Ask an old timer where the best burgers in town were from.
They’ll say Scrubby and Lloyds.
The little hole-in-the-wall cafe had a worn U shaped Formica counter-top with stools all around and quickly filled up with locals at lunchtime.
My grandfather took us to town one summer when my cousin and I worked at the ranch. We all ordered chili burgers with cheese and when Grandpa Lionel tipped a few drops of Tabasco sauce on his plate. My younger cousin Brian asked what the red bottle had in it.
Grandpa said, “This makes it good.”
That was reason enough for Brian who smacked the bottle, hard, all over his dish.
After a bite, Brian, steam boiling out of his ears, was reaching for his milk and downed it in one gulp.
The burger mecca was demolished when New Times covered the lot with a new building.
Librarian Sharon Morem found this photo by Robert Dyer and article by David Wilcox from April 9 1990.
Newlyweds Lori and Tracy Biller paused between the altar and the reception to chow down at Scrubby and Lloyd's cafe Saturday. Telegram-Tribune photo by Robert Dyer ©2010
It’s burgers a deux for bridal couple
Tracy Biller and Lori Zeno had just wolfed down a couple of double-bacon hamburgers at Scrubby and Lloyd’s Cafe and were in a hurry.
About 300 guests awaited the couple’s arrival at the Madonna Inn, where Biller and Zeno — married a short time earler inside the Old Mission Church — were holding their wedding reception.
Biller washed down his last bite with a sip of champagne.
Ah, burgers and bubbly.
“I personally think we ate better than our party,” smiled Biller as he exited the Carmel Street diner’s screen door.
The burgers were the newlywed’s first meal.
To be sure, every head turned when the couple stepped out of their white limousine and the pages of Bride Magazine to join about a dozen patrons at the San Luis Obispo burger stand’s Formica counter at about 12:30 Saturday afternoon.
“I’ve never eaten with so many people staring at me,” said Biller.
Biller, 30, quickly introduced himself and his bride to the curious lunch crowd. He explained that they swung by the burger joint to grab a bite before heading to join everyone else.
Newlyweds, he figured, rarely get to eat at their own reception.
“Hell, let’s eat at Scrubby and Lloyd’s,” Biller said he told Zeno. “They make the best burgers in the world.”
After a quick round of congratulations, the customers calmly returned to their own meals.
Zeno, 24, was more than happy to go along with Biller’s plans.
“We love hamburgers.”
She didn’t seem too worried about mustard or grease staining her sparkling white dress.
“Hell no,” she said when asked if she was concerned. “I’ll never wear it again.”
As if there wasn’t already enough to remember Saturday, Biller phoned in his order so the burgers were ready when the couple and wedding photographer Judy Phillips arrived.
No, Phillips never exhorted the couple to “say cheese.”
So, why Scrubby and Lloyd’s?”
Biller said he and some teammates made “two or three” Scrubby and Lloyd’s burgers a routine pre-game meal when he quarterbacked Cal Poly’s football team in the early 1980s.
A short time after he started dating Zeno — a two-time All-America vollyball player at UCLA — Biller said he brought her to Scrubby and Lloyd’s for “the best burgers ever.”
Do you have a story about Scrubby and Lloyd’s, or want to nominate another best burger of all time?
Related post: Scrubby Lewis
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I forgot to include this obituary from October 11, 1983.
Lloyd Irving Pettenger, 72, whos depression-era hamburger stand grew into Scrubby and Lloyd’s, a San Luis Obispo landmark, died Sunday in a San Luis Obispo hospital.
The son of Albert M. “Bert” and Lillian Whittaker Pettenger, Lloyd Pettenger was born March 6, 1911 in San Luis Obispo.
Burgers sold for 10 cents and hot dogs for a nickel when Mr. Pettenger opened his first stand in 1933 at Osos and Marsh streets.
That stand was succeeded by Pettenger’s Hamburger Haven on Monterey Street, operated in partnership by Albert and Lloyd Pettenger. Lloyd Pettenger served in the army during World War II, then returned to the hamburger business in San Luis Obispo.
In 1957, he and Zada “Scrubby” Lewis opened Scrubby and Lloyd’s — Lewis working as a waitress and Pettenger as cook.
His son, Lloyd Lee Pettenger, took over the business after he retired in 1972.
Lloyd I. Pettenger moved to Fayeteville, Ga. seven years ago but returned to San Luis Obispo this August. He was a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West.
Services will be held at 2 p.m. at Reis Chapel in San Luis Obispo. Dr. John R. Springer of the San Luis Obispo Presbyterian Church will officiate.
He is survived by his wife Doris of Fayetteville, Ga.; his daughter Elaine Sylvester of Atascadero; son Lloyd Lee of Creston; stepsons Edward Clay and Ronnie Clay, both of Newman, Ga. and Robert Clay of Griffin, Ga; stepdaughter Caroline Fazio of Tampa, Fla., and several grandchildren.
I see mention of the “Hamburger Haven” as being on Marsh St. but my memory (which isn’t perfect) recalls a place of that name on the north side of Santa Rosa Sts., between Marsh & Higuera. Anyone able to help me out?
I remember both places and loved them. I liked that you got a tasty, fresh cooked hamburger, coke and a bag of chips. They didn’t do french fries.
I remember a special treat during the 40′s. Attending Emerson School mother sometimes allowed my sister and I to go to Scrubby & Loyds for lunch. For 35Cents we got a burger and a bottle of soda. The air would be blue with smoke and it always smelled of beer. Working men enjoying their lunch. If we were lucky we’d get a booth, if not we sat at the counter. Our friend Mary Jane Davis got to eat free, she said Scrubby was her aunt. Pure heaven!
I’m Tracy Biller, the groom in the photo eating the burger. A friend just sent me the link to this web page with the photo of Lori and I eating hamburgers on our wedding day at Scrubby and Lloyd’s. That was April 7, 1990. I remember that day as if it was yesterday. Stopping in for a burger while our wedding guests were eating prime rib at the Madonna Inn just seemed like a great idea. And indeed, it was, as the burgers were simply awesome!
Twenty years later we now live outside of Nashville, Tennessee, we have a 13-year-old son named Christopher, and we still love good hamburgers although we’ve never found a burger as good as the ones served at Scrubby and Lloyd’s.
Thanks for the memory!
I got my first taste as an out-of-work substitute teacher while working part-time on mobile home roofs with Mr. Bolling. Great hamburgers.
However, I would have to argue along with Alex M, my mother-in-law Edna and a great cook called Winnie, that the prime rib at the Madonna Inn was another world best too.
Scrubby’s was an SLO institution. Best burgers ever. It was one of those places where you’d see all strata of San Luis’s population – rich folks, working class people, young and old. Pete’s by the railroad station was like that too.It was a sad when Scrubby’s closed.
OMG! my dad! he loved scrubby and lloyds. nothing pleased my mom more as when dad would stop by and pick up one for her. biggest burgers ihad ever seen. my hubby and i would stop in when we were in slo. one of those places where you were so happy to be there. last time we had to eat on the patio(ha)it was so full. i was saddened to see it gone. like ed’s hamburgers. no fun being in slo any more.
I miss SnL’s too. The best part of a dreary rainy day was a bowl of SnL chili. Instant smile…pass the saltines please.
Their bean burgers smothered in onions were the best!!
hamburger haven was on santa rosa between marsh and higuera. i remember it being small like scrubby’s but had delicious hamburgers. this was during the late 60′s early 70′s. but hold on, what about corcoran’s, noes coffee shop, the greyhound station’s little coffee shop and tons more that escape me right now. LOVED scrubby’s, ate there tons. miss it dearly.
And Farley’s Jr., on the corner where Barnes & Noble now sits. And before that there was a bakery there — I used to drool at the sweets in there wh8ile selling the “Telegram-Tribune” on that corner for $.10 a pop in the afternoon. But because it was so close to dinner time, I was absolutely forbidden to spend my hard-earned money on the goodies inside! Other places? There was “Dave’s” (or “Dave’s Place” or something like that), at the train depot at the end of Santa Rosa st., open something like 10:00 pm – 8:00 am, serving the night train crews & passengers.
(Re: John Tiffin comment)
Ah, I remember both Dave’s Lunch and Farley’s Jr. well.
Both were among the very few which stayed open all night. Dave’s small place – entered via a narrow dirt road well south of the train depot (then-address: 1737 Santa Rosa) – offered a “Steak & Eggs” plate which hit the spot in the wee hours of the morning.
Also in the early ’60s a few of the reamaining now-Railroad Square “truck stops” remained and offered cheap but decent and filling fare.
Surprising to a SoCal native was that it wasn’t until about 1964 that the first pizza house opened in town: the “Pizza Pantry” located on Marsh, I think below Nipomo. Six-and-a-half foot tall “Pete” managed the place, spinning pizzas over his head before putting ‘em into the oven, which led many to refer to it as “Pete’s Pizza” which also had a large fireplace in the main dining area.
Yep, I recall the Pizza Pantry. For some reason, their beef & onion pizza was unlike any other I’ve found since. When they first opened, take-out orders were covered in aluminum foil — no boxes.
Scrubby and Lloyd’s. I am Lloyd Pettenger’s daughter. Thank you for the kind words. I really miss Scrubby and Lloyd’s too. I have never been able to find a burger that is as good as the one’s my dad used to make either. Or the chili. I really enjoyed reading the nice comments, they would have made daddy happy.
His whole purpose was to make the best food he could. My brother tried hard to follow in his foot steps, by using the freshest, and finest ingredients he could find.
I have also never seen a place that has captured the environment Scrubby and Lloyds’s had. I guess it simply was a thing that you could only find in San Luis Obispo
OH YES SCRUBBYS THAT WAS MY GRAND FATHERS PLACE AS WELL AS MY DADS PLACE I REALLY MISS THOSE BURGERS I WOULD OF BEEN THE LITTLE BLOND KID RUNNING AROUND IN THE BACK I OWN A BUSINESS NOW FLOORING DISCOUNT CENTER IN MORRO BAY AND BELIEVE IT OR NOT BEING PART OF SCRUBBYS AS HELPED ME IN ALL KINDS OF WAYS THEY REALLY WORKED HARD IN THAT PLACE TRYING TO GIVE THE PEOPLE THE VERY BEST FOR WHAT THEY PAY FOR ITS JUST HOW WE WERE RAISED ITS SAD TO SEE ALL THE BEST LITTLE PLACES GOING AWAY BUT IT MAKES ME VERY HAPPY TO SEE ALL THE PEOPLE THAT STILL REMEMBER ALL THE HARD WORK THAT MADE SCRUBBY & LLOYDS WHAT IS WAS THANX TO ALL
ETHAN PETTENGER
Scrubby’s Squeeze Inn (a franchise of Sacramento’s “The Squeeze Inn”) coming to town? http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=135800939770138
I remember when Dad would come home with the “brown sack”…. that meant we had Scrubby & Lloyd’s for supper…. was so good. What a great memory
My dad LOVED Scrubby and Lloyds. When he had to go to SLO for whatever reason we always wanted to ride along because we knew we would be stopping at Scrubby and Lloyds for a burger. He was heartbroken when it was torn down. Never been another place like it. Even today I still look over when going by the location and think of the times sitting at the counter with mom and dad and my brothers. Wonderful memories.
My grandfather used to take my mom to S&L’s when she was a little girl. Then my mom would take me and my brothers, for one on one time. Best burgers EVER! My mom loved those burgers so much that when she had her jaw broken and her mouth was wired shut, she liquified one in the blender just so she could taste it! I will never forget the smile in her eyes, as my brothers and I ate our burgers and mom drank hers.
An additional link to the obiturary for Zeta “Scrubby” Lewis is here.
I think that people who visit this site don’t just stumble across it. They are people like me who are looking to remember a great institution. In 1982, I sat down at the counter, and when the waitress approached me she asked “Beanburger with extra onions and a Coke, right?” It had been SEVEN YEARS since I had moved away from San Luis Obispo and my last visit to Scrubby and Lloyds, and yet she still remembered what I had always ordered.
I really miss this place.
(For anyone who DID happen to stumble across this site, a beanburger was not made of beans. It was a hamburger including both the top and bottom buns, smothered with pinto beans. Despite what others say on this site, Scrubby and Lloyds did not make chili beans. Their delicious beans were were served with lots of juice, but definitely had no chili seasonings in them, and as I recall, also had no meat in them.)
I lived in SLO town only a few years, it seemed like more except for S&L’s hamburgers. I moved to the Bay Area and have spent years looking for burgers as good. No luck. I’m sorry to learn it’s gone and that the next generations won’t have the pleasure.
My mother worked at Scrubby and Lloyds for a little while when I was just a boy. I would be treated to a free burger everytime I went to see her. Chili sauce and just the right touch on the burgers made them special. I joined the Marines and travelled around the world. Never to find a better burger.
God Bless.
Best burgers ever!! Scrubby was my aunt, born Zada Ellen Davis in S.L.O. on 19 Oct. 1915 the 8th of 14 children born to Ed and Mollie Davis. Scrubby died in Carmel, Monterey county, CA 29 Dec. 1986. She was a great little lady.