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Knowlwood Hamburger Restaurants

by Steve
Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Knowlwood Hamburger RestaurantKnowlwood is chain of hamburger joints that started in Orange County. I remember visiting the one in Santa Ana, on 17th Street, near Tustin Ave. They had the slogan, "World's Best Hamburgers".

Everyone seems to want to put an "s" at the end of the name, but it's actually singular.

As far as the burgers went, they were pretty good. They seemed to have too much bun. Not the best I've had, but better than average.

Knowlwood started in 1957, by Roy and Fay Knowlton and a partner, Gene Wood. It was named, "Knowl-Wood". Their first location was in present day Anaheim Hills, in what was then known as Orangewood Ranch, along Imperial Highway. In 1998 the Knowlwood chain was purchased by Thanh D. Nguyen, who still owns it today.

They have five locations today, the original in Anaheim Hills, Laguna Niguel, Santa Ana, Irvine, and Fullerton.

We've received some memories (or brief mentions) from others about Knowlwood, and decided to create this blog post to give them a central place to organize them all. Feel free to post your comments about Knowlwood. Maybe some of you can share some history of the company...

Remember the old Santa Ana Canyon Road before the freeway? Remember the old Cafe on the right side as you headed out towards Corona, and the original Knowlwoods Hamburger stand, and that shed with the rocket sticking out of the roof?

- Butch Page, Apr 17, 2002

Wow I just enjoy reading all these memories. I grew up in Anaheim and have so many vivid memories. I went to Palm Lane elementary and Ball Jr High. My family and I moved to Chino in 1979 so I missed getting to go to Loara High. One place I was wondering what happened to was a hamburger joint I think was in Placentia called Knowlwoods? I remember it seemed to be surrounded by fields, in fact I remember getting a halloween pumpkin right next to there. My parents used to call that hamburger place the fly farm because it seemed like there were millions of flies around.

- Mike, Sep 25, 2007

Gosh, reading all these posts bring back so many memories for me living in So cal. I grew up in Anaheim and went to Clara Barton elementary, Trident jr high and Loara high. I remember Knollwoods, there was one in Anaheim. Anyone remember these places: Bob's Big Boy, Heinz restaurant (they had the best chili dogs), Roy Rogers restaurant, Alpha Beta, or the A & W drive in! I remember my mom taking me to the TG & Y for halloween costumes! I dont live down south anymore but I sure think about these places and growing up down there, a lot.

- Anonymous, Oct 2, 2007

Not only do I remember Knowlwoods, aka Worlds Best Hamburgers, I worked there. So much fun! Went to Valencia H.S. and graduated from Esperanza. First graduating class. Growing up there was the best!

- Anonymous, Nov 12, 2007

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7 Comments:

  • There used to be one in Orange on Tustin Ave back in the 70's/early 80's....this location eventually moved to the present location on 17th street at Tustin Ave........

    By Anonymous Skuterdude, at December 20, 2007 1:54 AM  

  • There is an old urban legend out there that President Nixon and Bebe Rebozo used to sneak away from Secret Service and go get a burger at the one in Anaheim Hills, has anyone else ever heard that story?

    I have often wondered how true it is.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at December 21, 2007 12:40 PM  

  • I have lived in the Santa Ana Canyon since 68. I do remember the truck stop cafe. The 91 freeway was not built yet it was still a very wide flowing river, used to go white water rafting. Allorange and avacado groves with roaming cattle. The north side of the Santa Ana Canyon was all chicken ranches. We even found some barns that were being used as illegal gambling houses. Hell they had just finished digging the Anaheim Hills resevoir in 68. Could look out my parents house and see a beautiful buck deer with his mate. Then in the early 70's we started waking up to the sound of chain saws cutting down all the trees to make room for the tens of thousands of people that would come over the next 4 decades.
    The area was not yet called Anaheim Hills just known as the Canyon.
    The first commercial business was the Bank of America at the corner of Imperial and Canyon road which was a little trailer with two people working inside.
    PKS

    By Blogger perri, at December 25, 2007 11:42 PM  

  • I remember the original Knowlwood when it first opened. From 1951-1958, I lived on my family's ranch in the Canyon, right next door to the Canyon Cafe. I thought their burgers were great back then. The Santa Ana Canyon Highway (Rte. 18) was the main drag. The 91 freeway was still far into the future.

    Vince

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at December 28, 2007 3:33 PM  

  • I used to work at Knowlwood from 74 through 82. That was the best place to work and have fun. Fay, Roy, Phil and Al were great bosses and the crew that we had was non-stop fun. It would be great to have a re-union of all the ex-employees.

    By Anonymous Moe, at January 14, 2008 11:29 PM  

  • Knowlwood resturants...my refuge!

    For both my brother and I, the Knowlwoods were safe havens for years. For him, it was the original one, for me, it was the one on 17th St in Santa Ana. I did get a chance to go to one or two of the others, but it was the interior decor of the 17th Street one that I really loved, with its motif of the quieter days of OC. I had a fave booth, back around to the left side of the 'shack' that was the order counter, and would retreat there when life got too tense for me. An hour or two there, with the old music, a book, a basket of fries and a large coke, and I was ready to face life again for another week or so.

    Has anyone ever seen photos taken of the inside of that resturant? I would so love to be able to show my kids this place, that I've told them about so often.

    By Anonymous PikachuMom, at January 22, 2008 9:45 PM  

  • There was one in Trabuco Plaza in Mission Viejo (off Marguerite/Santa Margarita) when I went to high school at Trabuco Hills High School (94-98). I'm not sure when it closed.

    My friends and I usually didn't have too much money, so we would just go there and play pool with whoever already had the table. Sometimes we'd have enough to get an order of Irish Nachos (yum!!!)

    We had a friend named Glen who worked there. Never was very crowded.

    By Blogger Rachael, at February 25, 2008 6:53 PM  

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