Original Tommy's

Founded in 1946, Original Tommy's is a family-owned and operated chain of restaurants. The chain maintains several locations in Clark County in Nevada and Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in California. Its restaurants feature a self-service format and specialize in hamburgers. The chain s restaurants serve a variety of hot dogs, sandwiches, burritos,...

Parking: There's ample parking, but after 10pm there's a 15-minute limit to prevent impromptu parties.

Where to Sit: You may be tempted to eat in your car; but if you stand at one of the counters, you can avoid getting chili all over you; plus, there's an endless supply of napkins at your fingertips--you'll need them.

Tommy's is as synonymous with Los Angeles as entertainment is to Hollywood.

As an LA native, I remember pulling up to the original shack at Beverly and Rampart for a Chili Cheeseburger or a Chili Dog, and pulling a bottle of Pepsi out of the cooler. The whole family would wait in line, place our order, and stand at the counters in the parking lot enjoying the experience. The perfect follow-up to a Dodger game!

In a town that is so spread out and disconnected, Tommy's is one of the few things that fellow Los Angeles natives can share.

Pink's has become more of a tourist trap and is nothing like what it was when I was a kid. In-N-Out makes a delicious burger, but if you want a true LA experience, get yourself to the shack at Beverly and Rampart.

God Bless Tommy Koulax, and Go Dodgers!

That's my two-cents anyway.

"They don't make 'em like this anymore" declare devotees of this 1940s Downtown "shack", an "LA classic" famed for its "sloppy", "delightfully disgusting" chili-burgers and hot dogs served 24/7 and especially cherished "after a night of drinking"; there are "long lines" and little seating, but for most that's "part of the charm."

Tommy’s is the quintessential burger joint in a city that made burgers an enduring part of American life. We don’t dare criticize Tommy’s, because an army of its incredibly devoted fans will never let us rest. So we’ll say this: the burgers themselves aren’t much, but the topping is a sloppy glob of impressively tasty chili that seems to have magically addictive powers. No matter what hour of...

Since 46, beloved burgers burdened with a thick deposit of Tommy's trademark chili. Drunks usually love it while the picky leave it alone. Can get messy, so tell the ladler one scoop, with a suitcase of napkins to go. Crowd is heavily Love and Rockets—the sophisticated alt-vato graphic novel, not the pasty Goth band. Open 24 hours, long line goes fast, with occasional flashes of high-speed...

The Scene
The original Original Tommy's is a far cry from the sanitized, white-tile chain it spawned. The kitchen is a shack, the dining room is a parking lot, and Angelenos couldn't be...

Original Tommy's, Los Angeles, CA. 132K likes. |