Glendale Loses Its Big Boy

Bob's Big Boy got its start in Glendale -- but now the city has lost its last remaining outpost of the once-popular chain.

Big Boy actually got its start as Bob's Pantry in 1937, when founder Bob Wian opened a small hambuger stand on Colorado Blvd.

That stand is long gone, but Bob's Big Boy had lived on in Glendale via a location on Glenoaks Blvd. -- until now. According to the Glendale News-Press, the company and the franchisee that ran the location couldn't come to terms on a deal:

The corporation allowed the Glenoaks restaurant to continue operating under a series of one-year contracts, and sometimes out of contract, for at least two years, but executives realized they were not able to hold the franchise owners to the same standards and requirements as other locations because of the unusually short lease, Bourgoian said.

Bob’s Big Boy representatives had visited the Glenoaks location and determined that the operations were “substandard,” she said.

Yikes. If Bob's Big Boy thinks your operation is "substandard," then, well, gross.

The location plans to re-open as the "Glenoaks Cafe" later this year. Its shutdown represents yet another Bob's Big Boy shutdown in the region; the location on Wilshire Blvd. was torn down last year. The Burbank Bob's Big Boy is still the oldest remaining location in the chain, having been opened in 1949.

Other chains that got their start in Glendale include Panda Express and Baskin-Robbins.