By Michael Karl Witzel ©2007-2008
“Wian plopped on some relish, and began stacking up a ridiculous caricature of the hamburger—a double-decked delight pushing burger creativity to the outer limits!”
Robert Wian learned the restaurant business the hard way.  When his father’s furniture business faltered during the early thirties, he took a job washing dishes at the White [...]

By Michael Karl Witzel ©2007-2008
In 1937, Robert Wian created his signature two-story cheeseburger at a five-stool lunch counter in Glendale, California and along with it—gave birth to a new roadside icon. At the time, six-year-old Richard Woodruff was a regular customer there, always on the make for free food. Occasionally, Wian let him sweep [...]