BOB'S - WHERE THE STARS DIDN'T COME OUT.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

Odds and ends from around the Valley:

Had a nice talk recently with former longtime Toluca Lake resident Chris Hansen who had a column I'd written on the glory days of Bob's Big Boy restaurant sent to him by Bob Hope's office.

Hansen, who now lives in Las Vegas, wrote the definitive book on the Valley's most popular drive-in hangout in the '50s and '60s. It was entitled, ``Eighty-Six - The Story of Bob Wian and the Big Boy.''

Hansen started his career with Bob's in Toluca Lake as a lot man, which is a nice way of saying he was a bouncer. He went on to become vice president of marketing for the popular chain, which grew to 23 restaurants before Wian sold out to the Marriott Corporation in 1968.

Hope - along with movie stars like Mickey Rooney, Debbie Reynolds, Jonathan Winters, Dana Andrews, Alexis Smith and Craig Stevens - were regulars over at the Toluca Lake and Burbank Bob's drive-ins.

``Bob Hope would use the Burbank drive-in often because it was off the beaten track and afforded him the privacy he desired,'' Hansen said. ``Once in a while, he'd even try out new jokes on me.''

Hansen said it was not unusual for carhops at Bob's to work 10 years or more because the tips were good, especially from the movie stars who regularly ate outside in their cars for privacy.

``With seniority you got the best stations,'' he said. ``At Toluca Lake, there were 60 (car) stalls. The station furthest away had six stalls. The closest also had six stalls directly in front of the window or counter from which food was picked up and placed on trays to be taken to the car.

``The No. 1 (in seniority) girl, therefore, walked not more than 20 feet to her customers, while the last girl ran 60 feet to and 60 feet from each car,'' Hansen said.

``The No. 1 girl at Toluca Lake for many years was Irene Wright, a Joan Crawford look-a-like who didn't know how to frown. She was constantly pursued by the young and not-so-young men about town.''

A little-known fact, Hansen says, was that Wian set up a profit-sharing plan for his longtime employees.

``There were veteran carhops who ultimately left the company with benefits exceeding $100,000, some over $300,000,'' Hansen said. ``Looking back on it now, it was a pretty doggone nice life at Bob's.''

Yeah, it was.

If you drove through Chatsworth and parts of Northridge recently, and wondered why there was a red ribbon tied around every fire hydrant, it was to honor the local firefighters of Battalion 15 of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

``It was the community's way of celebrating and honoring them for all the work they do on the job for us out there,'' said Michelle DeGaetano, who helped organize the event with local neighborhood watch people and Councilman Hal Bernson's office.

``Firefighters don't ask for pats on the back,'' she said. ``This was our way of giving them all one, and letting them know we appreciate them.''

Nice touch.

And finally, for all you parents tired of the politics and backbiting that goes on in too many youth baseball and softball leagues, stop by Hansen Dam Sports Center in Lake View Terrace beginning July 6 for a refresher course on how these youth sports programs are supposed to work.

The coaches instruct, then get out of the way so the kids can play and have some fun.

The L.A. Kids Sports Academy is sponsored by the city's Recreation and Parks Department with a $234,000 supplemental block grant from HUD. More than 1,000 boys and girls from 98 low-income area rec centers throughout the city are invited to a week of learning and playing baseball and girls' softball.

There will be eight sessions in all, running from Monday through Aug. 27. The program is sponsored by the L.A. Dodgers, the Manny Mota Foundation, Coca-Cola, Panasonic and Aramark.

The kids attending have been chosen by the park directors of their low-income area rec centers. The only criterion was that they had a desire to learn to play baseball and have some fun this summer.

Not a bad criterion for any kid.