Art & Inspiration Hamb Friendly Restaurant

Hello,

Ever since we were sailing in the San Diego Harbor and nearby ocean, we always looked for nice restaurants to end our day and vacations. So, as we drove to the famous “Liberty Station,” a refurbished Naval station housing and warehouse district. There were tons of cool restaurants. One was located at the end of the whole 360 acres of buildings, walkways, shops, stores and parks. A channel comes into the area on one side and on the other is the Point Loma community that goes West to the Pacific Ocean.

From the outside, the diner is relatively non descript in nature. It melds into the surrounding buildings and greenery. But, once anyone steps inside, whoa!!! A whole new ballgame. There are simple 40s-50s diner atmosphere in several sections, a large party area, tons of memorabilia from the time periods of 40s to 60s. There is even a black light dining section with glow in the dark posters, artwork and displays. The music is jukebox grade with some live singing and dancing provided by the young staff.

And Corvettes? Plenty to go around, and right next to your booths, too.

The black light room is in the background of the green Corvette photo. My wife and I sat in that dining room once with our granddaughter and once in the bright lights diner booths.

The diner gets crowded on the weekends around dinner time. But, during the week, there are always booths available for some semblance of quiet time lunches and dinners.
Surprise!!!

But, this activity made believers of the folks inside of the large diner atmosphere. Live entertainment.

The food is pretty good and the service is fast. The atmosphere always brings back memories for the older folks. The young kids like it for the hamburgers and fries + the “cool stuff” on the walls including the front half of a Pearlescent painted Corvette with Raspberry flames stick out over a serving area.

Jnaki

If we ever go back to the Liberty Station, it will always be on our stop over for lunch or dinner. YRMV




Perhaps, it was this Corvette in its latest revised restoration form… YRMV

 

Dog, man's best friend

 

Sloan's Tavern in Portland, OR. It was a combination tavern/body shop. Old Bob Sloan built at least one custom car a year out of the shop. Good food, cold beer. Unfortunately it closed over a year and a half ago. Told and listened to a lot of storys there along with drinking a few beers.

 

....Absolutely!

 

Hot Dogs $3.75 - $30+
Amazing menu.....going this week.

https://www.hillbillyhotdogs.com/menu

 

PCH in the Westside of Long Beach "The Original Char Broiled burger... Restaurant." Established in 1963. Even though it was new, the local speed shops, including the last Mickey Thompson Shop just around the corner from the restaurant were daily customers. Then, other drag racing folks here in the vicinity of the shop and nearby Lion's Dragstrip were also loyal customers on Saturdays.

Originally, the Speed Engineering, Joe Maillard, Clay Smith Cams and Venolia Pistons staff were regulars at this place called Friar Tuck's take out spot. It was next to the big car wash at the end of our own Caspian Avenue house and PCH. They had the "best" fast burgers, bar none. But, as soon as the Golden Star Char-Broil burgers came on the scene, the business at Friar Tucks dropped almost 70 %. It was still a great hamburger place, but just did not compare to the new char-broiled burgers, just a few blocks west on PCH.

The parking lot looked like a used car hot rod sales lot, a 58 impala, 57 chevy bel air hardtop, a 55 chevy two door post and various other local hot rods from the folks we knew from those shops. During the summers, Los Angeles South Bay region driving on the PCH South to Huntington Beach areas saw the hot rods, got a whiff of the char-broil burgers and now, the lot was full of hot rods + surf wagons.


Hello,

We grew up in our Westside of Long Beach neighborhood. It was a short distance to PCH from our house. That was the main street or highway from Los Angeles’ South Bay beach communities all the way down to San Diego, along the coastline.

The West winds are a given and each day, they blow from the ocean + harbor area + whatever is in their path. So, we got the aroma of fiberglass from boat hull bulding, surfboard finishing and a myriad of oil refinery odors along with some fish processing from the island canneries. But, within two blocks, we got the largest whiff of an aroma that filled the air around 11 am and continued until 2 pm.

On the weekends, the restaurant was busy all day. But we, as close by neighbors, got the taste of the products through the air. It was an aroma we all liked and it made us go to the restaurant to get some burgers.

Why was it different than others? One, when cooking or actually frying hamburgers, it is the grease that burns and the hot stove grill is covered in oils. The smoke is there, but it is not the hamburger smell, but burning grease. Most restaurants had this method and we all liked the finished product.

We all like to barbeque in the backyard with our charcoal grilles back then. Pour the fluid, start it up and walk away. Then in a few minutes, come back with our patties and cook to our heart’s contentment. The smoke was to die for and filled up the backyards across the communities. now, a commercial restaurant had the first charbroil method and it made the burgers taste 10 times better than home grilled burgers.

At first, we thought they were cooking with charcoal coals. When the coals got hot, the oils dripped down on the heated coals and the resulting smoke went back through the burger above. But, the owners used a burning gas grill below the cooking burger patties above. So, the heat singed the patties and the drips dropped to the fire below, creating a new taste sensation. It was packed for almost every lunch hour for the whole summer and during the year, our teenage cars knew where to go to get a great new taste sensation.

Jnaki

Even my 5’2 inch mom liked those burgers. The place was also known for some foot long grilled hot dogs the same way, oil drip, burn for the aroma and rises to filter into the cooking hot dogs. Then of course, it was packed with all of the fixings, including some of the best chili in the west.

As 20 somethings, when my wife and I visited our mom, we always stopped to get our orders of 3 “char” broiled burgers and 3 chili dogs, plus fries. It is a wonder we were not rolling down the street after our visits. But those 20 something metabolism and high activity moved the process along and we stayed slim and trim, to this day. My 5’ 2” mom downed the burger and half of the chili dog at the most she has ever eaten. She remained 5’2” despite those huge lunches. YRMV

Note:

At last viewing, the original Golden Star Restaurant is now closed. With the success of #1, they opened #2 which is still open, but the clientele has moved on to faster drive through places nearby and that no one has time to come in and sit down for a great lunch.

“another one bites the dust…” 1963 to 2024

61 years of original “char-broiled” burgers, gone in a whiff…

 

Chips in Hawthorne Calif, was part of our ritual to beat traffic.
Cool Vintage Architecture Diner.

We would fly in rom Chicago on Wed 9a.m. via LAX, shuttle bus to rental car, breakfast at CHIPS. Then head up I-5 by noon to Bakersfield. March Meet & CHRR, did CHRR for approx 8yrs, March Meet 6yr.