The David Lynch Memorial at Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank

Since actor David Lynch’s death last week, fans have been driving to Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank, Calif., to pay their respects, building a shrine to him, streaming the snow at the feet of the restaurant’s mascot. Among the roses and teddy bears you might expect from a souvenir, regular table-waiting supervisors may dread seeing a broken ear.

Fans, however, understood that the severed ears – at least four, all fake – are soft if there is a terrible reference to the movie “Blue Velvet” from 1986.

They also learned that Mr. Lynch had been a regular at the chain’s location for seven years since the late 1970s, arriving every day at 2:30 p.m. for a chocolate milkshake. and several coffees. They knew he saw the restaurant as an extension of his own office, scribbling movie reviews on napkins as the caffeine and sugar highs hit. body of work.

A red playbook and a hand-marked to-go box with the letters “RR” referred to the Double R restaurant in his “Twin Peaks” show. A log, both wooden and painted, which the show’s mysterious “lady log” actress holds, is lined with handwritten letters and prints from the director’s other films, including “ Eraserhead”, “Wild at Heart” and “Inland Empire”.

Next to a picture of the slain Twin Peaks homecoming queen, Laura Palmer, some of them with lipstick marks, there were lots of pictures of owls — stained glass bottles, pictures and small figurines.

“The owl is not what it looks like,” someone wrote on Bob’s napkin, citing actor Kyle MacLachlan as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper. The image of Mr. Lynch in the face of the topography in detail in the rise of gray hair is marked, not by signature, but a symbol found in the owl cave.

Many of the roses, fresh and wilted, are blue, like the “blue rose” force in the show. And dozens of coffee cups threatened to spill over the donuts, a snack for the city police and Agent Cooper.

Fans left packets, packets of cigarettes and small letters for Mr. Lynch, who loved the smell of tobacco — he started smoking when he was 8 — and suffered from emphysema in his later years. .

You can see a cowboy hat like the mysterious cowboy in “Mulholland Drive.” And hidden in the layers are some popcorns, related to the mystical object from the 1992 prequel “Twin Peaks” known as “garmonbozia”, ​​as well as a bag of crunchy Cheetos – a favorite snack Mr. Lynch and asked on the set of the 2022 film “The Fabelmans.”

An unopened bag of quinoa, sitting on the mascot’s stand, led me to re-watch the 20-minute video of Mr. Lynch cooking it, whose enthusiasm for the dish is so touching. – everything.

During the week, he continued to grow and grow the beautiful sanctuary for Mr. Lynch, even after being damaged. Some of the fan-contributed pieces of cherry pie — sold at the Double R restaurant in “Twin Peaks” — were the worst hit, wilted in the sun, sweaty in their bodies, crushed by the weight of the bouquet. The ants worked hard to collect the food scraps.

On Thursday morning, the shrine appeared to have mysteriously disappeared. In fact, Rory Scott MacDonald, the designer whose grandfather built Bob’s place in 1949, and whose father now owns it, worked with Kat Fox, archivist and researcher. a private person who studied memory for himself at the University of California, Los Angeles, to classify all non-perishable items and store them for exhibition and for the family of Mr. Lynch.

Mr MacDonald wasn’t sure if he had made the right decision, clearing the site, but he was worried about the rain forecast for the weekend. And he noticed some things from the oldest pictures in memory that were missing. The holy place continued to grow, but if it is not indexed now, it may be lost.

The mourners who came today were disappointed, but not discouraged. Within an hour there was a single white rose and a cup marked “RR” on the outside. A small embossed napkin, torn and taped to the mascot’s leg reads, “To the King of Flowing Abstracts! You will lose.” A roll of tape sat on the bench, ready for anyone who needed it.

At first glance, there was nothing special about the Burbank location of the Bob’s Big Boy chain, but over the course of seven years and decades of filming, Mr. Lynch has shown that the explanation is familiar. can give meaning and reveal the secret. Likewise, his fans have turned the restaurant into a shrine. It will continue to exist as long as it is taken care of.

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