Fatburger founder expanded South L.A. eatery into chain

"One night, there was some kind of awards [ceremony] and people came in limousines in their tuxes and everything," recalled Adair.

"They just closed the door, because they couldn't get any more people in there."

Over the years, Fatburger has been immortalized in a string of songs, movies and TV shows, including the sitcom "Sanford and Son," the film "The Fast and the Furious" and the Ice Cube single "It Was a Good Day."

Fatburger even once made David Letterman's Top 10 list for things he'd miss most about leaving Los Angeles.

In 1981, Yancey began offering franchises in what was billed as "The Last Great Hamburger Stand."

By 1985, in addition to four company locations, there were 15 Fatburger franchise sites.

"I don't worry about McDonald's, Burger King or Wendy's," Yancey told the Wave.

"They may be more popular, but a good hamburger sells itself, and I don't think anybody makes as good a hamburger as we do."

For three consecutive years, beginning in 1985, Fatburger was named in Entrepreneur magazine's annual Franchise 500 list.

Yancey sold her Fatburger company to an investment group in 1990 but retained control of the original property on Western Avenue.

The stand was never designated as a Los Angeles historical-cultural monument.

The property was sold last year, and Adair said the new owner plans to develop it.

Santa Monica-based Fatburger Corp., owned by Fog Cutter Capital Group, currently has 93 locations in the United States, Canada and Macao.

"We feel privileged to be part of the culture Lovie created," Andy Wiederhorn, chairman of Fatburger, said in a news release.

Yancey, who was born in Texas on Jan. 3, 1912, established a $1.7-million endowment at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte in 1986 for research into sickle-cell anemia. This was in fulfillment of a promise to her 22-year-old grandson, Duran Farrell, who had died of the disease three years earlier.

In addition to her daughter, Yancey is survived by three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at Angelus Funeral Home, 3875 S. Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles.

dennis.mclellan@latimes.com