DRIVE-BY DINING

Do you want trivia with your fries?

So you think you know your McDonald's from your Arby's and your In-N-Out. Let's see ...

By Dog Davis
Special to The Times

October 26, 2006

YOU live in California and you eat fast food, but how well do you know your California fast food trivia? (Note: If you get all these right, you probably eat too much junk.)



1. Which of these Southern California burger chains is the oldest?

A) Tommy's

B) In-N-Out

C) Fatburger

Answer: A) Tommy's opened in 1946, two years before McDonald's introduced the Speedee Service System that historians often cite as the beginning of the modern fast-food era.



2.How did Sherwood Johnson, co-founder of Shakey's Pizza, get the nickname Shakey?

A) He was a politician known for his firm handshake.

B) He had a medical condition that gave him the shakes.

C) He used to be a distributor of milkshake machines.

Answer: B) Shakey was shaky.



3. Tommy's Hamburgers and California Chicken Cafe have little in common except …

A) Both are owned by overseas corporations.

B) Both are famous for their fried okra.

C) Both are penny-haters.

Answer: C) Both chains include tax into the price of their food and everything's rounded to the nickel, so you'll most likely never see a penny in your change.



4.What's unique about Big Mama's & Papa's Pizza?

A) It is, ironically, owned by little people.

B) They sell the largest delivery pizza in L.A.

C) You must sign a medical waiver before ordering.

Answer: B) They deliver a 36-inch round pizza — a monster at 60 slices and more than 1,000 square inches. (The Guinness record for largest delivery pizza recently bounced from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, to Pittsburgh. Big Mama's and Papa's vows to create a 54-inch-square pizza and bring the record to L.A.)



5.In the early 1990s, which of these places sold T-shirts proclaiming to be the only fast-food restaurant in the world with a view of the Hollywood sign?

A) The KFC on Hollywood Boulevard.

B) The Arby's on Sunset.

C) The McDonald's on Vine.

Answer: B) Trees have since obscured that view, no doubt leading to a decline in Arby's tourism.



6. Which of these is not a silly marketing website run by a California-born fast-food chain?

A) BurgerSlayer.com

B) AllNightLongBaby.com

C) DoYouWantLiesWithThat.com

Answer: Carl's Jr. and Del Taco own the first two, and neither matches the weirdness of Burger King's classic Subservientchicken.com. The correct answer is C). DoYouWantLiesWithThat.com is a marketing website for the upcoming "Fast Food Nation" movie.