@Sky Six Hello, This original version of the hot dog stand was on the sand along the base of Ocean Boulevard cliff in Long Beach. Yes, it was the start of the Hoffman line of Hof’s Hut restaurants that were located in various places in So Cal. In our high school years, the original Hof’s Hut Restaurant was “the” place to take a date for a late snack, dinner and to be seen by everyone driving by on Long Beach Boulevard in Bixby Knolls. Also, if they really wanted to embarrass you, drove through the parking lot unseen and come up the back alley driveway past the best seat in the house. A full set of 8-10 foot tall glass windows. What was behind the 8 -10 foot tall windows? Why a set of the tables jammed into the usually hard to build corner seating in any restaurant. But, this architect designed building was a show case for the local Bixby Knolls design team and the office, just up the street. Hof's Hut on Long Beach Blvd in Bixby Knolls Jnaki Some nights, one of the cruising modes was to drive through the parking lot and alley to come up to the far right of the photo above. It led to a small one lane alley that made an exit to Long Beach Boulevard. But, while waiting for the traffic to die down so an nice transition entry could be made, on the right glass on glass seamed corner were two tables built right in front of the tall 8 foot glass panels. So, the riders in the cars, however low, had a nice viewpoint to wave to the customers, usually a gaggle of teenage girls we knew from our high school, in a “night on the town” gathering. We definitely could see inward and they usually saw outside in the moving/stopped cars and waved back, laughing. Note: The funniest thing was two years in a row, my friend and I worked at the Christmas tree lot on the next door corner lot. It was the direct neighbor to the parking area for the Hof’s Hut restaurant. So, when we got an order to deliver a tree, it was tied to the roof of the 57 white Chevy Bel Air Hardtop. We usually drove the Chevy Bel Air Hardtop with the tree tied on top through the small alley way and those sitting on the corner tables waved to us as we cruised by, chuckling at the sight of our teenage antics… They all knew us in the White 57 Chevy Bel Air. There was a point to this funny tree escapade. The girls knew we were working at the tree lot and saw our cars parked there. Usually, the sedan delivery was left at home due to the parents not liking the implications of the sedan delivery privacy mode. So, it was the 58 black Impala and the white 57 Chevy on the lot. When they saw the 57 Chevy with the tree tied to the roof, come by the big window, Later, some of them stopped at our tree lot trailer for a fun time, when the action on the lot was slow. It was “fun, fun, fun until the customers came to buy a tree…” Some of them even brought an order of Hof's famous Burgers and Fries for us to have a nice dinner or late night snack. YRMV Note2: Later in our college days, my wife and I were frequent diners at the Belmont Shore Hof's Hut in the Alamitos Bay Marina area. The specialty for us was a huge breakfast with "Those Potatoes," a Hof's Hut noted dish. This was a breakfast menu where your two eggs, any style, come served with a pork chop, a top sirloin, chicken fried steak, bacon, sausage, ham or a “burger patty.” There’s a Denver omelette, and a spinach, mushroom and cheese omelette. But there’s also an omelette made with chicken fajitas, a dish little-known back in the day, along with cinnamon roll French toast, the spinach/bacon frittata, and the breakfast quesadilla made with chicken fajitas. What worked the best anywhere, was the side dish called “Those Potatoes,” hash browns with onions, bell peppers and parsley. That was the key to the whole breakfast. Yes, it was a large breakfast, but our 20 something, active metabolism was enough to overcome those huge portions. We stayed relatively slim and trim…
The Jalopy Journal
