Hamburger History : Culture: Bob’s Big Boy restaurant might be honored by the state, but not for its menu. The 43-year-old building’s design has drawn attention.

Some diners at the Bob’s Big Boy Restaurant in Burbank were skeptical when they discovered Tuesday that the state may designate the 43-year-old restaurant an official “California Point of Historical Interest.”

“What a joke,” said Jerry Abrahmson, a native New Yorker, who was eating a piece of apple pie at the counter. “When I think of a beautiful, historic building I think of the St. Regis Hotel in New York, not a place that sells hamburgers.”

But Larry Kirk, sitting at the other end of the counter, contended that the restaurant “deserves any honor it can get.”

“They should put a shrine here . . . because it’s a miracle developers haven’t torn it down yet and built a mini-mall,” said Kirk, a Porter Ranch attorney. “It’s remarkable when any building in L.A. survives for more than 40 years.”

The site was recommended for historic status Monday by the Los Angeles County Historical Landmarks and Records Commission. If the Board of Supervisors agrees, it will forward the nomination to the state Office of Historic Preservation, which will make the final decision. If approved, the restaurant will be one of only 53 official points of historical interest in the county.

Some diners at the restaurant suggested that the nomination is just another frivolous attempt by flaky Californians to memorialize schlock architecture, similar to the unsuccessful attempt to declare a Studio City carwash a cultural monument.

“This place doesn’t look so special to me,” said Abrahmson, a property manager who was wearing a Yankees baseball cap. “The only reason I’m here is because I’m early for a funeral at Forest Lawn. I’m just killing some time.”

But Los Angeles conservation experts said the restaurant, the oldest in the chain, is a significant part of the city’s architectural heritage. The restaurant is a classic example of “early coffee shop design,” a style that originated in Los Angeles and soon spread to other areas, said Peter Moruzzi, a member of the Los Angeles Conservancy’s 1950s Task Force.

From a distance, the restaurant looks like an upside-down L, a long horizontal structure, highlighted by a concave sweep of glass and set off by a 35-foot-tall sign with neon pink lettering. The structure is one of the last of Los Angeles’ “transitional buildings,” which combines typical 1950s coffee shop design with the Streamline Moderne style of 1940s architecture, Moruzzi said.

“For Los Angeles, this was our architecture and it’s vanishing before our eyes,” Moruzzi said. “We’re concerned that if the ownership changed, there might be an attempt to tear it down.”

If the Bob’s Big Boy is approved by the state it would be listed in the California registry of historic buildings. This would afford the building some protection against demolition or remodeling. Any project involving the structure would have to meet state and local preservation ordinances, state officials said.

The building has not changed in 43 years but the prices and menu selections have, said customer Dorothy Horne, who remembers paying 35 cents for the patented Big Boy double-decker. The Big Boy with fries now is almost $4. And the restaurant has broadened its menu beyond strictly burgers and fries, offering California staples such as croissants, oriental chicken salad and a selection of stir-fried dishes.