*** UPDATE *** – It appears this Stan’s was not in Sacramento (see comments)
but I have left the text in this post intact until the actual location can be positively identified.
Stan’s Drive-In restaurant stood at the corner of 16th and K Streets in Sacramento, California. This photo was taken in 1958, and I have to say that if I’d been living there in the 50s, and if Stan’s looked half as spectacular in person as it does in this shot, I reckon I’d have been there every week. Burger me up, Stan, and double up on the fries.
Stan’s was a chain of diners throughout Los Angeles:
Listings for Stan’s Drive-in restaurants in the Los Angeles city directories (late 50s/early 60s):
OK. Am I losing my mind? I thought sure there was a Stan’s on Colorado just as Colorado Blvd goes from Eagle Rock into Pasadena, but it’s not on the list.
Ummm…maybe…maybe not. I looked up a couple of L.A. city directories and found a bunch of (but not all of the) locations and have now posted them on the page. I could one on Pasadena Ave. Might that have been the one?
That was called Henry’s Rite Spot.
That was probably Bob’s Colorado Blvd. location. (In the 70’s, there was also a Jim’s Burgers on Colorado close to Eagle Rock High. Jukebox and all, but no car hops.)
BTW–A Stans can be seen in the 1958 classic Hot Rod Gang. It may be the Sunset & Virgil location as some of the scenes were filmed around east Hollywood. Stans turns up in the background of other films too. (The same sign of the carhop supposedly based on a girl called “Legs”, was used in Eugene Oregon for the Fords Drive-In Restaurants site on Highway 99/Franklin Blvd.)
Thanks Al! I’ll keep an eye out for it!
Supposedly the girl on the sign was one of their early carhop servers named Dorothy Jewel. Stan Burke liked the way she looked and had the logo drawn to look like her. I think that logo was used on his 3rd location going forward.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/rgj/name/dorothy-costello-obituary?id=26986867
“Dorothy Jewel” – now *there* is a movie star name!
https://books.google.com/books?id=Kxg-MZ3XEnUC&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq=stans+sunset+and+virgil+hollywood&source=bl&ots=h7Jj9XR8Y0&sig=3cZVdbPJcH3kdbKAMsqxYkMhG2E&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4qKiorLLQAhXClVQKHe5xC-kQ6AEIbTAI#v=onepage&q=stans%20sunset%20and%20virgil%20hollywood&f=false
Shot of Stans at Virgil and Sunset in 1955. Notice Ford dealership and Texaco station in the background.
A bit of Stanley Burke noir we haven’t heard: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/252153/stanley-burke-v-commissioner-of-internal-revenue/
Stan’s Nevada Desert-(Drive)-Inn? Well, almost! Last I find on Stan, he was moving Duke’s onto Sunset Blvd. in 1987. Anyone know where he went?
The last of “legs”–2008 Dorothy Costello: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/rgj/obituary.aspx?n=dorothy-jewel-costello&pid=113429765
Stan’s 13 at 4480 might be interesting. It was located across from the Vista Theatre where the Pacific Electric Railway extension went north of the original turn onto Santa Monica at Sanborn Junction. Running up past the turn of Sunset Blvd., the lines swept west through Hollywood Junction onto Hollywood Blvd. on the way to Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. Now, the back side of this Stan’s was on Virgil Ave., and the Black Dahlia in Hollywood (BDiH) site notes that Elizabeth Short was dropped off in October 1946 at a “pigstand” on Sunset. (Either Vermont or Virgil was mentioned, but it is easy to confuse the names and they are close to each other.) If it was at that location of the future Stan’s, then it would make some sense as she could have had easy walking access to streetcars running from downtown to the entire coastal area. And Stan got into SoCal through aquisition of existing drive-ins. Maybe there’s more to be found on this place. (Images of streetcars at Sanborn barely show another burger joint along the south side of Santa Monica. I got nothing on that place so far.) Photos of the Stan’s can be found on sites dealing with the Vista Theater history. It was used for one movie location.
Gregory Ratof the character actor used to do a commercial for this place. Does anyone except my Dad rememebr it? (Advice for starving young actors…)
Just noticed thenStan’s across from the Vista is in ‘The Crooked Web’ (1955).
Does anyone remember a drive-in with roller skating carhops that served Boston baked beans?
I noticed Stans tonight Feb 27 2022.. on Free TV…13.3. I’m 71.. in nursing home…bored.. but hey it’s Free TV.!!!
I’m pretty sure this photo is not the Sunset and Highland Stan’s (6760 Sunset Blvd). There were more Stan’s locations than you listed (ie: Beverly / La Brea, and Wilshire / Hoover), but this one isn’t one of those either. As we know, Stan’s took over several former Simon’s drive-ins, the Sunset and Highland location was one of those and so was this one you posted. I’ve identified the bottom left one in my Pinterest link here as the Simon’s at Sunset and Highland: https://pin.it/1MGkMsM If you zoom in you can see a hanging address number sign that says 6760. It matches the known day time photo of Stan’s next to it. If you look at the top row you can see that the vertical neon signs match as does the neon grid entrance, the matching left and right glass enclosures, and the neon sign that says “Drive In Coffee Shop.” None of that matches the bottom row at 6760 Sunset Blvd…So….where was that Simon’s/Stan’s located?? Someone please investigate!
Close up of the address sign of Simon’s at 6760 Sunset Blvd. Under the letter “O” you can see 6760 hanging from the ceiling. Photo here: https://pin.it/6W4cOBW
Hi Martin
Just circling back to let you know that although there was indeed a Stan’s (formerly Simon’s) on the SE corner of Sunset and Highland, this isn’t it. This photo of Stan’s was located in Sacramento.
I spoke to author Maryellen Burns in Sacramento recently. She wrote the book Lost Restaurants of Sacramento and Their Recipes, and put that Stan’s Diner photo on the book cover. She said, “I got this photo from the Sacramento Room of the Sacramento Public Library. It was situated at the corner of 16th and K Street in Sacramento. The photo is cropped but it had the Sacramento Free Library logo on the bottom.”
https://www.facebook.com/653727342/posts/pfbid0Q1ktd2K252o1V1RYQ7LW1BQr4FE1NuC8h7kzpnVY3SAmAXrZomUFFzQaYrQW3Mfrl/?mibextid=ykz3hl
So there you have it. Hope you can update the post, please!
Hey Martin,
I see that you changed the header, but thought I’d send this note to edit the caption under the photo. My previous comment has the info about this Stan’s in Sacramento.
Thanks
Gary
Stans #9 was captured in an image from 1958 looking from the then County Assessor Building on W. Washington at Hill…warning, it’s a suicide photo subject and was posted years ago on page 78 of Skyscraper Noirish Los Angeles. Stans front signage appears about a block away (upper right).
Well, I mentioned this to you directly, but thought I’d leave this correction here as well. Although I’m still sure this is not the Sunset/Highland Stan’s…I’m now fairly sure it’s also not the Sacramento one either (despite it being published and confirmed by the author of the Sacramento book).
This Stan’s was definitely a Simon’s before Stan’s bought it (probably in 1951 during the sale of many locations)…so since Simon’s was not in Sacramento, this couldn’t have been there either.
The mystery continues!
I enjoyed reading everyone’s comments on Stan’s Drive-In and the famous car hop Dorothy Jewel. Here’s an image showing Dorothy near one of the neon signs on Sunset Blvd. https://www.ebay.com/itm/314055181355?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=Mz3xf2RIRuC&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=fSsLhbiAR7C&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Thanks for that Shellee!
This photo with Dorothy is the location across from the Vista (4400 block of Sunset)
You might want to change the title and description of this post (again!). Not sure if you saw my above comment, but I’m pretty sure this Stan’s was not in Sacramento!
I was in the Air Force at McClellan AFB Sacramento from 1956 to 1959.
My 1953 white Buick convertable and I spent many great times at Stan’s.
As I remember, car hops took and delivered our order. I do not remember
any inside dining.
https://pin.it/1otybWxIu
Here’s a Pinterest post I made for the Stan’s that shows the first 3 drive-ins built in Sacramento. I think that the first two did not have any seats, but I believe the 3rd one built in 1943 at 1600 K Street (photo with George Barris’ car) did have some counter seats
Note/Update: I had passed on the erroneous information to Martin that this well shared photo was in Sacramento, after I confirmed it with an author who had used it on the cover of her book about lost restaurants in Sacramento. However, I later discovered that she had misidentified the photo. I had also previously identified it was NOT the 6760 Sunset (at Highland location either)
Since it was clearly one of the 12 Simon’s that converted to Stan’s in 1951, it must be one of those. From other photos I can see that it’s also not Wilshire/Fairfax, Wilshire/Linden, Wilshire/Hoover, nor Sunset/Virgil…so it must be one of the other 7 locations that I’m not aware of.
The mystery continues!
Googling for Cort Fox Ford in East Hollywood brings forth a movie mention of “The True Story of Lynn Stuart” (1958-Columbia Pictures) which had scenes filmed at Stan’s on Virgil & Sunset. Looking for that film location shots pulls up numerous images of the drive-in at night. There’s also a daylight (off center) frontal shot with signage and roof details that seem a bit unusual…perhaps a carryover from an earlier incarnation under another chain’s ownership (?). [Another film is also cited with more of the Cort Fox Ford facilities used in the footage.]
Yes, the Sunset/Virgil Stan’s is in that film as well as CROOKED WEB. However, it’s a different Stan’s than the one in Martin’s photo. (which I’ve been trying to identify location for YEARS!)
Stan Burke built several drive-in diners in Sacramento in the 40s. In 1951 he bought 12 of the remaining Simon’s drive-ins in Los Angeles from the Simons (Lyman) brothers, and converted the signs to Stan’s. I know these 5 locations of Stan’s were converted from a Simon’s:
Sunset & Highland (SE) 6760 Sunset Bl, kitty corner Hollywood High
Sunset & Virgil (SE) (across from the Vista Theater)
Wilshire & Fairfax (NW) across from May Co/Academy Museum
Wilshire & Hoover (SW) 2902 Wilshire Blvd across from Lafayette Park
Wilshire & Linden #8 (NE) 9735 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills
So this one in the photo has to be one of the other 7 Simon’s sold to Stan Burke. It might be one of the ones in Martin’s directory clippings above!
Here is my masterlist of Stan’s locations:
· 2902 Sunset Blvd
· 6760 Sunset Blvd
· 4480 Sunset Blvd
· 9156 Sunset Blvd
· 2700 E. Olympic Blvd
· 5 S. Pasadena Ave, Pasadena
· 9735 Wilshire Blvd
· 9402 Wilshire Blvd
· 3801 Wilshire Blvd
· 3607 S. Figueroa
· 233 W. Washington Blvd
· 4501 E. Florence Ave, Bell
· 5201 Whittier Blvd