"If, while driving between San Francisco and Sacramento in 1930, you were suddenly struck by a powerful hankering for dairy, there was only one place on your mind: the Milk Farm. Its reputation was legendary. Pony rides, apple pies and 10 cents for all the milk you could drink. In the early days of the American highway system, there were few places like the Dixon roadside stop."
"Its most famous marketing ploy was the 10-cent colon destroyer known as all-you-can-drink milk. Plop down a dime, you could chug as much milk or buttermilk as your gut could handle, an inexplicable value proposition for a destination catering to people who were about to get back on the road. All-time records were kept on a chalkboard: One Yuba City man drank 5 quarts in 20 minutes. Lost to the historical record is when and where he needed his next rest stop."
The Milk Farm began in the early 1920s in Dixon as a service station and added a restaurant to serve motorists between San Francisco and Sacramento. The venue offered pony rides, apple pies and a famous 10-cent all-you-can-drink milk promotion that kept chalkboard records of drinking feats. World War II rationing ended the milk promotion, but the establishment achieved national fame, appearing in the Saturday Evening Post in 1946 and billing itself as 'America's most unique highway restaurant.' The leaping-cow sign has sat over Interstate 80 since 1963. Decades of wear and changes in ownership have raised concerns about the landmark's future.
Read at SFGATE
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