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The Rise, Fall, And Rise Again of America’s Forgotten Big Boy Burger Chain

Yesterdays Brands

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You knew it by a different name in every town. Bob's out west, Frisch's in Ohio, Shoney's down south, same grinning boy every time.

Big Boy invented America's double-decker hamburger in 1937, a full thirty years before the Big Mac, and grew into an empire of more than 1,000 restaurants before quietly fading to about 54. This is the story of Bob Wian and his 10-stool counter, the chubby kid the burger was named after, the mascot an animator traded for a single free lunch, and the one handshake deal that built the whole thing and then took it apart.

Grew up on one of these? There's a new nostalgia deep dive every week: @yesterdaysbrands

From the carhops and Friday cruising nights to Shoney's walking away with 392 restaurants, the Frisch's collapse of 2024, and the strange 2025 fight where Big Boy couldn't legally use its own name in the town where it was born. Nobody killed Big Boy. It was built to belong to everybody, and that turned out to be the hardest thing in the world to hold onto.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

The American Business History Center, "The Rise and Fall of Big Boy Hamburgers"
https://americanbusinesshistory.org/t...

Animation Resources, on animator Ben Washam and the Big Boy mascot
https://animationresources.org/catego...

News 5 Cleveland, on the 2020 Big Boy mascot controversy
https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/n...

Metro Times, on the Bob's Big Boy fast-food spin-off
https://www.metrotimes.com/food-drink...

"All About Bob's Big Boy," Eatlife
https://www.eatlife.net/restaurants/b...

Additional reporting: Wikipedia (Big Boy Restaurants, Bob Wian, Frisch's Big Boy), and 2024–2025 news coverage of the Frisch's closures and the Dolly's Burgers & Shakes trademark dispute.

#BigBoy #Nostalgia #BobsBigBoy #Frischs #Shoneys #DoubleDecker #FastFoodHistory #RetroAmerica #1970s #americanhistory

20 Comments

@YesterdaysBrands Creator 1 month ago (edited) Pinned

Alright, settle something for me. When you shut your eyes and go back to your Big Boy, are you actually reaching for the double-decker... or was the hot fudge cake quietly carrying the whole operation the entire time?
Drop your town, your era, and your order below. Bonus points if you can name which sign it was under, Bob's, Frisch's, Shoney's, Elias, Manners, or one I left out.

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@robertr.beauchamp453 1 month ago

I’m so old I remember being 16 or 17 and being able to take a date to Bob’s Big Boy and a movie for under $10.00

@RK-kj8di 1 month ago

Bob's Big Boy in Torrance, California on Hawthorne Blvd....I can still picture the restaurant in my mind

@gunsort3242 1 month ago

It was Shoney's where I grew up. It was Frisch's on the road to many Reds games and trips to Coney Island. When I moved to LA it was Bob's in Van Nuys, Canoga Park, and Burbank until I finally moved back east in 2023.

@DP-gn6jm 3 weeks ago

My closest Bob's Big Boy back in the day was the one in Lakewood, CA at the corner of South Street and Lakewood Blvd. It later became a Carrows. Now the original building has been torn down and is in the process of being rebuilt into a coffee shop similar to Starbucks. When Bob's was still around, I would always get the Big Boy burger with fries to go. Whenever I ate at the restaurant for sit-down service, I always got the hot fudge cake. Good times! 👍

@jamesslawson4872 1 month ago

I worked at bobs in diamond bar CA .. best time in my teenage years

@ActuallyRayPierce 1 month ago (edited)

Yeah, it was Kip’s back in Ft Worth, TX in ‘68. I was 12 years old and it was my reward for performing at a big local theater. The Big Boy Combo and Hot Fudge Cakes were the go to’s. I moved to LA in ‘77 and had the great fortune to go to the OG Legendary Bob’s in Burbank and it is still my excuse for doing anything in that area. At 70, I can’t afford to indulge in the full combo but still get the Big Boy Burger anytime I’m in the area.

@DoctorEnigma01 1 month ago

I was a cook at bobs in Dublin Ca, long long long time ago, big boy burger is the goat

@riskassure 1 month ago (edited)

There’s still a Bob’s Big Boy here in Norco, California. I still visit from time to time for the nostalgia.

@frankschultz4170 1 month ago

Kip's Big Boy in Dallas. Our closest store was at Lemmon & Inwood.... Went there three - five times a week.... Story in the paper said that the owner started closing stores because he started not being able to find good reliable help.

@Lineon64 1 month ago (edited)

The Double-Decker, Hot Fudge Cake, and the Strawberry Pie carried Big Boy. I should know, I started out as a cook in 1985 in Ventura, Ca and worked my up to Day Manger until I left in July of 1987. Came back to Bob's in 1988 to 1991, in Oxnard, Ca and left again after Marriott sold all it's Big Boy restaurants in California.

@TileGuyJesse 1 month ago

There are 4 existing Bob's, all in SoCal. I ate at the Burbank location about a decade ago. It's right outside of the entrance to Warner Bro's Studio.

@richardsinger6877 1 month ago

I STILL miss the Brawny Beef!! And that Big Boy double burger with fries and a chocolate MALT! Pure heaven

@johnmcglynn4102 1 month ago

I'm 77 and I don't know where I've been all these years, but I always wondered what the Big Boy statue was about. I never associated the statue with a restaurant. I never saw one of their restaurants anywhere I lived - New Jersey, New Orleans, Lousisiana, Northern California San Francisco. I missed the whole thing. How?

@johnmarshall3539 2 weeks ago

I went to vallejo ca in 1977 to present time our family used to go to bobs big boys on Broadway st and sereno drive vallejo ca had the best variety of food an desert but closed down in 1982 such good times as a good family restaurant also used to go to sambos restaurant on redwood street and highway 29 sonoma blvd had good breakfast and dinner items but forgotten

@rbrenthammer4764 1 month ago

Kip's Big Boy in Dallas early 80's. I had the drunk breakfast buffet

@timrose6438 1 month ago

Paraded all my 50s-70s cars on Whittier Blvd. We all met at Bobs in the end after the local drive-in theater Good times.

@Jay_Michael789 1 month ago

I grew up in So. California. We may or may not have stolen a Big Boy Statue and placed on top of the Science Building at my High School as our Senior prank. :)