SoCal's Culinary Contributions
L.A. is kind of a strange town when it comes to food. Unlike other places I've lived, here everyone eats out, and often. When I was growing up, we didn't have a lot of money, and both of my parents were (and still are!) good cooks, so we didn't eat out all that frequently. Maybe we'd get a pizza every so often, or a meal when we were out doing errands or shopping for the day. Usually we'd eat out a lot on vacation (that's a given, don't you think?), and especially when we moved; right before, during, and immediately after. In the town where I grew up, there were quite a few restaurants, but not that many of the fast-food type. There was a KFC (then known by its full title), a Dairy Queen which had been there forever, and a local drive-in joint. An old A&W stand was shuttered around the time we moved to the area, but that was about it. I clearly remember when the first McDonald's arrived-- it got front-page mention in the local paper, and was a Big Deal. The same was true of Taco Bell. Keep in mind this was the mid-to-late 1970s.
Visiting my Southern California relatives was a surefire way to go out for meals. My grandparents would never have been in the running for any Julia Child cooking awards, and my uncles were all part of the SoCal dining tradition-- work hard, long hours, then head off to a restaurant.
Fast-forward to today: the rural area and burg in which I grew up in is now a continually expanding city of nearly 80,000, complete with every chain which you've ever heard of: KFC, Burger King, Wendy's, Del Taco, Jack in the Box, and sit down restaurants and coffee shops like Applebee's, IHOP, and Denny's.
Back in the day, a road trip would take you past all kinds of local and individual restaurants-- (one that was nearby my old stomping grounds was the Milk Farm) some of these places still exist, especially on secondary, or "blue" highways. One road trip I took allowed me the opportunity to eat at the Snow Cap Drive-In in Seligman, Arizona, on old Route 66. This fun place was owned and operated by Juan Delgadillo (who has since died-- my road-trip buddy and I were fortunate to meet him), who kept it pretty much the same since 66 was the main route through the Southwest. You don't really find places like that anymore.
Part of the culprit is SoCal's culinary contribution to the world-- the fast-food restaurant. While I have yet to read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser or view Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me," I'm quite aware of the ubiquitousness of the fast-food joint in modern America. Our interstates, our superhighways, and the countless interchanges and off-ramps with the same restaurants over and over breed not only familiarity, but a constant sameness, an interchangeable identity that obscures the individuality of American towns and cities. Many of these chains, such as McDonald's, Taco Bell, Del Taco, and Bob's Big Boy, all started in Southern California. The founder of Burger King visited McDonald's original stand here in California before he went back home and started one of McDonald's rivals. Even with companies like Pizza Hut and Wendy's that started elsewhere, these types of restaurants owe much to Southern California, including the drive-through, which caught on like wildfire in this area's car-based society.
Fortunately, L.A. has far more than just fast food-- there are so many restaurants, it'd be impossible to eat at them all. There's also so much ethnic diversity, different kinds of foods I'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere (in one rural town near where I grew up, the classiest restaurant in town is a roadhouse famed for its steak-- the walls are adorned with hunting trophies of all kinds. This is pretty typical of a lot of smaller towns all across this country). Yet even in a town full of places like Spago, hole-in-the-walls with Peruvian food, Oaxacan cuisine, spicy Thai delights, and the like, there are still fast food restaurants on every other corner.
But even here, there are bits and pieces of history. In the Valley is one of the oldest Bob's Big Boy's still around, in Toluca Lake. Here's a great pic of the Big Boy himself. These reminders of an era long gone are what I appreciate best about fast food places-- the origins of our culinary traditions, such as the hamburger, the hot dog, ice cream cones, and other uniquely American foods. Big Boy was one of those fun kind of mascots-- when I visited the restaurant as a child, I was always given a Big Boy comic book. Sometimes I think the mascots were more fun than the food itself! In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, I don't remember the food at the Doggie Diner all that well, but I certainly remember with fondness its daschund mascot.
Several weeks ago, I spoke about vanishing bits of Americana such as the Philip's 76 ball, and I mentioned a nearby Taco Bell still having the old sign. A commenter asked if I ever took pictures of it, if I could share. Well, today I passed by that Taco Bell, and a Shakey's just down the street (Shakey's is a pizza chain that started in Sacramento-- not a great one, but one of the early chains nevertheless. While the original Shakey's restaurant has faded into history, there are still many Shakey's around the L.A. area. The one I speak of has an old sign still on top of the restaurant, with the Shakey's chef).
Here's the pics I took. Enjoy.
Visiting my Southern California relatives was a surefire way to go out for meals. My grandparents would never have been in the running for any Julia Child cooking awards, and my uncles were all part of the SoCal dining tradition-- work hard, long hours, then head off to a restaurant.
Fast-forward to today: the rural area and burg in which I grew up in is now a continually expanding city of nearly 80,000, complete with every chain which you've ever heard of: KFC, Burger King, Wendy's, Del Taco, Jack in the Box, and sit down restaurants and coffee shops like Applebee's, IHOP, and Denny's.
Back in the day, a road trip would take you past all kinds of local and individual restaurants-- (one that was nearby my old stomping grounds was the Milk Farm) some of these places still exist, especially on secondary, or "blue" highways. One road trip I took allowed me the opportunity to eat at the Snow Cap Drive-In in Seligman, Arizona, on old Route 66. This fun place was owned and operated by Juan Delgadillo (who has since died-- my road-trip buddy and I were fortunate to meet him), who kept it pretty much the same since 66 was the main route through the Southwest. You don't really find places like that anymore.
Part of the culprit is SoCal's culinary contribution to the world-- the fast-food restaurant. While I have yet to read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser or view Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me," I'm quite aware of the ubiquitousness of the fast-food joint in modern America. Our interstates, our superhighways, and the countless interchanges and off-ramps with the same restaurants over and over breed not only familiarity, but a constant sameness, an interchangeable identity that obscures the individuality of American towns and cities. Many of these chains, such as McDonald's, Taco Bell, Del Taco, and Bob's Big Boy, all started in Southern California. The founder of Burger King visited McDonald's original stand here in California before he went back home and started one of McDonald's rivals. Even with companies like Pizza Hut and Wendy's that started elsewhere, these types of restaurants owe much to Southern California, including the drive-through, which caught on like wildfire in this area's car-based society.
Fortunately, L.A. has far more than just fast food-- there are so many restaurants, it'd be impossible to eat at them all. There's also so much ethnic diversity, different kinds of foods I'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere (in one rural town near where I grew up, the classiest restaurant in town is a roadhouse famed for its steak-- the walls are adorned with hunting trophies of all kinds. This is pretty typical of a lot of smaller towns all across this country). Yet even in a town full of places like Spago, hole-in-the-walls with Peruvian food, Oaxacan cuisine, spicy Thai delights, and the like, there are still fast food restaurants on every other corner.
But even here, there are bits and pieces of history. In the Valley is one of the oldest Bob's Big Boy's still around, in Toluca Lake. Here's a great pic of the Big Boy himself. These reminders of an era long gone are what I appreciate best about fast food places-- the origins of our culinary traditions, such as the hamburger, the hot dog, ice cream cones, and other uniquely American foods. Big Boy was one of those fun kind of mascots-- when I visited the restaurant as a child, I was always given a Big Boy comic book. Sometimes I think the mascots were more fun than the food itself! In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, I don't remember the food at the Doggie Diner all that well, but I certainly remember with fondness its daschund mascot.
Several weeks ago, I spoke about vanishing bits of Americana such as the Philip's 76 ball, and I mentioned a nearby Taco Bell still having the old sign. A commenter asked if I ever took pictures of it, if I could share. Well, today I passed by that Taco Bell, and a Shakey's just down the street (Shakey's is a pizza chain that started in Sacramento-- not a great one, but one of the early chains nevertheless. While the original Shakey's restaurant has faded into history, there are still many Shakey's around the L.A. area. The one I speak of has an old sign still on top of the restaurant, with the Shakey's chef).
Here's the pics I took. Enjoy.
posted by Mr. Sandman | 10:32 PM
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