Most Angelenos who see that “Bob’s” logo immediately think of the chain of Bob’s Big Boy retro diners, like the one in Burbank that plays host to automobile meet-ups of lovingly restored cars. So I was surprised to encounter this photo of a Bob’s coffee shop. It was on the northwest corner of East Broadway and Maryland Ave in Glendale. We can see the Bob’s mascot on the wall to the left. I love the addition of four dots on the marquee (is that what it’s called) – it looks very 1950s, which, by the look of how those women are dressed, is when this photo was probably taken.
Advertisement for carhops at Bob’s Big Boy, Glendale, California:
These days, Maryland Ave no longer intersects with Broadway. South of Wilson Ave it turns into Artsakh Ave. This is how that same corner looked in August 2022.
The present day view is incorrect . The restaurant was on the northwest corner of East Broadway and Artsakh, and its building survives (though it was freshened and refaced). The building shown is an even older brick building on the southwest corner.
CORRECTION: The corners were the NORTHEAST and SOUTHEAST. Sorry about that!
I can’t believe how much Glendale has changed, more so than Burbank, but they are catching up. My old Bob’s was the one in Burbank, I remember the old paintings of movies on the walls there. I am glad they made that one a historical landmark. Pickwick Bowl is the next building coming down in Burbank, I wish they could save it.
And the pool. And the ice rink. And the drive-in. And before there was Pickwick Air Line, Pickwick Stage Lines, and who knows what else.
This was remodeled to modernist in 1954. Since we know that Wayne McAllister did Glendale #1 in 1955-6, as well as the surviving “Toluca” (Burbank), then it seems probable that the firm also did the design work on this one’s interior. They could not put an angular roofline on this rather old building (once the Glendale State Bank), but they got to the inside ceilings. Order the hot fudge sundae to eat there, pick up the whole strawberry pie at the take out counter and head for home. How many pies can you fit in a panel wagon?
In the recent pic you did of the aerial view of the drive-in in Culver City, I was thinking of Bob’s Big Boy. To the immediate south of the drive-in entrance was the Post Office, and to the immediate south of the P.O. was the Bob’s Big Boy. The one we went to in high school.
It used to bother me that you couldn’t get a real milkshake at Bob’s. That was soft serve ice cream NOT a milkshake.
xxx
That was a favorite spot to go after church on Sundays. Often Bob Wian himself would be there. I still remember the poured resin door handles, trimmed in bronze, with imbedded watch parts. There was a terrazo floor and the counter to the right as you entered. They sold fresh donuts, like: orange glazed, powderd, and glazed… There was booth seating and counter, also…It was perfection, so it seemed…