Pasadena's Burger Continental Turns Off the Stoves After 45 Years

After 45 years in the fast casual burger business, it appears that Burger Continental has closed its doors for good. As one of Pasadena’s longtime South Lake Avenue staples, Burger Continental played a crucial role in keeping nearby Cal Tech kids well fed, and for cheap.

Though it never reached the heights of around-the-corner competition Pie’n Burger, the Mediterranean-leaning Burger Continental did have its own brushes with fame over the years. Most notably, the Hindoyan brothers who owned Burger Continental were also popular municipal caterers, regularly sending trays of Greek and Middle Eastern dishes to the courthouses in Pasadena and downtown L.A.  According to a Washington Post write-up from 2007, the Hindoyans fed not only the jurors of the OJ Simpson trial, but also jurors at the trials of Robert Blake and the Menendez brothers.

Otherwise, it’s been a quiet sort of passing for Burger Continental and their owners. Middling Yelp reviews and a swath of more recent health code violations certainly didn’t help matters over the years, though that never kept away the diehard fans of the brothers’ cooking. And after 45 years in business, it’s proof that they must have been doing something right.