Original Tommy's facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Original Tommy's World Famous Hamburgers

Type	Private
Industry	Fast food restaurants
Founded	1946; 78 years ago (1946) in Los Angeles, California, United States
Founder	Thomas James "Tommy" Koulax
Headquarters	Monrovia, California
Number of locations	34 (31 California, 3 Nevada)
Area served	California, Nevada
Products	hamburgers, hot dogs, tamales, chili, french fries, soft drinks

The original location, at Beverly & Rampart. The Shack is in the foreground, the building surrounding is also a part of the restaurant. Patrons eat at their cars or standing at the counter along the back walls.

Original Tommy's is a hamburger restaurant chain in Southern California, United States. It is known for its chili burgers.

History

The original location was opened on May 15, 1946, by Tom Koulax (October 26, 1918 - May 28, 1992), the son of Greek immigrants, on the northeast corner of Beverly and Rampart boulevards west of downtown Los Angeles. The stand, which still exists today, sold hamburgers and hot dogs topped with chili. At first business was slow, but it soon started to pick up. During the 1960s, the entire lot at this intersection was purchased. Soon after, the northwest corner was acquired for expanded parking and storage of goods. Not long after that, a second service counter occupying the building at the perimeter of the northeast lot was set up. The food was essentially the same from both locations, except for longer lines at the original shack counter, perhaps for nostalgic reasons.

Tommy's grew to 30 locations by 2006. Most Original Tommy's restaurants are found in the Greater Los Angeles Area. In recent years several locations have closed. The Santa Monica location was closed on April 20, 2014 when the landlord refused to renew the lease and leased the location to Starbucks instead.

In 2008, the company expanded for the first time outside of California by opening two locations in Clark County, Nevada.

As of October 2019, there are 33 locations. The company is based in Monrovia, California, after years of being in Glendale, California, and is run by the late Mr. Koulax's family.

Since mid-March 2020, in-room dining was abandoned to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. But there's still drive-thru, outdoor dine-in & take-away available.

Chili Cheese Fries, served at the original location (note: cheese is served under the chili).

Oldest Locations

Images for kids

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  Older logo.