Pasadena Weekly has an interesting article about the Barney’s Beanery restaurant on Route 66 in Pasadena, Calif. — one of three such eateries in Los Angeles.
Even though the first Barney’s opened in the 1920s, the two other locations opened since David Houston and Avi Fattal purchased it in 1999. The article provides tidbits on why Barney’s is thriving:
- Its menu contains a staggering 700 items.
- It’s open 19 hours a day, seven days a week.
- There are 80 types of hamburgers alone.
- It has 12 chefs.
- It contains 150 television sets.
- The amazing amount of memorabilia. As an aside, Barney’s darned near got Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters bus, but the deal fell through. However, Barney’s got a genuine English double-decker bus to put into a dining room instead.
I’ve been asked a few times what a business has to do on Route 66 to be a success. One is you have to do something better than just about anybody. If that can’t happen, you have got to have a gimmick, as Michael Wallis would say … something unique that pulls a traveler off the road.
Barney’s Beanery has both things.
I am heading for So Cal in November to the Victorville Museum
celebration on the 11th of Nov. I will also be spending some time in
Pasadena during my trip. I will check it out again and give a report
of this fine eatery.