Lookin' For Adventure...

[TVHD <TVHD@aol.com>]

I caught up with the recent postings last night, and the ones
about "Adventure Car Hop" caught my interest. While I was
too young to independently visit the site at the time of its
operation, I do vaguely remember the ads.

A. Joseph Ross started it off back on Sun, 26 Apr 1998:
>While driving up Route 1 in Saugus today, I began to wonder 
>where "Adventure Car Hop," famous for its commercials on 
>Arnie Ginsberg's "Nighttrain" show, used to be.  Anyone know 
>where it was and what's there now?

J.J. Wright responded:  
> It was either at the current location of "Carusso's Diplomat" 
>(it is is still open and operating) or "Augustine's" (if it is 
>still there as well).

Then, Gary Francis wrote:
>Sorry JJ, but I think that you're a mile or so too far north. I 
>remember it being where the former Lloyd's Diamond & Gold 
>Jewlery outlet was. Sort of next to the CompUSA (or is it 
>Computer City?) parking lot (right side of the parking lot). 

A. Joseph Ross wrote:
>That's interesting, since Computer City (across from the 
>Square One Mall) was my destination yesterday.  If we can 
>solve this mystery by the time I go back there next week, I'll 
>make a special pilgrimmage to the site.

Shel Swartz wrote:
>Arnie Ginsburg told me on the phone only yesterday, that the 
>Car Hop is now the parking lot of the (Commodore?) hotel, in 
>Saugus (I can'yt read my notes!!).  But it is now certainly a 
>parking lot...many old Ginzburger wrappers likely buried under 
>its pavement...

Mike Hemeon added:
>The Commodore is a restaurant.

This morning I happened to be in Beverly - for the first time in
a very long time - on business, and spotted an old sign: 
"Commodore Restaurant, Rt 1A, No. Beverly". Being in the
neighbohood, and with the postings fresh in mind, I decided to 
check it out. Perhaps there was be a discrepancy with the 
Rt. 1/Rt. 1A detail, and I could find some remnant of the old 
Adventure.

The Commodore Building was pretty old, it seemed to me, and 
not open yet. I went around the Delivery Entrance and found
a kitchen worker who looked to be in his sixties. I asked him if
he happened to remember the Adventure Car Hop, and was this
the original site?

He chuckled and shook his head. "No," he said. I used to go there
ALL the time - that's on Route 1. And he gave me specific
details as to where...

Donna Halper wrote:
>Does the "Continental" in Saugus ring any bells with anyone?  
>I found a 1990 Boston Globe article about car hops in my 
>archives; it said that next door to this restaurant was the old 
>Adventure Car Hop.  It also said the car hop closed in 1964-- 
>can that be right?

Terrence Wood wrote:
>It's been along time since then and I don't remember its exact 
>location, but I have seen its canopy still there on route one.

Donna Halper wrote:
>The local historical society (yes, Saugus has one) in a recent 
>book about Saugus states that the cross street for Adventure 
>Car Hop was Walnut Street, north side of route 1, and the 
>Diplomat stands at the location now...

J.J. Wright wrote:
>YAY......I was right....er...wright.

He said it as next to the CONTINENTAL restaurant...as well as
beside CARUSO'S DIPLOMAT (a function hall)...on a piece of
land that is now occupied by a large storage shed, owned by
Continental. He told me it'd been torn down, and the shed was
put on the spot.

I passed it on my way home, crossed over to the North side
of Route One and there it was. A huge shed, in the middle of a 
gigantic parking area, featuring little else but an ATM island,
set way back from the highway. Faded letters on the structure 
read: CONTINENTAL. 

I got out and took a stroll around the lot, searching for any 
vestige of the Adventure Car Hop, but there wasn't so much 
as a rusty sign mooring. It had all been paved over. Even behind 
the place, in an over-grown field - where I hoped there'd be 
some relic to verify Adventure's existence - I found nothing. 
Time had erased it all. 

I snapped a photo of the building on the massive lot for no 
particular reason and drove away...the intrepid, yet unfulfilled 
explorer.

- - Henry Dane

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