Devolution of Bob’s Big Boy

Devolution of Bob’s Big Boy

In 1937, Robert Wian created his signature two-story cheeseburger at a five-stool lunch counter in Glendale, California and along with it—gave birth to a new roadside icon. At the time, six-year-old Richard Woodruff was a regular customer there, always on the make for free food. Occasionally, Wian let him sweep the floor in exchange for a burger snack. Charmed by the lad’s droopy overalls, pudgy physique, and limitless appetite for grilled patties of ground beef, he decided that his new multi-level sandwich should be called the “Big Boy.” Later, a local cartoonist sketched…continue reading →
Immoral Sodas to Sundaes

Immoral Sodas to Sundaes

America's first ice cream soda fizzed to life in October of 1874. At the time, Robert Green was working as a soda fountain concessionaire at the Franklin Institute's exhibit in Philadelphia. Serving drinks from a three-foot square dispenser, he ran out of cream for a popular beverage. Plopping a large dollop of ice cream into a flagon of flavored seltzer, he created the ice cream soda. After sneaking a tentative sip, Green was wowed: the resulting blend of soda, syrup, and frozen cream was delightful! Without hesitation, the innocent libation was added to…continue reading →
Valentine’s Portable Diners

Valentine’s Portable Diners

In 1872, Walter Scott inaugurated the East Coast region as the bastion of diners when he served a snack from a rolling “lunch wagon” in Providence, Rhode Island. In the decades that followed, a raft of diner manufacturers appeared, adopting his tenets of portability and efficiency as the basis for construction. Unfortunately, shipping these prefabricated restaurants wasn’t cheap. The cost of commercial trucking added a substantial amount of green to the total investment required to open a roadside greasy spoon. As a consequence, few of the great diner outfits that established a name…continue reading →