The Varsity
World's largest drive-in, dishing out nickel-era hot dogs and Coca-Cola by the hundreds of gallons since nineteen twenty-eight.
The Varsity's guide opens on a register closing for the night on August 18, 1928, the day Frank Gordy opened his nickel hot dog stand near Georgia Tech on North Avenue in Atlanta. It follows his bet that cheap food built for students could survive hard times, a bet tested almost immediately when Wall Street crashed two months later. From there it traces how one wooden shack swallowed two city blocks and grew into a fleet of roughly one hundred thirty carhops serving lines of parked cars. Stand at the counter and imagine the same call of what'll ya have echoing across nearly a century of orders.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.