Hello! I have a question(s) for the Cali-hambers. Is the Bob's in burbank still there? I don't see too many pics from there. I have been away for too long,but I plan to visit at x-mas time. Thanks, Have an in-n-outd.d. for me, Glenn
Burbank Bob's is long gone. It was located on the North side of San Fernando Road, at the western end of Burbank's automobile row, just a couple of blocks East of the main commercial area. Even in the Day, it was relatively quiet when compared to Toluca Lake Bob's on Riverside Drive, close to the Burbank/North Hollywood dividing line, but on the Burbank side of it. TL Bob's was a must-visit venue on Friday and Saturday nights. It was home turf for the Burbank Road Kings and close to several of the Valley motion picture studios (Warner Bros., Universal, Columbia, Disney) and attracted interestng rods and customs. It was also only a few blocks away from Forest Lawn Drive that skirts the south side of the Los Angeles River channel. With the empty river channel on one side and an enormous cemetary on the other, it was the perfect night-time raceway! No complaints from the locals . . . TL Bob's is the flagship today. It went through a rework in the late '70s when they eliminated curb service. They tried a drive-through fer chrissake, and that bombed, thank god! In the early '90s the resurrected Road Kings lobbied the Bob's organization to be a venue for cruise nights, promising increased revenues for what were slow evenings. The RKs delivered, and TL Bob's was soon doing better on Friday and Saturday evenings than they did throughout the rest of the week combined. It didn't take long for them to put in an order window on the old drive-in side again, and while it's not quite the curb service of old, it takes the Friday night experience part way back to where it had been.
you mean bob's big boy? yea, they have a cruise still on friday night, get there around 5:00, it's right down from universal. 100 cars or so sometimes. nic
AV8 is doing a good job of confusing even me. Yes there used to be another Bob's in Burbank that is gone but the one in Toluca Lake is the one everyone including the Bob's company now calls Burbank/Toluca Lake. http://www.bigboy.com/history.html (see the find the closest Bob's location icon) There's also one in Glendale, but it's just not the same, (different franchise owners, different menu) There used to be one a mile from my house here in Long Beach too that we went to when I was in highschool but it's just another Lackluster (Blockbuster) Video rental store now.
Sorry, DrJ. I didn't mean to confuse, just enligthen and inform. That was all part of my youth and I tend to get carried away . . .
[ QUOTE ] Sorry, DrJ. I didn't mean to confuse, just enligthen and inform. That was all part of my youth and I tend to get carried away . . . [/ QUOTE ] Mike, Check out the little shack of a hamburger stand in the History of the site I posted... Looks only slightly larger than the old Tommy's shack on Beverly! My only concern was for people who only knew about the Toluca Lake location thinking it was gone... Let's here some anecdotes about the Bob's parking lot antics back in the '50's, OK?
Couldn't find the shack on the link. Anyway, parking-lot antics were generally discouraged at Bob's drive-ins. Van Nuys Bob's was the strictest. You stayed in your car unless you were heading for the restroom. They hired big jocks from VNHS, Valley College, etc., to serve as parking lot enforcement. Give 'em any **** and they'd collect your tray and send you on your way. TL Bob's was a little looser, but you were still expected to mind your manners. My best bud Bill Williams and I started a lot of our Friday evenings at VN Bob's, with a Big Boy, fries, and a shake. We'd head over to TL Bob's for a quick p*** to see what was going on, then head to Burbank Bob's to do the same. From there we headed east on San Fernando Road, occasionally visiting Glendale Bob's but most likely going straight to Van de Kamps at San Fernando Road and Fletcher Drive, in time for desert -- coffee and pie. VdK was always interesting in that it drew a lot of in-progress rides as well as some well-known high-enders. Some nights we'd keep moving east and head for the Clock in Eagle Rock, where the Foothill Racing Club hung out. This was a serious go-fast club of lakes and drag racers, and like as not they would have moved over to San Pasquale Avenue in South Pasadena for some street action by the time we got to the drive-in.. We'd retrace our route but not stopping until we got back the VN Bob's for a final cup of coffee and maybe arrange for some late-night action. Challenges were made without a lot of fanfare; you didn't want to attract a crowd. Just a couple of miles north of Bob's on Van Nuys Boulevard was a cross street named Strathern -- clean, good surface, and with no side streets for several blocks because of the AM radio station located there -- KGIL. You'd run your race, accept the results, and head for home at the end of another great Friday night in the SFV in the '50s.
Thanks guys! You brought back old memories from this OG!! I remember the Bob's in Van Nuys,the one near Ventura blvd. Alot of good times in the late '60's-early '70's. Tiny Naylors was on Vanowen and Sepulveda,I believe,they stayed open all night,had lots of after-race coffee there. We usta block off Woodley,near the airport,and run some quick races there too. Glenn
Parking lot antics, Van Nuys, circa 1959: This was the front end of the "g***er wars" era, and several of the combatants in B/GS ran full-bodied '49-'50 Olds. It was also the ascendant period of the recently-introduced B&M Hydro-Stick, and the two came together in **** Harryman's Olds, running a blown 394 and a B&M. According to the guys then at B&M, **** thought it was good fun to "cruise" Bob's Van Nuys in his full-on, fire-breathing race car. Maybe that's what got 'em grouchy, Mike?
You guys remember "phone-book" burnouts??You would pull your rear tires on a couple of phone books,then procede to burn out,letting your tires"do the walking".. And we wonder why we got kicked out!!!!!I think some of those pages are still floating around the Valley!!!! (do not try this at home!!)
Night and day difference between TL Bob's and Glendale Bob's on Glenoaks, the ONE time I went there a long time ago, it was streetrod hell, and I was like, WTF are these ugly little semi-humanoid.... DOLLS everywhere? Interstingly ironic, because Glenoaks blvd is a major magnet for these punk-***, ill-driving kids and their noisy imports.
Yeah. It still exits. I went to John Burroughs H.S.in Burbank and used to get **** faced after the football games and go over to Bob's and make an *** out of myself at the same time picked up on chicks. It's cool if you don't go all of the time. It is the same **** if you go every week and the same peeps. If you are to visit, then it is o.k. I'm waiting to get my '53 Plymouth wagon done so they will all have a little something different to look at. I will keep you all in suspense. You will have to see it when I get out there. Until then.........KNUX
I lived in Burbank in 98-99 and went to the TL/Burbank Bob's just about every Friday. I loved the variety of cars and general goodwill and tolerence of different styles out there. (If a nice lowrider or muscle car showed up, it would get just as many props as the hot rods.) I even saw the oft-maligned Leno out there on several occasions. He was surprisingly approachable and seemed genuinely interested in checking out other people's rides, not just showing off his own. The one time it ever got nasty was when several fellows (myself included) "******ed" a guy out when he cussed out a little 5-6 year old kid for putting his hands on the "paint" while stretching up on his tip-toes to try to look in the interior of this guy's primered merc. Rather than ignore it or politely ask him not to touch, (or ask the kid's parents to handle it and possibly teach him something) he said something to the effect of "don't touch my car you little mother-f$%ker!" I was standing right there and told him to lighten up, he came up and got in my face, and out of nowhere, 6-8 guys I didn't know were right there to give me a hand. That was a nice feeling. One of the guys left a nice boot-print on his door as he peeled out of the parking lot to remind him that there are worse things than kid fingerprints on paint. I saw my favorite all-time car out there one night, it was a real simple sueded deuce highboy with a hemi and mexican blanket seat. It didn't get much attention parked next to the $100,000 billet rods it was parked next to, but I went down the street to buy a disposable camera I thought it was so cool. I miss Bob's!!
[ QUOTE ] Sorry, DrJ. I didn't mean to confuse, just enligthen and inform. That was all part of my youth and I tend to get carried away . . . [/ QUOTE ] That was back in the days when EVEN you didn't worry if those CHICKS had fathers.....!! maybe the STRIP CLUB in nevada this year... for some COLD ONES, while we watch some SWEATY ONES.....? Sams wife will never know...
TL/Burbank Bob's holds a special place in my heart because that's where a bunch of us found the body panels (sitting in the back of an equally dilapidated Ranchero) that were eventually welded together to build the Roach Rod. What a great night that was... Sam.
Yeah, I found them before you did, and if my GF at the time woulda let me store them in her back yard, they woulda been MIIIIINE!!! One T tub, two hairpins... and a grill shell, I think... $450 asking price. DAMMITT!
I may be totally off the wall here but was the Burbank (or another location of) Bob's used as "Mel's" for "American Grafitti"?
AV8 Dave- nah, Mel's is a chain from the Bay area. There are 2 in LA (Hollywood, of course) and a couple up north. http://www.melsdrive-in.com
[ QUOTE ] I may be totally off the wall here but was the Burbank (or another location of) Bob's used as "Mel's" for "American Grafitti"? [/ QUOTE ] The Mels in AG looked like the Mel's on Market street in San Francisco that I used to hang out at in the 60's. Mutt
In southern Ohio, we had Frisch's Big Boy, a franchise of Bob's. It was the place to be seen in the 50's and early sixties. Here's one of the menu boards - did you guys in California have the same menu? Mutt
kitkat and Mutt: Thanks for the correction guys! I will inform the misinformed around me! (Me included! ) Regards, Dave.
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