL:

1) Prohibit any continuous looping or circling of our parking lots.

2) Not permit patrons to congregate outside their cars.

3) Not serve teenagers under the age of 18 after curfew hours. 11:00 pm Sunday through Thursday 12:00 am Friday and Saturday.

4) Have cars left unattended towed away at car owner's expense.

5) Request that patrons enter and leave the premises as quietly as possible. Racking of pipes, peeling of tires and unnecessary use of horn will be prohibited.

6) Cooperate fully with police on duty at our establishments, whether hired by us or on city duty.

7) Prescribe a reasonable time limit for eating for the purpose of discouraging loitering.

8) Prohibit alcohol on the premises anywhere and at any time.

9) Prohibit cars to exceed 10 mph on the premises.

10) Make every effort to avoid the scattering of refuse onto other people's premises, and will police our own lots and neighboring grounds to control littering.

11) Make every effort to obtain license numbers of patrons who have caused problems to the public as well as to the operator.

12) Ask disorderly groups to leave the premises.


We hope you enjoyed this look back at the rowdy side of drive in history!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Remembering Aquarama - Vintage Roadside visits with an Aquamaid - Part 2

We hope you're enjoying our interview with Janie from the long-gone Missouri attraction Aquarama! We're thrilled to present Part 2 of our interview.

Vintage Roadside: What were your costumes like?

Janie: We wore basic swimsuits that Nola had embellished with heavy stones; some one-piece, some modest two-piece, complete with padding where we needed it. The boys wore black tights and long-sleeved, black shirts. Often costume pieces, scarves and belts, were added to the basics depending on the routine.

Vintage Roadside: You mention Nola working on the costumes, that sounds like quite a bit of work.

Janie: She really made our costumes special with all the hours spent attaching rhinestones and fringe.

Vintage Roadside: Were there any "novelty" acts performed?

Janie: We had many routines, including the Beatles, a bullfight, gypsy dance, mermaids rising out of giant seashells, trapeze, clown acts, etc.


Vintage Roadside: Who was responsible for inventing the acts?

Janie: Most of our original routines were choreographed by Barbara Hodgson and Mark Johl. Mark also was responsible for keeping all our equipment in good order, including the HUGE tank (50,000 gallons?) with a glass front that we swam in. I remember we had to shut down for a couple of nights when the pool water was too cloudy due to an algae outbreak to allow the audience to see us.

Vintage Roadside: What days/months did you work?

Janie: Excluding spring rehearsals, our shows ran Memorial Day to Labor Day. At first, we did three shows a day, six days a week. I think it was in the second year we reduced the schedule to two shows in the evenings. Then we could have rehearsals in the daytime, allowing us to change things up a bit.

Vintage Roadside: How was the reaction from visitors to Aquarama?

Janie: We were always given positive feedback from "out front". Nola and Wally gave constructive criticism about performances and we tried our best to please them. Most of our parents were regular attendees, and their suggestions were helpful too.

Vintage Roadside: I remember my job at 15 and it was nothing like working at Aquarama! It must have been great to be one of the Aquamaids?

Janie: It was cool to be known as a "performer" and not just a kid with a summer job. Nola was a great promoter and saw to it that we were featured in all the local advertising pieces and parades.

Vintage Roadside: So the Aquamaids were recognized around town?

Janie: Because we spent so much time underwater, the hair of all the girls turned green by late summer from the chlorine. (Most were blondes to begin with.) Locals would always recognize us as "Aquamaids" from that.

Vintage Roadside: How long did you work at Aquarama?

Janie: Five summers as a swimmer and one year as director/restaurant hostess when the show building was converted to an oriental restaurant/underwater show in 1969, with a live band for dinner music between shows. The business was then called Cabaret-Aquarama. The year before that, the Johl's had taken on partners in the business named Wilbur and Esther Whitehead from Mexico, Missouri. The Whiteheads bought out the Johls and I worked for them the last season, when I ran the show from "up front" and didn't swim. This involved running all the taped music and lighting from a booth in the restaurant, and serving as hostess until the restaurant closed, usually around midnight. I think the restaurant ran one more year, without the water show, then closed. I married and left the area for 7 years in 1970.

Vintage Roadside: Do you still enjoy swimming?

Janie: My husband and I have a home on the lake, but boat more than we swim. We do occasionally take a dip with our two-year old granddaughter.

Vintage Roadside: Janie, thank you so much for sharing your history at Aquarama with us. It's wonderful to speak with you about your time as an Aquamaid and to learn more about one of our favorite attractions.

Janie: You're welcome!

If you have any memories and stories from Aquarama we'd love to hear from you. Also, if you'd like to read more history you can visit our Aquarama page here.

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Remembering Aquarama - Vintage Roadside visits with an Aquamaid

Aquarama, located in Osage Beach, Missouri offered visitors to the Lake of the Ozarks a show that not only featured live mermaids, but also included an underwater Beatles act, underwater bull fights, and underwater trapeze acts!

We're thrilled to start the week off by sharing Part One of our interview with Janie, a former Aquarama performer.

Vintage Roadside: When did you first hear about Aquarama?

Janie: In the fall of 1964, a couple named Wally and Nola Johl, having moved to the area from Florida a few years before, began construction on a show building to house the Aquarama. They got the idea from attending Weeki Wachee in Florida. Wally was in the pool building business here, so it was right up his alley.

Vintage Roadside: How old were you at that time?

Janie: I was 15 years old.

Vintage Roadside: How did you land your job at Aquarama?

Janie: Nola approached my mother at church, asking if I might be allowed to try out for the show they were starting in Osage Beach. Since I was pretty athletic then, mom thought I'd enjoy the experience.... and I did!


Vintage Roadside: What were your initial thoughts about working at Aquarama?

Janie: I'd finished my first summer job as a carhop, and the thought of swimming for a living with others my age sounded like great fun. We were all in high school when it started. In retrospect, I think it was a great idea, a little ahead of its time for the Lake of the Ozarks. The Lake was then known mostly for the country music shows in the area and the tourists didn't always "get it".

Vintage Roadside: What were your first days as an Aquarama employee like?

Janie: As the building/pool was still under construction, I met with the Johls and several other potential "aquamaids" at the Johl's home that fall. We started working that day on some floor routines which we hoped to adapt to an underwater show. A former swimmer from Weeki Wachee, Barbara Hodgson, had been hired to be our coach and star of the show that first season.

Vintage Roadside: You mention training at the Johl's house, how long did you train there?

Janie: We practiced in the Johl's living room until early March, when we started water training in an outdoor, unheated pool at a local motel. It was freezing, we wore sweatshirts and thermal underwear, but we were all kids and survived it. It was there that we learned to use our breathing hoses which allowed us to stay underwater for prolonged practices. By early May, the Aquarama pool was completed and we began everyday practices there.

Vintage Roadside: When Aquarama opened to the public what was your role?

Janie: I was one of the original Aquamaids, kind of in the chorus, as Barbara was the star. She left after the first season to return to Florida and the rest of us worked into her routines.

Vintage Roadside: How many employees did Aquarama have that first year?

Janie: If memory serves, I was one of six girls in the cast, plus Miss Hodgson. There were also two teenage boys, including the Johl's son Mark. Over the years, I would guess there were about 20 other cast members.

To be continued.......

We hope you're enjoying reading a bit of the wonderful history behind Aquarama.

If you'd like to read more of the general history we've put together for Aquarama you can visit our Aquarama page here. And, if you've got any memories, photos, postcards, or stories from Aquarama we'd love to hear from you!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside