An average day at the hamburger stand: Cooking burgers, talking to the guys, appearing on radio.

Hawthorne, long known as the home of the Beach Boys, can add another name to its list of local luminaries.

This celebrity, however, does not sing or act. In fact, the new local hero is not even a person. What has got people in Hawthorne oohing and ahing is a hamburger. Yes, a slab of ground beef on a toasted bun.

For years, the burgers served at Sam’s Place, a small mom-and-pop joint on Hawthorne Boulevard, have been praised by locals as the best in town.

On Friday morning, Ken Minyard and Bob Arthur, KABC’s morning radio team, visited Sam’s Place to find out for themselves what all the fuss was about. The visit, part of the station’s search for the best burgers in the Los Angeles area, brought out a crowd of onlookers and some of the city’s notables.

Among them was Mayor Betty J. Ainsworth, who presented Ken and Bob with a key to the city. Police Chief Stephen R. Port dropped in to chat with KABC restaurant critic Elmer Dills, and Miss Hawthorne for 1988-89, Anna Marsella, stopped by in her crown and satin sash.

After shaking a few hands, making a few jokes for their radio audience and taking a few bites from the renowned burgers, the radio celebrities left to continue their search at a future date.

Only a glimmer of the spotlight fell on the real story behind the burgers: Sam and Phyllis Weiner, the owners of Sam’s Place, who have been flipping patties and taking orders for almost 25 years.

Phyllis, 66, a gray-haired dynamo at the grill or taking orders, is friendly and spirited and has been known to wear shorts and a Batman T-shirt to work. When they opened their place in 1965, she said, Sam didn’t know the first thing about frying burgers and she had never waited on tables. But they learned as they went along.

Sam, a 72-year-old former bartender who wears a white Panama hat, spends most of his time serving beers and knows many of his regular customers by name. Asked what accounts for the longevity and success of his restaurant, he shrugs. “Dumbness,” he says as he wipes the bar with a towel. “I should have sold the place a long time ago.”

Phyllis gives Sam a disapproving look from across the bar. “We put out a good burger,” she says. “We fry it properly with tender loving care.”

Phyllis’ daughter, Sharon, 41, waits tables alongside her mother, and Sharon’s son, 13-year-old Levi Brett, occasionally takes orders too.

“It’s a family business,” Phyllis says. “I wouldn’t have stayed with it this long if it weren’t for the people.”

Many of the customers at Sam’s Place have been regulars for years. Peggy and Carl Willison, who have lived in Hawthorne since 1958, said they have frequented Sam’s Place for years.

Peggy Willison said there are “good people” at Sam’s Place, and she describes the burgers as “beautiful, the best in town.”

Friday, after the crowd had dispersed and the radio celebrities had moved on, business was back to normal. Phyllis rushed around taking orders and Sam was out front chatting with some customers.

They agreed that all the attention given to their burgers may boost business but would not change them.

“Tonight I’ll be the same old thing,” Sam said, “cooking burgers, talking to the guys at the bar and maybe telling a few dirty jokes.”

Said Phyllis: “We’ll always stay the same.”