With a mascot that's as American as the Statue of Liberty, this
burger joint has a history of famous customers, multiple screen credits,
and even international fame. Here's the untold truth of Big Boy.
The first Big Boy was opened by Bob Wian all the way back in 1936. Wian was voted "least likely to
succeed" in high school, but it turns out the joke was on his classmates. After high school,
he worked as a dishwasher, making $12 a week. He soon realized that he was actually interested
in how the restaurant was run, so he began formulating a plan to open up his own one day.
Wian raised the funds to buy a diner in Glendale, California by selling his car,
saving money from his dishwashing job, and borrowing $50 from his father. With these funds,
he bought a diner and named it Bob's Pantry. Then he created the Big Boy burger. It was so
successful that he ended up changing the name of his restaurant to Bob's Big Boy. In 1952,
he granted franchise rights to three brothers in Detroit, who soon opened 100 Big Boy franchise
restaurants. They used their own name instead of Bob's, so it was known as Elias Brothers Big Boy.
Soon enough, Big Boy became a known entity around the country.
"And we ground the beef in front of the customers. And that made our product a little more fresh."
One of the things that made Big Boy such a hit when it first opened was the Big Boy burger,
which Bob Wian invented in 1937. One version of the story says that
he was cooking one night when a group of orchestra musicians
came into the restaurant and told him they were craving something different.
Wian was then struck with inspiration. Instead of slicing his hamburger buns
in half, he sliced them into three. He then layered the buns with two hamburger patties,
a slice of cheese, lettuce, and red relish sauce, and the double-deck burger was born.
If a double-decker hamburger sounds familiar to you outside of Big Boy,
there's a good reason for that. In 1967, McDonald's franchise operator Michael James
Delligatti invented the Big Mac, the Golden Arches' own version of the double-decker
burger. Delligatti later admitted that he was inspired by Big Boy, as he reportedly explained,
"This wasn't like discovering the light bulb.
The bulb was already there. All I did was screw it in the socket."
When Bob Wian's double-deck hamburger took off, he didn't have an official name for
it yet. But inspiration struck one day, thanks to a customer named Richard Woodruff. Woodruff
was only a child at the time, but he apparently loved the double-deckers
so much that he started doing chores for the restaurant, like sweeping the floors,
in exchange for free burgers. Wian was in turn inspired by the little boy, as he reportedly said,
"I was so amused by the youngster—jolly,
healthy-looking and obviously a lover of good things to eat, I called him Big Boy."
Eventually, Wian named his double-decker burger after Woodruff, and he also even
eventually changed the name of his restaurant from Bob's Pantry to Bob's Big Boy. Woodruff
became something of a local legend, with the Big Boy nickname suiting him just fine when
he became a 6 foot 6 inch, 300-pound man. Woodruff passed away in 1986 at the age of
54 after a long illness, but his memory and spirit lives on in fast food lore forever.
"Please welcome the Bob's Big Boy statue."
"Ah. Hey, hi, Conan. Hello."
Big Boy is a classic American burger joint. So much so that when The Beatles toured the country
in 1965 while supporting their album Help!, they wound up eating at the Bob's Big Boy in Burbank,
California. The British foursome were performing at the Hollywood Bowl,
and they were staying in Benedict Canyon in Beverly Hills. The trip
was memorable in more than one way, as they also got to meet Elvis Presley.
Legend has it that the Beatles wanted to have the experience of eating at a real American diner.
With its Googie-style architecture, embrace of car culture, and of course its hamburgers,
Big Boy was just the place. And nowadays, "The Beatles Booth" within that particular
location is itself famous. According to the restaurant, they get visitors from
all around the world who come in hoping to sit at the booth, and the wait can be hours long.
The oldest Big Boy restaurant in the country is the one in Burbank, which was built in
1949 and designed by architect Wayne McAllister. According to the Los Angeles Conservancy, it has a
transitional style, and that's one of the things that makes it such a special building. In fact,
its architecture and its 35-foot-tall neon sign are so iconic that in 1992 the Burbank Bob's Big
Boy was declared an official historical landmark by the California Office of Historic Preservation.
One of the reasons why the building was granted landmark status is that many similar buildings
have been torn down or otherwise renovated. Not everyone agreed that it should be preserved,
though. The landowner that Big Boy leased the restaurant from wanted to tear it down to create
a retail complex. But after it gained landmark status, he was unable to proceed with his plans.
If you've ever tried to reminisce about Big Boy with someone who grew up in a different
part of the country, it probably led to some confusion. That's because Big Boy operates
under different names in different areas. In Southern California, there's Bob's Big Boy,
which is the original restaurant. But in the Midwest, it's known as Frisch's Big Boy,
and then there's also Abdow's Big Boy, Shoney's Big Boy, and others.
"Hi, I'm Big Boy!"
The reason for all these different names is that the Big Boy restaurant chain has been sold
several times, and most of its restaurants are franchises. And interestingly enough,
Frisch's Big Boy isn't actually affiliated or operated by the new Big Boy Restaurants
International LLC, though it was at one time when they bought the rights to the Big Boy name.
Nowadays, Frisch's Big Boy restaurants are an independently run group of Big
Boy restaurants. They own the rights to the Big Boy trademark and name in Kentucky and Indiana,
and most of Ohio and Tennessee, and in return they gave the owner of Big Boy Restaurants
LLC their Big Boy franchise rights in Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
Even if you didn't grow up with a Big Boy in your town, you've probably come
across its iconography, especially if you've seen the 1995 crime movie Heat,
which was partly filmed in both the Burbank and Downey, California locations.
Although, to be completely accurate, the scenes at the Downey location were
actually filmed in Johnie's Broiler, a diner that was torn down in 2007. The
land was then acquired by Big Boy, and they rebuilt the diner almost exactly as it was,
as they used the original building plans from 1958 and salvaged materials from the original diner.
Other notable movies filmed at Big Boy include Short Cuts, Reality Bites,
and What's Love Got to Do With It, as well as an episode of the TV show Mad Men.
And that's not all when it comes to Big Boy's pop culture appearances! Just a
couple years after Heat, the mascot had a very prominent appearance in the classic
1997 comedy Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. In the film's opening scene,
the villainous Dr. Evil cryogenically freezes himself before launching into
outer space inside a giant Big Boy statue that's been transformed into a rocket.
If that wasn't enough of a publicity boost, the movie quickly provides another plug for the famous
burger chain. Skipping ahead several decades to Dr. Evil's return to Earth, a radar monitor
notices the Big Boy on his screen. He relays this information to his commander, who exclaims,
"Good God. He's back!"
The monitor then responds:
"In many ways, the Big Boy never left, sir. He's always offered the
same high-quality meals at competitive prices."
"Shut up!"
As it turns out, that exchange was originally scripted to play out much differently. As reported
by NPR station WDET, the Austin Powers filmmakers first presented Big Boy's CEO at the time,
Tony Michaels, with dialogue that poked fun at the restaurant chain. But Michaels came
up with a different idea and was able to persuade the writers to use that instead.
Comic book writer Stan Lee is famous for creating iconic characters like Spider-Man,
the Incredible Hulk, and the X-Men. But a lesser-known entry in his career is The
Adventures of Big Boy, which debuted in 1956. The series features the iconic chubby Big Boy
character, who was originally drawn by Ben Washam, an animator for Warner Brothers who
sketched out a caricature of 6-year-old Richard Woodruff one day over lunch.
Kids who dined at Big Boy were given copies of the comic book, and The Adventures of Big Boy
was actually a bit of a hit. It's now famous for being one of the longest-running comic book series
in history, with some issues being so popular that they printed out more than a million copies.
Unlike some violent comics that came under fire by the Comics Code Authority, The Adventures of Big
Boy was thought to be a wholesome, family-friendly option. In 1996, after 466 issues, the comic was
revamped into a magazine-style replacement, which was ultimately canceled in 2008.
Big Boy might be best known to its loyal diners for its double-decker burgers, but for others,
it brings to mind classic cars. That's because the chain started out as a carhop. Customers
would drive into the restaurant, and waiters would come out to the car to take their order. When the
food was ready, it would be brought right to the car, sort of like a reverse drive-thru.
And nowadays, some Big Boy locations even host a
weekly classic car show. The one in Burbank is popular with celebrities
like Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys and former late night host Jay Leno.
On the weekends, that same Bob's Big Boy even reverts back to a carhop,
so customers can relive the drive-in days of old. Fans of burgers and classic cars can
also catch cruise nights at other Southern California Big Boy locations in Northridge,
Glendale, and Sun Valley on various nights of the month.
"Maintain customer goodwill, and keep them coming back."
Big Boy may seem iconically American, but if you travel across the Pacific Ocean to Japan,
you'll be able to dine at more than 270 Big Boy restaurants. They feature the same chubby
Big Boy mascot, but the restaurants are actually run independently of
the American Big Boy locations. The menu looks a lot different as well.
While the stateside Big Boy offers cheeseburgers, fries, milkshakes, and other diner classics,
in Japan Big Boy specializes in hamburger steaks. They're basically hamburgers without a bun,
and they're often served with brown gravy instead of the classic "special sauce."
Japanese Big Boys also serve cheese-filled hamburger patties, spaghetti, chicken steaks,
pork steak, and regular steaks. If you're craving something classic,
they also have chicken nuggets and french fries. You can also order your food as part of the "Big
Boy Viking" buffet, which means your meal includes all-you-can-eat salad, soup, rice, and curry.
Big Boy's mascot is an iconic character that has helped the chain remain in business for
nearly a century. But sometimes, even icons could use a helping hand. With that in mind,
in 2020 Big Boy unveiled a second mascot, named Dolly, to help promote a new menu item.
This blonde-haired little girl actually first appeared in the Adventures of the
Big Boy comic book back in the 1950s. Her reintroduction coincided with the release
of the chain's new chicken sandwich. As Big Boy's director of training explained,
"It is Dolly's time to shine now with our chicken sandwich. So, she's taken the
forefront right now. She's in charge. The name will always be Big Boy but as far as the logo,
she's leading the charge and we'll see when he comes back if he does."
Comments like this led many longtime fans to believe Dolly was replacing the classic
Big Boy. She did, after all, take his place on the restaurant's social media pages. But
as it turns out, this wasn't the case. Soon after news of Dolly's arrival came to light,
the chain cleared up the confusion by tweeting,
"Our Big Boy is just sharing the stage for a hot minute with his old pal Dolly."