Mels Drive-In, July, 2003

Mel's Drive-In (not to be confused with Mel's Diner) is the name of a restaurant chain founded in 1947 by Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs in San Francisco, California.

In 1972 the restaurant was selected as a feature location by George Lucas in the American film American Graffiti, saving the company from possibly going out of business. The restaurants have since been featured in other media such as Melrose Place (1996, Season 5, episode 1), Doonesbury comics (December 18, 1989), and the book The American Drive-in by Mike Witzel.

Some Mel's Drive-In locations are not actually drive-ins, but rather diners, although the sign still says "drive-in"; no San Francisco location serves food to patrons' cars.

There are also a number of "Mel's" located in northern California which share the same general American Graffiti/ nostalgia theme and similarly styled Mel's logo. These restaurants are called "Mel's Original." Their locations are not listed on the official Mel's Drive-In website, and there is no online information concerning whether they are in any way related. The Walnut Creek, California location features a history of the original San Francisco Mel's, so it is possible that these are franchises of the same company, or two companies sharing the same trademark in a fashion similar to the Hard Rock Cafe brand.

Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel