First Cheeseburger Was Served in Pasadena

Rite Spot Restaurant (Photo – Herman Schultheis-LAPL Photo Collection).

Legend has it that Pasadena is the first place where a cheeseburger was served to customers.

By Rena Kurlander

The restaurant where the first served cheeseburger took place was called “Rite Spot” and was located in Pasadena (in today’s geography it is considered Eagle Rock). The 16-year-old owner’s son, Lionel Sternberger, slapped some cheese on a still-cooking burger patty in 1924, and presented his “cheese hamburger” to the world.

He just did not call his creation a ‘cheeseburger’ and consequently that gave permission to a lot of places in the country to lay claim to the “cheese on a burger” ownership.

Pasadena Cheeseburger Week and Crawl

Cheeseburger Week (Photo – pasadenarestaurantweek.com).

Starting on Sunday, Jan. 10, and continuing all week until Friday, Jan. 13, Cheeseburger Week will take place in Pasadena with 40 participating restaurants, where you can also participate in a Cheeseburger Crawl.