
THERE ARE PROBABLY not too many folks around who remember Oscar’s Drive-In Coffee Shop at the southwest corner of Garnet Avenue and Mission Boulevard. At one time, there were 12 in San Diego and four more in the Los Angeles area. A snazzier Foodmaker cousin to Jack-in-the-Box, the drive-in had waitresses who came to your car to take your order, then brought it out in a tray that attached either to your steering wheel or to the door. The Pacific Beach site gave way to a series of restaurants — Bushwhacker, Greenery, Old Ox, Gringo’s Cafe y Cantina and, currently, Fat Fish. Oh, you could also dine IN at Oscar’s. If you’d like to scoot into an Oscar’s booth one more time, head up to Pernicano’s on Turquoise Street. Johnnie Pernicano told me recently that he purchased Oscar’s booths when they went out of business — and installed them in his pizza parlor.








