March 23, 1992

LET’S HEAR IT FOR TOMMY’S (BURP)

But don’t ever try to copy its original world famous hamburgers or tacky ambience.

By CHIP JACOBS

Staff Reporter

The shack may be a culinary landmark or urban landmine, but Southlanders don't seem to care when its gooey, red-meat fix is at stake.

For decades now at the corner of Beverly and Rampart boulevards, they've stood, they've scarfed, they've belched and they've split.

It's all in the name of a Tommy's double chilicheeseburger, an eating experience that blends car fumes, cholesterol and seedy characters.

On a hazy Friday last month, a lunch-time throng of about 75 was gathered for the ritual of quiet salivation and boisterous jabber near the mangy intersection. Undergrads, out-of-towners, businessmen and day laborers dutifully queue up around the red-and-white shack as Mercedes-Benzes and gas guzzlers risk their bumpers -- and insurance rates -- entering the snarled parking lot.

Salsa music, meanwhile, blares out of the back of a patron's car and the Taco Bell across the street looks forlorn, despite its day-glo sales beckonings. Nearby, a young man is being arrested, though Tommy's clientele seem more interested in munching than Miranda rights.

Every year, this outpost of L.A.'s great hamburger wars serves enough people to fill the Coliseum and the Sports Arena -- 10 times over. It's also a living, breathing sociology treatise paper on melting pots.

Snaps one young lawyer, "This place gives us white-collar yuppies a blue-collar feeling."

Migrating west from Oklahoma's Dust Bowl in 1927 in a model-T Ford, Tommy's owner and namesake, Tom Koulax, flopped with two hot-dog stands before eventually finding his niche in L.A.'s junk-food jumble. It all started with a $900 investment at the Rampart eatery in 1946.

Today, it's not the empire that Richard McDonald or Carl Karcher built, but it's a piece of the fast-food mother lode, nonetheless.

The entrepreneur of Greek descent now has 325 workers at 16 other hamburger joints scattered from El Monte to Long Beach. And his pockets jingle with nearly $20 million in annual sales.

"I'll give you a good sandwich and not just rip you off," blurts Koulax, 73. "We even pick up the sales tax."

If there is any doubt about the triumph that is the chain of Tommy's Original World Famous Hamburgers, peruse the Yellow Pages and then see the dizzying list of wannabe burger deans.

What a difference a letter makes.

There are Tam's Burgers, Tom's Junior Burger, Tom's Super -- and Senior -- Burgers, Tomy's, Thoma's and Tomein Tommy's. To name a few.

And they haven't stopped at just the name. Tommy's meat-based chili, beefsteak tomatoes and specially cured cheese have all been the stuff of emulation. Even Tommy's "ambience" -- the neon sign, script lettering and industrial paper towel racks -- have been copied. So have the sofa-cushion-change prices: $1.30 for a regular burger, $2.05 for a double chili-cheese.

But in recent times, Koulax has shown rivals he's not sincerely flattered by imitation: It's the quickest path to the court system. Since 1988 alone, Koulax has filed 20 trademark suits and he has yet to lose one. Copy the lettering, name or shack and you'll get slapped with a suit, Koulax warns.

Hence the marquee at the Rampart set-up, Koulax's first site: "Tommy's: Many imitate, none compare." And use of the key phrase -- Tommy's Original World Famous Hamburgers -- is a signal that a local outlet is a true branch of the incomparable original.

The first "imitator" was a something of an insider -- a Koulax business associate who began his own "Tommie's" in West L.A. and the South Bay.

"He was a nickel-and-dimer," Koulax recalls. "I don't worry about" rivals now "unless they step on my toes, and then I sue them."

At Tommy's iron-gated headquarters on Beverly, there are two inquiries a week about franchising. That's anathema to Koulax, who prefers branching out at his own leisure.

"What the competition is looking for is a simple, cost-efficient, low-investment thing with a name," adds Tommy's General Manager Brent Maire, himself a former Mickey D's management trainee. "But we just won't let people copy us. We get customers who call up and complain about the price or the burger and we have to explain it's not" the real Tommy's but a competitor.

Tommy's relies on a recipe of low overhead and fresh ingredients, Maire contends with a dash of pride. And the Rampart shack is a 24-hour operation.

"Our food costs are 38 percent of our overall expenses and that's high in the food business," Maire says. "Tom is extremely smart. Others can cut, cut, cut, but he knows customers can taste the difference. . . . We don't even weigh our burgers."

At "Tom's No. 5" in the 5200 block of Pico Boulevard, Koulax wouldn't seem to have much to fret about. Despite a billing as "The Greatest Chiliburger in the World" and the same accoutrements as Tommy's -- right down to the zesty yellow peppers -- the pigeons outnumber the customers. If the cooks are working with the same controlled frenzy as Tommy's, the bars over the windows conceal it.

Tom's No. 5 co-owner, Henry Chung, isn't sure why the old proprietor used a name that is so popular in the L.A. burger game -- or even if his name was Tom.

"We don't think about changing it," he says.

Back at Rampart, newcomers are astounded they can order, pay and get their goodies in 15 seconds. It's a down-and-dirty affair: burgers, hot dogs and tamales; potato chips only, no fries; Hostess pies and an honor system where customers snatch canned beverages from an old-fashioned cooler after they order.

But it's the 1990s. What about fiber?

"People ask us how much cholesterol or fat is in our burgers and we tell them we don't know," Maire says. "Everyone is concerned about health but what can we say? We sell an old-fashioned chiliburger."

True enough. Fast-food lite this is not, though Koulax experimented with, and later scrapped, nutrition-oriented chicken sandwiches at the La Habra outlet.

(Koulax opened a sitdown Mexican restaurant, Tomecito's across from the Rampart stand in the 1970s, but it tanked. Today, the facility is a lime-green storage area.)

As for the customers, they say Koulax's fare is high living for the palate, if not murder at times on the stomach.

"Someone asked me where I was going to eat," says one downtown businessman. "And I said, 'To grab a good lunch and get sick the rest of the weekend.'"

Adds Steve Westling, a visiting police officer from Albany, Oregon: "The food's great here, especially when you want to prepare for a bowel movement."

Or take attorney Peter Anderson, a middle-aged customer who has his tie draped over his shoulder to avoid an early run to the dry cleaners.

"I started coming here at 2 a.m. when I was at Loyola law school," he says between bites. "I've been coming here pretty regularly since then . . . when I get the need for a burger fix."

Indeed, at USC, going a long stretch without a "Tommy's run" is tantamount to forsaking a football game for lawn bowling.

As it was 40 years ago -- when Koulax had to use his car trunk as a storage locker for want of space -- the weekends are when the cash registers ka-ching the loudest.

Sometimes, though, the Rampart stand, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, is a little too popular.

Gangs, particularly one called Armenian Power, like to frequent Tommy's on Friday and Saturday nights, according to Tommy's security guard Versabey Duque, who sports a billy club at his side. To forestall troublemaking, the parking lots are sometimes roped off and the crowd chemistry is watched closely.

To date, there have been no violent crimes, though the once-proud residential area continues to degenerate into an amalgam of cookie-cutter apartment buildings and graffiti-spattered retail stores.

Does it matter much? Probably not.

Concludes Koulax, "If I had to start over, I couldn't do it now. But I've accomplished what I wanted."

copyright Los Angeles Business Journal

Money Train, published in Los Angeles City Beat. Why would U.S. Congressman Ernest Istook from Oklahoma come to Los Angeles to raise money? Perhaps because he holds the purse strings to critical federal transportation dollars.
March 10, 2005

MOVING DOWN THE ROAD, Pasadena Weekly
http://chipjacobs.com/a_movingdown.html
Moving Down the Road, published in the Pasadena Weekly. The Caltrans 700,000 square-foot tower owes its existence to the 1994 Northridge earthquake, union muscle, and a tincture of politics.
July 10, 2003

TUNNEL VISIONS, Pasadena Weekly, Caltrans Tenants Association
http://www.caltranstenants.com/tunnel.html
Tunnel Visions, published in Pasadena Weekly. Caltrans may dig deep to find a way out of its 710 Freeway debacle.
(Part III of Corridor of Shame series)
May 22, 2003

THE UNTOUCHABLES, Pasadena Weekly, Caltrans Tenants Association
http://www.caltranstenants.com/slumlord.html
The Untouchables, published in Pasadena Weekly. Slumlord Caltrans uses legal immunity to hold tenants and the cities of Los Angeles, Pasadena, and South Pasadena at bay, as long-needed repairs to homes the agency owns along the proposed 710 Freeway route fester. (Part II of Corridor of Shame series)
May 15, 2003

NO EXIT, Pasadena Weekly
http://chipjacobs.com/a_noexit.html
No Exit, published in Pasadena Weekly. Once stately properties that Caltrans bought 30 years ago to complete the still unfinished Long Beach 710 Freeway stand as a testament of neglect by one of the most powerful agencies in California. (Part I of Corridor of Shame series)
May 8, 2003

SOME MTA DRIVERS GET PHYSICAL, Daily News of Los Angeles
http://chipjacobs.com/a_mtadriversphys.html
Some MTA Drivers Get Physical, published in Daily News Los Angeles. Attacks on Metropolitan Transportation Agency riders not always punished and nearly 20 cases remain unsolved or lost due to poor record keeping.
June 24, 1996

SUBWAY TUNNEL WALLS AT RISK, REPORT WARNS, Daily News of Los Angeles
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/subwaytunnelwallsatrsk1.pdf
Subway Tunnel Walls at Risk, Report Warns, published in Daily News Los Angeles. Just three years after the first segment of the Metro Red Line was opened at a cost of $1.45 billion, the Army Corps of Engineers says the subway’s concrete walls are at risk of being eaten away by chemical-laced ground water.  MTA officials say water-damage threat small. 
April 11, 1996

MTA SPENT BIG TO SUGARCOAT TUNNELING, Daily News of Los Angeles
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/mtaspentbig1.pdf
MTA Spent Big to Sugarcoat Tunneling, published in Daily News Los Angeles. During the 1994 holiday season, the Metropolitan Transportation Agency spent about $400,000 in public funds to bring a Yule-tide bonanza to Hollywood boulevard. Opponents say humbug to mitigation efforts, labeling it as pork barrel or misguided.
September 24, 1995

HOMES OWNED BY CALTRANS NOT KEPT UP, RECORDS SHOW, The Los Angeles Times
http://chipjacobs.com/a_homesowned.html
Homes Owned by CalTrans Not Kept Up, Records Show, published in The Los Angeles Times. Dozens of homes the state acquired along the un-built Long Beach (710) Freeway pathway sit in such disrepair they either can’t be leased or whip up renters’ complaints about slumlord practices. Twenty-seven homes still part of the holdings are not even needed to construct the long-delayed project. Caltrans defends maintenance.
April 26, 1995

CALTRANS MISSED SAFETY DEADLINE, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/caltransmissed1.pdf
CalTrans Missed Safety Deadline, published in  the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Despite a legally etched state deadline, Caltrans missed a key deadline to strengthen more than 1000 freeway bridges, including most of the structures crippled in the Northridge earthquake. Bridge contracts overdue.
February 4, 1994

PROBLEMS PILE UP ALONG METRO LINE, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/problemspileupmetro1.pdf
Problems Pile up Along Metro Line, published in San Gabriel Valley Tribune. First came the charges of shoddy construction. Then the claims of massive cost overruns.  Now more troubles are brewing for Los Angeles’ new subway:  wage violations against workers actually building the Metro Red Line.
October 16, 1993

FREEWAY WORK: A PERILOUS PAYCHECK, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/freewayworkperilouspaycheck1.pdf
Freeway Work: A Perilous Paycheck, published in San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Caltrans workers face death everyday and Caltrans needs to further protect its exposed maintenance crew.
Sept. 4, 1993

TRANSIT COMMISSION AUDITORS CAST EAGLE EYE ON TUTOR’S COSTS, Los Angeles Business Journal
http://chipjacobs.com/a_transit.html
Transit commission Auditors Cast Eagle Eye on Tutor’s Costs, published in Los Angeles Business Journal. Los Angeles County Transportation Commission auditors are questioning tens of thousands of dollars in overhead expenses that powerhouse Metro Rail contractor Tutor-Saliba Corp. submitted two years ago, according to a preliminary audit obtained by the Business Journal.
September 28, 1992

METRO RAIL COST-OVERRUN TAB ADDS TO CITY HALL FISCAL WOES, Los Angeles Business Journal
http://chipjacobs.com/a_metrorail.htm
Metro Rail Cost-Overrun Tab adds to the City Hall Fiscal Woes, published in Los Angeles Business Journal. The City of Los Angeles is on the hook to pay $100 million in Metro Rail Red Line construction overruns under a little-known cost-sharing deal with the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.
March 16, 1992

Title: The man
URL: http://www.chipjacobs.com/wd_theman.html

Almost broke, living on handouts with his mom in a shabby apartment outside post-war Los Angeles, Gordon Zahler, a paralyzed kid in his mid-twenties got an idea. He'd re-sell the music of a dead man -- the music his father, Lee Zahler, composed during his workhorse career in early Hollywood. Within a few years, mother and son would be working for MGM on a Doris-Day romp and for Hollywood's most beloved hack, Ed Wood Jr., on Plan Nine from Outer Space. A decade later they had a house above the Sunset Strip in a comeback story too farfetched for any screenplay.