When Fat Burger were really fatburgers memories

For those of us who were raised in Metro Los Angeles pre-1980s and ate at the authentic, pre-franchise Fat Burger's owned by its founder Mr Yancey, we cringe at the sight of the franchises using the name as they are not even the shadow of what they began as.

SoCal is the birthplace of such legendary burger joints as the incredible In N Out, the chili style of Tommy's Original, the zany Jack In The Box chain or the gourmet classics of Hamburger Hamlet among others. That stated there was and there will never ever be able to be another Fat Burger. I ate my first Fat Burger as a pre-teen in the late 1950s, my dad was a part-time weekend musician and on his way home in the wee wee hours he'd stop at the original Fat Burger located in the Los Angeles 'hood of West Adams, 23rd and Western was the corner for the 24hr stand. Back then the cooks would grab a hold of some fresh ground beef out of a white plastic bucket and pound out a patty and slap it on the grill, if they knew you as a regular the patty would be extra fat. One could have a single, double, triple, cheese or no cheese, chili or not, a King style would include a fried egg, any combination of the previous and condiments was added to order, huge, very sloppy burgers were the norm but daaaaaaang they were good.Besides burgers they would serve grilled franks, hot links or their chili. They were adamant about NOT serving fries as they had no frier but they sold individual home made sweet potato pie to die for !!!

In early 60s the stand was moved around the corner facing Western and the original smaller stand became the prep kitchen and storage area. No sit down per se, just a few picnic tables on the parking lot. Late at night it was the hang out for many Black celebs and sportsters including Redd Foxx who frequently mentioned Fat Burger as Fred G Sanford in his 70s TV show.

In the early 70s while Mr and Mrs Yancey still operated the stand they opened their second location in the fashionable West Hollywood/Fairfax area on La Cienaga and San Vicente BL, that immediatley became a hang out for more celebs and musicians because of its location and I often saw big names in the middle of the night stopping by for their fix. One time a limo with blacked out windows appeared and it was none other then the "Black Moses", the late Isaac Hayes, I also saw Wilt Chamberlain at that location once but still preferred the first spot in the ghetto. Rudy Ray Moore as Dolemite filmed his first blaxploitation film with a scene at the original Fat Burger with the Hamburger Pimp

In the early 80s as the Yancey's aged and semi-retired, 2 things changed to alter the course of Fat Burger history, sadly for the worse, first health and santitation ordinances prohibeted them from grabbing ground meat out of a bucket to make patties on the spot, they began using pre-made and wrapped portioned patties and as the children assumed the reins they starting expanding and quality control along with the ambience went downhill fast. Here in Pasadena they opened a location 5 minutes from my home but I preferred driving 30 to 35 minutes to the original Western Ave spot or 45 minutes to La Cienaga because it was much better as some of the family crew was still at those 2 spots but as the 90s rolled around the children sold out and it became just another franchise, Magic Johnson and other celebs bought the name and opened up locations around the nation but the overwhelming majority of people have no clue as to the roots of Fat Burger and its original style

There are still many of us here in So Cal who recall what a Fat Burger is all about and the fabulous ambience, the glorious and now mythical past of the one and only Fat Burger. I recently saw an episode of Sanford and Son where Fred talks about Fat Burger, it brought a tear to my eye and prompted this post to ensure the legacy of Fat Burger lives on for future generations surfing the net and to let current Fat Burger consumers know that what they are experiencing is a Fat Burger in name only and could never, will never approximate what the founder whom we lovingly called Mr. Fat Burger had in mind when he began his humble little hamburger stand in his beloved neighborhood of West Adams-Los Angeles in the late 40s

Jonathan Jose Jackson III

Great post. Thank you.

Wasn't the burger in this ad called the "fatburger"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P1TTJrho58

Jonathan,

Thanks for preserving the heritage of Fat Burger. I'm sure there is at least one person who could write a similar essay about every franchise out there. But you probably won't be able to find anyone who can prove the case that things improved after the original location was cloned and franchised.

MetroplexJim wrote<<<< Great post. Thank you.
Wasn't the burger in this ad called the "fatburger"? >>>>

Oh no, that is another So Cal hamburger chain now gone national, Carl's Jr.

That ad with Paris ruined a perfectly good looking burger, Paris is sickening to me.

Is this the original stand, or is it the "around the corner" newer one?

Oh my goodness, what a fabulous photo, thanks so much for sharing it...my mouth is watering just seeing it.

That is the around the corner stand facing Western Ave, to the left of that stand on the parking lot is the original first location facing 23rd, the front of the stand facing Western is the side NOT in red, the sign with the red "original" is the side of the building.

As I stated in my first post the stand facing 23rd St was still used for prep and storage and it had a art-deco neon sign complete with a "Fat Burger Man" that was out of order. I have often thought about what happened to that neon sign, kinda like the famous Coppertone sign of Downtown Miami that after being placed in storage for years wound up in North Miami Beach according to my cousin who lives in Miami Beach

By the way that Fat Burger photo is towards the end of its existence, sometime in the mid-to-late 80s is when it was painted that weird shade of turquoise. Please post more photos if you have and as Bob Hope would've sang, "....thanks for the memories..."

To be honest, I kinda like the Fatburger in Rockaway, NJ. It's nothing spectacular but it beats the heck outta places that tout burgers such as MickeySleaze or Burgerking.

It's the only chain I know whose menu includes a burger with a fried egg on top.

Every once in a while I feel like having a late sort breakfast with that.

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2008/10/fatburger_a_flop.php

I still like Fatburger. Heckofa lot better than the other McChains.

Fatburger just opened a Chicago branch with the help of Kanye West. It's in Orland Park which means I'll never get over that way.