ObservanceSaturday, September 18, 2027
National Cheeseburger Day
- Date
- Recurs
- Every year on September 18
- Category
- Food
National Cheeseburger Day falls on September 18, and its own origin is not well documented — no founding organization, proclamation, or first observance can be traced to the date. The sandwich it honors has a better-attested history, though a contested one: several American restaurants have claimed the invention, and the oldest hard evidence for it is not a claim at all but a Los Angeles menu from 1928.
History
The origin of this observance is not well documented. The September 18 date circulates widely and is marked every year by restaurant promotions, but no founding body, proclamation, or first observance for it could be traced to a primary or news source, and this page will not supply one.
The cheeseburger's own history is better attested, and still unsettled. Lionel C. Sternberger is the name most often attached to it. Reviewing the accounts in 2004, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise found that he was "believed to have invented the 'cheese hamburger' in the 1920s in the Northeast portion of Los Angeles County," but added that "[t]ales differ, however, as to precisely when this occurred, and where." Some accounts put it in 1924, others in 1926. Pasadena is the usual location, though readers of a 1994 Los Angeles Times column placed the moment in Highland Park at Sternberger's Rite Spot, and another remembered a smaller Sternberger hamburger stand on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena earlier still. The paper also noted an arithmetic problem with the earliest date: Sternberger was born on February 21, 1907, so in 1924 he was seventeen, and more plausibly working in his father's kitchen than running a kitchen of his own.
What is firm is a piece of paper. A 1928 menu from O'Dell's at 4922 S. Figueroa in Los Angeles lists "CHEESEBURGER, smothered with chili" at 25 cents; the same sandwich on a bun cost five cents more. Merriam-Webster independently dates the first known use of the word cheeseburger to 1928. Between them, the menu and the dictionary put both the sandwich and its name in Los Angeles by the late 1920s, which leaves the later claims stranded. The Metropolitan News-Enterprise concluded that the 1928 menu "debunks the notion that Carl Kaelin ... invented it in 1934," and treated the other 1930s claims as "doubtful 'firsts.'"
Timeline
- February 21, 1907 — Lionel C. Sternberger, the man most often credited with the cheeseburger, is born.
- 1920s — Sternberger is "believed to have invented the 'cheese hamburger'" somewhere in the northeast of Los Angeles County. Accounts split between 1924 and 1926, and between Pasadena and Highland Park.
- 1928 — O'Dell's, at 4922 S. Figueroa in Los Angeles, lists a cheeseburger smothered with chili at 25 cents. Merriam-Webster dates the word's first known use to the same year.
- 1934 — The year of a rival claim to the invention, which the 1928 menu contradicts.
- January 30, 1964 — Sternberger dies in Los Angeles. Accounts at his death identify him as the cheeseburger's inventor.
- 2010 — Chicken passes beef in per-person availability in the United States and stays ahead; by 2021 the figures are 68.1 pounds against 56.2.
How to observe
Order one with American cheese at least once. The slab of processed American cheese is what the Sternberger story turns on, and it melts into the patty in a way an aged cheese will not — which is why the original choice stuck.
Or order the oldest documented version instead: a cheeseburger smothered with chili, which is how O'Dell's was selling it in 1928, and which is still on menus across Southern California.
If the history is the interesting part, go and look at menus yourself. The Los Angeles Public Library's TESSA archive includes a Menu Collection, and an old restaurant menu is one of the few food-history sources that cannot be embellished after the fact: a price and a line of type, printed before anyone was arguing about who was first.
Worth knowing while you eat. In 2021, 56.2 pounds of beef per person were available for consumption in the United States, against 68.1 pounds of chicken, according to USDA Economic Research Service data; chicken has been ahead of beef since 2010.
Frequently asked questions
When is National Cheeseburger Day?
September 18, every year. The date is fixed and does not shift for weekends.
Who started National Cheeseburger Day?
The origin of this observance is not well documented. No founding organization, proclamation, or first observance could be traced to the date from a primary or news source, and the pages that name a founder do not cite one.
Is National Cheeseburger Day a federal holiday?
No. It does not appear on the Office of Personnel Management's list of federal holidays, which is set by statute at 5 U.S.C. 6103. Offices, banks, and post offices operate normally.
Who invented the cheeseburger?
Nobody can prove it. Lionel C. Sternberger is the usual answer, and the accounts place him in Los Angeles County in the 1920s, but they disagree on the year — 1924 or 1926 — and on the place, and he was seventeen in 1924. A 1928 Los Angeles menu is the earliest documented cheeseburger, and it does not say who thought of it.
Why do both 1924 and 1926 get quoted?
Because the story was reconstructed decades later from memory and newspaper columns rather than from records. Neither year has a document behind it, so the two have circulated side by side ever since.
When is National Cheeseburger Day?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | September 18 | Saturday |
| 2028 | September 18 | Monday |
| 2029 | September 18 | Tuesday |
| 2030 | September 18 | Wednesday |
| 2031 | September 18 | Thursday |
Sources
- Metropolitan News-Enterprise, Reminiscing: Who Invented Hamburger Sandwich? And What About the Cheeseburger? (January 8, 2004) — http://www.metnews.com/articles/2004/reminiscing010804.htm → Sternberger "believed to have invented the 'cheese hamburger' in the 1920s"; "[t]ales differ ... as to precisely when this occurred, and where"; the 1924-vs-1926 split and the Pasadena-vs-Highland Park split; the Rite Spot and the Colorado Boulevard stand; Sternberger born February 21, 1907 and died in Los Angeles January 30, 1964; the age-17 objection to 1924; accounts at his death crediting him; 1930s rival claims as "doubtful 'firsts.'"
- Metropolitan News-Enterprise, Reminiscing: Old Menus Tell the History of Hamburgers in L.A. (January 15, 2004) — http://www.metnews.com/articles/2004/reminiscing011504.htm → the 1928 O'Dell's menu at 4922 S. Figueroa listing "CHEESEBURGER, smothered with chili" at 25 cents; the bun costing five cents more; the 1928 menu debunking the 1934 Kaelin claim.
- Merriam-Webster, cheeseburger — https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cheeseburger → first known use of the word dated to 1928.
- USDA Economic Research Service, Food Availability and Consumption — https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/food-availability-and-consumption → 56.2 pounds of beef and 68.1 pounds of chicken available per person in 2021 (boneless, edible basis); chicken ahead of beef since 2010.
- Los Angeles Public Library, TESSA digital collections — https://tessa.lapl.org/collectionpage.html → the library's Menu Collection as a route to original menus.
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Holidays — https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/ → the statutory list of federal holidays (5 U.S.C. 6103), which does not include this day.
Not used as sources: nationaltoday, nationaldaycalendar, checkiday, timeanddate, and content-farm pages. Several of the standard citations for this topic could not be read during this run (Los Angeles Times 1991 and 2012, USA Today 2018, the archived City of Louisville page, the Steak 'n Shake v. Burger King opinion), so no claim rests on them.
Add to your calendarA calendar file for Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook. The event repeats every year. You can also subscribe to this observance or to the whole calendar.
← See everything September 18 celebrates