In Memory of Al Green

by Randy K. Wilson, Tech Class of '70

Randy can be reached at: randywilson1952@hotmail.com 

I wasn’t living in Indy and hadn’t even been born at the time that Al Green opened his Drive-In in post-war 1947. My research says that “Al Green’s” had the distinction of being the first Drive-In to use telephones to order food. Who can forget the huge “Al Green” sign out in front, very modern and, also, mainly green in color? According to his obituary, Al, who never married, was a graduate of I.U. and a member of the Jewish faith. I visited his grave once at the Jewish Cemetery on S. Bluff Road. He has a very nice headstone.

My older brother used to patronize Al’s back in the early 1960’s when he was a teenager. I remember one occasion when our family went there in the middle 1960’s, and they were showing movies. That night it was a rather boring movie pertaining to sports car racing, but it was free. I’m thinking Dad, surely we can do better than this?

Many years later in about 1980, Al had scaled back his hours of operation. In fact he and his sister Belle were pretty much running the place by themselves, and Al was even doing the cooking. Out of curiosity, I stopped by there one night (1980). You had to go inside to place an order, and it took a long time before it was ready. That night it was obvious that there were folks there who were just reminiscing about the olden days with Al and Belle. Al and Belle were so friendly and went out of their way to get to know your name. The place, although in need of repair, offered a very homespun atmosphere with the folksy spirit of the owner and his sister.

I had already heard it would take a long time to get your food before I had decided to stop in that night. As I was waiting for Al to cook my Mushroom Burger and Jumbo French Fries, I knew that I better not be in a hurry. I noticed the Greens were selling T-shirts with a front which said:

AL GREEN’S DRIVE IN
SAME DAY SERVICE

I took my food order and ate it on my drive home to Hancock County. Indeed it tasted very good. However, I think I ate it too fast. Later that night I didn’t get really sick, but I got one whale of a belly ache which lasted for quite some time. Upon telling a fellow co-worker about this the next day, he belted out, “Al sells horse meat!” My thinking was “surely not”. However my co-worker pal was insistent that it was the case. Either way, if I did eat horsemeat, I lived to tell the “tail”.

Now this portion of my post is all heresay… so take it as you will. After Al passed away, I talked to a gent who said he knew Al personally for many years. I knew the eatery had been closed for years, but Al and Belle were living in the basement of the old Drive-In. This party told me, “You know the State of Indiana pays Al to live there.” I had wondered why they were living there after it had been closed for so long. Not understanding why the State of Indiana would pay someone to live in the basement of a closed Drive-In, I ask this fellow to please elaborate on his statement. The following is his story.

Al opened the place in 1947. At that time you could drive right into Al’s place off of Washington Street. Sometime, I think during the middle 1950’s or so, the State of Indiana High Way Department built the four-leaf clover interchange where Shadeland Avenue crosses Washington Street. When this was done, the State closed the entrance to Al’s Drive-In off of Washington Street. Then to gain entrance to his business, you had to go past it to Shortridge Road, turn right onto Shortridge, and then turn down a lane that ran along Washington St. to Al’s.

By blocking the entrance to Al’s and causing clientele to enter it in the manner that they did caused a very noticeable decline in Al’s business. Al filed a law suit alleging such a claim against the State, and there was a settlement reached in Al’s favor. Now here is where Al’s shrewdness comes into the picture. Instead of taking a one time lump sum settlement from the State, it was agreed that the State would pay Al a yearly amount for as long as he occupied the Drive-In. I was told that Al had a very nice apartment in the basement, and it was very livable and nicely furnished. The gent telling me this said, “Yeah, Al came out smelling like a rose.” and further adding, “The place has been closed for years, and he is still making good money and ain’t hit a lick”. Of course, I’m thinking if the State did cause Al a major reversal in his business livelihood, “GOOD FOR AL!”

One more thing, I was also told that Al had a state-of-the-art ice cream machine in his basement. During his hey day, he always made his own ice cream and it was very delicious.

Randall K. Wilson
Class of 1970

Edited by Glenn Holle
Class of 1951