Dick’s Drive-In Celebrates 65 Years: A Photojournalist’s Experience

I went to Dick’s so you didn’t have to.

Simon Krane, Staff Photographer|January 30, 2019

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Simon Krane

Dick’s Drive-In celebrated it’s 65 birthday on Tues. Jan. 29.

Name: Dick’s. 

Age: 65 years old.

Appearance: As slovenly and as edible as any fast food.

Hey now, Dick’s is a national Seattle chain with great food. And great at making a basic burger for the masses. 

Simon Krane

At a pretty good price, too. And Jan. 29 was a specially-priced day as Dick’s was celebrating 65 years of slinging patties on the grill by offering 19-cent hamburgers and cheeseburgers at all locations.

19-cents!!! That’s the 1954 prices when they opened their first drive-in. 

Simon Krane

For that price, you must have gotten a bag full. Ah, you would hope so but the one caveat was that it was one burger per customer.

Only one! Well, I guess you could always hop to another window to order more. That was the idea. Then I asked a customer how long he had to wait and his answer was 25 minutes.

Simon Krane

How long was the line? Don’t they have several windows open? They had all their windows open and there were lines at every single register. There was even an extra line that went nowhere because people kept getting into that line only to realize that it wasn’t an actual line for ordering. 

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There was even an extra line that went nowhere because people kept getting into that line only to realize that it wasn’t an actual line for ordering.

Was it worth it? Not really. It took this intrepid photojournalist 8 full songs from Thunderpussy’s 2018 debut self-titled album (or 34 minutes) to drive from EvCC to the closest Dick’s, in Edmonds, only to spend 28 minutes waiting in line. 

Simon Krane

That’s a long time for one burger. Yes, it was. And the cost of gas and carbon pollution that I expelled on my trip certainly didn’t make it for a worthwhile journey. 

So, did you finally get your cheeseburger? I got a hamburger, fries, and a chocolate milkshake at a little over $5.

No cheese? I’ve never liked the American yellow cheese.

But, that’s the classic standard for many of our great American sandwiches. And the only reason restaurants use it is because it’s cheaper.

Let’s all say: Cheddar is better.

Let’s not say: Would you like to supersize your order?