Native Daughters honor Lodi landmark
A landmark Lodi business was honored by a state organization focused on preserving California’s history last month.
The Native Daughters of the Golden West presented Peter Knight, franchise manager of the Lodi A&W, with its California Image award on April 30.
The award is given to individuals, groups, organizations or businesses that publicly portray a positive image of California.
Nominations are submitted by NDGW parlors for consideration, and Lodi’s Parlor 337 was awarded a certificate for submitting A&W for consideration.
The 2020 award was supposed to be given to Knight and A&W in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the ceremony.
A&W was founded in Lodi in 1919 after Ray Allen set up a beverage stand at 13. W. Pine St., offering up his homemade root beer during a parade to honor soldiers returning home from World War I.
He would partner with Frank Wright and name the product A&W Root Beer. Today, A&W is located at 216 W. Lodi Ave., and there are 1,000 restaurants worldwide, with 600 in the United States.
A plaque can be found at 13 W. Pine St., commemorating the location where Allen sold his first root beer.