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Southern California Chain Restaurants (page 3)

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Norms Restaurant
West Hollywood, CA
The first Norms Restaurant opened in 1949. The building style used for this West Hollywood location was introduced in 1957. It was designed by Helen Liu Fong who worked for Armet & Davis. Norms now has 17 locations in the Los Angeles area. This West Hollywood location is the oldest location left. In 2015, the restaurant and property were sold and there was speculation that the building might be demolished. However, the building was declared a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument by the City Council and will require approval before any alterations. The restaurant remains open. In 2024, it was announced that the Raising Cane's chain had purchased the building. The company plans to keep the building design but plus CANES letters on the sign.. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. [map]

Norms Restaurant
Huntington Park, CA

Norms
Restaurant [gone]
San Gabriel, CA		 Norms Restaurant
Van Nuys, CA		 Norms Restaurant
Bellflower, CA
The Norms Restaurant in Huntington Park is a well-preserved early example of the chain. [map]

The Norms Restaurant in San Gabriel had another vintage sign. The restaurant closed in 2008. The sign is gone and the building has been demolished. For more, see this website.

The Norms Restaurants in Van Nuys and Bellflower share the same style buildings which is a later design. These animated, sawtooth pennant signs appear at all but five of the company's locations. They all have backlit plastic letters. I don't know if the original signs had neon letters. In order to install these signs at new locations, Norms has to get permission since neon is out of compliance with most city regulations. [Van Nuys map]; [Bellflower map]

Norms Restaurant
West Covina, CA
This Norms Restaurant occupies a former Steak Corral restaurant which was built in 1970. The round building was remodeled for Norms in 2008. [map]

Norms Restaurant
Rialto, CA
This Norms Restaurant was built from 2019-2021 in a retro style. [map]

Pioneer Take Out [gone]
Los Angeles, CA		 Pioneer Take Out
Los Angeles, CA
Pioneer Take Out
Bell Gardens, CA		 China King
Anaheim, CA		 Boy's Burger #5
Anaheim, CA
Pioneer Take Out, more commonly called Pioneer Chicken, was established in 1961 in Echo Park, CA. At one time, there were nearly 300 locations. I believe these are the only two locations still operating. The Bell Gardens location was built in 1979; the one in Los Angeles was built in 1981. These plastic signs revolved originally. The sign from the first Los Angeles location shown above was removed in 2016. It will be displayed at the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale, CA. The building is being remodeled. The small Pioneer Pete statue at the surviving Los Angeles location was restored in 2023. There were much larger statues installed outside originally. There was another location in Los Angeles which closed and donated their sign to the Valley Relics Museum in 2016. [Los Angeles map]; [Bell Gardens map]

Some other closed locations remain with adapted signs such as the ones in Anaheim shown above for China King and Boy's Burger. The China King panels were missing in 2023. The Boy's Burger sign was adapted in 2023 for Estrada's Grill. There was another adapted sign at Hefty Burgers in West Sacramento, CA. For more, see this website. [China King map]; [Boy's Burger map]

SoCal Chains
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page 2		 SoCal Chains
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Central &
NorCal Chains page 1		 Central &
NorCal Chains page 2		 CA Drive-ins CA Ice Cream
CA Misc.
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CA Misc.
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Los Angeles
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