18 Fast-Food Landmarks Worth the Pilgrimage

The history of the U.S. Interstate Highway System is inexorably bound with a quintessentially American invention: the drive-thru. Henry Snyder, the co-founder of In-N-Out Burger, is often credited with inventing the two-way intercom ordering system in 1948 in Baldwin, California. All of a sudden, road-trippers, be they truck drivers or an aspiring Kerouac—On the Road would come out just a few years later in 1951—barely had to cool their breaks to grab a bite. The quarter-pounder—cheap, portable enough to eat with one hand on the wheel—became the de facto long-haul human fuel.

For better and for worse, fast food has boomed into a multi-billion-dollar industry with tens of thousands of franchised outlets around American roadways. But while many complain that “McDonaldization” has made everything feel the same, there’s a surprising number of oddballs in the fast-food landscape. Here, we honor everything from the flying saucer-inspired Golden Arches in Roswell to the last surviving Weenie Beanie to the (alleged) inventor of the corn dog.