Swensons

Wesley “Pop” Swenson started selling hamburgers out of a station wagon at Akron’s Buchtel High School in 1933, and opened a proper drive-in on South Hawkins Avenue the following year. He sold it in 1949 to Robert Phillips, who began a slow expansion that has only recently reached Columbus, Cincinnati and Indiana.

Swensons is still a drive-in, and a local institution in Akron. Forbes called it America’s best burger in 1999, and LeBron James is among its well-known fans. The menu calls them “burgs”, and the signature is the Galley Boy.

Drive-ins across northeast and central Ohio, from Akron and Cleveland to Columbus and Cincinnati, plus the Indianapolis area.