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In 1951, when West Valley City hadn't yet rolled up the communities of Hunter, Chesterfield and Granger into one, Ab and Dot Beutler's tin-shack hamburger stand was the only restaurant west of Redwood Road.

In truth, it was one of the few buildings in the area back then, surrounded by nothing but farms for its first half-decade.

Now, the farms are gone and West Valley City has sprawled ever westward. Ab and Dot's son Bart, 50, and his wife, Elizabeth, run two Ab's Drive-Ins and have just celebrated the original joint's 60th anniversary by featuring 60-cent burgers.

They've also managed, so far — knock on wood — to face down corporate burger chains and the Great Recession.

"It's a rough business," said Bart Beutler, the youngest of Ab and Dot's seven children.

The original store is still at 3500 South and 5400 West, though it's no longer used for commerce. The current West Valley City Ab's is a 2,000-square-foot, gleaming, vintage diner homage built eight years ago. Another Ab's is in West Jordan.

Ab's no longer sells homemade root beer, but the two-patty Fat Boy is still on the menu, as are the hand-cut fries and thick shakes that helped the hamburger stand become an enduring institution.

Bart, along with the rest of his siblings, grew up working at their parents' place, which really was more of a hobby than a livelihood. Ab worked at Kennecott and didn't keep regular hours at the restaurant, which was open only during warm-weather months.

Granger was so far out in the country in the 1950s and early 1960s they couldn't get deliveries. Ab and Dot had to go into the city for everything, Bart said, including 300-pound blocks of ice he chipped for drinks.

"They were easily distracted," Bart said. "They'd go into the city for buns but would go to a movie." And then have to go to the city again the next day. Those days of unplanned closures were tough, he said, on the kids from Magna who'd make the trek for the famous burgers.

Elizabeth Beutler, who works the grill, said their best attribute is dedication to customer service and the personal touch. They don't mind fixing what their patrons want; if the man who's allergic to sesame seeds wants only the bun bottoms but not the seeded top, that's what he gets.

Not long ago, Bart was somewhere else, got hungry and decided to check out one of his corporate competitors. Its regimented style didn't pass the customer-is-king test. "All I wanted was a hamburger with nothing but mayo and ketchup," he said. "They had a meltdown."

He also doesn't get the frenzy over In-N-Out Burger, which arrived in West Valley City and West Jordan about a year ago. "Everybody's been so excited," he said. "We've been here for 60 years. But the comfort-convenience mom-and-pops are dying out. Lately, that's one of the things that gets me worked up. Americana is dying out."

Bart has heard people lament that loss while also telling him they went to McDonald's to make the kids stop screaming, which he understands. But he's still aghast at what happened to his West Jordan business when the recession halted construction, the workers stopped coming and suddenly the restaurant seemed very empty.

Ab Beutler died in 1999, but Dot is still alive and a special customer indeed. Bart and Elizabeth keep a laminated copy of Dot's carefully written special order for her vegetarian burger, which doesn't actually have a burger. Rather, she likes it this way: thinly spread mustard over the top of the bun; then the sliced pickles and shredded lettuce, tomato slice, fried onions, more lettuce, then the bottom bun. She eats it bottom-up, Bart said.

They have no plan to put that item on the menu, but the Beutlers have added chicken, fish, footlongs and a drive-through window to please their patrons.

The competition gets stiff, Elizabeth said, "but we hold our own. We do have some very difficult customers, but they keep coming back because we accommodate them. We try to create that family atmosphere." —

Ab's is 60!

Ab's Drive-In celebrated its 60th anniversary Saturday, June 25, by selling hamburgers for 60 cents.

Ab and Dot Beutler opened their restaurant in 1951 in an old tin shack at 3500 South and 5400 West, serving hamburgers and homemade root beer.

Today, Ab's has two locations: 4591 S. 5600 West, West Valley City; and 7903 S. Airport Road, West Jordan.