Nipsey Hussle's Marathon Burger Just Landed at LAX

LOS ANGELES

The Marathon has a gate number now.

Marathon Burger — the restaurant arm of the brand Nipsey Hussle founded in 2010 — officially opened Monday at Los Angeles International Airport, in Terminal 1. It's the brand's fifth location and its first inside an airport, announced by Los Angeles World Airports alongside a ribbon-cutting with Mayor Karen Bass, LAWA CEO John Ackerman, Roy Choi of Kogi BBQ — which opened next to it the same day — and the man carrying the Marathon forward: Nipsey's brother, Samiel "Blacc Sam" Asghedom.

The brand said it plainest itself. "Now serving, LAX Terminal 1!" reads the caption on @marathonburger's opening post, a 12-photo carousel from the day — the ribbon coming down, the staff lined up behind the counter under the Marathon Burger sign, the Crenshaw marching band playing inside the terminal. The airport's own account posted its welcome the same afternoon, and the celebration had the sound of the city in it: the Crenshaw band and 1500 or Nothin' performed at the ceremony.

Travelers through Terminal 1 — Southwest's home at LAX — can now order the same made-to-order Wagyu smash burgers that built lines on Melrose, plus fries, hot wings, cocktails, and a breakfast menu FOX 11 reports is exclusive to the airport. There's a pop-up shop selling Marathon merchandise alongside it. Sam told FOX 11 the crew is "very blessed and honored to be here," and shared his memories of traveling through this exact terminal with his brother. To Moodie Davitt Report he added: "To be able to expand and have this be our fifth location is a huge blessing."

The airport wanted LA food in LA's front door. The openings are the first phase of a concessions refresh LAWA is running with ASUR Airports and Concord Collective ahead of the 2028 Olympics. "We're on a mission to put the 'LA' in LAX," Ackerman said, "and Marathon carries forward Nipsey Hussle's legacy of entrepreneurship and community pride."

The first customers actually got a head start — E-40 posted Friday from Terminal 1, plates up with Jaleel White, three days before the official launch. The line since has only grown: from the Marathon Clothing store on Crenshaw and Slauson, to the Melrose flagship that opened March 1, 2025 — the restaurant Sam has said the brothers dreamed about back when they were working in a kitchen together as kids — to Venice, Canoga Park, Long Beach, and now the airport the whole world flies through.

The next stop is already called — and it's this site's hometown. In August, Sam announced on Power 106's Brown Bag Mornings that Marathon Burger is coming to Las Vegas, as HotNewHipHop reported: the brand's first location outside California and its first drive-thru, planned for the Strip, with no opening date or address announced yet. "Vegas has always been aspirational," Sam said. "The strip, the lights." When it opens, Previously — published from Las Vegas — will be there.

Related on Previously: Nipsey Hussle and Bino Rideaux's 'PROLIFIC' Gets Its Documentary Moment at the Grammy Museum

— Previously's Take: Seven years after we lost him, Nipsey Hussle's name is on a counter where millions of people a year will read it before they read a departure board. That's not nostalgia. That's the plan working exactly the way he drew it up — own where you're from, build it brick by brick, and don't stop. The Marathon continues, at 35,000 feet now.