History Bob's Big Boy Broiler Opens In Downey!

"When we ate inside with Bad Bob and 1oldtimer she told me that was the first time she had ever been inside the building. When she used to cruise there she always ate in the car...LOL. The school girl smile on my Moms face was worth a billion bucks.....THANKS GUYS !!! "

Now those kind of memories mean the world to me and makes doing what we as a group did So Worth It!

Thanks to all those that came and played musical cars so the girls could continue to work their spots. It was quite a magical evening! People coming from all over and even out of the country! You guys came through again! It's was nice to be able to have had the impromtu cruise nite on opening day then having the Old Wednesday cruise back as well. I'm going to have to take a couple of days off here soon or else I may never be heard from again= . Out of respect for the Burbank-Toluca Lake Bob's, I don;t feel a Friday cruise would be appropriate, I'm taking this Sat off, but I have a feeling someone is going to throw another self proposed cruise nite=I really wouldn't want that to happen-because we have established Wed The Broilers OFFICIAL CRUISE NITE . Something was mentioned about the guys from Signal Hill Bob's coming over to ours. Adriene & I helped start that with Joe,who was the MGR there and a guy took it over when we brought Joe back to Downey. They should keep that one there.
Really don't want the 50/50 type of show. HARVEY'S, never had that and everyone one that I spoke to said it was just like the cruise we had Wed, so that is the working formula, One guy thought that it was the same building and bet me, I had to show him the demo pic in order for him to believe it=Mission Accomplished .

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I had a blast last night, I took the family and some older relatives that are in town from Arkansas who used to do cruises in their old '29 Model A back in the day, They loved it and we stayed after dinner until they filled their cameras.

I got to see a bunch of HAMBers who I haven't seen in about a year! Kopis, Scooter, and Bob you guys rock, hopefully it won't be another year before I make it out to another cruise night, I just hate going without my Chevy. But, she'll be done(ish) soon HA HA.

You guys did a great thing for the hot rodding community, and I wouldn't trade last night for the world, the look on my daughters face when she saw the neon on the building and all the cars was awesome. I got to take some pics of her in front of her fav cars, I'll try and post them later. Thanks for the memories guys!


Mike

 

I was thinking along the same lines as Cyclone Kevin regarding Broiler etiquette - only one car had it's hood open - a late eighties Mustang - go figure. The majority of the cars parked under the canopy nose inward and there was a distinct lack of power park/lawnchair/gold chain/billetfest/crybaby doll paraphenalia - a good thing IMO. The cars simply showed up and parked in the parking slots with no drama - way to go.

It was more of a 'Hang 'n BS' deal than anything else and all the better for it.

 

As someone who did frequent Harvey's/Johnnies and all the Bob's Big Boy drive-ins (Pasadena, Glendale, Van Nuys and Burbank) back in the 60's, I can tell you that it was never supposed to be a car show. It was, grab a spot, order your food and eat. There was "security" at the Bob's sites and they wanted you to eat and go. They didn't even want you to get out of your car unless you had to go inside to use the restroom. We were never allowed to linger 40 years ago. No way.

We are the guests of the folks who brought this drive-in back from the grave.
Lets hope that the patrons that are not HAMBers will have the same respect for the business as we HAMBers do. It only takes a couple of bad apples with their litter, lack of respect, poor behavior, dumb driving antics, etc. to ruin the drive-in feature for the rest of us.
This has been a long, hard struggle for Jim, Kevin, Adreine and Analisa, etc.
One of the reasons that all the drive-ins were done away with by the mid-70's (except for Burbank) is that they were hard to manage the traffic and hard to manage to people. Thus, the drive-in canopys, etc., just became the parking lots for the Bob's Big Boys and all the fun was lost.
Let's hope that the non-hot rod/custom people don't wreck it for us.

This is a real gift. This is an experiment in re-creating some of what was lost and what was a real soft-spot in the memories of those of us who remember how it was. It'll be a long time before we see such effort to bring back "the day" for everyone to enjoy.
I've said it before, but I'll say it again...Simply amazing!

 

The food was GREAT, and the cars were just awesome!
My camera's crappy [My pics don't do the cars justice!] but still took some pictures... Here they are from last night... enjoy.
First 20 or so...

 

Are there plans to put up "30 Minute Parking Only" signs in the canopy? Its cheaper than a parking monitor.

 

i'm thinking road trip...

 

Had to be Wednesdays, huh? Hopefully I'll get a chance to attend a cruise by mid-December...that's when the fall semester ends for me. Going to definitely get the club together one early saturday evening for dinner.

 

I got a great spot in the front,by the door. I wanted to sit and eat in my car,like we did when I was a kid,so I odered and the Kevin brought me a tray. I had to roll up my window so the tray had something to hook on to which left about 4" to get my food in the window. I was pretty funny! I had to turn the shake sideways to get it in the window,hahaha!

 

Cruzr and 32gal parked under the canopy too...



This '58 was really nice...








HAMBer,in his Ranchero...

 

Bitchin Roadster!!!



Anaslime's Edselero...



A Hearse club showed up,about five of them...

 

That's 32gal in the red high-tops. DrJ just on the other side...





Willy and Tony,of the Cavaliers...



This Sedan Delivery was awesome...

 

Gunna be a shame to cut a round hole in ya roof Bob to lower the shakes in the correct position ! haha

 

There were some great "Bombs" there too...

 

I didn't want to hog the canopy parking,so I pulled around back,but couldn't find a spot!!!! (except the one next to the Escalade,haha!)

 

'29Coupe...





This guy was with the hearses...



More Cavaliers...

 

After we went inside,this guy showed up...

 

After we ate I walked outside and there was Groucho turning in!!!





Sorry about the blurry pic's,cause I keep forgetting that I have to keep the camera really still for night shots...



Groucho's old Gasser...

 

What a kick ass place - great place to hang and the Googie design/styling is the icing on the cake.

Killer !!

Rat

 

Weasel brought his bitchin Willys...

 

I've been following this thread and it's so cool to see that everything is going great. Places like this are few and far between. A lot of kids today will never know how much fun it can be to just go out for a burger without all the crap that happens today. I commend all those for pulling it off and maybe one day I'll get to have a chance to check it out.

It's amazing how the pics look like they could have been still shots from the movie AG. Simply amazing.

 

Groucho's Coupe looked great with the lights reflecting on it...

 

I know this is blurry but I still like it...

 

I stayed til 9pm and Anaslime followed me home,back to OC...
Love the way his taillights look at night!

 

What a special night for me! Memories of going there as a kid brought tears to my eyes,thinking how much my mom loved the Broiler! I didn't even get to talk to ALL the other HAMBers that were there.

Anaslime
PimpinPaint
Crazydaddyo
Roadsterpu
Burny
Cruzr
32gal
Shoprat
DrJ
Groucho
KopisKorpse
Cyclone Kevin
Limey Steve
'29Coupe
Bandidto
1oldtimer
Weasel
Scooter
Ramrod2426
dullchrome

Did I miss anybody???
Cars were still pulling in when we left! It was packed! I agree though,that someone needs to tell the people who park under the canopy that it's just for Car-hop service. Some of the cars stayed there all night! I moved so someone else could enjoy the experience. I can't wait to take my wife there and eat in the Hotrod...