California: Fast Food

By the mid-twentieth century, California food was ready to explode onto the national scene. One of the ways it did so was through fast food. Many fast food establishments sprang up in California in the 1930s. Bob’s Big Boy opened in Glendale during that decade; its signature dish was the double-patty burger. As Bob’s Big Boy franchised its operation, it expanded throughout California and then across the United States. In-N-Out Burger was founded by Harry and Esther Snyder in Baldwin Park, California, in 1948. Although this chain of West Coast hamburger restaurants had grown to more than 140 outlets, control remained in the hands of the Snyder family at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In 1951 a businessman named Robert O. Peterson opened the first Jack in the Box restaurant in San Diego. Jack in the Box was the nation’s first major drive-through hamburger chain. In the 1950s Glen Bell decided to experiment with the fast-food preparation of tacos. After several attempts, in 1962 he launched Taco Bell in Downey, California, and by the early 2000s Taco Bell was a national chain.