Does anyone remember a small place called Steak Burger that was at 6336 Woodman Ave. in Van Nuys? It was on the east side of the street just south of Victory Blvd. We used to go there back in the 70's. They had very large hamburgers on what I recall seemed like a specially made bun. We would cut classes at Valley College and go there or to Jack in the Box on the other side of Woodman. Then we would go play golf. This is probably why I spent too many years at Valley College and ended up with nothing but memories of cutting classes. The location of Steak Burger was about at the spot in the picture below
Thanks again to Google Street View
34 comments:
Yes, it was run by a man who ground his own burger mix and baked his own bun. He would arrive at 4AM and by 11:30 there would be a line around the building. Seating was on steel plates attached to poles that were bolted around the building in front of an attached wood counter that ran around the building, He also served fresh cut skin-on steak fries.
As I recall, he sold the place in the 80's and little by little the quality diminished. Eventually, it was like any other stand and then it closed. They were yummy!
I ate there in the 70s. Though I'd driven past the place for years, my friend took me there and it was love at first bite. He called it Greaseburger. I used to see the owner's wife at Ralph's. I loved the homemade onion rolls and lemonade.
I've looked on the internet for people who ate there and have finally found you!
We used to call it grease burger too! That's the name I remembered.
I loved that place! The cokes tasted like chemicals but the burgers, fries and Polish dogs were great...the secret was in the grease as everything was greasy which only added to the taste...as I recall I used to see them deliver meat there where he ground it himself, also the buns were obviously made on premises as they were all different shapes. The Steakburger was one of my favorite memories of the Valley in the 1970's. WRG
I played Little League with the owner's son, Mark Chasman (sp)
Actually, prior to it being at Victory and Woodman, it was on Van Nuys Blvd right next to Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Park. This was early 70s. It didn't move until later in the decade.
I actually worked there around 1974-75 only job I ever got fired from, I was too slow. Ironically wound up being a cook for ten years in No Cal. starting two years later.
Ed, the owner, did get up every morning at 4 and ground the meat, made the buns, rendered the beef fat for the fries, cut the fries. I have tried for 40 years to duplicate the taste of those burgers. Never have come even close. Valley food was the best; Cupids, Tommy's, Speedy's, many of the first real authentic mexican walk up joints, great Italian along Ventura Blvd, and Burbank blvd in Glendale and Burbank, Winchell's donuts. Donte's and the Baked potato on Lankershim, the Blarney Stone on Lankershim, 50 cent movies. Miss that stuff, but nothing else.
I used to work at that place in 1975! They had the best greasiest burger sandwich in the Valley. The building was all out the size of a small motor home. As I remember there were no tables, chairs, or anywhere to sit. You just walked up to the winder, ordered burger, fries, a drink, and the frozen milkshake.
I loved that place. The monster burger, three patties of greasy deliciousness. I remember that it weighed in at 1.25 lbs. The lemonade was great. "We crush the entire lemon.". The steak sandwich was phenomenal. Once we had a monster eating contest. I won. The other guy squeezed his monster and the middle pattie shot out about 4 feet. The steak burger dog, a little stray that hung around there, immediately ran up a gobbled up the pattie. Another interesting thing about the place is that there were pencil cacti along the fence. I grabbed a piece and transplanted it at home. Ed would yell out of the window, "Orders Please!" Nothing like it nowhere.
Jay said,
The original was on Van Nuys Blvd around where La Fogata is right now. It was a shack/dump. If you were not taken there by someone else, you wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot poll.
You’re right. We did call it Grease Burger.
Bill, the owner, wore an old t-shirt that just barely covered his paunch. When he took your order, he would arrange a tile grid in front of him that no one ever figured out how it worked.
Yes, he baked his own bread, ground his own meat and the Monster burger was the best burger I have ever had to date.
Tender, beefy, and messy as hell. HUGE!
From what we understood at the time, his Van Nuys Blvd. location burned down in a fire and he moved it to the Woodman location where it eventually went out of business.
Damn, I still miss that place.
I remember he used to take the order by some kind of cross word puzzle where he would put letters on a square, almost looked like a scrabble board. Those were great times, Loved the Monster Burger, i used to go there with my brother and his friend the Zap and I was probably around 12 or 13 years old back then, that Monster Burger in my hand was bigger than my head, lol. The place looked like a dump, run down shack, but aren't those always the best places? Long live the memory of the Monster Burger!
I worked at the old ham radio store around the corner on Victory in 1977/ Steak Burger was the best!!
I think some of the posters are confused. Steakburger was originally on Woodman and then moved to Van Nuys Blvd. I know because I lived around the corner from them and frequented them a lot. I don't remember the tile ordering system. I do remember that there was a place on Lankershim called Sirloin Burger that used that system.
I went to high school with Mark (owner's son). Best burger I ever had.
I remember having to stand in line. I must have been 8 or 10. The only burger place my Mom would take us out to eat at. We were pseudo vegetarian at the time. We would “fall off the wagon” to eat there! We’d plead for a steak burger. So happy when she gave in! Didn’t they also have giant cookies?
Yea, I remember that place it was a great burger and great rolls, not the healthiest burger but what is, I applied for a job at the other one he was building over by Van Nuys Elementary, where Cupids Hot Dogs was, and across from Orange Julious on Hazeltine near Victory Blvd. Ahhh the memories
Yes they used to call that Balboa or Reseda park right?, the one that had the Olympic size pool that I learned how to swim at
There was even a place called Papa John's and they had great burgers and chili omg, but no pizza, just a burger place, also the place across from Sepulveda basin, they had the best taquitos for cheap with a green concauction know as guacamole
I worked at Steak Burger briefly in 1974, I was fired for being too slow. Had been eating there since grade school. Best burger I have ever had. Yes, the owner (ED) would get there around 4:00AM to grind a side of beaf, reduce the fat to make fries, bake fresh rolls.
The comment above mentioned Papa Johns, like Tommy's but even better. Not a pizza joint. Cupids, all the Italian places on Ventura, Howard Johnsons for Friday Clams. Valley food was the best.
We lived a few blocks away and never missed an opportunity to get a Monster or Hungry Man. Ed and Mary were gruff but made the best burger in my 65-year memory. Cheese was 3 cents extra, and chile (sic) was free. Dorian Hale (son of Alan Hale Jr. aka Skipper on Gilligan's Island) worked there. Most of the SteakBurger oddities have been recorded here, but I wanted to add my comments to the list. Tommy's was good. Fatburger was good, but there will NEVER be another one like this.
The 60s and 70s was a great time for Mom and Pop fast food places in the valley. I do remember steakburger by Sherman oaks Park. Great tasting Burger meat in a long soft roll. Also Papa John's Burger by victory & hazeltine avenue. They made great chili cheese burgers. Then there was also Cupid's by victory & sylmar. Great chili cheese dogs. Law dogs on Vanowen also gets an honorable mention.
The place was first located on Van Nuys Blvd. just south of the Veteran's Park. I started eating there around 1968-69. Eddie and his wife Mary were dyed in the wool New York Socialists. He ran the business as a non-profit. Every time he was able to reduce his costs he would lower his prices. I remember when he started baking his own rolls. He showed me the math of what he was paying and what he saved by coming in at 4:00A.M. to bake them himself. That day he lowered the price by that amount. He was both gritty and a true political intellectual, and could quote Eugene Debs at length. As a teenager I spent hours talking politics and policy with him and Mary.
In the early 70's I became a vegetarian after I left college. The only lapse was a Monster with a cup of their amazing mashed potatoes.
God rest them both!
Papa John's was a burger stand on the corner of Victory and Hazeltine. In the 60s and 70s I lived down the street and was a regular. Awesome chili burgers and fries. The small stand was owned by two brothers from Mikonos Greece, Lam Rampius was the one I remember. I can still taste it 50 years later. Miss those days in old Van Nuys.
I worked there the summer of 1975, my first job. My older brother John worked the grill, and Ed liked him. When I came to the screen door to ask about a summer job, he looked me up and down and said "You John's brother?" "Yes". "You start Monday". Tough guy to work for, swore at us a lot, had a 5th grade education and was an Army cook.
To the poster above who said some posters are confused...
Unless Steak Burger was "originally at Woodman..." in the early 60's before it was on Van Nuys, and then moved back to Woodman, you are not correct. In the late 60's and early 70's it was on Van Nuys Blvd next to the park. After that in the late 70s it moved to Woodman and Victory. Loved reading all these posts, brings back memories for sure. Mary would take the order and yell it back to Eddie, who couldn't have been more than 4 feet behind her. "A monstah, fries, coke and a kookie (cookie)."
STEAK BURGER WAS THE 1ST JOB I HAD DURING THE SUMMER. I SPENT ALL THE MONEY I ERANED ON MY 1973 TM 125 SUZUKI. I REMEMBER I TOLD ED I WAS GOING TO VALLEY COLLEGE AND HAD TO LEAVE HE WAS PISSED.
WE WOULD HAVE THE LUNCH RUSH AND THEN BY 2-3 PM HE WOULD TAKE A NAP.
HE LIVED ON HAZELTINE NEXT TO ME AND WOULD DRIVE ME HOME IN HIS BROWN EL CAMINO STARIGHT 6
AND 3 ON THE TREE. I OWE HIM MY WORK ETHIC WHAT A GREAT MAN. ALL THE BEST
Steak burger was on Van nuys boulevard right next to the babe Ruth baseball field. Anyone who thinks it was located elsewhere is just flat out wrong. Mark chasman's family owned it for many years it was absolutely the best hamburger in the valley.
My Old Frat Buddies worked at Budget Rent A Car in the early 70's on Sepulveda and Oxnard across the street from the original "Builder's Emporium". We called it "Grunge Burger" and one day we sent a new guy and he called us on a panic, "It's not Grunge Burger anymore!". So we told him to do what he could and he brought back one pound Monster's for a Buck@ we Said, "Idiot these are Grunge Burgers!". What value and great taste except during the meat crisis when there were no stray animals in the Area!!!
My friend Marc has been extolling the virtues and legend of The Steakburger since I first met him some years ago. Said the place was the very best and the prices were so outrageously low it was hard to believe. Rarely have I heard someone raise the bar on a local burger joint that he said everything there was fresh, delicious and if I may quote him "There is nothing like nor will there be anything like The Steakburger". What is funny is Marc is now a vegetarian and he regularly eats at La Fagota which may have been the Van Nuys location when Marc and his dad used to eat there. Said the owner Ed was one of a kind in terms of his work ethic and that his wife Mary and he would have these arguments in front of the customers as Mary would insist he had to raise prices which her husband refused to do. Marc has indicated he would love to make a documentary on this classic place of memories and great food.
I loved it. I lived in woodman a half block away. I would walk over all the time when I was between 12 and 16. Great place. A unique flavor. The buns were amazing. I wish I could taste it now
There was a place at victory and woodman, just south of woodman. A little narrow shack. Delicious
No. It was always called the Van Nuys Sherman Oaks Park. The pool was simply called the park pool. It was heaven.
I lived at Hazeltine and Hartsook...Papa John's was the best burger and the fries!! My first taquito ever was Papa John's!! No one ever knows what I'm taking about except my brothers and my parents... loved Papa John's..
What was the name of the hamburger stand on the corner of fulton and burbank , next to valley college in the 70's
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