In-N-Out Burger Is a Popular Post-Oscars Celeb Spot. Here’s Why

In-N-Out Burger is one of the most popular fast-food restaurants in the country, even though most of its footprint is based on the West Coast. In fact, the burger chain is so popular that it’s become a favored post-Oscars celebrity hotspot. Here’s why.

In-N-Out Burger Is a Beloved Hotspot for Celebrities

According to SF Gate, the Sunset Boulevard location of In-N-Out Burger was overflowing with celebrities after the Academy Awards on March 2. The line to get inside stretched out the door. It was so crowded that a security guard was only allowing people to enter and exit one at a time, and there wasn’t a single parking spot available.

The main reason? Location, location, location.

It is about four blocks from where the Academy Awards are held. In recent years, fast-food restaurants have been as much a feature of award events as the red carpet. After the festivities, it’s not uncommon for celebrities to pop by, often with a statue in tow, for a burger and fries to round out their flashy night. Even the iconic Vanity Fair afterparty has been known to provide hundreds of In-N-Out Burger specials to celebrities who may need a late-night snack after all the commotion.

The In-N-Out post-awards-show ritual went viral in 2024, when Paul Giamatti, a renowned enthusiast, drove up to the Westwood location and ate a meal next to his best actor Golden Globe. In a surreal moment, the burger spot also appeared in an Oscars promotional film last year, with Ryan Gosling from “Barbie” flashing the iconic bag.

Jimmy Kimmel, last year’s Oscars host, also immortalized the tradition: “Nothing against McDonald’s, but on award show night, it’s In-N-Out.”

How To Smuggle Double Doubles to Your Area

If you’re nowhere near the Academy Awards, and there isn’t an In-N-Out Burger in your area, an enterprising fan recently shared his method for smuggling Double Double burgers.

Spencer Farrar, a 55-year-old retired Marine Corps colonel and California transplant living in New York, travels frequently for work and always brings an extra carry-on bag so he can fly a dozen burgers home.

Farrar’s Reddit post, which detailed his method, drew nearly 2,000 reactions and over 200 comments from die-hard In-N-Out Burger fans upon its initial posting.

“Order just the burgers without the tomatoes, onions, or lettuce (this causes the buns to get soggy). If you want to bring back the lettuce or tomatoes, use protective food containers,” he wrote. Adding to his list of steps, Farrar said to ask for sauce packets on the side when ordering, but skip the fries, as they don’t stay fresh for long, especially after a flight.

To keep the burgers fresh, place them in large ziplock bags with pre-frozen cold packs layered around them. “As soon as you arrive home, vacuum seal and freeze the burgers. Recommend removing around 75% of the air; else, the burger will be overly crushed.” He said that for the optimum taste and quality, they should be consumed within three to four months.

Farrar also advised mocking other In-N-Out Burger lovers on the East Coast by eating the stored burgers in public and informing them that a new shop had opened up nearby.

According to the granddaughter of the company’s founders, In-N-Out Burger will never open on the East Coast. But Lee Frank’s Burgers, a New England eatery, comes close for customers hoping for an In-N-Out-style burger.

Lee Frank’s Burgers has sites in Wells and South Berwick, Maine. Chef Lee Frank also manages Otis in Exeter, New Hampshire, and this year opened a new Lee Frank’s restaurant at 75 Portsmouth Ave. in the Exeter Commons Plaza, replacing the Donut Love business.

Lee Frank’s early years in California served as inspiration for the restaurant’s menu. Lee Frank, the restaurant’s creator and a Los Angeles native, grew up eating burgers at Carney’s Restaurant and In-N-Out Burger.