Twoheys is the restaurant where memories as well as hamburgers have been made for 80 years.
Ask someone what they think of when they think of Twoheys Restaurant and the answer might be: “It’s the Stinkos, stupid.”
The Stinko — for the uninitiated — is a hamburger and still a favorite at the restaurant at 424 Fair Oaks Ave. in South Pasadena, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary this month.
Twoheys (aka 2-EE’s) is hosting a Family Night from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 24, with a variety of activities. Between Sept. 20 to 24, children and adults can order a mini sundae for 80 cents with the purchase of an entrée.
Let the good times roll.
And you don’t have to be 80 to eat at Twohey’s, which moved to our town in 2020.
A teenager on my block told me when he ate at Twohey’s: “I love the comfort food. I also love the hamburgers.”
I took two friends of mine — both in their 80s — Sister Jennie Lechtenberg and Sister JoAnne DeQuattro to Twoheys recently. Both remembered the restaurant from when they were teenagers, but neither had eaten at the restaurant since it moved from its previous location on Huntington Drive in Alhambra.
“Oh, I’m going to have the Stinko burger,” Sister Jennie said.
“And, I’m going to have the onion rings,” Sister JoAnne added.
The name Stinko Burger was born when someone ordered a burger heavily garnished with pickles and onion. The woman sitting next to him at the soda fountain looked at him and said: “oooo, stinko.”
The name “Stinko” stuck, and it was actually trademarked and became the name of the restaurant’s mascot. If the “Little Stinker” looks different now, that’s because it is. The stinker used to have tears coming out of one eye and now looks more like a boy.
This restaurant has been around so long that it’s even become the site for celebrations of life.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said co-owner Tanya Christos. “People will come in and everyone will order what grandma used to order when she was alive — a hamburger, fries, or rings and a chocolate shake.”
Grandma also might have ordered a bittersweet fudge chocolate sundae with whipped cream made in the store and almond chips, which is what Christos requested when she sat down in front of me for an interview about the restaurant’s anniversary celebration.
Jack and Jean Twohey first opened Twoheys as a small restaurant on Arroyo Parkway in 1943, and then moved it to Huntington Drive in 1955. The Twoheys, in 1997, passed ownership to a local family, which preserved the original name and inherited the memories.
The Huntington Drive spot is where some people remember Twohey’s as a drive-in restaurant, where carhops on roller skates brought orders to your parked car.
“There are so many stories that come with this restaurant, and many people still remember the carhops,” Christos said.
Lots of people I talked to also remember the big marquee sign on Huntington which often featured wacky limericks like: “Bigamist-Italian fog.”
Felix Gutierrez, who grew up and is now retired in South Pasadena, remembers when in 1968 he wanted to impress a woman named Maria by showing her that he knew places to eat beyond East L.A.
“So one evening, I invited her to a Twoheys drive-in dinner,” he said. “I don’t remember much about the dinner because I was focused on Maria. But I do remember that the evening went well and we’ve been together ever since.”
It was also a place where teenagers drove with their dates after high school football games.
“Because of its location, it attracted students from South Pasadena, San Marino and Alhambra,” Gutierrez said. “We clustered with our schoolmates and exchanged put-downs with those from other schools.”
The carhops went away during what Christos called a “cutting edge” renovation in 1977, but Twoheys continued to be the place where you could get a full breakfast menu all day long, as well as lunch and dinner.
There’s still a few breakfast selections served all day, but the current menu is designed to provide items, including vegan and vegetarian items, to attract new customers as well as retain those customers who have been coming for years for comfort food, such as the turkey roasted in house and the meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
The day I visited, Bob and Toya May were having Mediterranean lamb chops. They’ve been coming back for 20 years.
“I love the food, service and the personality of the restaurant,” Bob May said. “And I love the bittersweet fudge sundaes.”
The new Twoheys has a personality, which includes TVs around the restaurant, so people can watch sports and drink cocktails with names like the Stinko-tino with gin, pickle juice and vermouth; while other cocktails — like the Raymond Hill and the Water Tower — celebrate places around our town. Twoheys has created several special cocktails that are available during September to celebrate the anniversary.
Mom might remember grandma liking a shake — but after a long day, today’s mom might prefer a “Calling All Moms” shake, featuring Grand Marnier, chocolate ice cream, orange slices and Reese’s pieces.
I’d like to see someone get on roller skates after drinking one of those concoctions.
Those people who come in for happy hour, or to watch a ballgame, might enjoy short rib sliders, calamari, deviled eggs, or an order of old-fashioned onion rings or French fries while sitting in one of the two patio areas.
Twoheys had lost its lease on Huntington several years ago, and once it found a new location in South Pasadena, it not only had to make a lot of improvements, but also had to deal with the COVID pandemic, which delayed the opening until October 2020.
The regular customers have now found their way to South Pasadena, and new customers are making their own memories.
What once was a 37-seat establishment in its original location, Twohey’s now can host more than 190 and there is a private dining room with AV equipment. Twoheys, to support local organizations, even has a “Dine Out Fundraising Program” where diners can eat out and support a designated organization.
“We’ve designed a restaurant that we hope will attract the next generation,” Christos said. “We want to be relevant so we can be around for another 80 years.
“We want to pay tribute to our history and also speak to the future.”
So, I’ll drink a Calling All Moms shake to toast Twoheys’ future.
And I’ll eat a Stinko burger for auld lang syne.
Editor’s Note: For information on hours of operation and menus, go to the restaurant’s website at twoheys.com.
First published in the September 22 print issue of the South Pasadena Review.
