Bob's Big Boy, Michigan 1966
Who can ever forget the Bob’s Big Boy Combo? That signature mushy double burger littered with wilted shredded lettuce, dressed with their own hamburger relish and gobs of mayonnaise served with a bonus bun in the middle. Not only was it difficult to swallow, but it was the inspiration for the Big Mac.
When I was a kid we ate at Bob’s a lot. I downed way more Big Boy Combos than I would ever care to admit. My favorite part was dipping those soggy French Fries in that big dollop of blue cheese that topped of that little bowl of iceberg lettuce. And those chocolate milkshakes served in silver goblets.
Bob’s began as a traditional hamburger stand in Glendale, California in 1936. By the late 1940s there was a handful of stylish coffee shop/drive-ins bearing the name and Big Boy logo in the Los Angeles area. The first franchise, called Frisch’s Big Boy, was in Michigan in 1952. During the 50s, 60s and 70s the chain expanded into many other states including Texas, where it was called Kip’s Big Boy.
Bob, the charming, chubby fiberglass iconic clone, with the check overalls and the Elvis coif, was to the chain what the Statue of Liberty was to the United States. While Lady Liberty held the flame, Bob Held a Hamburger
Here’s to you and Bob
I was in Michigan last October and my brother and I stopped at a Bob’s Big Boy in Ann Arbor. As we ordered, I made a comment about “Bob’s” Big Boy to our waitress and she scolded, “It’s just “Big Boy!”, what are you taaaking about? Who’s Baaab?
Coincidentaly, there were two kids that looked **exactly** like these two (..I mean, down to the shirts and all) sitting just across from us! Is it possible that Bob’s, ur..uh, Big Boy is haunted in MI and these two are laughing it up as I write eating their their chicken fried steak breakfasts? ….which were just divine BTW!!!
Really sswell stuff!!
Yes, nice Michigan dialect-if you’re shot in the Cass Corridor you’ll call a “cap” & in the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament you pray to “Gad”. Chris meant to say “Elias Brothers Big Boy”, for they own the whole chain now. There used to be one ’round Detroit Metro airport that I remember looked a good deal like Toluca Lake…
I was born and raised in Glendale – cut my teeth on Big Boys – would still love to taste one of them – but moved a bit far away now to get the chance. My Husband worked for them in Glendale when he got out of the Navy. So as a family we have a connection to them.
I remember growing up in Indonesia, in the 80s, when the first Bob’s Big Boy opened in Jakarta. For my sister and I, we thought Bob’s Big Boy was another cool thing imported from America. It was such a treat going there with my family. Years later, in college, I stopped by one on the way to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh. To my surprise, none of my friends ever heard of Bob’s Big Boy. Sometimes, I noticed that growing up overseas I really got over-exposed to many (sometimes obscured) American food franchises. But yeah, it was nice to see Bob’s Big Boy and reminisce my long lost childhood.
In South Carolina the “Big Boy” chain was called “Shoney’s”. The name came after Alex Schoenbaum who owned the original chain of Big Boy restaurants in the southeast during the 1950s. Of course, Big Boy was started in 1936 by Bob Wian in Glendale, CA.
The whole thing about who owned what and when is a little complicated but the Wikipedia has some details at “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Boy_(restaurant)”.
In the mid-1970s I used to work at the one in Dentsville, SC along with all of my friends as the cooks. We were told that our restaurant was the most profitable one in the chain (i.e., as teenaged employees we got taken advantage of the most – a lot of people got roped into working off the clock there).
The good memory though is that our food was of very high quality and we even prepared the food that was photographed for the menus. Our customers were very loyal and, when we all quit inside of about a two week period when we finally had enough of the “management”, that location pretty much collapsed.
That was a shame because we took pride in our work and had developed a whole sub-culture of throwing food and knives to each other as needed.
For example, if you were busy but needed a knife right now, you yelled “knife off!” and someone would throw a butcher’s knife at you to snatch out of the air. If you were unlucky, a couple of people would throw knives at you!
That all ended when the night manager came through the swinging door at just the wrong moment and nearly got skewered.
However, we did call the diners “the audience” and we continued to throw cheese and steaks and anything else we needed in a hurry.
My friend, Richard, used to be the guy in the Big Boy suit for the Columbia area. That suit sure did stink but how could it not when it was like wearing an arctic sleeping bag in the 100 degree sun? He would go out for ten or twenty minutes to wave at cars and then come back in about to pass out from dehydration! Ah, good times….
Ok, maybe not exactly “good times”, but we were young, foolish, and just glad to be making $1.60/hour. After all, honest work for honest pay was still an ideal back then.
I used to work down the street from the one in Glendale (San Fernando Road). As I remember the one in Ontario served quality double burgers, which of course they were famous for.
Ahhh, the memories. In the mid-late 1970′s, a favorite haunt of mine was the Big Boy on Van Nuys Blvd in Van Nuys Calif. The Big Boy combo was for me the only thing on the menu!! Well, there was the Silver Goblet chocolate shake. Or them BEAR CLAWS! ! ! Nothing, or no reincarnation of Big Boy, even comes close to the taste anymore. *sigh*
Bob’s Big Boy on Van Nuys Boulevard, where David Lynch consumed a chocolate shake every day for six years at 2:30 p.m….or so goes the tale. (This was in the 1970′s supposedly.) Had the pleasure of dining there a few times before it was torn down for a car dealership, around 1993?
I grew up on Kip’s Big Boy in the Dallas area. Oh what I would give for a burger and some of their blue cheese dressing. Used to mix the dressing with a little ketchup and dip my fries in it. Still do that to this day but no other blue cheese dressing compares to theirs.
The Bob’s Big Boy on Riverside in Burbank, Ca. has a menu that’s pretty close to the original one and the building looks the same. You can still get the Big Boy Combo and if you’re a vegetarian (which I am now), you don’t have to miss out…you can get it with a double decked veggie patty, cheese, shredded lettuce, and Big Boy sauce. It tastes great. They still have the hot fudge cake with vanilla ice cream made like the old days with fresh cake and hot fudge from a dispenser (instead of cold cake and fudge heated in a microwave). The prices are also good, especially for Los Angeles. If you’re looking for a nostalgic, googie coffee shop, Bob’s in Burbank won’t let you down.
In the 50′s Bob’s Glendale was a drive-in complete with carhops and car trays. I still have some of the cards they put on your front window (had the number of your carhop). On the cards I have the Big Boy hamburger was 45 cents and a milkshake was 30 cents.
I have a question regarding “Bob’s Big Boy Tarter Sauce”. I noticed on the top of the bottle there is a date, and the word “expires”. Does that mean that one shouldn’t eat it after that date, even though it has been refrigerated all during the time it was opened? Or, does it mean that one shouldn’t buy it after that date? Or, is there some other meaning?
My 1st job was at Bob’s in Phoenix, Az., in the 70′s. I worked at 32nd street and Indian School, Central and Thomas, and filled in sometimes at a store in Scottsdale. I went from dishwasher, to prep cook, to night cook, and eventually breakfast cook. I live in Ca., now, and recently had the pleasure of visiting Bob’s in Calimesa. It’s one of only 7 left(in the whole U.S.A.?) it brought back some great memories!
And who could ever forget the “free” Bob’s Big Boy comic books that they gave to the kids. The adventures of Bob, his “girl friend” and his dog. Darn if a Bob’s double-decker wouldn’t hit the spot right now!
I am looking for matches from all the different Big Boy franchises.Please let me know if you have any.Wally.
I worked for YES-BOBS’ BIG BOY on central ave.in Phx AZ.in the late 50s or early 60s.
It served meals both inside AND out side.
One could pull up and park and a rollerskating waitress took your order and brought your food. Good food and good people to work for.
My cousin Julie waitressed at the Bob’s in San Diego on El Cajon Blvd. and had to wear that queer uniform with the big poofy skirt. I never understood why they wore those… you had to have OK legs…..the silver goblet or the fudge cake were the best.
My second job was at Bob’s Big Boy in Ventura, CA. It was 1976 or 1977. I was the hostess/cashier person, coming in at 5:30 a.m. Had to put the donuts onto the round tray with the plastic cover over it. It was kept up front by me at the register. I also would take frozen whole strawberries and put them upside down in layers for their strawberry pies. I’d pour the gooey goo over them when all piled up like a pyramid. I remember going in there when it was dark and cold. I was all of just 18. I remember the silly wiglet I had to wear and putting the thing on at 4:30 in the morning. They said it was required to keep the hair (the waitresses and hostesses) secured, but we knew it was just the look they wanted. I had to wear a sort of platform shoe or heels. I had grown up eating their food in San Diego – at the one on Sports Arena Blvd. It is now a U-Haul Storage Building.
I can still “taste” the burgers–I loved them back then, too.