Burger Bar in San Jose might have been what musician Chuck Berry was thinking about when he rhapsodized in “Back in the U.S.A.”about a place where “hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day.”
The restaurant, founded in 1953 by Albert Berger, predates the classic song by six years and was the first of five Burger Bars, followed by 25 Burger Pits. Only this location remains — the last Burger Pit closed on April 23 .
“Rumors have been going around about us,” Burger Bar co-owner Nick Barrita told San José Spotlight. “We have been getting a lot of people coming in panicked because they were afraid we were the ones shutting down.”
Happily, the concern is unfounded. Burger Bar survives and is preserved in time on South First Street like an insect trapped in amber, with its classic drive-in exterior, a marquee reading “Burgers 5 for $9.99” and the unmistakable diner fried-food aroma wafting through the ample parking lot.