America is the land of the free and home of the unusual drive-thru experience, where motorists can hop behind the wheel and pick up a frozen daiquiri or receive some high grade legal advice
The scorching Alabama sun beating down on the bonnet of my vast, far-bigger-than-I-wanted Ford rental truck, I turned towards the flashing location marker on my Satnav and prepared to park. Desperately in need of cash to keep up with America’s heavy tipping demands, I’d gone out in search of an ATM.
Of course, that had meant hopping in the car and driving five miles from my “town centre” hotel, which was actually about 100 blocks from Main Street, to the nearest one. When I arrived, I realised it was not a cash machine as I knew it. In fact, it more closely resembled a petrol station forecourt, except with ATMs instead of pumps. Simply drive up, lower your window, and withdraw.
As deeply weird an idea as this is for someone from a country that clings onto what remains of its walkable town centres and pavement culture, the drive-thru bank is far from the strangest service you can receive from the seat of your Chevvy. Here are some of the odder.
Funeral home
A Paradise Funeral Home in Saginaw, Michigan you don’t need to get out of your car to bid your loved ones goodbye.
Ten years ago the company’s president Ivan Phillips installed a drive-thru window, allowing people to drive up to pay their last respects. He had been mulling the idea over for years before taking the plunge when an elderly woman could not make it inside the building to say goodbye to her husband.
“She would’ve got a chance to see him if we had this, so I knew we had to move forward,” Phillips told M Live.
Rather than viewing a funeral through your car window, customers can drive up to the former bank where curtains open, revealing the deceased for three minutes. You can even drop a card in a slot on the side of the funeral home and sign a guest book.
Drive-thru daiquiri
We’ve all been there. You’re driving along parched roads of New Orleans, dust swirling around the tyres, and you decide to stop off for a quick daiquiri.
While it is illegal to drive with an open container of alcohol in Louisiana, freezing the liquid gets around this issue. Locals recommend Cajun Daiquiris on Barataria as a particularly good spot. Drinks there are made with real fruit, rather than syrup. Just don’t have a slurp until you’ve got where you are going.
Strip club
Necessity is the mother of invention. So it proved at the height of the coronavirus pandemic when the infectious disease killed the custom of the Lucky Devil Lounge in Portland, Oregon.
Realising they had to adjust to survive, the canny owners behind the joint renamed it Lucky Devil Eats and asked the dancers to deliver food via its Food 2 Go-Go drive-up service. Not only did punters enjoy a delicious meal in the comfort of their car, but they did so while viewing a light-assisted al-fresco performance.
Since the pandemic has subsided, normal service has resumed at Lucky Devil Lounge.
Spiritual salvation
For the past 29 years the New Life Christian Church in Albert Lea, Minnesota, has been hosting a drive-thru nativity, allowing its congregation to steer their way through the church’s parking lot and follow along with the happenings of the first Christmas, including Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus Christ, the angels appearing to shepherds, wisemen, Roman soldiers and live animals, the Albert Lea Tribute reports.
Over in Los Angeles, those needing a spot of spiritual encouragement can receive it from behind the wheel at the Main Place Christian Fellowship’s drive-thru booth. A pastor sits inside, ready to doll out pearls of wisdom while you idle.
Legal advice
In 2010 the Kocian Law Group purchased an old Kenny Rogers Roasters building and converted it into offices. Sensing an opportunity, the legal eagles decided to keep the drive-thru window, stationing a paralegal behind the glass ready to dispense personal injury and malpractice advice to the motoring public.
