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James “Sully” Sullivan passed away in the fall of that year. He was just shy of his sixtieth birthday and had only recently celebrated his thirty-fifth anniversary. He and Ellie had never been able to have the sons and daughters they had dreamed of raising, but the drive-in they had built was legacy enough in the minds of most of Eastlake’s citizens. Besides, they had been surrounded for decades by the surrogate sons and daughters who frequented the restaurant.
Big, strong, tough, teen-aged boys would confide in Sully and more than once, Ellie had caught them wiping away tears as they left. He was a father figure to a multitude of young men over the years, just as Ellie had served as a maternal presence in the lives of countless teen carhops who had found a home away from home at Sully’s. Despite never having children of their own, the Sullivans considered themselves blessed and their lives in Eastlake full and happy.
The heart condition that he had inherited from his father had never slowed him down. It may have kept him from playing football in high school, and prevented him from joining the service, but it had never kept him from leading an active and productive life. The kids who worked at the drive-in were in constant amazement at the high level of energy he maintained throughout the grueling shifts behind the grill. He had been loved and respected by all of Eastlake and he would be missed.
Once the drive-in had begun to flourish, Sully and Ellie had done all they could to support the local community. They had always been willing to host any special events staged by the school or any of the area churches or businesses, and as the years passed, they became pillars of the community. The Chamber of Commerce began to actively promote them as one of the “must see” attractions in the whole of East Texas. They had even been featured once in one of the major newspapers in Houston.
In its first few years, the drive-in had remained true to Sully’s original vision, with only slight changes. Obviously, the hours had expanded. In the beginning, the restaurant had opened just before lunch and closed at seven. Sully had never imagined people eating burgers at midnight, but with the Friday night sporting events being such important rituals in the small community, he soon realized the late hours were providing most of his income. He began to stay open late on weekends and Ellie was soon hiring and training extra carhops. Eventually, he had even hired a second cook to help him on the inside.
For almost a decade, the poodle skirts and white tops were standard issue for the carhops at Sully’s. With a scarf at the neck, a cute cap on top, and the signature skates below, the carhops were unique and stylish. Eventually, Ellie switched to a uniform in blue and white that matched the colors of the hometown Eagles. She hoped to give up the skates, but her husband would not even entertain a discussion on that subject. It was a non-negotiable for many years until a series of accidents caused him to finally reconsider.
Menu changes came slowly. Sully kept insisting that they were a burger place, nothing more. Eventually, he added hot dogs, and as the years wore on, he reluctantly began to add more and more items. By the end of the seventies, he was serving a wide variety of fast food and was looking into the possibility of adding a breakfast menu. Through all the years, whatever was on the menu, Sully’s remained the best place to eat in Eastlake.
Gradually, the community itself was changing and growing as well. The local diner reopened and closed again, before being sold and converted into a taco place. Other businesses opened and by the nineties, the school had moved into the 3A ranks. Much of the population growth was the result of a nice subdivision built on the lake. Outside of the actual city limits, the subdivision and its new golf course aided in the growth of the school and its tax base, but did little to the town itself. Another stop light had been installed, but the tiny downtown area remained tiny and the town itself changed little despite the influx of new citizens to the area.
The Shores, the lake subdivision, and the owners of its golf course opened a new restaurant, promising fine dining at reasonable prices. Soon, it had become the fashionable place to be and for the first time in many years, the business at Sully’s began to suffer. The football team decided to eat pregame meals at the new restaurant and many of the team’s fans followed suit. The players themselves would still come to the drive-in for their after-game activities and Sully’s would always be their hangout of choice, but things were changing. Financed by the success of the golf course, the new restaurant could afford to offer special deals to the local athletic teams and Sully was finding it difficult to compete.
The drop in business caused an increase in his stress level, but Sully remained an optimist. He and Ellie still talked often about the future. They had operated a successful business in Eastlake for over thirty years. They were proud of their accomplishments and Sully would often say that if the drive-in were to close tomorrow, he could walk away with his head held high, knowing that he had turned his dreams into reality and created something that anyone would be proud to have built.
One of the latest changes had been a new sound system. Music had always been a big attraction at the drive-in and the teens especially were always vocal in expressing their likes and dislikes. Sully loved to tease them about their preferences even though he generally followed their advice.
“What the hell does it mean to smell like teen spirit?” he asked one night. The nearest carhop rolled her eyes and sped away. Several of the high school boys gave him a primer on the new grunge movement. “Alternative, huh?” They shared a laugh and Sully went inside to turn up the volume.
Ellie had pushed for other changes over the years, always careful to avoid erasing her husband’s vision and replacing it with hers. She loved the drive-in and she was proud of the elements that she had contributed. From the beginning, she had influenced the design and the look of the place. Sully had given her broad guidelines and allowed her be as creative as she dared within those parameters. She had always known that he had a very clear picture in his head of what the drive-in should be and she did her best to never contradict that picture. What she wanted was to fill it in like a coloring book and make it better than even he had imagined.
And so together they had created this iconic piece of local history, a legacy to leave behind for future generations. And now it had been left behind to her.
Ellie Sullivan was fifty-four years old and she was now the principal owner of Sully’s Drive-In. As his health had begun to fail, he had started giving his wife some very specific instructions about the restaurant. She would listen for hours at a time and together they would create a whole new vision, and this one would be her responsibility to carry out. He was passing a torch and she gladly took on the challenge. And honestly, his demands, his non-negotiables, were easy to accept.
First, he wanted the name to remain. She had no problem with that request. She could not imagine changing it anyway. She wanted his name on the place as much as he did. Secondly, he wanted her to continue to allow Scott Holder to always be a partner. Again, she had no desire to end their relationship. She, like her husband, would never forget the important role he had played in building the restaurant. And finally, he asked that she never build another Sully’s. The previous year, they had been approached with an offer to build a chain of restaurants across the state. The money had been substantial and the offer tempting, but in the end, they had decided that Sully’s should remain a one of a kind place. And only one. Again, she had no problem agreeing to that.
Also, at his insistence, the drive-in closed for only one day when he passed. Brother Manning from the First Baptist Church led a beautiful, but brief service following his written instructions and almost the entire town turned out. Ellie allowed herself a few weeks of mourning, but as she had promised her husband, she did not neglect their business, but plunged ahead with the planned renovations.
Her sense of history would not allow her to demolish the old building despite the recommendations of its original construction foreman, Dennis Franklin. He had tried in vain to convince her that knocking down the entire structure and starting from scratch would be much more cost effective than her planned improvements, but in the end, he had to admit that he too did not really want to see Sully’s dream replaced by some sleek, modern new restaurant. Together, they repaired and replaced the most damaged and worn sections and covered it all with fresh paint and all new lights. The wooden sign, itself already repainted countless times, was replaced by a lighted sign with Sully’s Drive-In prominently displayed in flashing neon.
Ellie had long desired to cover the sidewalks and provide some protection for the carhops in bad weather. Sully had resisted. The drive-in that had inspired him so long ago had no covered walkways and though he admitted the practicality, he still found ways to put off adding them. In its original form, the small building was surrounded by cars with the exception of a tiny area in the back. Ellie had always envisioned a more structured layout. With Franklin’s help, she redesigned the parking areas, creating a U-shaped drive that allowed cars to enter and leave through separate driveways. New lighted menu boards were added and within months, the place was ready for its grand reopening.
One final change was the addition of the outdoor eating area. Ellie had proposed adding some picnic tables in the front of the drive-in years before, but Sully had insisted that customers should eat in their own vehicles. She had always laughed when he said such things, picturing the hordes of high schoolers who wandered the parking lot cruising from car to car each weekend. The carhops did their best to keep the place clean, but Sully was woefully naïve to imagine that all the food he prepared was being consumed inside the vehicles.
“We’re a drive-in,” he would say. “People don’t want to get out. They want the convenience of having someone bring their food to them.”
She would laugh and remind herself that while she roamed the outer areas, he spent most of his time on the grill. Occasionally, he would wander out and he never failed to be amazed at what he saw. Grudgingly, he would admit that maybe an outside area would be okay, but he would find an excuse to put it off, and the concept would have to wait until another day.
She contacted the shop teacher at the high school and he and his students had soon built and delivered four sturdy wooden picnic tables. She placed them under a small overhang at the front of the building and moved one of the huge, heavy metal trash barrels to the location. Soon, she was adding four more tables, and she was pleased to see them used frequently by customers. She was also pleased to see that even the high school boys became diligent about keeping the area tidy. Only once had she seen trash blowing out into the road, and even then, one of the boys was recklessly dashing out to retrieve it.
On a Friday after dark, long after the renovations were complete, Ellie walked across the street and sat on the curb. She looked at the new Sully’s and admired the look of the place. It still had the appearance of a classic drive-in, but the new design was much more functional and she felt that Sully would be pleased. Their baby was growing up, but despite the passage of years, in her mind she could easily picture the drive-in as it had looked on the day it first opened. She and her beloved husband had sat here on this very spot and held hands, looking at the flashing lights, listening to the music flowing from the cheap, tinny speakers, proud of things they had accomplished, the drive-in they had built. Together.
