BOB'S BIG BOY; A BIT OF HISTORY

[johnl]

Yeh I know, you are all saying what the hell does this have to do with the Cal-look?  Well for any of us that grew up in So-Cal and cruised with our cars I doubt there were few that didn't go to one of Bob's Big Boys locations.  I know Deano has spoken of them and some others. 

For me it started in 1949 when I was a mear two years old.  My grandparents lived in Pasadena just north of Colorado Blvd.  My mom along with the grandparents would take me there when we spent the summer there.  As a kid it was my favorite place to go and my parents would drive me all the way from Anaheim to the corner of Gilbert and Garden Grove Blvd. where the first one in Orange County stood.  Today I live only about a mile from that location but sadly it is gone replaced by a strip mall.  Is there nothing sacred....   

Years ago after our Navy Reserve meeting as Los Alamitos Rich Kugel and I would go directly to Bob's at the corner of Chapman Ave. and Harbor Blvd. just down the street from Disneyland.  We'd typically arrive around 9:30 and start to power down those combos and extra burgers.  On occasion there were eating contest and I know none of you will be live it but one time I did seven (yes seven) burgers in five minutes.  We ordered ten at a time to the waitress' dismay.  Yep, I know, I should be DEAD................   

I'd mentioned in a post last Friday that we had gone to the location in Orange for dinner and it got me to thinking.  Sooooooooooo with that I started searching and came up with some useless but hopefully history.  I knew some of this, but now have a better understanding of how the "Big Boy" character came to be.

Today I don't think it is good as it once was.  Owner changes and time in general probably attribute to this.  I'd like to hear other stories about the place.  Here is the link I found. http://www.wildkatproductions.com/JeffAmlong/

[deano]

Bob's in Whittier was our #1 hangout during the weekends from '68-74ish. During that time, we would cruise up and down Whittier Blvd. endlessly, until we got bored, or ran out of gas.... But once in a great while, we would dig deep into our pockets to see if we had enough spare change left to actually go into Bob's car hop service and pay for something. Most of the time, we could only afford a 15 cent Coke, which we would hang out for an hour or more, taking up a key parking spot for drive-in customers. The car hop girls would not be impressed with our tipping off a 30 cent total bill. Hell, paying $1.05 for a Bob's Big Boy combo was huge money back then. And their Shrimp dinner for $1.55 was way off the charts. Let's see, a VW gets about 30mpg, and gas then was about 40 cents a gallon. You could do a lot of cruising for a buck back then...

Doesn't seem possible by today's standards ....

[Larry S]

When we cruised Whittier Blvd. we hit Bob's Big Boy many times. Along with the Plush Cue and Scotty's drive in. Some kids from our high school (Lowell High in Whittier) stole the fiberglass Big boy from the front of the Bob's on Beach Blvd. in LaHabra and cemented it in the Quad area. the school had to put it back and pay $1,100 to have it fixed. Some kids also stole a life size fiberglass cow from the drive through dairy on Leffingwell Blvd, they cemented it in the quad and painted it blue and wrote Schlitz Malt Liquor Bull on it! We had so much fun, now everyone would be arrested, have a record and it would be all over the internet. I could put $2 in gas in my 57 oval rag and go to Huntington Beach two times in one day from LaHabra. We still have Big Boys here in the mid west and every time I drive by one I have good memories, I even have a Bob's Big Boy Bank in my game room.

[Rennsurfer]

The only Bob's Big Boy I ever frequented was the one in my home town on Lakewood  Blvd. (Hwy. 19) & South St. Before and/or after cruising Whittier Blvd. in our Cal Lookers. I was bummed when they closed it down and made it a Coco's. Haven't set foot in there since.

Doesn't seem possible by today's standards ....

WHAT standards? I thought standards went away with the outgoing tide, decades back.

 

[Donny B.]

In Phoenix, Bob's Big Boy was the place to be.  Central Avenue and Thomas and it was packed on Friday and Saturday night with folks cruising Central.  A Big Boy hamburger was just 55 cents and a gallon of gas about 23 cents.  What a time to be alive...!

[Rick Meredith]

Well Fred may not have gone but we spent a few nights at the Bob's on Whittier Blvd. Along with Scotty's too. But Deeks spent a lot of nights at the Der Weinersnitchel on Whittier and Painter. 

[johnl]

In Phoenix, Bob's Big Boy was the place to be.  Central Avenue and Thomas and it was packed on Friday and Saturday night with folks cruising Central.  A Big Boy hamburger was just 55 cents and a gallon of gas about 23 cents.  What a time to be alive...!

I knew the Bob's on Central well and also the Bob's (walk in) at Christown also in Phoenix.  On my 16th birthday I was the first person in line at the Anaheim DMV to get my driver's license.  Shortly after that (it was spring break) my Dad and I headed out (driving) towards Phoenix to meet my Mom who was flying in from Florida.

We have life long friends that lived in Phoenix at the time, still in Mesa today and that night my almost 16 year old date, Judy, that I've known all my life and I drove to Bob's on Central for a burger.

It was a day and a night of crusin' Central I'll never forget.  My Dad was so cool as he let me drive the entire distance from Anaheim to Phoenix and then back a few days later.  Life was certainly simple and good then and I do think Bob's burgers were better in those days...   

[Donny B.]

Life was certainly simple and good then and I do think Bob's burgers were better in those days...

I agree completely!

[deano]

Since crusing Slob's (what we called it....) was such a big deal back then, everytime to made an improvement to your VW, you HAD to jump on Whittier Blvd. and make the run to Whittier! When I got my car painted at Becker's... it was to Bob's the next weekend! When Sarge and I bolted on the IDAs, I burned up a whole tank of gas in one weekend, going up and back that strip of Whittier Blvd. And when my '67 has completed, I actually parked in the car hop service and bought a Big Boy Combo! I spent a whopping $2 on that one.

[Sarge]

Man, the good old days!  Fill the tank for a couple of bucks, turn on the four track Muntz, pick up your girl and hit the hot spots.  Bob's in Whittier was what we did after circling Carl's, Taco Vila, and The Bean Hut in Anaheim... gave us a chance to knock the carbon off the spark plugs.  I grew up in La Habra so it was nice to be centrally located.  I'll have a Combo and a cherry lemon OJ please!

[johnl]

Man, the good old days!  Fill the tank for a couple of bucks, turn on the four track Muntz, pick up your girl and hit the hot spots.  Bob's in Whittier was what we did after circling Carl's, Taco Vila, and The Bean Hut in Anaheim... gave us a chance to knock the carbon off the spark plugs.  I grew up in La Habra so it was nice to be centrally located.  I'll have a Combo and a cherry lemon OJ please!

Hey Jim, don't forget that bowl of BEAN SOUP for the lovely Sharon..      Almost everytime we'd go there Sharon would order the "soup".   

[low oval]

lived about 2 blocks from the one on whittier blvd.  spent many weekends at that place as a kid, as well as when I was old enough to cruise the blvd.  Although when I was in dkk, I didn't hang at der w.  I usually parked across the street from Bob's at Stafford studios.

[Rennsurfer]

Well Fred may not have gone but we spent a few nights at the Bob's on Whittier Blvd. Along with Scotty's too. But Deeks spent a lot of nights at the Der Weinersnitchel on Whittier and Painter.  

I'm sure I was at that Bob's... but you're right about Scotty's & Der Weinerschnitzel. Those were my main hangouts on Whittier Blvd. every Friday and Saturday night. Then, every Sunday was at Scooter's (now Nick's) in Fullerton, where we had our club meetings. GOOD DAYS!

[Worm]

Scotty's Drive In..... EVERY weekend.  The Plush Cue right across the street.  And many late night grudge races on Greenleaf....  wow, that was fun back then.

[Jim LoGudice]

man, those were the days!
 From the time I was 13, we lived in the Costa Mesa/Newport Beach area.  I belonged to the Newport Beach Volkswagen Club, (NBVA) and we spent about 4 nights a week at Bob's on 17th and Newport.  A lot of the club members (Rich Kimball, Lonnie Reed, Jack Cardwell, Ron Trapp, Norm Batcheldor, myself and so on) would meet there at some time during the evening and we would "caravan" down and shoot the Balboa Peninsula.  Then we would go back to Bob's for food and great amounts of coffee, (I liked the spaghetti and chili).

Norm still has his VW repair shop around the corner on 16th street and when ever I'm at our home in CA I go over to Norm's and we go to lunch.  Unfortunately Bob's is gone now but when we go past the old building we look at each other and just laugh, (wondering how we are still alive from some of the stuff we did and a lot of it revolved around Bob's).

Jim

[low oval]

Scotty's Drive In..... EVERY weekend.  The Plush Cue right across the street.  And many late night grudge races on Greenleaf....  wow, that was fun back then.

used to play fooseball with the dkk boys for hours on end at the plush que.   yes it was alot of fun back then.

[Larry S]

Here is a pic of my Big Boy bank I have in my game room. I was at a Big Boy's in Indiana a while back and had to buy one.

[Brian Rogers]

I grew up in Whittier and cruised Whittier Blvd. I wasn't part of the VW crowd then, but hung out in the same places, and got busted for curfew a few times among other sannanigans. Loved growing up in SoCal.

[Dominick Luppino]

Spent many Friday's & Saturday nights driving up & down Whittier Blvd and Bob's after for something to eat!

The Bob's in Orange, Main & Katella has a car show once a month.
http://socalcarculture.com/Images/CruiseNight_Sunday_BobsOrange.pdf

[Rennsurfer]

I have two of those antique Bob's banks in my '50s diner themed kitchen. Had 'em for decades.

[DKK Ted]

Any pics of that era, cars, at Bob Big Boy or anywhere else along Whittier Blvd.??

Ted

[Rennsurfer]

Any pics of that era, cars, at Bob Big Boy or anywhere else along Whittier Blvd.??

Ted

Sadly, Ted, there are none that I know of. I have very few regrets in life... but not taking more pictures of when we were skateboarding, surfing, and cruising Whittier Blvd. qualifies as such. Although, looking back at it all in retrospect, it doesn't surprise me; we were too busy living our lives & having fun to envision an overall picture (pun intended) by better documenting of what we've come to appreciate, today.