Johnie's Broiler, originally known as Harvey's Broiler and currently operating as Bob's Big Boy Broiler, is a restaurant located in Downey, California that first opened in 1958. From 2002 to 2006, the building and parking lot housed a used car dealership. The building was largely demolished in January 2007. However, the restaurant was reconstructed in 2009 and re-opened as part of the Bob's Big Boy chain, while retaining the original building's look and design. Due to its 1950s Googie style, the restaurant has been featured in several movies and TV shows. As of October 2023, the company operates 3 locations in California. They are now called JB Burgers and are located in Bell Gardens, La Puente, and Monrovia.
History
Early history
Johnie's Broiler, now operating as Bob's Big Boy Broiler, has a Googie-style coffee shop and drive-in restaurant. It was founded and initially named after owner Harvey Ortner who was previously a partner in the Clock Broiler restaurants of Alhambra, Lynwood, Bellflower, Culver City, Van Nuys, South Pasadena and Temple City. Ortner and his wife Minnie purchased former poultry farm property located on Firestone Boulevard and Old River School Road in 1950. The couple hired architect Paul B. Clayton to design the Harvey's Broiler which was completed in 1958. Clayton's design incorporates Southern California Googie architectural elements intended to attract customers from motorists traveling in either direction on Firestone Boulevard.
While writing about the Southern California culture, writer Tom Wolfe wrote in the early 1960s that "They cruise around in their cars in Harvey’s huge parking lot, boys and girls, showing each other the latest in fashions, in cars, hairdos (male and female) and clothes in the Los Angeles Teenage... and Second-Generation Teenage... modes, Teenage Paris! Harvey’s Drive-in!".
Harvey's was featured in the nationally distributed magazine Sports Illustrated. In its 1961 issue, the author wrote "A favorite in the Los Angeles area is Harvey's Broiler, a drive-in in the suburb of Downey. Here high school hot rodders gather to partake of the glorified "chubby," a double hamburger, gape at one another's cars and check on the latest fads. On weekend nights hundreds of cars jam the parking lot, and eager drivers waiting for a berth circle the block. Occasionally an impatient driver races his engine twice in rapid succession, sending a throaty whoom-whoom into the soft night air. Instantly other drivers respond in automatic litany. In the old days this ritual, called "rapping the engine," was a challenge to a street race."
Harvey's Broiler was an overnight success and thousands of people came from all over the United States to experience the phenomenon of "The Broiler". The restaurant was renamed Johnie's Broiler in 1968 and additional signage was installed in 1969 after the sale of the restaurant to an interim owner by the name of Johnson (hence the reason for the single "n" in "Johnie's"). Apparently this interim owner couldn't meet the terms of the agreement and the sign had already been changed from Harvey's to Johnie's. Drive-In curb service ceased in 1970.
Ortner executed a lease-to-own agreement with Christos Smyrniotis in 1970. The future owner had been employed as an assistant chef at the Broiler.
Johnie's Broiler was a Harvey Ortner Enterprise listed on his business card as late as 1983 and according to an interview done by Burly Burlile in June of that year.
The "Fat Boy" mascot, modeled after Beanie from the cartoon show Beany and Cecil (not the Bob's Big Boy character), animated incandescent yellow bulbs on the roof edges and the "OPEN 24 HOURS" lettering, were added in 1969 and Downey's Broiler became a sister store to Johnie's Coffee Shop Wilshire (originally a Simon's Drive-In site and currently employing its former 1955 Romeo's Times Square construction an Armet & Davis design). This location appears to have been owned by the Johnsons who could not satisfy their agreement for the Downey location with the Ortners.
Cruisers
During the Broiler's heyday, hot rods and "Kustom Kars" would cruise a route of popular carhop drive-in restaurants. One of the cruise circuits began in Long Beach at Grisinger's (now George's) drive-in, continuing on to Holly's in Hawthorne on to the Wich Stand on Slauson and Overhill, and ending in Downey at the Broiler. As many as 3,000 young people took part in the ritual on some nights.