Update: A&W fire was third in three days caused by transient camps, authorities say
The A&W restaurant in downtown Modesto will be closed Wednesday due to an early morning fire caused by people in an encampment outside the building.
The fire at the G Street restaurant started near an outdoor seating area around 6 a.m., according to the Modesto Fire Department. When crews arrived, they found an exterior fire, possibly a warming fire, that had extended into the building.
Crews quickly extinguished the fire, minimizing damage to the inside of the building. The fire caused an estimated $10,000 in damage, said Deputy Fire Chief Darin Jesberg.
He said the restaurant would remain closed Wednesday, but county health officials are working with the owner to reopen as soon as possible.
Jesberg said the owner has been having an ongoing problem with transients sleeping and camping around the restaurant.
Jesberg said this was the third building fire in as many days that was caused by transient activity.
There was a fire at the former Orchard Supply Hardware on Sisk Road on Tuesday that was minimized by the sprinkler system in the building, and the King-Kennedy Center on Martin Luther King Drive sustained moderate damage in a fire Monday night. Like the A&W fire, these fires also started on the outside and spread inside.
No arrests have been made in any of the fires.
The A&W restaurant at 1404 G is a piece of Modesto history. Here’s more about it from a 2019 Bee story by business writer Marijke Rowland:
Opened March 1958, the A&W is the only remaining Graffiti-era drive-in in Modesto that still has roller-skate wearing servers bring your burger and fries right to your car. The franchise was born in Lodi as a roadside root beer stand in 1919. The first restaurant opened in Sacramento in 1923.
By the 1950s the chain expanded across the country and into Canada. The Modesto A&W at the corner of 14th and G streets opened selling burgers, hot dogs and its signature root beer. According to a grand opening ad in The Bee, a root beer would set you back $0.05.
The restaurant went through about three different owners before Johnny Matthews purchased the place in 1996. His wife owns Janet’s Flowers, just across the street. He kept the burger joint’s tradition alive, and has added some of his own, including hosting cruise-in karaoke nights with Elvis impersonators. The free Friday night festivities are a Graffiti Summer staple. Folks bring lawn chairs to sit in the parking lot on hot summer nights and soak up the nostalgia.
This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 9:14 AM.
