Apparently the first doggie bags were used in San Francisco during WWII to prevent food waste, then spread around the country under different names such as Snack-Sac and Doggie Pak.
29 June 1943, Associated Press:
SAN FRANCISCO – The newest device of the Society For Prevention of Cruelty to Animals:
The Pet Pakit.
It’s a carton cafe owners give to patrons on request. The diner scrapes leftovers from his plate into the box, to take home to his pet.
It was considered uncouth to take home restaurant leftovers for anyone but Boswer in most restaurants until the 1970s. And some upscale places still discourage the practice.
Interesting! I like “Snack Sac”. We need that name in Sacramento. And, I never remember seeing them until around 1990.
Funny, Lawry’s the Prime Rib also claims to have invented the Doggie Bag.
Perhaps they did invent it, Peter. The California Restaurant Association claims they did in 1938. But I haven’t found a picture or original citation and some of the claims on this link are suspect (for example, the Margarita was popular in Tijuana during Prohibition according to expert David Wondrich, so it couldn’t have been invented in 1955 at Tail O’ The Cock). My research continues!
http://www.newtonthai.com/california_restaurants.asp