Tiny Naylors on Sunset Blvd.
Tiny Naylors opened it 1958 on Sunset Blvd and was one of California's original googie-style restaurants. It was founded by W.W. Tiny Naylor. Naylor who got the nick name Tiny because he was 6'4" and weighted 320 lbs. His first restaurant was called Biff's - named after his son, in 1948. The Tiny Naylor chain started in 1957 at Wilshire and Virgil. Tiny Naylor died in 1959. The Naylor family also founded Du Par's which it still owns and operates. The architecture for Tiny Naylors was designed in 1949 by Douglas Honnold. Until it's demolition in1984, Tinys was known for it's curbside service - girls on roller skates, T-shirts, and and skimpy costumes. different for those days. Teenagers cruised here. women used to come there in carloads. It was a big place for everyone. Northwest corner of Sunset and La Brea. 
Tiny Naylor's 1974
Tiny Naylor's facing demolition in 1984
Sadly today it's a El Polo Loco
I ate a few burgers here in my youth!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alison. You rock!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alison! I appreciate all that you do. Thank you for honoring L.A. with your wonderful stories and photos.
ReplyDeleteI think it's time to rebuild Tiny Naylor's drive-in. It is one of the most-missed icons of Los Angeles. With the tremendous return of classic cars and cruise nights, it would be a surefire success. We rebuilt the 1958 Johnie's Broiler drive-in in Downey after it was illegally demolished in 2007--it's now operating as Bob's Big Boy Broiler restaurant and drive-in and is #1 in the national Big Boy chain.
Hi Biff, just noticed your name here. We met on Eldon Davis' 90th birthday bus tour to Pann's. I'm a friend of Chris Nichols.
Adriene Biondo
Chair Emeritus
Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee
I went to live with my dad in 1958. He managed the Sunset and La Brea second shift, working 6 days a week from 6:00 pm to 4:00 am. Tough job.
ReplyDeleteInteresting slice of life. Thanks for sharing that.
DeleteInteresting slice of life. Thanks for sharing that.
DeleteI was a soda jerk there in 1966... bow tie and full apron.. was a great place to work..
DeleteI ate in it as a child & teen shame it's gone i think it needs rebuilt for future genarations to enjoy
ReplyDeleteI used to eat at the Tiny Naylor's across from Los Angeles Air Force Base, Space and Missile Systems Division on El Segundo Blvd. back in the 80's/90's until it closed.
ReplyDeleteI used to work a couple of blocks away from the one at Sunset & La Brea and I ate there many times. I also visited the locations in Corona and Lake Elsinore. What a shame Tiny Naylors are no longer around. Another icon that's passed from the scene is Loves BBQ. I agree that if somebody opened one today it would be a hit. People drive many miles to eat at the old Chris 'N Pitts. Thanks, Alison for this tribute to the vintage LA.
ReplyDeleteAs Hollywood High School teens short on cash, we used to 'hit-up' Naylor's, grab a booth and one of us would order a coke - the rest would ask for ice water and make ourselves any number of cold flavored drinks using the various 'syrups' which every table had. Great memories.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Alison, for posting the time lapse photographs of Naylors from the beginning years till its conclusion, and the subsequent use of the land it once occupied. Love Vintage Los Angeles!
ReplyDeleteLook carefully at later era shots looking down the Sunset side and you might notice Ali Baba’s right next to Tiny Naylor’s. You can see the big guy statue’s face peering over the roof in one of the images here.
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