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Three generations keeping Parker's Drive In running. From left, owner Lillian Parker, daughter Tammy Pulley and granddaughter Kallie Brian stand for a portrait outside Parker's Drive In Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. Parker's will be closing December 30. MARK JOHNSTON/Daily Herald

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Owner Lillian Parker stands for a portrait outside Parker's Drive In Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. Parker's will be closing December 30. MARK JOHNSTON/Daily Herald

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One of the last of the great American drive-ins is closing its doors in American Fork, capping a half-century of fresh-made hamburgers, fries, fry sauce and milkshakes. 

Parker’s Drive-In, at the corner of State Road and 500 East, has announced that Dec. 30 will be its last day — after 58 years of business. 

“I’m 80 years old and it’s time to quit,” said owner Lillian Parker, who has mulled over retirement for several years. She feels now is the time, with the weaker economy adding fodder to the decision. “This year is going to be it,” she said. 

Her daughter Tammy and her son-in-law Frank, who have helped run the drive-in, invited the 20 employees to their home Sunday evening to break the news. “I don’t think they were too surprised,” Parker said. “I had a ‘for sale’ sign up for a while.”

The buyer is an undisclosed company from out of state that more than likely will tear the place down, a sign that big chains stand ready to pounce on prime locations as local outfits are calling it quits. The drive-in, which sits along American Fork’s State Road within a mile of the freeway, is a local landmark dating back to December 1953, when Parker and her late husband, Lee, acquired the business.

She remembers 500 East being nothing but a cow trail then, and as few as 10 cars a day could be spotted on State Road, a far cry from today’s bustling traffic. The interstate wouldn’t be built until a decade later. 

The business was originally an Arctic Circle, the first in Utah Valley. Her brother-in-law Grant Parker, who was working at the fast-food restaurant, heard the owners wanted to sell. He told his brother Lee about the opportunity, and Lee and Lillian decided to take a big chance. “It’s all Grant’s fault,” Parker said, laughing. 

The Parkers were in their mid-20s when they bought the fledgling franchise for $12,000, a great deal of money in the 1950s. The business gamble fanned worries in the family and at the bank, which turned down the young couple’s request for a $1,000 loan. 

“How on earth can you afford to pay for this on nickels and dimes?” Parker remembers Lee’s father asking the young man. Hamburgers then were just 19 cents, milkshakes a quarter and fries a dime. Not the least dispirited, Lee sallied forth with his wife and four friends, working 16-hour days. “Just to start, we had to peel by hand 100 pounds of potatoes a day,” Parker said.  

Perhaps the most poignant moment for the Parkers was in 1970, when they made the decision to close on Sunday — even if it meant losing the Arctic Circle name and the income from future franchising opportunities in the valley. Parker admits they missed on a brand that would eventually grow to 45 franchises in seven western states, but she has no regrets.

“We just pulled out,” she said. 

Business remained steady despite the name change and growing competition from fast-food chains. “My husband would go down to the drive-in in the morning and a few fellow business owners would sit down and visit with him,” Parker said. “They’d all have a cup of chocolate or a fountain drink — they all made a close-knit group back then.” 

Lee once received an urgent phone call from an LDS mission president in California. The mission president was requesting his fry sauce recipe for a paralyzingly homesick missionary from American Fork he had under his wing. The president explained that when he asked the young missionary what he missed about home, he answered, “Parker’s Drive-In fry sauce.”

Many people in Utah County still come to Parker’s Drive-In, perfectly happy that not much has changed in the past 50 years. Parker was unaware that a customer had recently set up a Facebook page featuring the place. The page is peppered with comments like “Parker’s has the best food in town; I’ve been eating there for 50 years.” More than 1,000 people have become members of the fan page.

Lee died in 2002, and Parker debated carrying on without her husband. But loyal customers and employees convinced her not to quit.

“I’d ask my husband when he was planning on retiring and he’d say, ‘I don’t know, when the kids are all through with school,’ ” Parker said. “Well, I’m on grandkids now.” 

Parker feels the time is ripe for retirement. Three generations of employees have worked at the drive-in. Some of them still keep in touch, dropping in when they’re in the vicinity. Some even recommend their own daughters for a job. Parker says she has hired hundreds of people through the years, and her decision to close weighs heavily on her. Even if the employees don’t seem panicked, her inner worrywart wonders whether they’ll find a job.

“So many kids are going to school and they need work,” she said. 

“It’s sad,” said Judy, a Parker’s Drive-In employee of close to 50 years. “It’s been there for a long time.” 

As for the offer to buy the property, Parker admits this one wasn’t the first. The Parkers had received several of them over the years, but Lee always held off, refusing to sell.

“I think he actually enjoyed working here,” Parker said. “He enjoyed meeting the people and talking to them.” 

• You can follow Daniel Crivello at www.twitter.com/dancrivello.