O
ver the years, the La Salle Lancers have had their favorite hamburgers, hangouts and haunts. Almost all the favorite restaurants featured hamburgers with fries and some had tacos and some chicken; fried, baked and breaded. Following the standing-room-only basketball games in the La Salle gym during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, (and the Friday night football games now), the guys would head to Bob’s Big Boy on Colorado Boulevard to hangout and watch the plethora of custom hot rods and cars cruise the drive-in. Older Alums remember Eaton’s Restaurant on the corner of Michillinda Avenue and Colorado. “Eat at Eatons!” was the motto for the boys who hung out there. Gwinn’s, farther east on Colorado, was a nice date place after the games. My personal favorite was Pie ’n Burger on California Boulevard near Lake Avenue. Hand
crafted burgers with great big slices of pie. Yum. Yes, it’s still a crowd pleaser today. An all-time favorite was Bob’s Beef Burger on Huntington Drive in Arcadia. They served tasty and big double patty burgers with lots of cheese. It’s gone now, but it was the prototype for In-n-Out Burger restaurants. When the owners of Bob’s split, one kept Bob’s and the other opened an In–n-0ut in Baldwin Park but was prohibited from opening one in Arcadia. That’s why there was never an In-n-Out in Arcadia until Bob’s Beef Burger closed in 1984. And if you wanted lots of food and your French fries in a box The Hat on Walnut was the place. The giant Van de Kamps spinning windmill restaurant and bakery in Arcadia on Huntington and Santa Anita hosted a number of post-game sorties along with The Great Scott restaurant just a block away on Santa Anita. Van de Kamps later became Tiny Naylors and saw many Lancers there after the games.
The east side of San Marino had Twohey’s, “Home of the Little Stinko.” It was such a fun place to go featuring famously delicious onion rings, big burgers and sundaes. The Coffee Grinder on Colorado saw many a Lancer talking with numerous actors and actresses after rehearsals at the Pasadena Playhouse until the end of the ’60s. And just doors away was Will Wright’s Ice Cream
Parlor, a great date-night place. (Who doesn’t like ice cream?). Lancers hung out at Tonio’s, near the Hastings movie theatre in the ’80s, for pizza and IHOP (the International House of Pancakes if you are not old enough to remember what the acronym means) is where Panera Bread is today in Hastings Ranch, so naturally lots of Lancers had “Pigs in a Blanket” there. IHOP, with its big, blue A-frame roof, was next to Islands Restaurant that was a long-time hangout for classes in the ’70s, and ’80s to the guys and girls at La Salle today. Fast food joints like McDonalds, Peaks (both competing for our loyalty in the early days with 10 or 15 cent hamburgers), Jack in the Box, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Lita, Del Taco and Taco Bell always seemed to be around, but they didn’t have the charm for the Lancers like The Boat with it’s chilli cheeseburgers and fries docked right next to Clearman’s Northwood’s Inn on Rosemead Boulevard and Huntington FALL 2015 ANNUAL REPORT
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