One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Check Out This Vintage Bob's Big Boy Training Video From 1947
Ah, the optimism of postwar America. In Southern California, where the sun was always shining, the outlook was bright. Everyone had a car, and having a job in the restaurant business seemed to be something to aspire to.An instructional video from 1947 dug up by a Facebook group—Please Flash Lights For Service "The Golden Age of Drive In Restaurants"—is classic mid-Century Americana. In it, a young Eve Kennedy is dissatisfied with her office job and applies to be a car-hop with Bob's Big Boy. At the beginning of the video, she interviews Bob Wian, the founder of the classic drive-in chain.
It's fun to watch how the film treats the drive-in as a novel concept. It opens with a scroll that reads in part:
The drive-in restaurant is a comparatively new phase of institutional eating... it is a unique aspect of the ten-billion-dollar-a-year restaurant industry... calling for somewhat different demands in its management... and from its personnel.
Young Eve will eventually make so much money as a carhop at the Bob's in Glendale that she goes on to make enough money to buy a house and a car! Imagine that. And older generations today say that millennials act entitled!
Bob's Big Boy would expand nationwide, and still has several dozen locations in Michigan and Ohio, but today it's mostly a classic relic remembered mainly for their logo. They only have six locations remaining in their native Southern California.
As for the writer and director of Car Hop, IMDb has an entry for an Alfred E. Smalley, with his sole credit as the writer of an obscure biopic about songwriter Stephen Foster.
Sponsored message
[h/t: Los Angeles Magazine]
Related: Photos: This 1950s Drive-In Used Conveyor Belts To Serve Food
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
