A&W open its doors in 1974 on the famous corner of rt224 & west blvd,Back then Youngstown didn't have much. So Owner Rick Thompson decided to teamed up with Youngstown Rod & Custom and Dick & Lori Nard ( DJ's Twos Company) to host Friday Night Cruise Night! Every Friday hundreds of hot rods roared the streets & headed to A&W!
The Cruise became so popular that Hot rod Magazine brought the Hot rod Nationals to Youngstown! The event was held at the Canflied Fairgrounds but at night A&W was the place to be! Thousands hot rods of all over the county filled every parking lot from A&W to the Southern Park Mall! Local residents sat in there lawns chairs at watch them cruise the streets all night long! It's was like American Graffiti in real life! Even though the event only came to town once a year the fun never stopped! Every Friday from 6-9:15 A&W was still the place to be! A&W had a different theme every Friday whether it streets rod or tuners every hotroder in northeast Ohio still cruised on out! Elvis night was always fun night because Rick brought in some of the best Elvis impersonators in the county to preform! Cruise night successful because Ricks employees treated hotrodders like family! When the weather wasn't perfect hotrodders hopped in there grocery getters & still headed to A&W and brought a root beer float,cony dog & some fries hangout around the nice warm fireplace! All the fun sadly ended in 2011 as Rick decided to retire! A&W closed its doors for the last time on December 31st 2011 at 6pm. Although A&W is gone the memories will never die! The story's will passed from generation to generation as well the cars!!! The building will change but when people look at that corner it will always be known as A&W! It will always be known as a Hotrod Hangout!
The Cruise became so popular that Hot rod Magazine brought the Hot rod Nationals to Youngstown! The event was held at the Canflied Fairgrounds but at night A&W was the place to be! Thousands hot rods of all over the county filled every parking lot from A&W to the Southern Park Mall! Local residents sat in there lawns chairs at watch them cruise the streets all night long! It's was like American Graffiti in real life! Even though the event only came to town once a year the fun never stopped! Every Friday from 6-9:15 A&W was still the place to be! A&W had a different theme every Friday whether it streets rod or tuners every hotroder in northeast Ohio still cruised on out! Elvis night was always fun night because Rick brought in some of the best Elvis impersonators in the county to preform! Cruise night successful because Ricks employees treated hotrodders like family! When the weather wasn't perfect hotrodders hopped in there grocery getters & still headed to A&W and brought a root beer float,cony dog & some fries hangout around the nice warm fireplace! All the fun sadly ended in 2011 as Rick decided to retire! A&W closed its doors for the last time on December 31st 2011 at 6pm. Although A&W is gone the memories will never die! The story's will passed from generation to generation as well the cars!!! The building will change but when people look at that corner it will always be known as A&W! It will always be known as a Hotrod Hangout!
Cruisin' times magazine A&W tribute edition
A&W T-Shirts
A & W Mopar Night May 30, 2008
Aug 10, 2007 A & W Mustang Night
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