Building History

Pioneering restaurant owners Delmar Atwwood Johnson(1914-1992) andHelen Gertrude Carter Johnson(1924-2007) founded the Sizzler steakhouse chain in Culver City, CA, in 1957. They built the company rapidly by offering franchises to others, a practice that expanded the enterprise very rapidly. Ten years later, Sizzler had 164 outlets, of which all but four were owned by franchisees. In that year, the Johnsons sold their holdings in the restaurant for $1 million to James A. Collins(born 12/20/1926 in Huntington Park, CA), who built the company at a rapid pace over the next 30 years. By 1992, the firm operated 733 restaurants, of which 460 were managed by franchise owners. (See Los Angeles Times.com, "Delmar Johnson; Founder of Sizzler Restaurants," accessed 08/18/2017.)

PCAD id: 21430