Harold Stueve, the last of three brothers who in 1945 founded Alta Dena Dairy and soon introduced the drive-through dairies that endure on the Southern California landscape, has died. He was 88.
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The trademark drive-throughs debuted in 1951, three years after In-N-Out Burger opened its first drive-through window. The company called the stores "cash and carries," an idea that "really took off," Stueve told The Times in 1989.
"My dad saw that in California, cars were becoming more and more important," Keefe said. "He thought it would be a good service to give people a place to get their basics without having to get out of their cars."
Today, 82 independently owned Alta Dena drive-throughs remain open.
We had a number of similar style drive-thru milk stores in Phoenix, most were owned/affiliated with the smaller dairies. They all disappeared in the 70s with the growth of the 7-11s and Circle Ks, and the consolidation of the local dairy business.
Cows were a big part of the drive-through dairy industry when it sprang up around real dairies in the 1950s and '60s.
"A guy with 500 or 1,000 cows would open a drive-through dairy," said Patel, 47. "More than half the dairies in California had bottling plants next door. They would milk the cows, bottle the milk and then sell it at the drive-through."
