When Anaheim High students take a trip down memory lane, they often cruise to a Carl’s Jr. and remember the days when the Carl’s Drive-In Barbeque opened on November 1944 at 1108 N. Palm St. (now Harbor). The restaurant featured curb, counter and table service. Carl cooked and his wife Margaret (Heinz) Karcher served the counter customers and cashiered.
The drive-in became an instant popular hang-out for Anaheim High students. With WWII coming to an end, Anaheim’s young vets were returning home. Carl’s Drive-In was the place to meet up with old friends and to be seen, especially if you drove a hopped-up Chevy or Ford. Of course, the best way to be found would be in a convertible “top down” munching on a hamburger, drinking a shake or a cherry Coke. Those inside plugged the juke box with nickels to listen to their favorite tunes while enjoying a Carl’s burger.
Interesting trivia for Anaheim history buffs: Before it became Carl’s, the building at 1108 N. Palm was a Tommy’s Drive-In, then it became Scotties, then Lucky’s, all offering drive-in curb service. The building has since been torn down.
The first local Carl’s Jr. was built in 1956 on the former Janss Street next to St. Boniface Catholic Church. That former Carl’s Jr. is now the church’s Bethany Hall. The current flagship Carl’s Jr. is located at 1200 N. Harbor Blvd. Another favorite Carl’s at the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Broadway has been torn down and is being rebuilt with a drive-thru lane. The grand-opening date is April 2012.
“Never to be Forgotten”
Anaheim High School’s relationship with Carl and Margaret went beyond kids visiting their drive-in and many Anaheim restaurants. Throughout the decades, the Karcher Family supported Anaheim and many of the Karcher children attended the city’s first high school.
Devout Catholics, the Karchers were life-time members of St. Boniface Church. Carl and Margaret were married Nov. 30, 1939, at St. Boniface and brought 12 children into the world. Carl had several audiences with Pope John Paul II and was knighted into the order of Malta, one of the highest honors a lay person can attain.
The community truly adored Carl, who is considered an Anaheim legend. He was the honorary Grand Marshall of the 2006 Halloween Parade. Also, on Jan. 16, 2007, Carl and Margaret received the second star on the Anaheim/Orange County Walk of Stars at the entrance to Disneyland on Harbor Boulevard. At the City’s 150th anniversary sesquicentennial, a specially engraved brick honoring the late Carl and Margaret was laid in front of the Pearson Park Theater surrounding the rose garden honoring Sarah Fay Pearson.
Their dedication and service to the City of Anaheim and its youth will always be appreciated, as well as the memories they provided through their family-friendly restaurants.
Carl, Margaret and their family truly enjoyed the lovely home they purchased in 1949 at 700 N. Clementine Street until their passing. Both Carl and Margaret were laid to rest in the family plot at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Orange, but their legacy continues, as there are more than 3,000 Carl’s Jr. locations in 43 states and 13 countries, proudly offering menu items of Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s, Green Burrito and Red Burrito.
