Save the burger drive-thru!

The NIMBY epidemic is finally crossing the line. Sometimes the “Not In My Backyard” sentiment makes sense. I can see the logic in not wanting a prison two blocks away.

And I could go along with a ban on bikini bars next to a church (although it might be fun to see who patronized both).
I’m talking about the hard-to-fathom effort by Culver City – and some other cities – to ban drive-through restaurants.

A Los Angeles Times article on Sunday reported that it’s not the only town to put on its grumpy old man hats and complain about what’s (allegedly) wrong about these Southern California icons.

As the gripe goes, drive-through hamburger eateries cause traffic jams, emit pollution, compete unfairly with “real” restaurants and keep teenagers out late doing things their parents worry about (but likely used to do themselves).

We live about a block from an In-N-Out at Magnolia and Trask in Garden Grove but also patronize the one in Stanton on Beach near Garden Grove Boulevard.

Each of these are clean, attractive and no louder than toddlers being towed through the parking lot at Target.

Speaking of the pollution created by idling cars in the line at a drive-through, imagine the land (with oxygen-creating green space) that would be consumed by a large blacktopped parking lot.

In-N-Out and the car-oriented culture is as Californian as sun tans, Dodger Blue and freeways. And if you resent them because you never went to one after the movie (or football game) with a loved one, that’s your problem, not ours.