This restaurant used to be an iconic local Lynnwood salute to the '50s and '60s. It was a destination point for families celebrating everything from winning the Little League game to birthday parties. My husband and I were customers yesterday, November 7, 2007, and by the time we left we were furious. Apparently, California Burger was sold to new owners this past March. The man who owns it is obviously a new immigrant to our country, who has no understanding of what anything in the restaurant means to Baby Boomers. At least you can still get a Bocca burger instead of a red meat patty! Thank God for one thing left intact.
It used to be a great tribute to California culture, surfing and '50s & '60s icons like James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando. What is left is an empty coffin for those families who were loyal patrons of the previous owner. And by the way, why did you sell out to a new immigrant? Could you not foresee this would happen?
The beautiful booths have been removed and replaced with drab tables and chairs. The walls have been repainted a gray color. Look out of the window and it matches the sky perfectly. The '50s & '60s memorabilia, photos and kitsch have been removed, along with the jukebox.
All of the menu items, which were a tribute to California culture, have been removed. You can no longer get a "Pasadena Burger" or a "Santa Cruz" burger, or one of their great salads. These menu names, like "Redwood twister fries" meant something to Americans who have lived and grown up here. Now the place looks like a stripped down, ho-hum, why-would- anyone-want-to-eat-here place, as bland as watching the gray paint dry on the walls.
Patrons are given no utensils; no soda glasses for soda or milkshakes. Instead, you now get Styrofoam--an eco disaster the size of a California quake! Yikes! What is this guy thinking? Instead of a destination restaurant, it is a place no one would want to dine in, if you can call it dining. No longer is table service available from California Burger's terriffic, long-time servers, only counter service, as if you were at a fast-food-type place.
I cannot fathom this guy's motivation, other than his lack of understanding of Americana and an obvious effort to cut costs. He may have cut costs by doing away with wait staff and "real" utensils, plates and glassware, but he has destroyed a successful business enterprise by doing so. I am heartsick about this.
My husband says that we are losing our "American culture" piece by piece. He is right. It is being chipped away, as new immigrants buy businesses and change them to represent the culture they left back in their home country. Why should the world all look the same, serve the same type of food with the same type of atmosphere? It should not!!
Long-time Americans, step up and buy our local businesses and preserve what little history and culture most Americans remember! Not only do our newest immigrants not speak English or care about the language, they don't care about assimilating into our American culture. They just want to lay their own culture over American culture and make a quick buck. Tell our government to stop trading immigration favors with other countries (which is not legal by the way) and protect what's left of our environment before it goes the way of Styrofoam and plastic utensils--thrown out! Language does matter; preserving some of our pop culture does matter; the U.S. Constitution does matter.
And all of the current political crap being dealt to Americans is especially hard to take when I can no longer go to California Burger for a few cool moments of Calfornia surf culture and a lime milkshake.
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