The Drive-In Liquor Stores of old-time, and modern Phoenix, Arizona


Every once in a while I will see a comedian, or a comment on social media, laughing about Drive-In Liquor Stores, which have been around in Phoenix for as long as I can remember, and are still around.

I've never really been a heavy drinking man, although I like to have a couple of beers with friends, and have been known to enjoy a gin-and-tonic on special occasions (like on my birthday, at the Stockyards - hint-hint).

I moved to Phoenix when I was 19, a year after I had graduated from high school, and unlike most of the people I've ever known, I was not a drinker. In fact, I didn't have my first beer until I was 25, and I did that, along with teaching myself to drink coffee, to be more sociable.


Anyway, I really have no memory of liquor stores in Phoenix, but I do recall one near where I lived, which was across from Lopers. It had a drive-up window, and I really never gave it a thought. But it was there, and I also just found a picture of one today while I was perusing the Duke University Libraries Digital Collection, which has a bunch of billboards that I get a big kick out of looking at.

So yes, Phoenix has liquor stores that you can drive up to, and has had them for a long time. The comedians aren't making it up. I suppose for people who are crazy enough to drink and drive they can buy liquor and drive around, but since the laws are no longer so forgiving I can't imagine that that's the main reason that they exist. My theory is that Phoenix embraced car culture early, and it just seemed a natural thing to not get out of your car if you didn't have to, the way that cowboys don't get off their horses unless it's absolutely necessary.

If you plan on using the drive-through, please pick me up a six-pack of some good Mexican beer. And if you're time-traveling into the photo at the top of this post, also please bring back that wonderful little roadster parked there in the lot!

Image at the top of this post: A Drive-In Liquor Store at 40th Street and Indian School Road in the 1960s, Phoenix, Arizona.
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Comments

  1. Maryvale ManMay 5, 2020 at 1:24 PM

    Way back in time when I was about 5 years of age, 1953, I went to a Liquor Store on McDowell road at about 16th Street. We literally drove through the store in the front to get our beer and out the back into the alley. It was Barney's Liquors. In the 2000's they were doing business on the 2600 block of Glendale avenue. Not a drive through.

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