Hollywood Retro Diner in the Max Factor Building: Mel's

Mel's Drive-In at 1660 N Highland Avenue in Hollywood is a 1950s-style diner set inside the Max Factor building, opened in 2001 as the third of the Next Generation Mel's. It starts serving at 7 am every day, closes at 11 pm Sunday through Thursday and at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. You walk in off one of the busiest tourist blocks in Los Angeles and sit down to a Melburger, a thick shake and a booth full of chrome.

The Mel's story starts in 1947, when Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs opened a drive-in on South Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco with room for 110 cars and carhop service. By 1954 the chain was pulling in about $4 million a year, and Weiss estimated they were cooking 15,000 to 20,000 hamburgers a day. The original site became Burger City in George Lucas's American Graffiti before it closed and was demolished in 1976.

In 1985 Steven Weiss, Mel's son, revived the brand with Donald Wagstaff on Lombard Street in San Francisco. Southern California followed in 1989 with a Googie building in Sherman Oaks, then the Sunset Strip location in 1997. The Hollywood branch arrived in 2001 inside the Max Factor building, the Art Deco landmark where the makeup pioneer once ran his salon. The company history calls it a favorite for locals and tourists, and today there are eight Mel's locations.

The burger to start with is the Famous Melburger, a juicy third-pound of Angus ground beef on a sesame seed bun with your choice of cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayonnaise and pickles. The Sunset Burger goes bigger, with a half-pound patty, cheddar, bacon and avocado on grilled sourdough. The patty melt, a third-pound patty with Swiss and grilled onions on marbled rye, is the menu's old favorite, and Debbie's chili fries are the side the menu itself tells you to try.

The fountain is where Mel's leans hardest into the retro role. Old-fashioned milkshakes come in chocolate, strawberry or vanilla plus Oreo, banana, pineapple, butterscotch and coffee, and any shake becomes a malt for 50 cents more. The Penguin blends a classic shake with marshmallow and chocolate syrup as a tribute to the old Penguin coffee shop in Santa Monica. There is a vegan chocolate chip shake made with cashew-milk ice cream, and a list of spiked adult shakes for the evening crowd.

Breakfast runs all morning from the 7 am opening. The Hangover Omelette is filled with Mel's chili and cheddar, the Elvis Scramble mixes Molinari chorizo and green chili peppers, and the Rise and Shine sandwich puts scrambled eggs, bacon and American cheese on grilled sourdough. On Fridays only, the clam chowder comes in a fresh sourdough bread bowl. Skip the quinoa and kale salad at a place like this, and save your appetite for the chowder or a plate of homemade corned beef hash.

Mel's has always traded on its movie connections, and the Hollywood branch sits right in the middle of them. The company runs a filming and events program for productions and private parties, and its news page collects coverage of celebrity buyouts and pop-ups at its Los Angeles diners, from a Grease spin-off promotion to private birthday rentals. On an ordinary weekday, though, it is simply a diner a block from the Walk of Fame, and most guests come for breakfast or a burger between sights.

The design follows the Mel's formula: chrome trim, red-and-white color, booth seating and a counter where solo diners can eat fast. Counter seats are the quickest route to food when the booths are full. The busiest window is weekend lunch, when tour groups and families pour off Hollywood Boulevard, so a 7 am breakfast or a late-evening shake gives you a much calmer room.

The Hollywood location page lists Monday through Thursday from 7 am to 11 pm, Friday and Saturday from 7 am to midnight, and Sunday from 7 am to 11 pm. The brand's history page still describes the Hollywood diner as running into the early morning, but the location page is the current schedule. For a later meal, the Mel's on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood keeps far longer hours.

Pair a meal with a visit to the Hollywood Museum, which occupies the same Max Factor building and is devoted to film costumes, props and the history of studio makeup. The TCL Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame are a few minutes north on foot. If the diner has a wait, walk up Highland to the boulevard first, then return after the lunch push, since tables turn steadily through the afternoon.

From the diner, head north on Highland to Hollywood Boulevard and turn west along the Walk of Fame toward the TCL Chinese Theatre forecourt with its handprints in cement. Continue past the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where the first Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929. Then loop back down Orange Drive toward Highland. The whole circuit takes about forty minutes at an easy pace and covers most of the sights first-time visitors want.

If you are arriving by Metro, the B Line stops at Hollywood and Highland, a few minutes' walk north of the diner. That makes Mel's an easy first or last stop on a car-free Hollywood day. Drivers will find paid parking garages around the boulevard, and the Ovation Hollywood garage is the most central option for the Walk of Fame and the diner together.

Mel's Drive-In Hollywood is at 1660 N Highland Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90028. Online ordering for pickup is available through the Mel's website, and gift cards and loyalty rewards are sold through the brand's site as well. Private events can be booked through the filming and events page.

Plan on about an hour for a sit-down meal, more if you add a malt. Booths are the move for groups and families, and the counter is best for one or two people in a hurry. If you are timing a Walk of Fame morning, a 7 am Hangover Omelette here before the crowds arrive is the most efficient start on the block.