Mommy, Where Did Pizza Come From?

In my continuing struggle against blogger's block, I decided to blog about books I'd read lately. My entire list for the year came up to 35 books, which I suppose is respectable if you don't co-habit with a list of 183. At any rate, I dug deeply and came up with the most recent book I'd read: a history of the American Drive-In Theater.

It's actually pretty interesting, especially since our town has a drive-in of its very own. During the late 40s and 50s, drive-ins were everywhere. I now recall my stepfather telling me about the drive-in in Lucedale, and if Lucedale has something, it has to be universal. (Well, except for Bailey's Scratching Post on Main Street. I don't think many other places have a scratching post.)

According to this book, pizzas first gained popularity at drive-ins. There weren't any Pizza Huts or Papa Johns yet; if you wanted a pizza, you went to the drive-in.

Darren wondered if drive-ins could be re-invented and make a go of it again. But I don't think so. So many of the novelties of a drive-in (fast food, movies, cars, casual attire, romantic trysts, etc.) are commonplace to our generation. In fact, I hate to think what would constitute a "novelty" to us! The book was a pleasant stroll down a not-so-old, but almost completely obsolete, corridor of America's history. -- SJ

Next, if The Block persists: a very funny, very daring movie that, if remade today, would be completely unwatchable.