CITY FOCUS:Sammy’s serving its last burger

After 18 years of working 12-hour shifts six days a week, the owner of Sammy’s Hamburgers and Sandwiches in Huntington Beach will be able to take a break.

Unable to reach an agreement with his landlord about his lease, owner Assad Abousaleh is closing Sammy’s Saturday. Sitting in his restaurant in the center of the Beach Talbert Village on Beach Boulevard Monday, Abousaleh reflected on the many years he spent feeding the hungry hordes of locals who considered Sammy’s their neighborhood burger joint.

“You get used to it after a while,” Abousaleh said of the long hours. “It becomes a way of life.”

It’s a hard life, though. He admitted he feels old at just 53.

Abousaleh, a quiet man, started the first Sammy’s in 1983 in Costa Mesa with $10,000 in savings before moving to Huntington Beach in 1988. Since then, he has single-handedly run the joint on Beach Boulevard, which proclaims on its store front: “Best Burgers in Town” and then in smaller print beneath, “According to Sammy.”

A regular customer for eight years, Bill Johnson said he loved the food at the burger joint — especially the pastrami sandwich.

“Whenever it would rain, I would head over to Sammy’s to have a pastrami,” he said.

Other burger specialties included the turkey avocado on squaw bread and one with mushrooms, onions and beef.

Abousaleh’s unassuming personality and shy, down-to-earth disposition were what Johnson liked the most, he said.

It’s no surprise that Abousaleh loved serving customers.

“Serving the same people day in, day out, and then serving their kids and friends has been the best part.”

Abousaleh’s two sons tried their hand at his business but gave up.

“It was too much work for them,” he said.

Abousaleh and the Beach Talbert Village owners couldn’t reach on agreement on the new rent amount, said George Dasaro, administrative agent for the owners. Abousaleh said Sammy’s would be replaced with an ice cream shop, although Dasaro declined to comment on that.

“I feel bad,” Abousaleh said. “But this is life, and life goes on.”

Blanca Medina, an employee of six years, said her boss wouldn’t stop crying for three days when the lease was not renewed. “He’s such a nice guy.”

Abousaleh loaned her money when she needed it and taught her to speak English when she first arrived from Mexico, said Medina, a single mother of two children.

“I hope he finds another place,” she said.

Abousaleh, who lives in Fountain Valley, plans to find another location close by. But before that, he will take his first vacation by himself. Probably a cruise, he said.