You'll Always Find Palm Trees At In-N-Out. Here's Why

In-N-Out Burger is so synonymous with southern California that the average East Coaster might assume the restaurants don't exist beyond the Inland Empire. But that's not quite the truth: although In-N-Out forgoes the franchise model that allows the likes of McDonald's to expand so aggressively, you can find In-N-Outs across the American West, ranging from Oregon to Texas. (And they're set to expand, too!) But at most locations, you're likely to find a curious sight somewhere on the premises: two palm trees crossed over each other like the necks of amorous flamingos, forming the letter X.

Palm trees, like In-N-Out itself, are native to California, and they're as vital to Los Angeles' iconography as the Hollywood sign or the giant gutter that used to be a river. (You know the one — it's where they had the drag race in "Grease.") But what is the significance of the letter x? Is In-N-Out trying to send us a secret message? The answer is a lot more banal than it might seem: the "x" palm trees are a reference to a movie from the 1960s.

Specifically, the palm trees are a reference to "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," a delirious comedy that features virtually every single funny person in Hollywood circa 1963 pursuing a hidden treasure. Interesting fact: the film was directed by Stanley Kramer, known for other films like "Inherit the Wind" and "Judgment at Nuremberg."

Over the course of three hours, a cast consisting of Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, and Ethel Merman (to name a fraction of the talent on display) squabbles their way across the California desert, looking for a princely sum buried in Santa Rosita State Park "under a big W."

The "W" in question turns out to be an arrangement of four palm trees: the outer two leaning to the side, the inner two crossed over each other. In-N-Out founder Harry Snyder, seeking something to set his restaurants apart from the rest, recalled the film in 1972 and did away with the outer two palm trees for a simple "X": a quintessentially Californian way to mark a certain kind of treasure. As for whether the fries qualify as treasure, who can say?