Irv's Lives

In a year where one burger shack -- Jay's Jayburger (at the corner of Virgil and Santa Monica) -- disappeared, the news is better in West Hollywood: Irv's Burgers is safe.

Writes the L.A. Times:

Recognition of the 58-year-old sandwich counter caps a yearlong campaign by a group called the Burger Brigade that focused worldwide attention on the disappearance of Los Angeles' once-ubiquitous walk-up type of eatery.

The burger stand, on the northeast corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Sweetzer Avenue, is one of the few remaining examples of the tiny lunch stand that proliferated in mild-weathered Los Angeles in the late 1940s.

GIs returning from World War II looking for ways to cheaply and easily go into business for themselves built hundreds of sandwich counters — using war surplus steel and aluminum — next to sidewalks all over town.

"The stand stands!" cheered John Tripp, an Irv's Burgers regular since 1984 and a leader of the brigade.

West Hollywood officials said the City Council's "cultural resource" label would effectively block demolition unless an expensive, time-consuming environmental impact report for a new development proved that the stand was not culturally significant.

"There would have to be an overriding need for it to be replaced," said John Keho, planning manager for the city. "Nothing's permanent. But the designation sets the stage so a development can come in that will preserve the stand."

The city's action, made final last month, provoked applause on both sides of the serving counter at the 10-foot-wide steel-paneled burger stand.

"I can breathe easier now, and sleep better too," said Sonia Hong. She operates the business with brother Sean Hong and mother "Mamma Soon."