With the rise of car culture, drive-ins were established all over America to feed people on the go.  

Keith’s Drive-In at El Cajon Blvd in San Diego was a 24-hour business, with a huge neon sign to attract customers to its circular premises. People could eat inside at the circular counter or in booths and there was car-hop service so they could eat at the wheel.

This striking 1930s menu cover in blue and yellow was for breakfast service. Keith’s also offered chicken-in-the-rough - fried chicken you could eat with your fingers, just as you’d eat at home. The concept was created in 1936 when Oklahoma restaurateur Beverly Osborne and his wife Ruby were on a road trip to California after their savings had been wiped out during the Depression. They were munching on a home-cooked lunch of fried chicken when their car hit a bump in the road and the chicken slipped from Ruby’s fingers, causing her to comment; “This really is chicken in the rough.” According to legend, the couple turned their car around, went back home and opened a fried chicken franchise under the name Chicken in the Rough which made them millionaires and led to them being featured in TIME magazine.

Keith’s Drive-In was demolished in the late 1950s to make way for the 805 freeway.