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Mel's Drive-In, Lombard Street
Mel's Drive-In was started as a carhop eatery in 1947 by San Franciscans Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs. The first location covered a 30,000 square foot parking lot at 140 South Van Ness Avenue and quickly grew to eleven popular restaurants. That first restaurant was used as a location in the film, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. But it was who George Lucas immortalized the chain in his 1973 film, American Graffiti. Pictured above is the first 'next-generation' Mel's on Lombard Street, opened in 1985. It is a diner rather than a drive-in. Today there are a number of Mel's Drive-Ins in San Francisco and Southern California.
[ MAP E-11 ]


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