Original Big Boy restaurant was on Route 66

This slipped through my radar, but the original Bob’s Big Boy restaurant was established on Route 66 in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Dan Kimpel of the Eagle Rock Patch dug up details about the eatery, which now boasts more than 100 restaurants in America and is best-known by its portly, smiling mascot.

Some interesting tidbits:

• The mascot was patterned after customer and gofer Richard Woodruff, who as a 6-year-old was already portly and had a distinctive pompadour.
• A Warner Bros. animation artist designed the logo.
• Big Boy founder Bob Wian is credited with creating the cheeseburger, although that remains in dispute. That was at Sternberger’s, a restaurant in nearby Highland Park, before he started Bob’s Big Boy.
• The Bob’s Big Boy that Wian opened in 1937 at 1500 W. Colorado Blvd. (aka Route 66) formerly was a Hinky Dick.
• Bob’s Big Boy has been gone from that location for at least 30 years. It’s currently occupied by a Panang, a Thai restaurant, although the restaurant’s Googie architecture still reflects its past.