When America’s collective psyche thinks
"cheeseburger", more than likely it envisions a clown serving it up
in one hand, while holding a milkshake in the other. While we love to hate the
cliché of gastronomic pop culture, you have to admit, McDonald’s is America’s
fast food father, the one that started it all, bringing a whole new menu, and a
whole new way of eating to the generation that was booming. The “Golden Arches”
came first, a “Genesis” so to speak, of a book with chapters labeled Taco Bell,
Burger King, and Der Wienerschnitzel.
Mitla Café was an iconic landmark. Opened in 1937 by Lucia Rodriguez, it sat right along old Route 66 and was the gathering place of many cultures, at one time hosting the likes of Caesar Chavez himself. Everyone liked Mitla’s tacos and Bell realized he could market this tasty treat, popularizing a relatively unknown dish outside of Hispanic culinary circles. Gaining the trust of the family, Bell learned how they made this now famous Mexican staple. Bell's version is and was slightly different from the original, essentially a small corn tortilla deep fried with ground beef inside, then topped with cheese and tomatoes and maybe some iceberg lettuce. Called them Tacos Dorados, Mexican folks would line up at Mitla to get them at twenty-five cents apiece. Bell wanted to "cash in" on this action. According to Irene Montaño, Lucia Rodriguez' daughter-in-law, she remembered Bell as "the White guy who would come in late at night, ask a lot of questions about how their tacos were made, then leave." Who knows if he even bothered to eat at the Café, he might have, but it sounds more like Bell saw an opportunity to "get one over" on someone or something for an almighty dollar. He stole the premise, adding the fried tacos to his menu at Bell’s Burgers in 1952. They were a hit, with Anglo customers eating them by the handful. In the early 1950s Anglos really didn’t know much of anything about Mexican cuisine, so it was a novelty.
Even though Mitla Café was just across the street, the cultural divide between Anglos and Hispanics allowed Bell to capitalize on this new "discovery", fully aware of the racial animus and insensitive enough to sell the stolen idea in full view of the originators. Before long, Bell was out of the hamburger business, opening a new chain centered around that once lowly of foods, tacos. He dreamt up Taco Tia, and began the process of bringing Mexican food into the American culinary mainstream. Centered solely in San Bernardino County, Taco Tia opened three locations between 1954 and 1955. They spanned the county from Barstow to the city of Redlands (the Barstow location being converted from a Bell's Burgers...more on that later). The Redlands location, the last remaining, still in operation today. Never willing to stay with something, and always looking for the next grift, Bell decided to sell out his interests in Taco Tia and move on, citing lack of his partner’s ambition in not wanting to expand too quickly. Because he had signed a non-compete clause after selling out, he slithered to Los Angeles and Orange counties to open up his next gastronomic venture. He acquired (or conned) and a new set of partners and opened the first El Taco in 1956. Located in Long Beach, California, the chain soon expanded to locations in the cities of Downey, San Pedro, Anaheim and Orange. Very soon, looking for the next "opportunity", Bell once again "jumped ship" and sold out to the El Taco partners in 1962, leaving the final curtain about to rise on the last act in the saga of Glen Bell, and the taco he purloined a decade earlier. Its name was Taco Bell.
The first location opened to much fanfare at 7112 Firestone Boulevard in the Southern California city of Downey…if nothing else, Bell was a huckster and knew how to shamelessly promote. The menu was simple and the service was a walk-up window. Fast food in the 1950s and 60s meant you grabbed your food, sat outside to eat or took it home, no dining room needed or wanted. If nothing else, Glen Bell thought big. Now that he had singular control over a new venture, with his name and the "moneymaker" spelled out for the World to see, expansion was the word of the day. Taco Bell bloomed and customers with “green” rolled up non-stop. Business was so successful the company franchised its first location to Kermit Becky in Torrance, California in 1964. As the chain grew, so did the logistics. Bell was intelligent enough to set up a system that supported and supplied all Taco Bell locations with what was needed. After sufficiently setting up and administrating this final lucrative and successful enterprise, it being fully operational and financially sound, Bell sold the whole "enchirito"* to Pepsi Co. in 1977. With the new leadership Taco Bell became the monolith it is today…tacos that taste like chemicals, filled with oatmeal infused meat, refried beans that are nothing more than lab created sludge, oozing from a plastic bag, and tortillas that would survive a nuclear holocaust and a thousand years of darkness…"Better things for better living, through chemistry" as the DuPont Corporation would say.
Shyster and theif that he was, Glen Bell gets the credit for
bringing Mexican food into mainstream America. Today, everyone knows what
a taco is, although some still pronounce it "tay-kho", with nary a
dish that is not loved from coast to coast, be it burritos, quesadillas,
enchiladas or the lowly…taco. He also a hand in many of the fast food
giants we see on virtually every corner in virtually every city, not only in
the U.S. but overseas, and that hand was always looking to snatch a buck. Names like Del Taco, Naugles, Bakers,
Denny's, Der Weinerschnizel...all have a connection and all drew inspiration in one way or another from
Glen Bell, and the magic of Mitla Café.
*The Enchirito was my favorite Taco Bell item growing up as
a kid in the 1970s.
*****
No Author. (n.d.). Mitla Cafe/Route 66. Esoteric Survey. https://esotericsurvey.blogspot.com/2020/06/mitla-cafe-route-66.html