There was one for sale in the local Auto Trader about three years ago for $300. I really wanted it but this one was bigger than 12 feet. It was like 15 or more. I remember because even if I put it in the backyard he'd be kind of peering over the house. I thought that was awesome but my wife didn't agree. I thought she'd appreciate the shade.
There is still one in front of the Frisches Big Boy in Anderson, Indiana. He disappeared for a while but he came back. Piston Poppers meet there every Wednesday.
that is boomers place. he is also the guy that puts on billetproofe here in michigan with kirk. the statue is made to look like boomer
Aha! That pieces together a few of the disparate pieces of information that had been aimlessly floating around in my brain. Thanks. The more recent Big Boys slimmed down a bit. When did it stop being cool to advertise that the food you were selling would make people fat?
I use to cruise the Frisches Big Boy in Anderson in the 70s! That was the place to be on a Friday night! I knew that the last time I was home it was still there.
As a matter of fact there used to be one less than a mile from where that Big Boy you posted is...but you probably know that.
I heard some comedian talking about how he wanted to bury like ten of them in a circle, like stonehenge. That way, when archaeologists from the future discovered them, they'd think we worshipped the Big Boy like a god. I always thought that would be really cool. Kinda like the Cadillac ranch, but less obvious and more lowbrow... ~Scotch~
Are there still Big Boy restaurants in business? I went to one alot when i was a kid, but it's been gone for about 19-20 years... I ate at one in Michigan about 7 years ago...
Frisch's Big Boy in Ohio is still going strong. Here's what we paid in 1959... and you can still get keychains and banks from them. Mutt
Hey Chris were you located ?yes I knew the Quarterback club your talking about thats the one that got the football painted pink on halloween all but the tip.Used to eat lunch there every saturday for a little over a year when I Belonged to trhe HotSparks club I have their drag car the Emulsifier.I'm located in Thompson
He's made up to be Boomer, the shop's owner. Boomer is also my partner in Billetproof Detroit. Great guy who obviously has a good sense of humor.
When I was in high school, everyone used to hit the Big Boy on Broadway for lunch here in Idaho Falls. We were sitting there having lunch and the Grassroots came in and sat down. (Yes, the group). They were in town for a concert that night. The manager came and asked them to leave. Gave them a bunch of shit about not wanting hippy long hairs. They politely got up and left. I got pissed, got up, told the manager if they weren't good enough to eat there, neither was I. I dumped my food on the floor at his feet and walked out. So did my friends, then just about everyone else in the place. We got the word around the schools and everyone boycotted the place. They sold it and the new outfit couldn't make a go of it either. It changed hands a few times and someone finally made a go of it under a new name. Amazing how 1 jerk in one act can kill the most popular place in town. Anyway, after we boycotted Big Boy, we switched to the Sambo's across the road. (There's a politically correct name for you!) .
Sambo's ruled, great pancakes. There was one around the corner from my house in Westminster when I was a kid, it was later converted to a Denny's.
Thats so funny my dad used to tell me about that all the time I think he said he had a small 6" statue on the the door of his glove box with the head cut off and switched with the Hamburger.
When I was in high school one of those Big Boy's was stolen from a Kip's Big Boy and put in the pond of our school somehow... Then a Datsun ended up upside down on a stair case at the school. This was soon followed by the theft of Manny, Moe, and Jack...but the entire auto shop class got busted for doing it and was accused of doing these other activities...well, all of them except this one guy that was sick and could not go out that night to play. They all ended up in in-school suspension except the one guy...ask about the Battleship episode that ties into this sometime... That guy was also "forced" to make up for it by putting tons of liquid soap into a waterfall style cooling unit that covered the campus with suds. It was an honor thing for that guy to make up for not being able to aid in the Pep Boy's hiest. Funny thing about it was others always tried to take credit for said activities... I don't recall any of the names... Ah, I just love them Big Boy statues!
It used to be called "Little Black Sambos" in the earliest days. Then just Sambos. Their little guy got increasingly beige as the years passed... WTF was that all about?
I sure don't remember one in Burbank or Glendale so it's probably the one in Toluca Lake that Cyclone Kevin mentioned, it's not far away. Glad to know it's still open after all these years. Hey Kevin, do you know if the one in Van Nuys is still open?
Bob's and Sambo's.... I carved a tiki for a guy in the valley that had a vintage Bob's statue in the kitchen. Then we go to his converted garage and he has the actual Planet of the Apes "Law Giver " 10' statue in there with over collectibles. Get this, the apes statue used to belong to Sammy Davis Jr and he kept it poolside. Sorry for the OT, I am going to have to check out the Bob's on Hawthorne as well.
Ah yessssss, Sambo's.... remember menu masks??? hawthorne blvd and about 132nd...now a dennys...has been for many, many years...but even after it was 'converted' they carried the (forgive the un p.c.ness) sambo's jungle theme on the kid's menu.... great pancakes.... tikidiablo...gimmie a call, lets do bob's some night...before all the old guys with travel mugs get ahold of it...hahahahaha
There was a waiting line out the front tonight! I couldn't believe when they changed all out local Bob's in Carrows- They changed all the architechture in the new make-over. There was a Sambos at PCH and Anza too. And Farrel's was down the street from Bob's.
The one on Van Nuys blvd. is gone, it was knocked done and is now a car dealership. The one in Northridge was converted to a Carrow's I think. But the good news is that I think the Toluca Lake one has been made a Historic monument. It is Bob's number 49 I believe,the people who own it seem to be really into it and did alot of upgrades a couple of years back. There is still the one located in Glendale also. CBB
Northridge Bob's? Must've been after my time, I was a West Valley boy and we had to go to Van Nuys or Toluca Lake to go to Bob's. I left LA in '62 a couple years after high school.
Yeah, The one in Van Nuys is a Miller Honda/Acura? dealership. I went to the last cruise there in late 1992 then a year later they closed/converted the Bob's on Sherman Way in Canoga Park which still had the car hop canopy @ the time of the conversion-On the last night of the cruise,since they weren't gonna need em anymore I asked the closing mgr if I could have the parking lot signs=I still have em as well as a drive in tray. They were big time into the recruise thing, but the Elias Bros Corp made the purchase of the locations for conversions to Cocos & Carrows which to me made absolutely no sense, but I'm not a food co. CEO. I've seen several Cocos locations fail,because the food just doesn't have the history that a Bob's Restaurant offered. On Oct 30.1996 I staged a "Last Cruise @ the Bob's in Alhambra, That is the one that I used to frequent almost every Fri-Sat night. You were the sh*t if you could date a waitress from Bob's & I noticed/watched this from a very early age. In 1991 I dated a lil hottie named Jeannie. she had worked there for a few years. She drove my black 34 3W like a dude, In fact I remember being behind her in my other car & she was working @ the Bob's in Montebello & a CHP blew by me, I believe that she was definitely speeding & lights go on, she pulls over, I drive past & stop so I can see whats up, She flashes him a smile & she blows past me with a ear to ear & I asked what he wanted we she arrived @ Bob's her reply "Going 80, said slow down,didn't want to me get hurt & noticed that I worked @ Bob's so he let me off with a warning" That sh*t never happened to me!!!!!! Well when the last cruise happened @ Alh. I too took the signs in that lot. Anybody that cruised Alhambra=Farmer Boys,Henry's Taco Petes or The Hat wouldn't recognize the blvd any more. It's all Asian symbols now=Bummer, I'll never be able to expose my kids to the cool blvd lifestyle that I got to enjoy-no wonder they do all these "my space deals" now.
Did ya get in???? We'll meet when I get back in town,for a Big Boy-ok? If I don't c-ya b4 X-mas Have a merry one!!!!!.
The Bobs in Glendale on Glenoaks Blvd. is not the original. As mentioned in a previous post the good one was on Colorado accross the street from the corp. offices. The Friday night cruise started on Colorado, then to Pasadena Bobs on Colorado, then back to Van Nuys Bobs over to Toluca Lake Bobs and complete the lap back to Glendale. Did that a least twice a night. There is a monthly cruise at the Glenoaks Bobs and every Friday night in Toluca Lake. Dual quads and a 4.56 rear gear made for poor gas mileage but, $.29.9 106 octane gas wasn't too bad a price. The meet to head to the Smokers Bakersfield March Meet was at the Glendale Bobs around 2AM. DW
The Jalopy Journal
