At Bob’s Big Boy Thursday night, coffee and chocolate milkshakes were raised in honor of David Lynch.
Fans flocked to the Los Angeles landmark to pay tribute to the late filmmaker, who died at age of 78 and who once revealed that he ordered the quintessential menu items “for seven years every day at 2:30” after lunch and scribbled notes on the American diner’s napkins.
There are other reasons why the Burbank burger joint — the oldest one still standing from the 1950s chain and known for its iconic Southern California coffee shop architecture — is part of Lynch lore: He and fellow director John Waters snapped a famous photo outside, it’s where the idea of Dennis Hopper’s Blue Velvet character was born and the red vinyl booths are where the director invited Laura Dern and Kyle MacLachlan for a “chemistry lunch,” per an interview with W.
The five-foot-tall fiberglass Big Boy statue became an impromptu Lynch altar: Red roses, (unlit) candles, unsmoked cigarettes, white coffee mugs, Coca-Cola bottles and other memorabilia were left at its feet by grieving fans. The 166-person-capacity diner was already bustling more than usual for a Thursday night thanks to a local school fundraiser, and the waiting area was noticeably filled with film and TV superfans wearing T-shirts and hats inspired by Twin Peaks, Eraserhead and other Lynch hits. Those paying their respects included employees at nearby media giants such as Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Studios and NBCUniversal.
At a time when over 10,000 Angelenos are rebuilding their lives after losing homes or businesses in the Altadena and Palisades wildfires, fans told The Hollywood Reporter that his loss was another knock to L.A. in an already heartbreaking beginning to 2025.
Melissa Molina was among those who stopped by with friends after work at NBCUniversal. “Especially right now in the midst of the recovery efforts after the wildfires, he was somebody who was such an integral part of the L.A. arts community for so long, so it feels like an extra gut punch to what’s already been a tumultuous two weeks,” she said.
Commercial director Ramesh Iyer and friend Adam Judd grabbed an early dinner at Bob’s after hearing of the Mulholland Drive director’s passing.