History Bob's Big Boy Broiler Opens In Downey!

My younger son,Stumpy on the HAMB,plans on taking his girlfriend this weekend. He's pretty excited. Ever since I took him with me to the Tiki Drive-in,he goes there ALL the time with his friends. Drive-ins are just as important as the old burger joints...Hope they're still around for him to experience with his kids.

 

My hat's off to you and the other folks you fought the good fight. Well done.

My track roadster will be completed soon and I promise to patronize Bob's Broiler.

trakrodstr

 

Lets hope everybody remembers the name of the game for the owners is profit. If they make some the place will survive, if they don't it will became another used car lot. Go hungry and spend plenty.
There will be some of us in the near future from Arizona going just to go and see it!

 

i know i'm going again this weekend or next week.......Bob you forgot dullchrome. i just missed cruzr and 32gal, i met burny and his wife, talked to kevin, said hi to roadsterpu and his wife, had dinner with bad bob, dullchrome and his mom. it was great...........now i have a real car hop to go to.

 

Great ***ortment of cars, XLNT job rebuilding the place, friendly service, and the Big Boy burger/fries were FINALLY reminiscent of the glory days of Bob's (yummy). Great job, and the place looks amazing

 

Congrats Kevin, the place looks *****in! Seems like everyone had a ball. I hope that the patronage keeps up so that the doors stay open and the So Cal kats have a cool hang-out and cruise destination.

 

I hope so too, We need places like this so our Kids can say "Hey, I wanna go to that cool place my (Insert grandpa,dad brother friend,etc.here) took to me to when I was a kid! Now that I can cruise in my Rod or Custom, I want to enjoy it as well!
Drive In Movie theatres are a dying breed, I can't remember the last time a Drive In restaurant opened in L.A. I know it was more than 20yrs ago!
I love the fact that our Car Hops are so into it. I know that we have to build this cruise, but for a 1st night, the turn out was GREAT. we just need to get the ones (Who Are not HAMBers) to eat and move in order to generate revenue so our girls will not get bummed and move on to something else.

It was great seeing all of you here. Looking forward to next week.

 

Wow, the Broiler looks awesome. I'd love to see it in person, maybe next summer with my daughter.

 

Bottom line is make sure ya tip the car-hops a tidy sum. 32gal and I gave ours a 20$, she knocked her socks off for us all night ,and we ordered 3 different times. Whoever trained the gals did a super job!! And they are`all cute to boot!!

 

Yeah, those Big Boys are like the ones they used to serve when Bob Wian still owned the cain, not like the bags of mush they serve in Burbank.

Jim said they worked real hard to make 'em like they used too, toasted buns and all. Hell just talking about them is making me so hungry I could have one for breakfast.

 

You guys are ****** lucky ,we only have BK, KFC ,Mackers here in the South Island
Just not the same.
But I do have a real old Big Bob rubber dole thing.haha

 

Good turn out. I thought there was a lot of cars under the canopy just parked though.
They won't make like that.

 

Great job Kevin.I really don't think too many other people would have put the time into the deal,you are to be commended.Thanks for saving a cool part of history.

 

Seems like everyone already posted the pics I got except this one. My wife had the camera for a while and I did not know she took this until I downloaded the pics last night. I thgouth this was a good shot of my RPU in the neon lights. I am looking forward to next week. I really need ot get the wife' s wagon running so there is some place to hang a tray.

 

Awesome, Paul! Great picture!

 

Anything going on next week Monday evening I will be in town for meetings. Can't wait to see the changes as I use to cruise Johnny's back in the 70' and 80' with my 41 Zephyr.

Thanks
Frenchy

 

the girl with the white gl***es was the best, she was helping everyone with a big smile.

 

yea, eat and move..............just like bob did. there wasn't any spots when i showed up and some cars where there all night. hopefully it was just a first cruise night thing.

 

Agreed!....thats a fast way to turn it from car-hop service area to a parking lot...we don't want that...its not a club house, its a business

 

You're so very welcome. C'mon on out and have a Big Boy, The malts are great! Shakes as well! Funny thing though, They're gone too quick!


Frenchy 32,
The CAR HOP CANOPY is open everyday as long as we can support it. All kinds of stuff shows up so ya never know what might make an appearance C'mon on down.

Cruzr,
Basically-you the customer and I are training the girls, Felicia was your server, she is perky, friendly and genuinely is exstatic to be a CAR HOP @ The Broiler! I know that there is going to be a learning curve here,These girls were 10 yrs old when The Broiler closed as a restaurant and were still 28 yrs and 3mos in the making when the canopy stopped serving cars back in 1970.
This is a totally new thing to them. Most don't even know what American Graffitti was I think that they thought that it was a new form of tagging. They are learning from experience and are happy to provide the kind of auto dining experience that was expected of 'Running Board Service" from the late 20's up into the 80's here in So.Cal.

If any of you are familiar with Charles Phoenix and his history in pictures adventures He's going to be doing a new one on Downey. He's been to The Broiler every day since our Friends and Family day. His words are 'I can't believe that it's here, I have to come and eat here just to make sure that it's not a dream and I'll wake up it find that it never happened!"

That's a very cool statement from someone who is as recognized in "Turning People on to History".

Bash,
Jim did listen to us as car enthusiasts and even visited all of the other locations and we're working hard serve them like Bob Wian intended.
I ate one that I brought home a couple of nites ago and still tasted better than the others, that I liked!
Many of the items on these menus are just for this business, It sets the Broiler apart. I hope that you were able to get some usable shots from the coverage of the 1st Broiler cruise.

Shop Rat,
I did ask some guys to move on out, The HAMBers actually did, some other guys didn't seem to want to I may have to make some CAR SERVICE PARKING ONLY-45 MINUTE LIMIT signs so even those guys "GET IT". Having a Drive In restaurant (Especially The Broiler) has been a dream of mine since before I could drive. I am so very fortunate to have been instrumental in making this restaurant happen and even more so by Jim allowing me to actually get hands on experience having one to ***ist in running.

 

I took a few people from my work over to the Broiler for lunch today. We work in Cypress so it was a bit of a drive for lunch. THey were pretty packed for lunch as well. We had better service today then we have ahd before. Food came out really fast and was very good. My co-workers really enjoyed the food as well. Here is to many more nights at the Broiler.

 

Hotup, it is good to know a few "I Cruised" Harveys Broiler T-shirts survived. I just hope it still fits you as that was almost 30 years ago!

Jim, Kevin, Adriene, ****isa, the Downey City folks and all the Broiler Cruisers who stood by and behind this long effort, simply thanx........................in Spades ! ! ! !

And thanx to all who have been posting photos for those of us expatriots that now live elsewhere. We can enjoy the happenings vicariously, if not in person.

Kevin, when you gave me the "tour" a couple of weeks ago and expressed dissapointment that Harveys contribution would not be recognized, was the panoramic photo of "the Broiler" across the wall in the new dining room section a surprise? At least, thats what one of the inside photos appears to show!

Jim, thanx for not letting that happen. Bobs Big Boy Broiler has "EARNED" the ***le of "the Broiler" by your true dedication and committment, both financially and personally, to restoring the building and it's aura back to, and beyond, it past day in the sun(and the neon at night ain't so bad either!).

Life is good!

Barry "Burly" Burlile

 

here she is

 

here are some pics I took Wednesday.

 

I will be there next Monday night.

Thanks
Frenchy

 

Quote:
Bash,
Jim did listen to us as car enthusiasts and even visited all of the other locations and we're working hard serve them like Bob Wian intended.
I ate one that I brought home a couple of nites ago and still tasted better than the others, that I liked!
Many of the items on these menus are just for this business, It sets the Broiler apart. I hope that you were able to get some usable shots from the coverage of the 1st Broiler cruise.

Yes Jim mentioned that he did his home work on making the Big Boys like Bob Wian made them. I haven't been to another Bob's anywhere since I worked for them back in the 60s that makes them as good as Jim's. It's well worth the drive to have them made right.

I wish I had some of my art in his location rather than the Toluca Lake Bob's.

I will be asking some of the folks who posted photos here if I might use a photo or two for the next article.

 

@ Kevin: It was nice meeting with you the other night man, thanks for the hospitality, I hope you and the others at "BBBB" will be around for a LONG TIME. It was a great night for food, cars and talk. Have a good weekend everybody!
http://marcopatino.com

 

You can use any of mine that you want,Bash. I'll be back and will be taking plenty more...

 

Thanks Bad Bob, I will keep that in mind. Nice Merc by-the-way

 

got back around 11pm tonight, took my mom this time and Kevin gave her the grand tour. it was packed, i got a spot to eat in the car (very little power parkers this time) . as always great food and great service....bob's will be there for years to come. thanks again to kevin and everyone at the broiler.