When the Chick-fil-A at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue opens, it will be only the second Los Angeles location, but the Southern chicken chain is looking to expand throughout California in a big way. Jeremiah Cillpam, the franchisee/operator of Chick-fil-A Hollywood, tells us the chain plans to open a Northridge location in early November followed by their first freestanding South Bay location in Torrance in early December. It will be located near 182nd and Hawthorne, in the vicinity of the South Bay Galleria.

Though the Hollywood Chick-fil-A won't open to the public until next Thursday (September 22nd), we got a sneak peek at the city's most eagerly anticipated (and somewhat controversial) new fast food outlet in years, complete with bites of the original and the spicy chicken sandwich (two greasy thumbs way up), the fries and the milkshake (oh, yes!).

[Full photo gallery and a few Chick-fil-A factoids after the jump.]

“We're not certain about any other Los Angeles locations yet, but California is definitely a targeted area for us to grow. We're aiming for a dozen more Chick-fil-A locations in California in the next year,” Cillpam says. That includes a San Jose location some time in 2012.

Founder: Truett Cathy

Year Founded: 1946

Original Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Original Name: The Dwarf Grill

Length of Time Required to Cook an Original Chicken Sandwich: 4 minutes and 20 seconds

Number of Pickles Slices on Each Original Chicken Sandwich: Two

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