Ode to the Clayton Burger
For 53 years, folks driving along Highway 395 north of Spokane have made a stop in Clayton, Washington for a bite to eat or for a delicious ice cream cone on the way to the lake on a hot summer day at the Clayton Drive-In. As in many small, rural towns, people know one another and this little burger joint on the highway was a hub for the residents of Clayton and the nearby towns of Loon Lake and Deer Park. Families would gather for a meal out, school sports teams would refuel here after a big game, hunters would grab a bite before heading to their favorite spot, and even the local historical society made it their official meeting place.
The Clayton Drive-In was originally opened in 1968 by Don and Lorraine Ball. The Balls had previously operated a root beer stand at 6515 N. Division in Spokane. This new drive-in was a small, walk-up kitchen where you would order your food at a window and take it to go. In the mid-1980s, the Balls had a new, larger restaurant built across the street, where it is located today. Here, you could dine in and delight in the simple charms of this old-fashioned, friendly burger joint. The Balls operated the drive-in until around 2005, when they passed the torch to a long-time employee Taffy Long. In more recent years, you could sit near the windows and watch hummingbirds feed on the feeders that were hung along the eaves of the roof or browse curiosities in displays presented by the Clayton-Deer Park Historical Society, showing Clayton’s thriving past when the Washington Brick & Lime Company had their brickyard and operations in the town, and gaze at the sectioned off corner of the restaurant that held a year-round Christmas display. The original drive-in building was lost to a fire in 1993.
I grew up in Spokane, but my family spent a lot of time up near Chewelah staying at our stepdad’s rustic 1910 cabin tucked in the trees on Quarry-Browns Lake Road (it was only called “Quarry” when I was growing up), swimming at Browns Lake, hiking or foraging morels and huckleberries in the Colville National Forest, fishing, shooting and generally just having a good time getting away from the city. On our trip home, we would almost always stop at what we called “Clayton Burger” for soft-serve ice cream cones. I loved the half-chocolate, half-vanilla ones. Stevens County was our “home away from home” and stopping at the Clayton Burger was like going to grandma’s house. As an adult, that hasn’t changed for me. I still would stop with all of the joy I felt as a child. Sure, it seems like just any old roadside burger joint, but this one was a family tradition. I’m not the first to enjoy stops there with the family, it was also a traditional stop for my mother when she was younger. A number of years ago, my mom and I bestowed the tradition onto my son and his wife by stopping in for a round of Clayton Burgers. This was my first time actually having the infamous delight and that was a lot of tasty burger! There we were, three generations enjoying over 40 years of family tradition.
It may seem silly that a roadside burger joint in an old brickyard town would mean so much to so many, but it wasn’t just the meal you ate. Certainly, a big burger with 2 meat, 2 bacon, 1 cheese, ketchup, mustard, relish, onion, pickle, lettuce, and tomato topped off with a split-cut grilled hotdog is a memorable bit of the American culinary experience, but the memories made by the generations of folks who pulled off the road were priceless, wherever they were headed. Sadly, the Clayton Drive-In closed its doors on December 31, 2021, for reasons I do not know. Fortunately, the memories left behind by this little roadside burger joint will forever stay with those who enjoyed it forever.
©2022 E. Deasy unless otherwise noted.