10 Unusual Drive-Thru Services

Strip Club Drive-Thru

The drive-thru window at the Climax Gentlemen's Club offers the novelty of a drive-thru with the I'll-do-it-in-my-car convenience of a drive-thru McDonald's. A special gravel driveway leads to a cinder block carport at the back of the building, where patrons can watch the indoor activity from their vehicles, through a diamond-shaped window. A ‘pay here' booth takes credit cards, and displays an autographed photo of Fred ‘The Honzman' Honsburger, a right-wing radio talk show host on Pittsburgh's KDKA. Current rates are $20 a minute for two or more people; $10 a minute for solo customers. If there's someone in front of you, you just have to wait in your car.




Funeral Home Drive-Thru

For some time, Junior Funeral Home in Pensacola (Florida) offered "an optional drive -thru viewing window". The drive-through service with cameras and a sound system is used to let on-the-go visitors pay their respects, sign the funeral register and view the remains of the loved one round the clock without ever leaving the car. The former owner, Lafayette Gatling, a former construction worker who said he used to feel uncomfortable himself paying his respects in soiled work clothes, added the drive-through service in 1986. The Pensacola drive-thru Funeral home is now closed and no longer in operation.




Emergency Room Drive-Thru

Having people with contagious conditions like, say, swine flu siting in a crowded ER waiting room is not an ideal public health situation. So Stanford Hospital is testing a drive-through ER, where patients get treated in their cars. The idea is that during a pandemic or bioterrorist attack, when “social distancing” is needed, patients would drive up in their cars to be registered and triaged by nurses while still outside the hospital. People who show signs of a contagious condition would be asked to head over to the parking garage, where doctors would evaluate them further either inside the car or on cots. With timekeepers tracking the process, Weiss found that the drive-through reduced patients' length of stay by 1.5 hours compared to what would have been expected in a traditional ER.




Wedding Chapel Drive-Thru

If you are dreading all the work and effort in arranging a big ceremony, with huge crowds of people, then why not take the quick route and go through the Drive-Thru wedding chapel. Originally used for handicapped people who had trouble getting into the building, it has become a mainstay of Las Vegas wedding scene.


Prayer Booth Drive-Thru

A few years ago the “Main Place Christian Fellowship", an evangelical church located in Tustin outside Los Angeles, converted a former photo booth in a nearby parking lot into a drive-thru prayer booth. Any driver in need of a prayer can drive through and remain in his car while a pastor on duty prays for him through a window. In addition to free prayers, the booth also gives away free Bibles, bottled water and sometimes flowers.




Art Gallery Drive-Thru

In 2006 a program from the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver allowed viewers to access art via a drive-thru window. Drivers could pull up to the kiosk and select from one of six short videos from Vancouver artist Brady Cranfield. Each piece from the series, called Day Tripper, was modeled after a hypothetical day in the life of a Vancouverite.




Coffee Shop Topless Drive-Thru

For the coffee nut, nothing beats a conveniently located, reasonably-priced, drive-thru coffee stand. Except, of course, one staffed with topless baristas. The residents of Washington State know all too well that nothing brightens a morning commute like a great cup of coffee, delivered by a really hot, bikini-clad barista. Since the introduction of the topless baristas last year, coffee and Washington State have never been so enticing. Savvy Washington drive-thru coffee stand owners have added one very popular item to their menu: flesh. With the introduction of the topless baristas, some coffee stands have taken the idea of a "morning jolt" to a whole new level. One coffee stand, Hot-Chick-a-Latte, claims (via craigslist) that their bikini baristas can make up to $300 a day.




Big Tree Drive-Thru

For years now, the drive-thru has been making it easier for us to complete life's daily tasks. In fact, in today's America, you can eat, cash a cheque, and even get married, all without ever leaving your vehicle. It only makes sense then, to bring the drive-thru idea to nature, where along California's Redwood Highway, you can drive-thru the hallowed out stumps of some of the world's biggest trees. Getting close to nature has never been so easy. You'll have to pay a fee of course, so have your money ready at the next window, err…tree.




Fire fighting Drive-Thru

While most of the time the firefighters come to your house when you're in need of assistance, they've unveiled a new drive-through service in McMinnville, Oregon. Basically, when you're on fire, they'll come to you or you can come to them! Craig Brown was their first customer. When his pick-up truck's engine caught on fire, rather than pulling over and freaking out (like I would), he just drove to the fire station to get the flames extinguished. In a way, Craig got lucky because firefighters were already there, rather than out fighting some other fire. He was doubly lucky, because two of them were outside the building washing an ambulance when he pulled up, vehicle smoking from beneath the hood. The two firefighters merely turned the hose on his truck and blasted away the flames.




Public Library Drive-Thru

Ottawa Public Library in Ontario, Canada, opened a drive-thru window in 2005. It was the first library to open a convenient and quick way to drop the books - with a drive-thru to drop books open 24hrs.