Bob’s Broiler
With parking for over 350 cars, Harvey’s Broiler was the largest drive-in restaurant in Southern California when it opened on Firestone Boulevard in Downey in 1958. Architect Paul B. Clayton designed the Googie-style combination coffee shop, restaurant, and drive-in that featured a 65-foot-long neon sign. “The Broiler” soon became the hub of Southern California’s ’50s and ’60s cruising scene. It was renamed Johnie’s Broiler in 1968. The restaurant closed on New Year’s Eve, 2001, and for a time became a used car dealership. On January 7, 2007, part of the restaurant was illegally demolished. Jim Louder, owner of a Bob’s Big Boy in Torrance, bought the restaurant in 2008 and worked with the City of Downey Redevelopment Agency to reconstruct it as a Bob’s Big Boy.
Downey, Los Angeles County
Images by John Bare