The next “Cruisin’ 2 Freedom” show will be held in Redondo Beach
Earlier this year, In-N-Out heiress Lynsi Snyder announced that he was moving her family and part of her beloved restaurant operation to Tennessee. The beloved burger chain has been an integral part of the California roadside since it was founded by her grandparents, Harry and Esther Snyder in Baldwin Park more than 75 years ago. Much of the company’s expansion of late has also been out of state in places like Arizona, Colorado and Washington.
It almost feels like a homecoming that the local favorite announced that they are relocating their big annual fundraiser concert and car cruise to Los Angeles County. The next installment of Cruisin’ 2 Freedom will be held at Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach in January.
The huge car-focused events have been held at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa and along the shore in Huntington Beach in recent years. Hundreds of classic cars parked near the sand across from the Cabo Wabo Beach Club is a whole vibe.
Credit: Photo by Brian Wallace
The next party will include dinner from an In-N-Out Burger cookout truck, Two Doughs Pizza Company, Tacos 1986 and Afters ice cream. The company donated 100% of the funds raised to their Slave 2 Nothing Foundation, which combats human trafficking and drug addiction. The company notes that California and Texas have the highest number of trafficking cases in the U.S. with the National Human Trafficking Hotline identifying 16,710 unique cases in 2021.
The festivities will include a live auction fundraiser. This year’s offerings included a week’s stay at a Norwegian resort, a train ride through Canada and tickets to a Shakira concert. There’s also a real boss In-N-Out custom cooler with a screaming eagle painted on the side. He’s screaming to come home.
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — The last double-double and fries were being served up Sunday in Oakland. It was closing day for In-N-Out Burger off Interstate 880.
It’s the first time the popular restaurant chain has ever closed one of its stores. But ongoing neighborhood crime was no match when it came to safety.
Everyone has their go-to favorite at In-N-Out.
“Double-double, animal style fries,” said America Sanchez.
“Definitely a number one with pickle,” said Alfonso Gomez.
It’s the last time those cravings can be satisfied at the In-N-Out location off Hegenberger Road in Oakland — it’s closing for good.
“I know it was the last day to come out, it know this is the first one to ever close in its history so I wanted to come out and show support,” said Gomez.
This restaurant opened in 2005 but ongoing crime on the property and in the neighborhood left the burger chain making the tough call to close over safety concerns.
“Yeah, it’s really sad because it’s a spot where a lot of teens come have their first job. This was my first job ever,” said Claris Mares.
Oakland City Councilmember Noel Gallo has expectations.
“It’s going to take a strong police chief action and working with police department in the neighborhood to make sure this doesn’t continue,” Gallo said.
In an earlier statement, In-N-Out said: We are grateful for the local community, which has supported us for over 18 years but our top priority must be the safety and wellbeing of our Customers and Associates.
The company says employees can transfer to other restaurants or receive a severance package.
It is a date that should be known by lovers of messy and meaty cheeseburgers everywhere, and especially in Los Angeles.
On Aug. 1, 1966, In-N-Out Burger updated its menu to include the item that would arguably become its most celebrated offering — the Double-Double.
In-N-Out fans have a pioneering fast-food executive to thank: Robert Lang Sr.
In the early days of In-N-Out, which was founded in Baldwin Park in 1948, some diners took to ordering hamburgers with double the meat and cheese. At some point, they were named Double-Doubles. But it wasn’t until 1966 that Lang, who’d worked for the then-burgeoning chain since the early-1950s, decided to officially put the special burger on the menu at a new location in Azusa.
The Double Double from In-N-Out Burger.
(Mariah Tauger/Los Angeles Times)
In-N-Out co-founder Harry Snyder was so taken by the idea that he added the Double-Double to the menu at the company’s five other locations, owner Lynsi Snyder, his granddaughter, wrote in an Instagram post Nov. 30. Of Lang, she said, “He was many special things, and we sure owe him an awful lot.”
Lang died Nov. 28 at 87, according to son Robert Lang Jr. He said his father, who lived in Rancho Cucamonga, had been in good health. The cause was not known.
Lang was born in 1936 in Southern California and grew up in Baldwin Park, the son of a Dutch immigrant father and a German immigrant mother. The family had a namesake dairy near the site that would eventually house In-N-Out’s original drive-in hamburger stand.
While working as a truck driver as a young man, Lang would end his day with a 25-cent burger at In-N-Out, the Orange County Register reported in 2014. He said he always ordered the same thing: “A hamburger with onions. It was my reward.”
Before long, Lang was working at In-N-Out. And at 19, he became co-manager of the In-N-Out in Baldwin Park, making him the youngest manager in the company’s history, Lynsi Snyder wrote on Instagram. Years later, it was a family connection that may have led Lang to put the Double-Double on the Azusa eatery’s menu, his son said.
Lang’s brother-in-law, Jon Peterson, served as the company’s sign painter and would create the menus at the drive-throughs. When it was time to make the menu for the Azusa location, Lang had an idea, his son believes.
“My dad probably told him, ‘Hey, why don’t you put ‘Double-Double’ on the menu?” the younger Lang said.
As for the Double-Double itself, Lang consumed his share of them over the years, but eventually downsized his ambitions. “In his later days he was satisfied with just a cheeseburger,” his son said.
Among his other innovations, Lang came up with the idea to put marketing verbiage on the protective lap mats given to drive-through guests. “In the early days, the mats had a little map of the San Gabriel Valley and had the stores numbered on it,” his son said.
Lang also was tapped by Harry Snyder to create In-N-Out’s first official handbook. To prepare it, his son said, Lang would visit with Snyder, who’d “recite to him how to cook a burger, how to cook fries and so on.”
“He wrote down what Harry told him — it was basically how to run a store,” said Lang’s son.
Over the years, the elder Lang held several positions at In-N-Out — he served as a store manager and division manager — before becoming a so-called “QFC evaluator,” said his son, explaining that the acronym stands for “Quality, Friendliness and Service.”
“He was there forever,” said Christina Snyder Monahan, the widow of Rich Snyder, who took over and grew the chain after his father Harry died in 1976. “Rich loved and trusted him and thought very highly of him. He had the utmost faith and confidence in him. Bob’s values and who he was were integral to what In-N-Out was and became. He really knew the grassroots values of In-N-Out and carried that forth.”
Lang retired from In-N-Out in the 2000s, and spent his time golfing, traveling and sometimes teaching a history course at In-N-Out University. He recently had occasion to revisit his half-century-plus with the company, which is now based in Irvine and has nearly 400 locations, when he attended its 75th anniversary celebration in October.
During the gathering at the the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, Lang posed for photographs and even signed autographs. “He felt just overjoyed,” his son said. “At first he was probably shocked that people asked him for autographs.”
Lang was a positive example for his son — and provided career inspiration. Robert Lang Jr. joined In-N-Out in 1973 and rose through the ranks over the course of 45 years to become executive vice president of operations before retiring about five years ago.
“I started out peeling onions and taking out the trash, just like my dad,” he said. “I wanted to be like him, to honor the person that he was.”
Lang was married three times. He is survived by wife Lynn Lang; sister Nancy Peterson; children Robert Lang Jr., Mike Lang, Kelly Delizo and Andrea Hernandez; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Times staff writer Stacy Perman contributed to this report.
In-N-Out was founded in 1948 by Harry and Esther Snyder and is still owned and operated by the Snyder family today. What started as California’s first “drive-thru” burger stand now has 385 locations in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Oregon, and Colorado, and more than 35,000 employees.
The company’s popularity is palpable. The hashtag #innout has 1.1 million posts on Instagram, and some people have literally traveled to California just for an In-N-Out burger.
In January, the company announced plans to open its first Tennessee restaurant by 2026, with an Eastern territory office to be built in the city of Franklin.
Look out, Nashville Hot Chicken. The Double Double “animal style” is coming to the Volunteer state.
In-N-Out Burger is taking its iconic burgers east — at least further east than they’ve ever been before.
The beloved hamburger chain will be opening its first corporate hub in Tennessee in 2026, with plans to open up a few restaurants around Nashville in the next few years.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee first broke the news on Twitter, saying, “Welcome In-N-Out Burger, you’re going to love it here.”
The restaurant has earned quite a fan base outside of the Golden State. Over the years, In-N-Out has opened shops in 385 locations in the western U.S., including Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Oregon, and Colorado.
Tennessee will be the farthest In-N-Out has ever traveled from home.
But In-N-Out doesn’t just plan to open a few burger joints in the area — they will also be planting a new corporate headquarters in Franklin, a suburb of Nashville.
The company’s Chief Operating Officer, Denny Warnick, told The Tennessean that the 100,000-square-foot office would house departments such as operations, management, and human resources. The expansion is estimated to cost $125.5 million, creating around 275 jobs.
According to In-N-Out President, Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson, granddaughter of In-N-Out founders, it was love at first site.
“We came here years ago, actually East of the smokies, but came back out to Pigeon Forge and Nashville and fell in love. There was one other state definitely interested and wanting us there, but we chose Nashville.”
The family-focused Snyder-Ellingson said that she thinks of her grandparents in every decision she makes.
“I always consider what my family would want. I have no doubt that my grandparents, dad, and uncle would be proud of this decision to grow our Associate family and serve even more amazing Customers beginning in Nashville and the surrounding areas,” she said in a statement.
Credit: Photo by Brian Wallace
