Dwight's Drive-In

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Dwight’s Drive-in on 8th Street was long a neighborhood
institution on Huntington’s Southside.

Courtesy of Huntington Quarterly

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HUNTINGTON — Feb. 2, 1995, was a sad day on the city’s Southside.
 That’s the day The Herald-Dispatch reported that Dwight’s
 Drive-in on 8th Street would soon close.

David Messinger, a partner in the popular drive-in restaurant with his father
and two brothers, told the newspaper: “It was a matter of economics.
 Somebody wanted the property worse than we did.” At the time
the hot rumor was that Dwight’s was going away to make
 room for a new bank, and in fact the former First Sentry
 Bank was soon constructed on the restaurant’s site.

The Messinger family had operated the restaurant,
 an institution in the neighborhood, since 1963.

People flocked to Dwight’s for the hearty breakfasts, the Husky steak
sandwiches, the strawberry pie, the hand-breaded onion rings and
 the coffee, which many folks swore was the best in town. It
wasn’t on the menu but another big attraction was the
conversation. Morning, noon and night friends
 shared the comfortable booths or perched on
stools at the counter, talking away.

With the closing of the restaurant, some faithful patrons moved
to the other Dwight’s location on 1st Street, a 24-hour
 eatery operated by the Messingers. But another dark
 day came in 2003, when the family reluctantly
decided to shut the old restaurant
 rather than renovate it.

The Huntington restaurants may be closed, but there is still
a Dwight’s welcoming hungry customers. Carrying on
 the family tradition, Mike and Vickie Messinger,
the third generation of the family, opened
their own location at 513 MacCorkle
 Ave. in St. Albans, West Virginia.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on June 28, 2022..

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