A central Florida drive-in restaurant that is going to be featured in an upcoming Brad Pitt movie has been lost to an overnight fire.
City of New Smyrna Beach Fire Department confirmed they were working on the structure fire at Pappas Drive-In & Family Restaurant at 1103 North Dixie Freeway at 1 a.m. Monday on Facebook.
Just before 6 a.m., a FOX 35 Orlando reporter said on X that crews told her the fire broke out in the attic around midnight and the structure was a total loss.
“It’s a neighborhood staple. The New Smyrna Beach area, everybody knows Pappas Drive-In restaurant. It’s a common place for everybody to come around and hang out,” New Smyrna Beach Fire Lieutenant Adam Sarwi told FOX 35. “Has a lot of history to it. One of the oldest drive-in restaurants around … And that movie that was just filmed here a couple weeks ago, a couple months ago, and so a lot of history here, so it’s gonna be a lot of broken hearts for missing a neighborhood staple.”
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New Smyrna Beach Fire Department shared this photo showing how smoke engulfed the entire Pappas Drive-In and Family Restaurant in New Smyrna Beach early Monday morning. (City of New Smyrna Beach Fire Department/Facebook)
Sarwi was discussing an upcoming untitled Apple Original film about Formula 1 racing from the team that put together Top Gun: Maverick, according to FOX 35. Pitt, a 60-year-old Academy Award-winning actor, was spotted in New Smyrna Beach back in January filming the movie, scheduled to be released next summer.
The Pappas website says it was open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, adding it had “famous burgers and fried chicken since 1970.”
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A look at Pappas Drive-In in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, prior to the fire. (Google Earth)
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The cause of the fire is under investigation. No other buildings were damaged.
