Bob's Big Boy, 1940's

Councilman John Drayman sent me this very cool photo of the original Bob's Big Boy in 1940's. It certainly looks like the place to be!

He writes:

This photo was the first one shown in the ongoing “Glendale History Challenge” I conduct at each council meeting during Council Comments portion of the meeting. The idea is that we display a historic photograph of Glendale and ask viewers to call in or email in at the end of the council meeting to identify the photograph. The winner receives a $25 gift certificate to a Glendale restaurant.

A little more history from a post I found in a chowhound thread on Bob's by Mr. LA, Chris Nichols:

In 1936, Bob Wian (who would go on to become mayor of Glendale) opened a tiny lunch counter at 900 E. Colorado in Glendale called "Bob's Pantry." This site would later become a full fledged drive-in and then a coffee shop, coming down in the late 1980's. A Blockbuster Video now occupies the site.

Here's an interesting post on Bob's from the "History, Los Angeles County" blog.

More recently, Glendale's newer Bob's Big Boy, on Glenoaks Blvd., has closed and now reopened as the "Glenoaks Cafe". From the News-Press.

Bob’s Big Boy representatives had visited the Glenoaks location and determined that the operations were “substandard,” she said.

“Any time one of our restaurants closes, it’s disappointing, obviously,” she said. “And we are sensitive to the fact that this was the [city where the first store was located], but when we come across a situation like this, we really don’t have any options.”
.......
Bob’s Big Boy has no plans to add a new location in Glendale, although the company would consider inquiries from parties interested in opening local franchises, Bourgoian said.

One of the worst meals I've had in recent memory was at the Bob's Big Boy in Barstow (and I LIKE diner food), so I shudder to think at what "substandard" means in Bob's Big Boy corporate parlance. Is the Burbank Bob's any good?