Boy did you open the gate, but WHAT IS AN IN-N-OUT BURGER??? I live in
the 4th largest city in the nation and we have never heard of it.

Joe Gillis wrote:
> http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...nion-rightrail
>
> Enshrine This Burger
> If the site of the first McDonald's is commemorated, why not In-N-Out?
>
> By Mark Kendall
>
> September 5, 2006
>
> BACK IN MY '80s high school days, In-N-Out Burger hadn't yet reached
> our semirural Santa Clarita Valley, north of Los Angeles. So during
> lunch period we would do the Double-Double dash - speed 10 miles to
> the real Valley in San Fernando to wolf down one of those mysteriously
> perfect twin-patty burgers before hustling back for class.
>
> Today, these hunter-gatherer adventures are no more. In-N-Out has more
> than 200 locations; three in no-longer-rural Santa Clarita alone. You
> can down a Double-Double in Las Vegas, Phoenix or even - this hurts
> - San Francisco. The family-owned chain has been successful enough to
> spawn a famous commercial jingle, earn several loving write-ups in the
> New York Times and have its burgers served to A-list celebs at swanky
> post-Oscar parties.
>
> The great taste hasn't changed, but the mystique that inspired our
> carnivorous cross-valley quests sure has. The earlier, spartan
> drive-throughs, which once kept us at arm's length, a sheet of glass
> sealing off the inner sanctum where clean-cut workers frenetically
> packed the grill with meat patties, has given way to brightly lighted
> indoor seating no different from the national fast-food chains. The
> fabled secret menu, for years passed around solely by word of mouth,
> giving those of us in the know an easy way to separate the true
> In-N-Out fan - and true Southern Californian - from the wannabes
> ... well, the Web ended all that.
>
> How can we preserve that vanishing sense of wonder while giving proper
> respect to the important role In-N-Out has played in postwar SoCal
> culture? An idea came to me a few months back while driving on the 10
> Freeway, when I glimpsed a well-worn yellow-arrow sign, bearing a
> quaint pre-digital clock.
>
> It was there, in Baldwin Park, where Harry and Esther Snyder started it
> all back in 1948, according to the company's website. (The original
> hamburger stand was demolished when the 10 Freeway came through; this
> site was its replacement.)
>
> The old store, though, has been closed and gated off since 2004,
> replaced by a much snazzier restaurant just on the other side of the
> freeway at the same Francisquito Avenue exit. Next door stands the
> two-story "In-N-Out University" managerial training center and company
> store, selling such items as ski caps and beach towels emblazoned with
> the chain's name.
>
> Company honchos have told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that they plan
> to preserve the building, and there was even talk of a museum, but I
> envision something more - a full-blown In-N-Out shrine. We don't do a
> good job commemorating the innovative fast-food chains that Southern
> California has unleashed on the world. Carl's Jr. launched from
> Anaheim; Jack in the Box sprang out of San Diego. Del Taco first heated
> up the fast-food scene in the desert outskirts of Barstow; Taco Bell's
> Glen Bell got his start selling hot dogs in San Bernardino, the same
> city that gave us McDonald's.
>
> At least the site of the original Mickey D's is now commemorated,
> though not by the company itself. Fast-food entrepreneur Albert Okura,
> who operates the local Juan Pollo rotisserie chicken chain, owns the
> building and uses it to house his corporate offices and an unofficial
> McDonald's museum. Okura dreams that his chain, which has more than 30
> units, will someday become the world's largest. "That's my destiny," he
> says.
>
> If the birthplace of mundane McDonald's can nurture dreams, just think
> what inspirational powers would be unlocked by an In-N-Out shrine. It
> could be old-fashioned, like the chain, with folksy docents serving up
> homespun stories. Or maybe actors would earnestly re-create the early
> days, when the Snyders and original business partner Charles Noddin
> endured "cold, smoggy nights" as they sold 2,000 burgers their first
> month, according to the book "The Heritage of Baldwin Park." Or maybe
> it could be fully 21st century, with touch-screens, animatronics and an
> interactive grill "experience." Either way, I can see buses shuttling
> tourists between store No. 1 and the San Gabriel Valley's other great
> attraction, the giant drive-through Donut Hole in nearby La Puente.
>
> When I contacted In-N-Out's marketing department with a few questions
> (which they requested in writing), the replies were terse. "We don't
> have any plans for the closed store #1," wrote spokeswoman Michelle
> Guzman.
>
> She had served up a riddle. I pondered her enigmatic answer.
>
> It came to me. Just look at the simple menu of burgers, shakes and
> fries. The In-N-Out folks are masters of minimalism. What if they
> skipped the bric-a-brac and gimmicks and just let the old store slide
> into a mysterious ruin? Keep the grill's pilot light burning in an
> eternal flame. Keep the cult following alive.
>
> As the decades pass and In-N-Out's empire envelops the globe, burger
> lovers would come from far and wide to glimpse this intriguing roadside
> relic, an American Parthenon, summoning all the grandeur of Ancient
> Grease.
>
> -------------------
>
> MARK KENDALL wrote the "Fast Food Dude" column for the Riverside
> Press-Enterprise from 2001 to 2004.
>