Memories of the Montrose Bob’s Big Boy – Part 3

This continues the collection of memories from the Montrose Bob’s Big Boy, located at 3212 La Crescenta Ave. near the intersection with Verdugo Road. It was there from the late 1940s until the late 1980s and was a favorite hangout for families and teenagers during the “baby boom” years.

Here are more of those cherished memories:

“I remember going there in Montrose and sitting on that long seat, waiting for a table with my family, and my sister and I reading Bob’s comic book!”

“My husband went to Crescenta Valley High School and I went to La Cañada High School. I had many memories [at Bob’s] of late nights after concerts. My favorite was 1975 (I think that was the year) after seeing Elton John at the Hollywood Bowl for my 16^th birthday. My mom drove me and four of my rowdy friends to the concert and home to Bob’s for a Big Boy and a hot fudge brownie sundae. Those were the days!”

“I was a kid in the early ’50s when my dad started taking me there for lunch. It was my favorite place to eat throughout my childhood and teenage years. Married the last time in 2005 and we ate our wedding night dinner at Bob’s in Burbank. Montrose Bob’s was long gone by then.”

“My mom used to order a Big Boy Combo to go and we would have a picnic at the building just below Fremont Elementary (Sparr Heights Community Center). We were poor, though, so it didn’t happen often. That’s what made it so exciting.”

“We used to go there at least once a week, often more, usually after Montrose First Baptist Wednesday night youth group. We nicknamed the hot fudge cake ‘Piggy Burger.’”

“I remember going there after CV High School football games throughout high school. It was such a great place to go with friends. And, if I’m not mistaken, the Big Boy (statue) turned up in the CV quad on more than one occasion.”

“I remember seeing Big Boy in the back of an El Camino heading to the CV High School quad one Sunday night.”

“My brother would unscrew the top off the salt shaker. My mom would then dump the whole thing on her food!”

“Bob’s Big Boy Combo. Add avocado. A side of bleu cheese dressing with a cherry coke. Still makes my mouth water.”

“Chunk of lettuce with Thousand Island dressing over the top, cheeseburgers and fries, chocolate shakes, TGIF every week; Mom, brother and me. Going to Bob’s was a standing sensation from a single working parent’s point of view. We did Friday night dinner at Bob’s in Montrose together until high school. Then football games transferred our attentions to Bob’s in Glendale where kids cruised the drive-in.”

“On Friday if you were Catholic you couldn’t eat meat. Mom followed the rules; dad, who was Protestant, did not. So we would escape to Bob’s, sit at the counter and eat a hamburger.”

“I remember the brown bar that hung from the ceiling with light-up numbers. As a child, I would slide down the vinyl booth seats in the waiting area, then climb back up and slide down again.”

“The double-decker Big Boy hamburger. I want one! Does anyone remember the Big Boy comic book given free to kids at the restaurant?”

“We used to go in the wash and take the drainage pipes underneath the golf course to get there. Pop up out of the gutters right across the street!”

“Sometime after Bob’s closed, it was Pie and Burger, like in Pasadena.”

“Remember the Oakmont public driving range across the street?”

“My grandfather had a regular seat at the counter. I used to think it was lots of fun pulling the knobs on the cigarette machine.”

“Ahhhh, the hot fudge sundaes … with the little cup of hot fudge on the side. You would pour it over the ice cream and eat the remaining fudge in the cup.”

Next week, even more memories of the Montrose Bob’s Big Boy.