Can you still taste the sizzle of steaks from Burbank's bygone bistros on your tongue, or hear the laughter echoing through the now-silent dining rooms? In this new podcast series, Ross Benson and Craig Sherwood stir up the dust of memory lanes paved with the ghostly aromas of Burbank's old restaurants. We embark on a sentimental journey, uncovering over 60 eateries that hold a special place in our hearts, and possibly yours too. Ross brings to the table his trove of insights and personal stories, some harking back over 60 years, painting a vivid picture of the culinary landscape that once was.
As the conversation floats from the flavors of Dinah's Fried Chicken to the entertainment at Bobby McGee's, we reminisce about the personal touches that made each establishment unique, like the specific way Clint's sliced their pickles. We share laughter over stolen cocktail cherries at the China Trader and a touch of sadness as we pass by the locations that now serve a different clientele. The transformation of our beloved "Restaurant Row" and the legendary "Herpes Triangle" are just the tip of the iceberg as we navigate through the changing tides of business ownership and the impact on community-favorite spots.
We wrap up this episode with a heartfelt tribute to the communal spirit of places like Foster Freeze and Frank's Restaurant, which once served as the backdrop for countless Burbank stories. These eateries weren't just food joints; they were cultural cornerstones, shaping our shared experiences and fostering a sense of historical continuity. As we sign off, we encourage you to keep the legacy alive by sharing your tales of these cherished locales. Your stories are the secret ingredients that keep the spirit of Burbank's restaurant scene simmering in the collective pot of history.
This is just Part 1, and we know we have already missed a lot of restaurants. If you have one that we missed, please send us an email to podcast@myburbank.com and put Closed Restaurant in the subject line. Also, tell us where it was and why it was special to you. We will mention it in an upcoming episode.
Can you still taste the sizzle of steaks from Burbank's bygone bistros on your tongue, or hear the laughter echoing through the now-silent dining rooms? In this new podcast series, Ross Benson and Craig Sherwood stir up the dust of memory lanes paved with the ghostly aromas of Burbank's old restaurants. We embark on a sentimental journey, uncovering over 60 eateries that hold a special place in our hearts, and possibly yours too. Ross brings to the table his trove of insights and personal stories, some harking back over 60 years, painting a vivid picture of the culinary landscape that once was.
As the conversation floats from the flavors of Dinah's Fried Chicken to the entertainment at Bobby McGee's, we reminisce about the personal touches that made each establishment unique, like the specific way Clint's sliced their pickles. We share laughter over stolen cocktail cherries at the China Trader and a touch of sadness as we pass by the locations that now serve a different clientele. The transformation of our beloved "Restaurant Row" and the legendary "Herpes Triangle" are just the tip of the iceberg as we navigate through the changing tides of business ownership and the impact on community-favorite spots.
We wrap up this episode with a heartfelt tribute to the communal spirit of places like Foster Freeze and Frank's Restaurant, which once served as the backdrop for countless Burbank stories. These eateries weren't just food joints; they were cultural cornerstones, shaping our shared experiences and fostering a sense of historical continuity. As we sign off, we encourage you to keep the legacy alive by sharing your tales of these cherished locales. Your stories are the secret ingredients that keep the spirit of Burbank's restaurant scene simmering in the collective pot of history.
This is just Part 1, and we know we have already missed a lot of restaurants. If you have one that we missed, please send us an email to podcast@myburbank.com and put Closed Restaurant in the subject line. Also, tell us where it was and why it was special to you. We will mention it in an upcoming episode.
It's time for another edition of Down the Rabbit Hole, where the staff of my Burbank Talks, discusses topics from Burbank's past or dives deep into the history of the city. Now let's see what's on the agenda today as we join our show.
Speaker 2:Hello Burbank, frank Sherwood here with you, along with Ross Benson.
Speaker 3:Hello, mellie Mow, let's go, let's go, we're gonna try something new today.
Speaker 2:We're gonna try a new show for the my Burbank Talks universe. I guess you have the Marvel universe. Might as well have the my Burbank Talks universe. We have so many little side shows here, but we're gonna try a whole new show, whole new era. It's called Down the Rabbit Hole.
Speaker 2:Now, if you wonder where we got that name from, one of our co-hosts on our weekly show, craig Dirling, is always looking at Ross and I when we start going back and reminiscing about back in the day, and you know he's been a Burbank a long time. He does not supersede us in any way. So Ross and I are both lifelong Burbank residents and we do remember back in the day. So he's always telling us stop going down the rabbit hole. So I thought you know what a great name for a show. Down the Rabbit Hole and our first edition. In fact, this will be part one, because we got so much to talk about in our first edition. Here is going to talk about old Burbank restaurants. Ross, this is a great idea you had, and we started talking about Down the Line. How did your research go on this?
Speaker 3:You know so many people, other social media networks and so many people say do you remember? Well, you know, I just calculated. You know I go back, well, 68 years, but what I can remember, 64 years ago.
Speaker 2:Well, you're only 39, I thought.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I wish my hairline shows it that I'm only 39. But there's a ton of great restaurants. People wonder. Restaurants come and go and there's a. You know, if you talk to our good friend Gary Brick, if you don't own the property, you're paying landlord and the restaurant business is really, really difficult. So I compiled over 60 restaurants that I remember. I didn't patronize everyone, but as we go down the list it might. People might remember.
Speaker 2:I think it would be a lot of fun. In fact, we want people to you know we're going to do now an athletic order that we've made so far and we want people to you know right into us At comments at my Burbank dot com and put in the subject line restaurants, and I'm sure we're going to miss a lot. And you tell us what we missed. Not only does we miss. Tell us your memory of the place too, why it was special to you, why you remember it.
Speaker 3:And you know saying that, I think people, you think of restaurants that you love, or good friend Stan Lynch, who passed away many years ago. If we went to Marie calendars, it was a Monte Crisco yeah, guaranteed, yeah, you know. Or you go to, you know, Barrens for pancakes. People will remember the taste and that's what we wanted to shake up is the taste in people's mouths. Burbank has a lot of great restaurants.
Speaker 2:You know and let's face it, I know that when I was younger, you know, and before I started driving and everything else, that I was Right. I mean, I really don't know what was going up on the hill because I'm a, I'm a valedict. While we're here, media, media, district adjacent that's our new common thing here and I am going to find out why that is eventually Anyhow. So we put this list together. It's now a physical order and we might be missing places. I may not remember places up on the hill when I was just a tadpole and and and, same as you, I think you were down in this area also. So there might be places on the hill that we're missing.
Speaker 2:But you know the rest, restaurants have a high turnover. They don't lot. Lessons don't last too long. You know it's a tough business and it's, you know, I think, the ones that last have an owner operator who just probably works 90 percent of the time in the restaurant and then when they're not restaurants not open, they're out buying the food and supplies and everything else, and the turnover, as far as employees go, has got to be tremendous too. So it's not easy.
Speaker 3:So, anyhow, well, you know, it's funny. You say that my brother owned a couple of restaurants in Hawaii, you know, and everybody surfs there. He found employees would wake there. They get that first paycheck and then they'd quit because they can go surfing for a month.
Speaker 2:You know, instead of coming to work and and then, when the money ran out, they say I need to find that restaurant, because restaurants are always hiring.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, we're going to start off the list, of course, with the A's, because that's the alphabetical order we have, and to start with, we're going to talk. We had we have two different A and W Root beers that were in Burbank at one time. Now, if you're not familiar with A and W Root beer, it was a drive-in place and they would come out to your car and have car hop service and some and they had the pop burger and the mama burger and different burgers like that. And we had two locations in Burbank that had one. Now, one location you would never know anymore because it's gone and redesigned, but one of the other locations you will know, you would know about if you went by it and really looked at it. And if you've ever been to an A and W somewhere, especially in the middle of the country, you would be able to look at this place and say, oh yeah, that looks like it was an A and W and that would be Eden Park, that's on Brighton and Victory. That used to be an A and W Root beer.
Speaker 3:But, like you said, growing up I was a valley guy west of Pass or west of Hollywood Way and you didn't go far. It's where you could ride your bike quite a bit A and W at Evergreen and Magnolia. They, I remember well, the best thing, but their burgers were delicious. I love the burgers, but that frosted glass mug, yes. Or when you took the Root beer home just out of the tap and it had that carton with a little plastic thing on top.
Speaker 2:I think what people don't realize is A and W Root. You can buy A and W Root beer in the store now, but that's only because of the popularity of the restaurants. Back then they didn't have it in stores. Back then you could only get it at an A and W Root beer burger location.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but the location is dead.
Speaker 2:The location is died, but the Root beer didn't.
Speaker 3:And, what's funny, like you say, the one that is now Eden Park had car hop service with roller skates and it was pretty popular in the restaurant shell state, I think it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in fact, the car parking, you know the parking for the cars and the cars is still there too. So it's a way of repurposing. But it's sad that you know, it's sad that actually Eden Park doesn't set up maybe a nighttime once a month you know driving because they've got everything they need right there to do that with.
Speaker 3:So they're not even open at night anymore. They serve breakfast. But moving on, because the A's, there is a size, yeah, not too far right up the block, albin's Drugstore, which had a diner and a lot of people.
Speaker 2:And where was that corner Magnolia and Hollywood?
Speaker 3:Way on the corner right there and which is now an abandoned ride aid. No, they were on the other corner.
Speaker 2:No, no, right, Right now, right Aid is there is where they were.
Speaker 3:No, they were where Porto's was Porto's and that whole block changed. That was a supermarket over on the other side.
Speaker 2:I stand corrected.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was on the other side, because Albin's Toys was next door and then Evan's Stationary.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 3:I remember that block I used to hang out.
Speaker 2:That's going down the rabbit hole in Ross. There you go.
Speaker 3:See, I hung out at that, but Albin's Diner.
Speaker 2:Moving on, and when you talk about Albin's Albin's Diner, there's a day I used to really get you know floats and everything in that too. I know we don't have it on our list and we don't I don't actually have the name for it, I don't think you have the name either. But there was another place and I think they served food also, but they were a place where you got the best first place I ever had sodas, and that was. There was a pharmacy type diner place that was in the corner of Warner and Olive it's on our list.
Speaker 2:What's it called? I'm going to make you look at the list here.
Speaker 3:You know, my good friend Mike Bolton helped me out here before he came in, okay.
Speaker 2:In that case, you know what we'll get to that later. Yeah, we will. I didn't know the name of it, so I looked at the list and that didn't stick out to me.
Speaker 3:But the audio diner, I think it was Okay.
Speaker 2:I see, I would never remembered that, but yeah, he worked. That's why I wanted you, the older guy, to figure that stuff out.
Speaker 3:He worked at Gate 3 and Gate 4. And there were two girls that worked there. Okay, bring him out.
Speaker 2:We'll talk about that down the line and then, yeah, probably our next show. We're going to try to get through at least half of them today if we can, but we plan on a part two, maybe a part three. This can mean ongoing series.
Speaker 3:Well, the next one again is West part of town here, hannah's Mexican restaurant, 4310 Magnolia, next to Baskin Robbins. I happened to know Anna. She was a next door neighbor of mine Wow, where I lived in her, remember her well. And it's currently tequila's. She owns a property still. I've talked to Patricia and Carlos. She is the owner.
Speaker 2:Well, you said, that's what money is actually in collecting the rent, not paying the rent.
Speaker 3:Exactly, and she also had a, an Anna's Mexican restaurant in Van Nuys. But moving on, we have not too far down the road, over on the Burbank Boulevard side. Everybody remembers Darren's parents, Connie tremble, her mom and dad.
Speaker 2:I mean that was it wasn't a pancake mix like renowned throughout all of Southern California. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It was you, hauser did a story there. Oh, about the gold California gold pancakes, that corner booth. Someday I'd love to get Connie in and do a podcast because the stories she could tell of the studio.
Speaker 2:Well, there's another down the down the rabbit hole type podcast for us too. You know he's getting some of these old business owners in. You know businesses are gone to talk about the days you know the nice part about Baron's pancakes?
Speaker 3:He saved her dad's recipe. You go to Burles Choir shows or United Methodist Church that same recipe.
Speaker 2:I hear she's going to do fund raises, that she'll actually go and use that recipe, and you know we'll let people know about that too and that's happening because it's very unique, it's delicious and it's worth the trip.
Speaker 3:He's told me the secret, but I won't divulge what makes those pancakes so good. Okay, but moving along, we'll jump into the bees. Oh, we were in the bees.
Speaker 2:We were the bees. That. Now the next one I wonder people are going to remember, because it was part of a redevelopment situation that Burbank went through, back in what the late 70s maybe, or early 80s, yeah, and they put in restaurants down Front Street or First Street I mean, I'm sorry, first Street and so this is one of the restaurants that was down there. I wonder how you people are going to remember it. Ross, go ahead and give us the name.
Speaker 3:Well, first that was called Restaurant Row, and that's how the city sold it.
Speaker 2:Only three restaurants, so right.
Speaker 3:But it was along the freeway you can get off, and you know that was their intention with the at the time the Holiday Inn right there, yeah, restaurant row. But it also had another name that a lot of people in Burbank remembers as a herpes triangle. Oh, that's the reason I say that you had the three restaurants and then there was a place up on all of that. When you were drunk enough you'd end up there, and then that's how that name came, but the Bicycle Club a bicycle club Yep, and then moving back out west, bite size bite size.
Speaker 2:Yes, that was owned by the Tiger Brothers, who I gotta tell you what? It was a great idea, in fact. They were featured in People Magazine. I did a story on them and all their food, you know because their feeling was you know something? I go in and I want a hot dog, I want a burger, I want this or that, and you buy one and you fill up. So all theirs was smaller sized items, so you can order different, different items. It was a great little restaurant, you know, I mean, and they had their great chili too. He took pride in his chili.
Speaker 3:Their companies made the miniature stuff, it wasn't? He would just cut a hot dog in half.
Speaker 2:No, no, he had, he had one out. Yeah, custom made.
Speaker 3:Yep Takedos. I remember tacos all bite size.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all bite size stuff and that was over on the 3,900 block of Riverside Drive. But a chicken place now, or?
Speaker 3:Well, now it is, but there was something in natural. Well, natural moved in there.
Speaker 2:No, it was natural. It was a health food type of restaurant Right. They were the second ones in.
Speaker 3:Now moving not too far away Again. It's funny all these are down here in the valley.
Speaker 2:But this one was. This one had but showed a lot of memories for a lot of people. This was a fine not a fine dining, but you know, I mean, you know it was a good dining place. It wasn't just a, you know, a period of food, your hand face.
Speaker 3:No, this is the type of place my parents made me get into a sports shirt.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, yeah to where?
Speaker 3:humanity couldn't wear shorts.
Speaker 3:We're going to the Barney Stone there you go on Hollywood way, Great steak, Great steaks, and they had. I know a lot of people will remember the bar in there because I guess a couple of bartenders were pretty good, pretty good pours, as they say. But you know, you think of these places as we bring them up here and you think what's there now? Now it's a parking lot right portos. But if you think of what's there now and you go, God, I wish I stayed there. Too bad, they didn't stay there.
Speaker 2:There are some really great places but once again, you know, you don't know with rents how they were set up. You don't know. You know a lot of times you know restaurants owned by a single owner and that owner passes away or retires. There's nobody to take over the restaurant. Family members sometimes don't want to, oh, they don't want to deal with it. And then, moving back, let's go back to restaurant row again for our next, our next restaurant here. And it's not a person, it was a restaurant, it was called Bobby McGee's.
Speaker 3:And, if I recall right, didn't the the waiters dress up in theme Costumes?
Speaker 2:yeah, there was something quirky about that place, that's what it was. I think I only went there once. I Think I think by club was the first to go, wasn't it of the three? And then Bob McGee's held on for a while, but by club was down, was the farthest one down, and Bobby McGee's was in the middle and then BJ's was on the end.
Speaker 3:You're closest to all of yep, so that was again part of restaurant row, and then moving out west, as we call it, back to the flatlands here Now, this place has been many things, many things known as and we'll talk to and we'll bring them up down the lines we keep going with them to well.
Speaker 2:Well, but this one was called this one. Uh, what we're gonna talk about today is called Boston Market.
Speaker 3:Boston Market, 4310 Riverside Drive. Oh, no, uh 4320. I believe oh, that's right, because but Dales was 4310 Yep and Boston Market didn't last too long in there, I think it probably lasted 10 years.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, 10 or 15 years. Yeah, I mean, it's a corporation and I guess a whole corporation is starting to go belly up. And the first time I went to a Boston market was out in Van eyes and and I really liked it a lot and it was good and I never I never saw the one here in Burbank get that crowded. There's never that crowded. But I know I know on holidays they would have a holiday, you know a turkey or something you know, for Thanksgiving and One year they ran out of people prepaid and they ran out, oops, at reason. I know it's those purple people waiting in line and we got no turkey and they just said, oh, we're sorry, you can give you a coupon. I got a coupon. No, I'm money back now that location?
Speaker 3:I? It's on my list somewhere, but you and I talked about it many times. It was an Italian restaurant, it was a Mexican restaurant.
Speaker 2:No, I started out of it as a I I can take you to a friend's home. Oh, that's. That's the second one.
Speaker 3:That was the second one.
Speaker 2:Actually no, that was the third one.
Speaker 3:Let's see Lava building.
Speaker 2:Mama Cedars was the second one mama Cedars, yeah, that was.
Speaker 2:that's not on my and that and that had, oh my, the greatest flottis that's. I never knew the flottis was. I went there and flottis with guacamole became a my staple. I mean it was great, but it's not bill, is mama Cedars? There's a second tenants and what we're gonna, and you have to keep listening to our show to hear the first people to occupy that. The way the building was built for, built by their specs, wow. And it's still sitting the same way, even though the they've changed the inside. You know, with I've not been the new business there because it's one of those healthy businesses.
Speaker 3:Is it now?
Speaker 2:Is it sweet greens? I believe okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, those to show you how much I get in the media.
Speaker 2:Just a day's Jason's adjacent, although I think that might be in the media district. I think they have Riverside Drive on the media district.
Speaker 3:They just don't have Other streets that are adjacent now this one, the next one I got hooked into what we had one up in Big Bear called roasted chicken and I believe it was Ambers roasted chicken, little tiny shopping center there, magnolia in California, actually we're right now. Pizza Hut has a little place and Red Wing shoes Okay, it was in one of those back to restaurants. But broasted you can't find roasted chicken anywhere. I know Patty says it, but yeah, that was not there that many years.
Speaker 2:But moving along up, we're gonna go back up on the hill. Well, yeah, I guess the hill area, the hill area towards Sun Valley, yeah, would be caros right and caros went in after the demise of a Bob's big boy.
Speaker 2:In fact, you know, bob's big really went through the bees and yes, bob's big boy is still here in Burbank and Doing very well. But there were three Bob's big boys in Burbank. There was one up on South South Carolina Road which is like number the third, the third one ever made and the first to go, and then the second one yeah, the third one I think, was on San Francisco Road. The fourth one, bob's number four, was the one here in Riverside Drive right and then a newer one down the line. They in the eight seventies, they put in early eighties was they put a big boy in on Glen Oaks. Um, you're a co-asset, you're a co-asset there and we're caros was down Hill Street Cafe.
Speaker 2:But that was originally a Bob's big boy and that was built as a box. If you really know how Bob's big boy look, you can go there and you can see how you can see the look of a Bob's big boy when you go in.
Speaker 3:Have you get, and and right out front, those statues of Bob Yep? That was the one that got stolen from the Burroughs kids and usually put up the flagpole of Burbank. I have the flag.
Speaker 2:I saw. I saw that flagpole of Burroughs one time too.
Speaker 3:Well, that's when the Burbank high guys did it. Oh, and then they decided to start changing the lock system. In fact, the last several years ago they took Bob's in Because they got wind that it was taken again. So those.
Speaker 2:You know an old Burbank burrows, that's, that's what that's when the kids used to have school pride and do pranks and all that stuff which has all kind of gone out the door nowadays. Yeah, I get a tee. The other schools pool. Whatever color your color was.
Speaker 3:Unlike the be up on the hill.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it changes colors. It's too bad that that spirits all gone. Yeah, okay, yeah, you call it destructive and all that, but you know what it was. It was Fun. When you're a high school senior, it's fun stuff, you know you're not. You weren't being destructive, you were just being, you know.
Speaker 3:Well, I remember the days when crosstown rivalry they would do some neat stuff. I remember Bobby D, bob Dunovan land stretched out on a bed and Bed races down the Sanford, down the mall or San Fernando Road.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that was a competition yeah we're.
Speaker 3:Big burrows week was an entire weeks competition of many things and that's when they would fill the stands there There'd be, they'd have setups, extra seats Yep at that game.
Speaker 2:I mean there's all Races. They had the, the band March from Burbank high down to burrows on game day. They had then Cheerleading at the middle schools, the back to the junior high schools. They would, you know, spend a day down there. I mean it was, they had it, I think, a Leading contest at Santoros.
Speaker 3:I remember well, they did that a couple years ago. Santoros sponsored it at burrows, but I think, because they put astroturf on, you couldn't bring real food. Yeah, isn't? Yeah.
Speaker 3:See, that's the thing that we hold. These old timers of Burbank Remember the big-time game where they would drive the Queen around. And I did that. Oh yeah, 60, 73. I went out to Casa de Cadillac and got a convertible. It was, and we said we'd put a sign on it. It said loaned by Casa de Cadillac. And I remember Mitch Ross no, brad Ross, and I just found that picture Kim Van Black and I drove him around in a black Cadillac. When I returned that car it had dust all over and they said where that did you take it?
Speaker 2:was on the track, that's right.
Speaker 3:But you know, looking back, that's when the fire department power department bring their trucks out. The kids would sit on.
Speaker 2:I think it's November when I would have to gather over hold talk about Burbank Bros Week.
Speaker 3:Oh, we should. That'd be a good show. You know, if we do, we can get.
Speaker 2:We got a long, a long way to go here.
Speaker 3:We have dr Dornan that could tell us the background.
Speaker 2:Oh, he's got the history of the whole thing. You know he's not a Burbank person. He's got did the history? Did the history spent a lot of time working on it.
Speaker 3:So moving on back down down here, and a lot of people Remember China trader and a trader on Riverside Drive.
Speaker 2:Yep, um, I knew well. I knew well because I used to have a hell of examiner paper out back and they used to. I I don't know why, but I always had to bring one into their kitchen every day. I had to get off the bike and walk into their kitchen and hand it to a Mayer D or somebody you know, and uh, now the way out, though I'd always stop by and grab a yeah, the cherries for the cocktails. I always grab a couple cherries the way out every time.
Speaker 3:But now again, as we do this show, that block, where it was, is going to be developed again, again. Now people are really going to see it's going to be a six-story building.
Speaker 2:Take off that whole corner but, as we remember, china trader back in there, it was an evergreen in Riverside and um, once again, it was a fancier restaurant. You know, yeah, I don't know you. Yes, you know we're not talking about, you know, a spagos or loweries and places like that, but it was. It was a good for Burbank.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was a classy joint.
Speaker 2:So and the thing is it's close to close to studios and stuff and it had a lot of celebrity show up there.
Speaker 3:Yep, um and again. Right down the block there was a place called chopsticks, right and um. That was before the freeway freeway was put in in 62 and 64, and Right where the on ramp is now Was a place called chow's kosher rama, and I remember going in there all the time, right where the on ramp is then. That's why it's not there anymore.
Speaker 2:Um now, wasn't chopsticks over on alameda, near lamar?
Speaker 3:Oh, you know you might be right. I might have aired that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's. I want to say we're on lamar in that area. It's on alameda though. Yeah, you're right because yeah, and everybody would say something else now.
Speaker 3:Oh, now it's you're. You're right, um, but you remember they got caught. Their food score was usually pretty low, pretty low. Everybody said you never find a strong a straight cat, never straight cat in that neighborhood. But now chow's kosher rama moved to Verdugo, olive and sparks for a while, but they didn't last long there. It was turned into a teresas and then it turned into now starbucks, which is the busiest starbucks around here amazing. Yeah, so moving along, go ahead for the next one, because I know it was one of your favorite places.
Speaker 2:Yeah, going to burrows? Yeah, if you want. If you went to burrows and back the day, um, you know, I had to get a lunch pass and lunch was like 40 minutes long. But if you didn't have a car, you were very limited in the place you can go. But if you really wanted a good burger, and in fact, Uh-oh, we're digging up something here, oh what happened here?
Speaker 2:There we go. Ah, here's the case. You want something. It was always a great cheese, I got cheese, I got cheese. Look at that, and we're talking clints and I was on magnolia, I believe, between Lincoln and bright, uh, lincoln and Myers actually keystone and Myers on the south side, but it was on. It was on magnolia right, right, right but it was and it wasn't on. Really, magnolia, you had to kind of walk a little back down an alley on the alley and, oh my what, what a burger.
Speaker 3:Well, I was lucky enough while I attended burrows, great print teacher Gordon Rouse. Oh yeah, you make him a deal. If you brought him something, he'd let you go 50 minutes. So you and I remember getting into clints. Now there were two different owners.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they're quick by the oh. Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 3:The line was yeah, but that was the one place that I learned he cut the pickles Longwise instead of getting the dill pickles Browned.
Speaker 2:Oh, did them long he. I didn't realize that. You know, I didn't realize that you put two pickles.
Speaker 3:You know a pickle.
Speaker 2:And they all and they're the regulars they knew, they knew what you wanted before you walked in.
Speaker 3:Well, you're right, clint, did he? He'd recognize you and he could get it almost going, not known if you were coming or not. But then the second owner, him and his wife Irma, who I have a picture which, uh, maybe we'll flash during the show. Um, I think burgers were 85 cents or double. I mean, it was pretty reasonable.
Speaker 2:You could only fit. Now we're talking mid, you know mid 70s too. So I mean right, good, 70 prices, which we're back, then we're still, you know. You know Couple dollars are still a couple dollars back then. You know, I mean that driveway you could drive in it.
Speaker 3:There were three tables in the back that would sit four and then one table by and then the counter. Yep, if you got into the counter and be able to sit and watch him. I mean, clints was.
Speaker 2:I think more people in burbank will remember clint right off the grill, right to your plate, right for them if you're on the counter, yep.
Speaker 3:I think, like I say, I think people will remember Plints better than the smoke. Yeah, if you lived down here, went to burrows, you definitely did.
Speaker 2:I think you know and it's too bad that there's not a Clint's type place anymore. You know there were, that that's the kind of place that that always will have a good place in your heart. But once again another owner operator had to spend every day. You know, I think the closest we have right now is probably Larry's today. You know right, or you know, John has to work they didn't, you know six days a week and he doesn't open at night because it's just too much. Yep, Well, actually Too hard to find employees.
Speaker 3:Well, that's why him and his wife and his yeah, daughter run it. Um, now, um, clints Used to be next to that aqua, aqua marine right and the clint building. After they sold it, it's now the Burbank fire department union building. Um, they took it over and they owned the building, the property and everything. So, moving along.
Speaker 2:Who, what the, what the moon is one of my, one of my personal favorites back in the day and it was a 24 hour rent. We used to have a few 24 hour restaurants back then.
Speaker 3:That was back in. You could do that. Yes, uh, didn't have a grandfather clause, didn't have a you know, close your door at a certain time clause, and that was copper penny. Oh boy.
Speaker 2:I used to love copper penny. We used to go there. All you know what I mean. You know in the news business, like we were, we'd also work late at night sometimes. It was nice that you had to rush to get somewhere. You get there midnight, one, two in the morning. Food was great. It had a log cabin feel to it. They had little fake logs all through the walls on on each, each side.
Speaker 3:Um, they were pretty well known for their coffee after 2 am. Ah, because, if you notice, that's where the cabs dropped off a lot of people before they stumbled home or stumbled to work. That's right, good old copper penny. Now that street, it was on part of warner, right? You know us old folks who remember with that triangle building, yeah, building 119. Now you could park on the street or their own parking lot. But again, now that street's not even there, it's gone.
Speaker 2:Warner Brothers and now a building. Is there another street that you know? Warner Brothers actually took over Warner Boulevard? Everywhere, except for the last 41 and 4200 blocks. Yep, yep, I wonder. But bull, right, you should go all the way down, all the way down to california, right, straight, and you can go right and stay on it. Now it's.
Speaker 3:Middle of studios. Yeah, and, and it's weird, I recall back driving days I could see driving down Warner Boulevard and that was a parking lot on one side. That's where the um, that one restaurant and some office buildings. But I remember they closed it off in parts. Warner Brothers bought certain bout and now it kind of now it goes, I think, to Cordova.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:So yes, back in the day, warner Brother, warner Boulevard, it was a three street. It was a three street, yep.
Speaker 2:We started. I wonder how much we got. I'm sure we just gave it to Warner Brothers just because we wanted to be, if Warner Brothers happy.
Speaker 3:That's true. Staying in the seas? This one, I don't know if. This is oldie. Very old Curry's Ice Cream Used to be up there in the love list of 31 flavors. Yet again, it was a soda fountain type place. It was on where the Vaughn's Market is, on pass the last business in the row there, because I always hung out there.
Speaker 2:And it's Starbucks now, right Now it's a Starbucks.
Speaker 3:So it's been a couple other things, but it's been a Starbucks.
Speaker 2:Curry's.
Speaker 3:Ice oh.
Speaker 2:Oh, the best. And then back in the days when ice cream was real ice cream, right yeah, back in the 90s, and for a while everything became ice milk and this and that I mean good, rich ice cream is Hard to come by.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it has a great taste.
Speaker 2:Oh, it tastes always good, you can always tell you, know, Make a chocolate shake with real ice cream. I mean it's cold. Yep, you know it's cold.
Speaker 3:Yep, I remember again a lot of people. I don't want to get too far down the rabbit hole.
Speaker 3:I remember riding my bike when that Vaughn's was built Up the stairs into their warehouse. There was Vaughn's. A lot of people will shop there now and they don't realize there was a Vaughn's. There was a Gilbert's, 5 and 10, dana Drugs, a hair place, a guy's barber shop, a ladies' nail shop, a laundromat. I remember the laundromats so well because my brother put me in the drier's once. Oh boy, turned it on and ran out the back door.
Speaker 2:I'm glad I don't have any brothers.
Speaker 3:And I'll tell you. I remember. And what was on the corner? Well, jim Tilley's Union. There you go, yeah.
Speaker 2:Tilley's Union. I was at Union 76 station in the corner of Oak and Pass.
Speaker 3:And that's where I learned to pump gas, clean windows, check the tire pressure and do it all.
Speaker 2:What you mean. They used to actually come out and service your car when you got gas.
Speaker 3:That's where I learned to do all that. You didn't do it yourself, yep. And good old Jim Tilley, his kid's still alone. Now it's in Sinclair at Hollywood Way and Burbank, and I hear they are. My son uses their mechanic over there. A lot of people do. They're quite well known for their work and honesty and everything and so forth. Now the next place I'm gonna throw to you, craig, because I know you used to learn a lot.
Speaker 2:You used to had great fishing ships. You used to love their fishing ships there. It was basically called Daltz. Now Daltz was the original restaurant in that building. Building's still there and MP Restaurant's still there and it's been a couple of things since, but Daltz was there for easily 20 years. I have no idea why Daltz went out of business. I don't know if it's part of a corporation. If it was what the reason was.
Speaker 3:Well, I remember the building, the restaurant. They went out of business. I knew a young lady that her father was a manager there and business got slow. You wouldn't know how could it get slow, but Daltz was a chain and that's why I closed. Most people remember Daltz. You think it cheers, yeah, and that's how- Because it had a little bar section.
Speaker 2:It was kind of not roped off but cordoned off from the dining section but it had amazing, amazing fishing ships there. I worked a couple of times in that building when I used to do a production coordinator work for in the studios. It was great. I could go right downstairs and you know, they had great shakes too. They had good shakes there. Daltz was a good place.
Speaker 3:And then, yeah, we just heard it's gonna be a snake place Just changing-.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the owner says they wanna change it. You know what let's see. Let's get to we just started to let's take a break real fast and we'll throw a commercial on and when we come back we're gonna get more of the Ds as we continue our show of Back in the Rabbit Hole.
Speaker 5:Enjoying the show right now. What do we do? Think you wanna do your own podcast? Viberaidtalks is retting out our podcast studio on an hourly rate. You can do audio podcasts or both audio and video, and even bring in guests to talk with. We will help you get set up on podcast platforms and start a YouTube channel, and we can edit your productions to make you look and sound your very best. If you are arrested, please drop us an email at studiorentalsatmyberbankcom. That's studiorentalsatmyberbankcom, and we will get back to you. Now back to our show.
Speaker 3:And we're back, we are back. We only got into the Ds.
Speaker 2:But we're taking down the Rabbit Hole, and the Rabbit Hole is a deep, deep, deep hole.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we were talking about good old-.
Speaker 2:How deep is?
Speaker 3:it.
Speaker 2:It's a very deep hole.
Speaker 3:You know now that I don't think I put on the least thinking adults. It was a. It was a play, it was a lousy play, it was a lousy play. Seafood Marketplace McCormick and.
Speaker 2:Schmidt oh, that was there after adults. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:And that's the way you know. Add that to the list, because I don't think we're even making it to the M today.
Speaker 3:I think you're right.
Speaker 2:Moving along While we're in the Ds. Now here's one that there's still location in Glendale which people still drive all the way to Glendale for.
Speaker 3:I once one day wanted Dinah's Chicken, Dinah's Chicken and I drove to Glendale and there on San Fernando Road.
Speaker 2:Remember they had the chicken bucket spinning as their sign.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 2:And it was on I believe it was on Victory right where Orange Grove came out, wasn't it?
Speaker 3:That's right, you know, think about it. The chicken bucket with it torn. I wonder what's his name? The good old guy with the beard with the goatee in the hat? Kentucky Fried Chicken Got the idea from Dinah's I don't know.
Speaker 2:Dinah's Chicken Very unique taste. My dad used to drive all the way out there to get chicken forests all the time. That's one of those places that you had to see go and it became a sporting good store there, humes.
Speaker 3:Humes, humes, sporting Good, but you know, talk about rabbit holes. Come on, we got to do another show of places that were around town. You know Casey's Pitch and Put oh yeah.
Speaker 2:There are. That's why this is we a series. This is not a one off for us, and we want people to.
Speaker 3:you know, tell me, send in. Yeah, if your wife kept the recipe for diner's chicken let me know.
Speaker 2:You know it's all right. I mean, I also want people to tell us if there's restaurants we're missing too. So, as we get to the alphabet here, don't give us a restaurant that oh, you missed a so and so starts to tear, or an answer sign because we haven't got there yet, but we will so what do you?
Speaker 3:when you are hungry, you salivate. We're just going to keep their palate salivating.
Speaker 2:So we are get their taste buds active.
Speaker 3:There you go.
Speaker 2:So diner's chicken, that was a well, that place probably went out in the 70s. Yep, yeah, Too bad, and I can say it's done very well in Glendale and it's still there. If you, once again, I don't know if it's privately owned now you know different owners, I think it is?
Speaker 3:I think it is. But now see as we rattle people's cages and they get that taste to.
Speaker 2:oh, or they don't, they've never been and they've never heard of it.
Speaker 3:Go check out.
Speaker 2:This is something that you need to. You know it's worth the drive to Glendale, you know, for they offer pies over there.
Speaker 3:I've been there once or twice and I know they have a pretty extensive menu.
Speaker 2:Now we're going from the D's to what the L's. Oh no, no, no, it's the E's. It's, the first one is called El Chiquito.
Speaker 3:That's right. I'm glad we did this alphabetically because I went ahead and wrote it El Chiquito now you're going to laugh. We had spoken about Anna's kitchen, Anna's Mexican diner, Yep Due to. They were next door neighbors when I grew up on Toluca Park Drive. Her husband was the head chef at El Chiquito, worked there during the day, went to Anna's and made meals and froze them, so the menus were kind of a light now El Chiquito was on Olive Yep, Right across from gate.
Speaker 2:Two of Warner Brothers and a lot of celebrities went in there and it did very well. Once again why it went away.
Speaker 3:you know Well, warner Brothers wanted that lot. Yeah For a parking lot.
Speaker 2:It is a parking lot now.
Speaker 3:You know, I worked at Warner Brothers as a firefighter and that was an employee parking lot and the reason they made that the employee parking lot is a guy at gate two could watch our cars in that lot. But yeah, el Chiquito come five o'clock or when the show's broke. That was a watering hole for a lot of people.
Speaker 2:Well, we got another L. This time it's L Torrito, that's right. Once again, another mainstay. They were featured many times on tonight's show. I know Jay Leno used to. No, maybe it's a reincarnation of El Torrito, but what's the name? Paco Poco it changed.
Speaker 3:In fact the one across from NBC changed into an Paco Poco and it was so funny. I did the ribbon cutting for the chamber and a month later the doors were boarded up and I go. What happened? That's when the chicken place. They were looking to close that whole island down. You know now that I look at our list, we did miss one. I don't know if it was. You know, I went to Burbank schools. I don't know, but we missed Chadneys.
Speaker 2:We did miss Chadneys, didn't we? Oh, how many people listen to this as saying I can't believe we missed Chadneys.
Speaker 3:If you worked at On the Tonight Show, I gotta say you probably remember the bar at Chadneys.
Speaker 2:Real fast. Let's go back to El Torrito. Okay, you might remember where it was. It's where the oh, what is that chicken place? Now, that's what I just said. It's on the corner of, I want to say Fairview, fairview and Olive, fairview and Olive.
Speaker 3:See what happens when you get old.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, no, it's a chicken place that I don't go to, so I don't remember the name of it down the line.
Speaker 3:Okay well.
Speaker 2:It's a very famous. It's a very famous chain that's never opened on Sundays.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 2:So anyway, that was El Torrito. So let's go back to Chadneys, across the street there by Steakhouse.
Speaker 3:Oh. But you know what's weird about see again, I can tell people's secrets. They could never do anything to that property. You know why? There's a part of the river Runs right underneath it. Yeah, so you can't dig down and put a parking lot. You can't put anything, plus those power lines that go through the parking lot. Water and power won't allow LA water and power.
Speaker 2:You can't go up, you can't go down.
Speaker 3:And you can't build. If you notice they're over the parking lot Right, you can't put a building under it. So, but Chadneys was pretty well known.
Speaker 2:Good steak place and once again, don't know why. I guess it just kind of. I think some of these places probably closed down because they just never modernized much, Right, and it was like going back in a time warp when you went in some of these places. They just never, they didn't upkeep the place the way they probably should have and put new booths in and all that, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I think it was all kind of you can kind of run down and so people would stop going in because it just it's not gonna stay. It's not gonna stay all.
Speaker 3:Hard to run a restaurant. The wine and the liquor license probably kept it going for years, but you know who we could probably get in here is Gary Brick someday. He knows every bartender in this town. He hired quite a few of them, but he could tell us the stories of who owned it.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a good idea. Well, that's a good one.
Speaker 3:I guess we're more of our you know the next one I'm gonna get in here.
Speaker 2:The rabbit hole is a very large, is a very large area down here.
Speaker 3:Well, this next one I'm gonna. I'm getting hungry, just oh. I gotta stop on the way home somewhere.
Speaker 2:Who doesn't love foster freeze? Who doesn't love foster freeze? Now, foster freeze is over.
Speaker 3:On leave, catalina and Magnolia, actually, florence, florence and Magnolia, that's correct Right across from the old Pitch and Putt.
Speaker 2:The old Pitch and Putt. Yes.
Speaker 3:And now is a parking lot.
Speaker 2:You know, what's funny is, once in a while you watch those old me TV shows and they have Adam 12 on there, or emergency, Do, do, do, do, do, do. Do we have a all right?
Speaker 3:How many times did they film in that block there?
Speaker 2:Yes, and you see fosters all the time and I think Squad 51 one time broke down in the Fosters parking lot. They had the gauge and the soda out there trying to fix it. Back then the firemen fixed their own rigs.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's right.
Speaker 2:And they broke down. They don't kill or repair one. I think across the street they had a bank robbery or something going on at the time and it was just. It was cats and dogs living together.
Speaker 3:Again, you know, living in this town. It's tiny but it's yeah, is it? You know, Killbelly Town, or is it? You know whatever you want to call it? But I'll tell you they, why did all these movie producers love to film here? You know the residential.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's close by.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's yeah, I mean Well, but there was a two, not one, but two foster freezes in town, the other one up at Angelino and Glen Oaks. Well, that's still there.
Speaker 2:That is just yeah, right, that's okay, I was just trying to think where else did it used to be when it's gone? But no, that's one of the they're good as we still have one. Yeah, the one at Angelino and Glen Oaks is still there and, I think, doing well.
Speaker 3:You know, in fact I right now I'm not anything man, he dare anymore. But the owner is the nicest guy. He works. You can do drive not too many places. Do drive up. He has a little window but their burgers are delicious. We had we did a burger review up there- oh yeah.
Speaker 3:But I remember working back there in the early 80s. There used to be Burbank PD hung out there. In fact. One of the officers made it a substation, you know, and I've asked the owner who was that officer? Was John Pastor, and John, oh, what was his name?
Speaker 2:I just so those shout outs out to the old guys you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but they would hang out. They could back in there get a cup of coffee, sit on the hood of their car. But I've asked the owner.
Speaker 2:Inside is exactly how it was, but I remember working there and Just don't go there on a real hot day or real cold day, because it's only outside seating.
Speaker 3:That's true. But you know what else I found there doing there now antique car shows on Friday nights oh, every Friday I don't know if it's every, but I thought it was like once a month or something. You know, I'll update that on one of our next shows. But you know what? Take a look at that. There are classics up there that guys all get around.
Speaker 2:The owner loves it, you know so moving on, by the way, I just saw they had a classic car show over at Hill Street Cafe.
Speaker 3:Oh, good parking lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there was a lot of interest in that. One more F, and that is Frank's restaurant. Wait, are they open? They're not open. Well, no, they're just. They just sit there. They're open for studio. You know it's now. That's a place that back in the day the Greek Frank is Akos used to love you. I wrote with a couple of times and every time we do code seven, frank's. And it was funny. We would get there, we would go inside, we would order, we'd sit there and when the food came he'd say going, code seven. So he got half an hour and he didn't want to take that time waiting to order. So he wanted code seven as soon as the food would start arriving and they always took care of him, but they had great food there.
Speaker 2:I mean, what are their many times?
Speaker 3:Well, I know the desk would ask. He would say code seven, sop yes, and you'd always wonder. You know, I'm trying to think what restaurant in Burbank is called SOP? Yeah, and then one day he told me a secret same old place, you know. Now here's a flashback for you. People are going to think I'm crazy, but I've been told that before. Did I ever tell you the story about the old day and W on victory, which is now Eaton Park? Eaton Park, an officer, a couple of officers, used to check off Eaton Park every single day, all the time.
Speaker 3:Frank Roth checked off Eaton Park every day, every day. I got in my car one day and I drove up to Eaton Drive and said where the hell is a park on Eaton?
Speaker 3:Eaton goes from Glen Oaks to a dead end where the Kellys lived and I drove it three times and there's no park on. So one day I asked Frank Roth, where do you eat? Every day he says Eaton Park. I said I know that there's no park on Eaton and you don't bring a brown bag. He said no, the restaurant called Eaton Park, eaton Park, eaton Park, so there's an inside, it shouldn't actually be park and eat. That's right Now but, they're known for their omelets? Yes, they are, but we'll get that later.
Speaker 2:Moving along. Yeah, they're still open, so we don't really have them on our list. So let's see, let's go, franks, yeah, you could drive by there now you know it's funny about Franks.
Speaker 2:I give you a little story about that is one day I went there to eat and I went to the desert and I go I got a little sign out there says pie, what pies. He had to go, we don't have any pies. You go. Well, you got a big science, I guess. Now one of the studio guys put it up for their one of their shoots and we never took it down. So it just says pie, that's a studio sign, that's on there, that's not a, that's not a sign from a. That's funny. So they didn't have. I was thinking and I thought to myself why not have pies then? Because you got a free sign that says pies.
Speaker 3:You know, think about that. The other day I saw on there's a TV show. There's a place in North Hollywood called Relics Old Relics. They got a lot of signs when you and I were at the Historical Museum. They have a ton of old Burbank restaurant signs. Yeah, I always like to give the Historical Society.
Speaker 2:You're going to shut out.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Take a look what they have in there and Saturday.
Speaker 2:They thought they shoot a lot of stuff in there. I saw a Tom Hanks movie shot there. He did some shooting there. There was that show on effects of motorcycles show. I can't remember the name of this. Motorcycle shows Tells Angels type show, a sense of anarchy. I saw that they had shot. I've seen commercials have been shot there. You can always tell what's in shots. You can just. You can see outside through the windows there and but they use that place a lot for filming. I guess probably makes more filming than they ever did.
Speaker 3:Well that's why, yeah, he can make more money. Yeah, restaurants are real hard. My mom, before she passed away, living in a senior living right down the street. She was in her electric little wheelchair.
Speaker 2:She loved Frank's because she could just go in her wheelchair down there and I heard that the chef of that place is also now the chef at the owner hotel at Portofino Inn.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and now the owner of Gary Bricks ramp, called the ramp Carlos, oh OK, and his some of his. He left the Portofino then. Yes, well, I don't know if he's still coming there or not, but he, he had bought Frank's. He might be the owner of Frank's still, I'm not sure, but his rest, his, some of his.
Speaker 2:It's sad when Russian can make more clothes than it can be when it's open. You know what no employees, no overhead, no power bills. You know what I mean. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, it's a good location.
Speaker 3:Now the next one. If you're a beer drinker, I'm not.
Speaker 2:No, and I want to hear a couple of times. I'm not a big chicken wings guy either, you know it's just too small, too much work for two little food. That's like as a baseball coach. Everybody used to always have Sunfire season. He wants to see the go. No, well, you'll play, not to go. It's too much work for two little food. You know, look at me. I you know I'm gonna.
Speaker 3:That's why I do pistachio nuts.
Speaker 2:But anyhow, I'm not a big chicken wings guy, but we're talking. We're talking Hooters.
Speaker 3:Wait, no, we got. We got to do that one in the G's.
Speaker 2:Oh, look at that. Where were we? How did we get so far?
Speaker 3:I know we just keep jumping here oh forget, forget Hooters, forget chicken wings. You must be getting Strike at it.
Speaker 2:No, we're going back to actually Gordon Bearsh Right and now that once and then Gordon Bearsh is now gone.
Speaker 3:It sure is you told me that somebody's another craft beer place will be moving in there.
Speaker 2:Well they. You told me that the Reason they left is because they need to replace all those beer things that were in there, because they're 25 years older were and it was too expensive to replace all that. So you know what?
Speaker 3:I just lock up the place and but now we're going to ask our followers to help me out here, because before it was Gordon Bearsh, it was another restaurant After the Burbank Daily Review. I remember, and I'm trying to think somebody will probably remember, what was on that corner. Please Send it in. Send it in. We got added to our list.
Speaker 2:Comments at my burbankcom. Please send it in Now. Another recently closed restaurant that was up on San Fernando, on North San Fernando, which a lot of people loved and then was there for a long time but now is gone. Its way is or may 88. You, you're so much time there.
Speaker 3:I did. My son has loved quite a few things. They were open on unusual holidays like Christmas. They were open but everybody loved their food and I never knew eating sushi on Palm. All those restaurants up there the sushi place or maybe had back doors that went into the other places. Oh they did. A lot of people never got to go in the back room but they were like down in Chinatown tunnels. Right here in Burbank you can go from Gorm 88 to the sushi place through the back door. Resting, yes.
Speaker 2:Now I I don't remember the next place. I'm sure I will when you talk about it. The name does sound familiar, but I just don't remember it, and that was the Grist Mill.
Speaker 3:That's right. Victory in Olive. I was told actually where the Vandy camps?
Speaker 2:Why was Okay? So they became okay. That's why, yeah, they became Vandy camp stuff, they became the Grist Mill, right? That's why we okay, the name started from there. I just, I just couldn't place it.
Speaker 3:You know, and again I think some of our old time Burbank folks will use to probably love the Grist Mill.
Speaker 2:so I remember going there, I just couldn't remember where it was. Now the next place is Pretty famous. Yes and yeah, and that was on the corner of Riverside and Rose.
Speaker 3:And you're part of the town.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's in the media district, by the way, and that was Hamptons.
Speaker 3:Now who's the owner? Paul Newman, no.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was, wasn't he?
Speaker 3:Because after closed his hand that's right, became something, but I remember his bottles addressing always in there, that's right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, he did. But the interesting thing about Hamptons, that location and a lot of people just don't know is that is where the original original I mean not number one, the very first one ever made International House of Pancakes was yeah, that was it, that was right there, that was the. It was sad because when I can't remember the restaurant, that was it, that just I'm sure it's on this somewhere, but the one that left it, and I think I actually sent an email to the International House of Pancakes main, you know headquarters, and said this property's back up, you know, again available and the outskirts of your building still show there. You should come back and highlight. You know it's in a great area. And they don't respond to me, they just, I guess. I just I remember.
Speaker 3:Who doesn't remember International House of Pancakes? Come on, yeah, I mean they're. They're short stack and that place is always crowded, wasn't it? Yeah, that was type of place on Sunday. That was an hour wait to get in.
Speaker 2:Yeah so, but Hamptons was good, had great burgers and I think they have a. There's a Hamptons in Van Nuys and was one on Sunset Boulevard too, I think.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're right. So, and now this next one. I I drive by it 10 times a day still, but and we don't.
Speaker 2:We don't know why it's it's it's just sitting empty. I mean it's not being used for filming. It's not being used for anything. It's in a very busy location. It was a 24-hour restaurant. We're talking about Harry's.
Speaker 3:Good old Harry's now. I've told Harry retired. His kids ran it for a while and they didn't want again.
Speaker 2:And then they sold it to the staff, I think, who ran it for a while, and then they, you know, I mean it's a lot more running a restaurant than people think it is. It's just not showing up every day and serving food. You've got to order the food and make sure everything works and everything else, and it's a 24-hour business, my brother would tell me this is on right near the corner of Burbank in San Fernando, right next to the bank, next to the 31 flavors, actually one flavors but, I got to put that on my list.
Speaker 3:That's not there anymore.
Speaker 2:Well, it's still have 31 flavors in Burbank, but but Harry's tell me you didn't go in there late at night 24 hours, you know, and it was always busy, yep and again, and they had a nice outside seating too.
Speaker 3:There was a phone booth. Now, if any kids listen to this phone, booth, that's.
Speaker 3:That's where a phone with a cord and you put money money into it and there was a guy that was threatening suicide once and I was there to shoot pictures and I'll never forget they. He walked out of the booth for one second and the Burbank police got him on the ground and he had a gun. It went sliding on the ground. I, an officer Burbank officer picked it up, handed to me, while they're cuffing him and I go what do I do with it?
Speaker 2:you know, that's what cops used to trust you and everything else, and that's what cops were real people not. Oh, and not you know. Go away. Stand three blocks away. Nothing to see here. Nothing going on here.
Speaker 3:I'll never forget that, plus I'll press release next week. You know I had taken the class, you know, weapons class, so I kind of knew what not to touch. And you know it was just unusual for him to turn and turn it handed to the person.
Speaker 3:He didn't want to beat you know, he didn't want the suspect to pick it up again, good old Harry's. Now I had said on one of our, my Burbanks, there was a Glendale restaurant that was going to go in there. It signed a lease and I noticed they did some work on it, right, and then it stopped and there's a new for lease sign on the front of it.
Speaker 2:We're thinking that either some of the funding went through or maybe some of the permitting in Burbank was taking way too long, which we've heard a lot of people tell us now that it takes forever to get people out there to, you know, to do anything. The restaurant said vacant a long time because you can't get city people out there to work with you.
Speaker 3:Well, I know the Burbank police. I heard a call one day that there were kids in there vandalizing it, so they took and boarded up all the windows. Then I talked to Patrick Prescott and he said they got a permit to upgrade the windows and that's why they boarded it up. But since then they did thousands of dollars worth of work on the handicap ramp to go up to get in. They've remodified the front door and everything, and then it all of a sudden stopped.
Speaker 2:So that you know that that whole block. I wonder what's going to go on there, because you've got the shopping center next door and the old Zodies and everything else. Zodies has finally come to the city and looking to put things big in there. Huh, yep, we'll talk about that, you know. Stay tuned, because we're hearing a thing.
Speaker 3:Yep Down the pipe. We have heard some things.
Speaker 2:Now we'll get back to that scantily clad restaurant called Hooters. So Hooters was over on Front Street at.
Speaker 3:First Street.
Speaker 2:Why don't you say Front Street.
Speaker 3:It starts with an F.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was on First Street.
Speaker 3:Cyprus.
Speaker 2:Right in the corner down there and you could park in the parking lot and walk right into the back. There I it was a second restaurant there. We'll get into the first one down the line. But ah, you know, I just. I guess the day of judgment was over. It was never that crowded, really, and never took off. Yeah, I just don't think that was a kind of restaurant for brew bank, and I'm not saying there's nothing shady going on there, there was nothing, you know. It just wasn't attracting a lot of brew bank people.
Speaker 3:I think they wanted it as a sports place. Every TV's, everywhere screens. I don't think you know in my opinion.
Speaker 2:I did not because I thought the food sucked. I Wasn't fan of the chicken wings and it just right. The food just to me wasn't that that good. I mean, if you're gonna sit there for for two or three hours and watch a game, you want food you can enjoy, you know, I mean but honestly, I think some, most people went in there to not to watch. They want to watch the. Side show exactly no.
Speaker 3:Now the next place. I, who has spent more time in that place than probably the grill.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the next place is a place I spent my entire my high school years in. I was our hangout every single day Now late night poker games there. We did a lot, we did a lot. That. That was the place we all hung out at. It is about a group of ten of us and that is the historic hot dog show.
Speaker 2:And it actually had a name in front of it, but everybody knew it Well it was originally called the hot dog show and they actually had little puppets come out in the big. Now it was not enclosed when they first put it up it. The enclosure now that goes around it was added on later. It was just actually a little. It was an outside type grill and you go up to the counter and they had a little area inside that they put a little puppet show on once a while was little hot dogs and stuff. It was a and we're talking a long time ago and then they enclosed it all the way around and put inside seating and door seating and then the Morris bought it, come Bill Moore, and they changed the name to Papus hot dog show, where we now. I'm just curious. Okay, they were very, very close to their grandfather and they were Greek and Papus is grandfather in Greek, so that's where that came from people will learn listen this show.
Speaker 3:There you go for the next trivia game.
Speaker 2:Just and Bill and Tom were great people and and took care of us and then and they always runs organized the poker games and Well, we had a, we had a group of guys that we that's what we had every single day, every single day.
Speaker 3:And you, you think about it. You would wonder how the heck Did the hot dog show make it with bobs across the street? But the hot dog show was always yeah, kind of like. Larry's is now pinks down on LeBraya, you know, I mean and they had great the Chihuahua dog, the husky.
Speaker 2:You know, hot dogs are great, you know. Another one of those places that people old-time Burbank people you know, when I was, when I was going to Stevenson and that's even Stevenson my aunt used to come get me on Fridays and she would take me to hot dog show and she would get me the melt. It was just. It was just a hamburger bun with cheddar cheese Facing melts on each side. That's all the way open-faced, and I used.
Speaker 3:That's called a Real cheese.
Speaker 2:Right, but it wasn't. It wasn't together, it was, it was two separate things. You just a, I was why I've taken a slice of cheese and sold on a hamburger bun. And back to those days.
Speaker 3:I didn't. Does it? Did it taste like Never will never? I did not know. You know they all say in and out, has that special menu. Yeah, one of the most popular is their world cheese cheese for people that don't eat meat, or you know.
Speaker 2:Fourth, actually the hot dog show is where I learned some of my phobias about restaurants. I have rules. I will never go to a restaurant the last hour it's open. And the reason is, you know I worked with the hot dog show a little bit and you know we all helped out there. We went along, but All the food they had left during the day they don't want to get rid of that last hour. It's something that's been sitting out all day and I I could say that it wouldn't be good, but they would just what they want to waste it the secrets. So I would never go to a restaurant the last. I will never go the last hour it's open. That's a number two. I will never send food back if it's not right. And the reason is we had a A cook there at the time, jim Bulland who you wait a minute.
Speaker 3:Everybody knows Jim.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah grew up on Virginia and or had a house in Virginia and he, he was also caddy at Lakeside after after that. But he, he was the cook and if you said back at a hot dog or something, he would take that hot dog and he first, before he put it in the grill, he would throw it up the chimney oh yeah, you don't like my hot dog. Watch this. And up the chimney. We're going, I go, you can't go, so I'll never know. Well, it's funny.
Speaker 2:You say that never send food back after after.
Speaker 3:One of the talk shows I was recently watching an actress who was used to working a restaurant. That's one of the things she said never send your food back. You know that 30-second rule.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, it turns into more than 30 because the chef thinks yours, I, it's prepared the way it should be prepared. What's wrong? I'll teach him a lesson. Well, you know, the only time you can really do that is if you're sitting on a counter and you can watch the cook wires, you know, then I guess you do. That's why those are my. Those are my two rules I still buy by today came from Okay, we only have one J. Yeah, it's one J, and this is as much of a nightclub bars. It was a food place but it was a pretty popular place. It was called Jason's, on the corner of Pass and Riverside right it's where Chipotle is now.
Speaker 2:Yep and Jason's it was. It was, you know, it wasn't a great fancy place, but serve food and and they're probably there for 10 years or so, I know back in the day they were a popular place, you know, and there were a lot of restaurants right there. They're actually for three restaurants right there. There was a One on each corner and there's a Texaco station on the other corner. So there's a lot of restaurants right in that area there.
Speaker 3:You know and now you and I joke about it during our other shows how many restaurants are on that block.
Speaker 2:There's, yeah, what I count, 14 in a two block area with no parking, exactly. Yeah, good luck with that. And nobody in the office buildings to go to the restaurants. Good luck with that. You want to know our restaurants fail. Sometimes it's because owners don't do the due diligence of knowing. You know now once I've been there for a long time and I got screwed on this. But, yeah, going there now it's like.
Speaker 3:In fact, I recently heard that's why one of them parking was tough the oh Fish and chips place. Oh, okay, you're gone.
Speaker 2:I'll ground your son. Yeah, but we'll have to. Yeah, I'll have to put those on our list next time.
Speaker 3:But I did notice that we jump, we go, go into the case and there are still one open in Burbank. But there were. We had, I think, three at one time Kentucky Fried Chicken, that's right.
Speaker 2:There used to be one. I keep trying to remember. Was it on the corner? I think it was in the corner of screened in olive.
Speaker 3:No, up by actually where the screen actors Guild building was, that triangle?
Speaker 2:I think it was on screen in olive. I really do. I already wanted to see you, yeah, or Because I used to go there a lot?
Speaker 3:I thought we had one on. We're behind Texco where the car wash was no, no that was car wash mailboxes in Texco.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3:Okay. It was west or east of that Yep, but there are others and still wanted.
Speaker 2:Where's it?
Speaker 3:pepper, pepper and victory and I'll never I went through the other day.
Speaker 2:In fact, I enjoy their chicken sandwich and Dodger, my dog, who likes the chicken strips.
Speaker 3:Hmm, because I am. Years ago I'll never forget. The fire department got a call out there Smoke in the building. They got out there and the fumigation company forgot to put signs up Humigation only.
Speaker 2:I thought it was burning up because there was also has a smoke in there. It's. Just then we said, oh, there's a rat problem inside that place.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's why I stopped being there. But what got me was they had on the counter that I hope got wiped down to throw it out.
Speaker 2:That was the one that doesn't want all of, and oh, was it the one on all of your 1721? All right, I think it's something. I think it's something else, maybe before the bank was there.
Speaker 3:Oh, on the other side? Yeah, I'm not sure.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's a restaurant there.
Speaker 3:Okay, I'll look in there.
Speaker 2:There's a few me getting called everyone. Time to Next one King's weed.
Speaker 3:King's weed. You know I was with Mickey de Palo. You know Mickey is about as old as the sidewalks in this town. Yep Went to school here and went to the military, came back and I said to him we're gonna do this show and I brought. He started telling me what was on the food list of King's sweetie. Knew it that well, but that was a place you could go. Well, what was kind of food is that? That's called buffet.
Speaker 2:But yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a buffet type place. You went in and you paid a price and then just and you took whatever you wanted and yeah, and go back for more. Yeah, all you need is.
Speaker 3:He's all I could that's right, so I get. I know Mickey knew remembered King's week and then he started.
Speaker 2:Where was that? That was um.
Speaker 3:Naomi and I agar and verba and Magnolia. Yeah, yeah with a blue tile out front right, yeah, but was real kind of fancy. Yeah, the smorgasbord, exactly. There you go Now. That's a word we haven't had on our list yet.
Speaker 2:Well, I think we're gonna have. We have time for one more tonight show.
Speaker 3:Yep, I agree.
Speaker 2:I didn't know how far we're gonna get in the show, but I will finish with a case and when there's one more in the case, once again, in the media district. There wasn't the media district, it was called King's arms. Now King's arms was at the corner of I let's see valley and Riverside, valley and Riverside. Right now there's a building there medical, medical building.
Speaker 3:But I remember King's suite, again a kind of a fancy place. Yeah, I was a fancy steak place.
Speaker 2:You used to walk over a bridge, yeah fish pond there and they had a torch always burning, Yep and a guy holding a flag.
Speaker 3:Yeah, out there a mannequin, you know, but yeah, the food in there. Now that was again. I've almost took up half that block, I think. Then they go from Kerbaline to where international house of pancakes was almost yeah, no, I think they want the on the next block.
Speaker 2:They're down on the next block. Okay, yeah, they're down right on the West side of yeah the one west side of Valley but they're again good food and once again once in a while, and an old episode of emergency or Adam 12 12.
Speaker 2:You might see the old King's arms. In fact I saw a video on YouTube a while back. It's a silent video at somebody who put a movie camera, I guess, back then in the back of a car and drove all the way down Alameda, down to Riverside Drive, down Riverside Drive to Tuk Lake. You can see all these old businesses there. I'll try to find that. Maybe I'll throw that on a one of our episodes just to let people see you think of those blocks.
Speaker 3:We talked about a lot of restaurants in that quadrant. You know Riverside and pass and all those in there and Back years, many years ago. That's why they changed that intersection. But there was a richfield gas station which is now, after it was, a gas station, it's called Priscilla's right, which they've moved One block east. But although good restaurants, there's more on our list From just in that neighborhood.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, absolutely, there's a lot for us to our list.
Speaker 3:Well, that you know, we got only got down, we got, we got through the case, we got through the case and, like we've said a couple of times during the show, if you could think of other restaurants that we've missed, any and you have a through K and we missed it.
Speaker 2:Let us know because, trust me, we still got a. We still have over a page and a half to still to go. We had no idea how this would take, but we knew that, reminiscing that we'd be here for a while, and this is why it's called the rabbit hole, because we go down in the dark, deep trenches.
Speaker 3:But you know people like I've said, you remember such great food. You know Murray calendars on Riverside even that was out of Burbank they had a great salad bar. Oh yeah, man, that and their their cornbread, yeah, I mean, I can go on and on about Murray calendars, but we did have one uptown that we did, owned by the same guys. Yeah, ray.
Speaker 2:And it's another show. That's another show and we will go there. All right, it's our first dish of down the rabbit hole. I think went pretty well. Uh, we will have. We'll come back with our second edition, maybe in a week or two, you know, depending on our on the schedules and then how hungry we get in between. So we appreciate once again. We appreciate everybody listening. We love your comments. Please help out the channel here by, if you're watching youtube, to subscribe to us and and like those. I guess those are things that help Help us a lot, you know, down the line. So Thank you once again for Ross Benson.
Speaker 3:Well, I guess I can say teleho, and I'm hungry man yeah.
Speaker 2:This is Craig Sherwood and uh, we will talk to you Next time. Thank you very much for listening.
Speaker 4:My Burbank talks would like to thank all of my Burbank's advertisers for their continued support. Burbank water and power, usamano real estate group, umea credit union, burbank chamber of commerce, game credit union, providence, st Joseph medical center community. Chevrolet, media city credit union, ucla health, tequila's, burbank logics credit union, hill street cafe, hurtain Escobar wealth management and the ups store on 3rd street.