We are a lucky people here in Burbank. We are one of a few City’s that still has a Bob’s Big Boy restaurant on the edge of the city near Toluca Lake.
Bob’s was originally a local enterprise begun by Bob Wian. The Big Boy the signature Burger was originally made as a joke for a customer who asked Wian for “something different”. It caught on and soon everyone wanted one!
Bob began to expand his idea and opened a Bob’s at 624 S. San Fernando Road in Burbank. It was a small place with a tall neon sign featuring a character known as Big Boy eating a hamburger. This Bob’s was remodeled to the 1950’s Googie Architecture style of Coffee Shops of the time.
The Toluca Lake Bob’s the one original still left here today is a “California Point of Historical Interest”. In 1993 original Architect Wayne McAllister helped save his creation from the wrecking ball campaigning for its inclusion on the list of California Point of historical interest, thereby saving Bob’s #6 for us to enjoy the food we grew up with and introducing new generations to the Big Boy!
The Friday night car show at Bob’s is a must see event each week. If you are lucky Jay Leno has been known to show up with one of his car collection every now and then.
So just one more great thing that makes Burbank great and one thing that we have here that the rest of the country can only dream of. After all this, I feel like a Big Boy Combo is in my future today.
See you there!
Coming on November 27, 2017….
Growing Up in Burbank
NOW AVAILABLE!!
Get your Copy of Lost Burbank Now!
Slowly fading with the city’s ever-changing landscape, the places and people of Burbank’s past tell a vibrant story. Before the arrival of Warner Bros. and Walt Disney, First National Pictures built its original studio lot on Olive Ave in 1926. For over sixty years, Lockheed Aircraft Company produced some of the nation’s best airplanes where the massive Empire Shopping Center now stands. Heavyweight champion James Jeffries turned his Burbank ranch home and barn into a beloved landmark and boxing venue. Inventor Joseph Wesley Fawkes’s scheme to build a monorail to Los Angeles became a local laughingstock. Diehard Burbankers Wes Clark and Michael Mc Daniel collect these and many more forgotten local stories where they can finally be found.
