New book spans nearly 80 years of Bob’s Big Boy history

Roy Dayton has perhaps one of the biggest collections of Bob’s Big Boy memorabilia in the world, and now he’s published a book that serves as a guide to what many of the collectibles are worth, from early menus to the 7-foot statues of Bob.

“I’m a compulsive collector of Bob’s Big Boy stuff,” he said. “My wife said, ‘We need to do a book.’”

Dayton, who lives in Acton, often travels to the Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank with his wife, Terry, in one of his old cars. He started collecting Bob’s Big Boy items in the late 1980s, when the restaurants began to go out of business.

“I wanted to collect something that was going to be no longer,” he said.

His collection has now amassed to roughly 2,000 items.

“I have just about everything they’ve made from 1936 on,” he said.

That year, the restaurant’s founder, Bob Wian, established the famous eatery in Glendale, with $350 he got from selling a car.

A young customer of the Glendale restaurant, Richard Woodruff, is said to have inspired the chubby boy character that’s featured in a lot of the Bob’s Big Boy memorabilia.

Dayton is still searching for a Bob’s ketchup bottle from the 1970s and a coffee tin from the 1960s. He almost bought the coffee tin a while back, but he was outbid for it in an online auction on eBay. The item sold for $1,000.

Dayton also collects anything new Bob’s Big Boy produces, such as menus or kids’ toys. He’s got some of the earliest menus as well as those that were used in other countries, such as Japan and Canada.

One of the more unique items he has is an 18-inch, gold-painted, paper-machete statue of the Big Boy character wearing a crown. He said the statue was given to people at a convention around the time the restaurants merged with the Marriott Corp. for $7 million in the late 1960s.

“I’ve never seen another,” Dayton said.

He also has a campaign button from when Wian ran for Glendale City Council. Wian was first elected to the council in 1948 and later served as mayor.

Dayton also has the original sign that was at the restaurant in Burbank and a portion of the original sign at the Glendale location, which reads: “Original double deck hamburger.”

Other items featured in the nearly 200-page book include a 15-inch tall countertop statue of the Big Boy character. Dayton estimates that a total of 3,000 statues, at most, were made, and they sell for anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000.

The 4-foot statues of the boy wearing checkered overalls — which used to stand in the interior lobbies of the restaurants — go for about $800 each, Dayton said.

He based the monetary value of the items in the book on what he’s seen other collectors pay for them on eBay. Many of those collectors have become friends with Dayton as he’s visited their homes to pick up items he’s bought from them. He also spends time with them at various swap meets.

“I guess what things are worth is what somebody will pay for them,” he said.

The Bob’s Big Boy Book is selling for $29.95 at BobsBigBoyBook.com and will soon be available in major bookstores and at Amazon.com, Dayton said.