Johnie’s Broiler > Bob’s Big Boy
Posted By Ms. Banneker On March 10, 2008 @ 10:00 pm In Community, Food & Drink, History, Life, Real Estate, SoCal, Vintage | Comments Disabled
[1]
(But we’ll take what we can get)
Downey [2] has a few cultural landmarks–funnily enough, all of them related to fast food. Oldest McDonalds? Yep. First Taco Bell? Yep.
But our pride and joy has always been Johnie’s Broiler [3], a 1950s Googie-style [4] diner located at 7447 Firestone Blvd. [5]
Having grown up in Downey, Johnie’s has been a fixture in my life since as far back as I can remember. Every time it appeared in movies (License to Drive! [6] Heat! [7]), it was a cue to go get a milkshake.
When The Broiler’s illegal demolition began back in 2007, residents and preservationists called police and halted the bulldozers. Since then, The Broiler’s future has been uncertain.
Car-hoppers rejoice! Hot rodders, start your engines! According to Downey’s local paper, Johnie’s current owner and reps from Bob’s Big Boy have reached a tentative lease agreement [8]. Under the agreement, the architecture will be restored, the diner will be fully-functional, and the weekend car-hops will continue.
Photo by Wiki user Astroluxe [9] under a CC license [10].
Related posts:
Article printed from Los Angeles Metblogs: http://la.metblogs.com
URL to article: http://la.metblogs.com/2008/03/10/johnies-broiler-bobs-big-boy/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://img.metblogs.com/la/files/2008/03/jb_neon_sign_nite_2002.jpg
[2] Downey: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=90242&ie=UTF8&z=14&iwloc=addr
[3] Johnie’s Broiler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnie%27s_Broiler
[4] Googie-style: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googie
[5] 7447 Firestone Blvd.: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=johnie
[6] License to Drive!: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095519/
[7] Heat!: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113277/
[8] tentative lease agreement: http://www.thedowneypatriot.net/view_full.php?article=0000001307
[9] Wiki user Astroluxe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:JB_Neon_Sign_Nite_2002.jpg
[10] CC license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
[11] Atwater Famers Market might be forced to move: http://la.metblogs.com/2009/06/15/atwater-famers-market/
[12] Parking ‘Tard or Not? You Make the Call: http://la.metblogs.com/2009/09/16/parking-tard-of-the-day-truck-nutz-edition/
[13] ICME: I’d Like to Buy a Vowel, Please…: http://la.metblogs.com/2009/06/04/icme-id-like-to-buy-a-vowel-please/
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