The Real Story Behind In-N-Out's Crossed Palm Trees

Pay close attention any time you visit an In-N-Out Burger and you'll notice that just about every location has an interesting feature: Two palm trees that have been manipulated as they grew so the end result forms the shape of an "X." What's the deal?

While some people think that the crossed palms are a nod to Christian iconography, because in the late '80s, second-generation owner Rich Snyder added Bible verses to the bottom of every cup and wrapper. However, those didn't appear until more than a decade after the trees. In reality, the trees are there because In-N-Out founder Harry Snyder just thought that they looked cool. The idea for the crossed palms comes from the 1963 comedy classic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, in which the cast searches for a buried treasure that's hidden beneath four crossed palm trees. It was Snyder's favorite movie, and maybe he also wanted to communicate that where there's crossed palms, there's treasure to be found.