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Tiny Naylor's was a restaurant chain in Southern California started in 1949 by William Wallace "Tiny" Naylor and later run by his son Biff Naylor. W.W. Naylor had previously owned more than a dozen Tiny's Waffle Shops in Central California. Naylor moved to Los Angeles and hired architect Douglas Honnold to design an eye-catching drive-in restaurant at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and La Brea Avenue in Hollywood. Actor Humphrey Bogart compared the slanted canopy roof of the building to "a huge bird about to take off.". The restaurant featured Googie architecture and carhop service, and claimed to be the birthplace of the Patty melt. Naylor died on August 17, 1959, while at the Del Mar racetrack. The original location closed on March 11, 1984 and was demolished. The site is currently a shopping center.

Tiny Naylor's had a sister chain of Biff's Coffee Shops, named after W.W.'s son Biff Naylor. There were more than 40 Biff's and Tiny Naylor's locations in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. In 1999 there was one Tiny Naylor's location remaining in Long Beach, California. Biff Naylor came out of retirement to purchase the Du-par's restaurant chain in 2004. Biff's daughter Jennifer Naylor, a chef in Malibu, consulted on the revamped menu. Biff Naylor sold Du-par's in 2018.

References

1. ^ Hess 2004, p.75
2. Wanamaker 2009, p.90
3. Wanamaker 2009, p.92
4. Inamine, Elyse (June 15, 2017). "The Patty Melt Is Getting Its Moment". Food & Wine.
5. "Tiny Naylor, Restaurant and Racing Figure Dies". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. August 19, 1959.
6. Dreyfuss, John (March 9, 1984). "Tiny Naylor's Drive-in—The Sun Sets at Sunset and La Brea". Los Angeles Times.
7. Williams 2005, p.309
8. ^ "Du-par's Bringing Famous West Coast Brand East". Bethesda Beat. November 30, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
9. "'I'll Have the Blue-Plate Special'". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. October 14, 1999.
10. "This Just In: Du-par's opens in Oxnard". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. March 5, 2009.
11. Nichols, Chris (July 27, 2020). "Some of L.A.'s Most Beloved Institutions Are Threatened with Extinction". Los Angeles magazine. Retrieved September 26, 2021.

• Hess, Alan (2004). Googie Redux: Ultramodern Roadside Architecture. Chronicle Books. p. 222. ISBN 978-0811842723. OCLC 249477365. (previously published in 1986 as Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture ISBN 978-0877013341)
• Williams, Gregory (2005). The Story of Hollywood: An Illustrated History. BL Press LLC. p. 166. ISBN 9780977629909.
• Wanamaker, Marc (2009). Hollywood 1940-2008. Arcadia Press. ISBN 9780738559230.
• Geary, George (2016). L.A.'s Legendary Restaurants. Santa Monica Press. ISBN 9781595800893.

• Defunct restaurants in Hollywood, Los Angeles
• Restaurants established in 1949
• Commercial buildings in Los Angeles
• Demolished buildings and structures in Los Angeles
• Modernist architecture in California
• Googie architecture in California
• Googie architecture
• Buildings and structures demolished in 1984