Varsity Jr Closes Today.

By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

What'll ya have before the Varsity Jr. closes its doors?
Sunday will be the last day to enjoy chili dogs and onion rings at the Lindbergh Drive location, according to the iconic Atlanta restaurant chain.

After 45 years, the Varsity Jr. will close due to an inability to meet zoning requirements with the City of Atlanta. Restaurant owners had hoped to build a new facility, complete with indoor restrooms.

"This has been one of the hardest decisions the Varsity family has had to make in our 82 years of operation," the restaurant's website states.

Employee Kelly Bibbs told the AJC she's worked at the Varsity Jr. for six years and now will move to the Varsity Gwinnett location. But it won't be the same, she said.
ajc story

Varsity Jr at Lindbergh Closing and moving to Dawson County

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By Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

When Joseph Bailey started working at the Varsity Jr. some 40 years ago, he viewed it as "just another job."
"Then it became home," said Bailey, still reeling from the news that the Lindbergh spin-off of the downtown institution is about to serve its last chili dog.

A zoning dispute with the city led to Friday's announcement, which stunned employees and customers alike. The restaurant, at Lindbergh and Cheshire Bridge Road, will close Aug. 23, just a few weeks before ground is expected to be broken on a new Varsity Jr. -- in Dawson County, across the street from the North Georgia Premium Outlet Mall on Ga. 400.
ajc full story

Will The Varsity Drive-In Think Twice about Building a Decatur Location ?

A question I would like to ask The Varsity, Will you ever decide to build a Decatur location.?
Back in the 70's you almost built a location at the corner of N. Decatur Rd. & Dekalb Industrial Way, and for some reason you changed your mind.
If today you decided to build a Decatur location, I think a good location would be at Suburban Plaza Shopping center in the closed gorcery store location.

What location in the Decatur area would you like to see The Varsity Drive-In build another location ?

JOLOMO SAID:
I can't think of a great place in Decatur (somewhere along Commerce, maybe?) but it got me thinking where the old drive-ins were in Atlanta in the 1950's so I looked them up in the only directory I had handy. More than 30 of them in 1956.

Over at the fabulous Next Stop...Decatur blog they were asking about where a good spot would be for a new Varsity location. I couldn't think of one but I wondered just how many drive-ins Atlanta used to have. Not sure where it falls in the spectrum, but 1956 had a whole bunch! I counted 33 that had "Drive In" or "Drive Inn" in their name in the city directory. Most of them had pretty unimaginative names so I guess they just had to find a spot with lots of auto traffic and wait for the business to roll in.... except for the Pigmy Drive-In. Wonder what their gimmick was?

A&W 450 Flat Shoals av SE
Barron's 3260 Bankhead hwy NW
Berry's 1155 Memorial dr SE
Big Wheel 29 Moreland av SE
Blue Jacket 820 Lee SW
Buddy's 1179 Spring NW
Butch's 1905 Simpson rd NW
Carroll's 1350 Gordon SW
Center 2496 Stewart av, SW
Cotton Joe 805 W. Whitehall SW
Diner Drive-In 851 Memorial dr SE
Gabe's 30 Moreland av SE
Gene's 2110 Campbellton rd SW
Ideal 1953 Lakewood av SE
Idle Hour 1571 Moreland av SE
Lefty's 300 Candler rd SE
Mark's 585 Stewart av SW
McMichael's 483 Peters SW
Minit 2721 Stewart av SW
Mobley's 690 Bankhead av NW
Murray's 1010 Pryor SW
Piedmont Drive In Club 2115 Piedmont rd NE
Pigmy 261 Hunter SE
Pitch 'N Putt Drive In Restaurant 2349 Glenwood av SE (right across from East Lake Country Club! Related to the package store on Johnson?)
Poncey 767 Ponce de Leon av NE
Ruben's 439 Marietta NW
Rusty's 2225 Ptree rd NW
Smitty's 11 Irby av NW
South Side 359 Memorial dr SE
Tara 2653 Bankhead hwy NW
Twin Oaks 1400 Northside dr NW
Two Point 371 Flat Shoals av SE
Wilson Two Spot 2001 Chicago av NW (didn't know we had a Chicago av, but we do)

While I was in there couldn't help but notice a few other things. We also had:
Doo-Drop Inn 845 McDaniel SW
Duffie's Tavern 698 West Ptree NW (Duffie ain't here)
Tasty Town was already there
Niether the Varsity nor the Yellow Jacket say "Drive In", but we know they were!
Zesto's hadn't started yet, I guess

Drive-ins of the 1950s

http://atlhistory.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=26&func=view&id=377&catid=8

Thanks JOLOMO for this great list, I can remember some of them.