I Remember Trenton – Frostop Was Teen Hangout In Trenton

by Cindy Bailey Stewart
THS Class of 1963
Trenton had three excellent drive-in restaurants: the Lazy K, the A&W Root Beer and the Frostop. All of the drive-in restaurants made eating out convenient for a family. The Lazy K was owned and operated by Bob and Talma Kincade. Bob had only one arm, but he was a fast and very good cook. Bob was a great guy to work for and he didn’t put up with any disrespect toward the carhops. Bob made the best tenderloin sandwiches, hands down! The A& W was located where the J.C. Penney Store later stood. Don and Charlotte Peyton owned and operated the Frostop. They also served up some delicious food.

Don created a Lot-0-Burger and it sold for 55 cents. In later years, the McDonald chain restaurants came out with a copy of the Lot-0-Burger and named it the Big Mac. Don and Charlotte worked right up front at the grill and fryers. They kept an eye on the carhops and the customers. They didn’t have air conditioning inside, but they always looked cool and calm even on those scorching hot summer days. A hamburger was 25 cents. A basket with loin back ribs, a salad, roll and French fries was only $1.65! For those who liked shrimp, the basket with five large shrimp, fries and a salad for seventy- five cents. But, to me the chicken basket was the best with either a leg and thigh or a large breast of chicken, fries and a salad for 50 cents. Vaughncille Meeker (now Griffin) worked in the prep kitchen part-time and recalled peeling one hundred pounds of potatoes a night. Other preparations involved cutting up chickens, making hamburger patties, pounding and breading tenderloins and shrimp and making salads (as needed). Everything was made fresh and the food was wholesome.
Besides serving up good food, the atmosphere was friendly and fun. Back then, only girls worked as carhops. Guys came out to tell funny jokes to the carhops and if they liked a certain carhop, they parked on her side. The carhop didn’t linger at a car, but took the order and delivered the tray quickly; that was a rule. When the drive-in movie was over, most cars passed the Frostop on the highway back to Trenton. That was Highway 65, and is now known as Oklahoma Avenue. Later when the Plaza Theatre crowd arrived, we were swamped! There were nights when cars were parked three and four deep so people behind others had to back up to let the earlier arrivals out when they were done. Some nights our tips would run as high as $20, and the average tip was ten cents.
The trays had to sit on about two inches of the window on the driver’s side and then the balancing bar was pushed up to rest on the car’s door. When there were six big heavy drinking mugs, setting a tray was tricky. Every carhop had the misfortune of dumping a tray on a driver. Diane Cudney recalled dumping a cup of coffee on her white blouse and that was HOT! Karen Kercheval once dumped a milkshake on a police officer. We were very serious and apologetic when we dumped a tray on a customer, then we’d run around back to laugh. If someone decided to keep a Frostop mug, 10 cents per mug came out of the carhop’s check, so we were diligent about counting return mugs.
Some of the carhops at the Frostop were Deanna Roberts, Karen Kercheval, Joyce Diegelman, Babette Barnes, Jeannie Noe, Vaughncille Meeker, Diane Cudney and Cindy Bailey. Each carhop got to eat a free meal during her shift. Drinks were constantly provided. Most of us ate a lot of food, but we worked it off and if there was time, when we were hungry again, we’d buy more food. Don furnished the carhop uniforms. That was a pair of brown pants with a gold stripe up the side and we wore our own white blouse. No matter how hot it got during the summer, we wore those brown pants and I don’t recall any girl ever complaining about how hot it was wearing long pants. We had to wear a belt to accommodate our changer that we wore to give back the customer’s change. We were responsible for turning in the money at the end of the evening. Although it was hard work, we felt like celebrities who got free food and had the fun and privilege of working at the Frostop, one of Trenton’s “hot spots.”
Later, Don added a large covered patio for outdoor dining. Customers walked up to the window, placed their order, picked it up when called, and took it to their table. Mary Hamilton worked in the prep room and she took the walk-up orders. There was music playing over a speaker on the patio and some patrons even danced. It was like “Happy Days” outdoors! My mom planned my fifteenth birthday party on the patio. I remember telling her I didn’t want to go out there on my night off. What a surprise to find my friends waiting to celebrate. In the fall, we teenage carhops worked the night shift. We did our homework at the counter between the comings and goings of customers. We even quizzed each other in preparation for up-coming tests. Don closed at ten o’clock on school nights so we could finish our assignments at home and get some rest.
Before Don would close up for the winter, it got cold out there. Diane Cudney and Deanna Roberts recall asking Don when he was going to put up the little shelter where the carhops could warm up between customers. He told them he wasn’t going to put it up. One cold night, Diane and Deanna climbed up on the counter and peered in at Don who was at the grill and they shivered and blew on their hands looking very pitiful. The next night they came to work, the warming shelter was in place.
Don was easy-going and kind. He expected the carhops to be friendly and bound right out as soon as a car arrived. There were very few incidents when a customer gave us trouble, but when that happened, Don Peyton went to the car to politely discuss the matter with the person. When a customer was ready to leave, they tooted their car’s horn or blinked their lights. The carhop quickly went to pick up the tray.
As long as cars kept arriving and ordering food, we stayed open. At closing time, the carhops cleaned up the parking lot, cleaned the counter tops, washed the patio tables, swept the walkways and cleaned the windows. Then, Don would start up his station wagon, lower the tail gate and take us all to our homes. He also picked us up at the start of the shift. There were usually about six or eight people who rode with Don. No one was allowed to ride home with friends. Don saw us safely home. Usually two or three girls rode on the tailgate. We enjoyed that because it was cooler. It wasn’t against the law to ride on a tailgate back then.
When the Frostop closed for the season, it was a sad time. People missed it. We carhops could hardly wait for summer. Before school was out for the summer, we went back to work at night. It was a real honor to work for Don and Charlotte Peyton at the famous Frostop in Trenton, MO.