O/T... Jet Age/Googie Architecture in So Cal

love that googie/jet age style. check out www.spaceagecity.com they have some cool potos

 

Rods Grill is still alive and well in Arcadia, CA.
Huntington Drive (Route 66)
you can still get a real chocolate malt...not a lowly shake...

 

Our very own Encounter restaurant at LAX. talk about comitting to an esthetic!

 

The Pan Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles, burned down in 1989

 

I love this stuff...I think a lot of us look back to the Googie era and wish were were right up in the mix during this time. I grew up on the East Coast and I used to live in SoCal and yeah, there's seemingly more Googie-style buildings in SoCal than most of the rest of the U.S. but there is some here in the Detroit area too. As for why Googgie is concentrated where it is all comes down to what architectural style was popular when that region's population exploded. A lot of people moved to the LA Basin after WW2 for various reasons, thus a lot of new building followed along. That's why for example Pasadena, CA has such a high concentration of Arts&Crafts (or Craftsman) style of homes; their population boomed in the 1920's and thus a lot of the then-popular Arts&Crafts style of homes were built.
Thanks to all for sharing. Keep the pix coming!!

 

Ben Franks Coffee Shop was a family favorite when I was a kid.
Its still there now called Mel's, on the Sunset Strip, Sunset Blvd., Hollywood
Great "comfort" food.

 

Here's a great thread with photos of the boneyard near Vegas where a bunch of the (very cool) old signs are:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=243759&showall=1

And an "Old Signs" thread that Ryan started:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=232757&highlight=vegas+signs

Malcolm

 

Ya I know, thats why I said one of the first, I should of said one of the originals. Oh well

 

Dam! That brings back memories, I remember going there sometime in the mid 80's with my dad.... for some reason I never realised that it's Mel's now, whatta trip!

 

The new Mels Drive-in in Seal Beach,used to be the Parasol. I don't know if it was Googie style but it was an Icon too.

 

You design these? That rocks!

 

why does this remind me of the Brady Bunch house???........still kool as hell I'd buy one,oh wait I sell manufactured houses.....ok put wheels under it!

 

We have a Frank Lloyd Wright house here. That may not seem like a big deal but remember this is a hic cowboy town of 4000 out in the middle of nowhere.
Also there are still quite a few of the 50s and 60s signs still up in these old towns. There is still a resteraunt downtown with all the 50s stuff inside.

 

Meatball,
Look closely at the design. The "central core" appears to be a 20 X 60 "doublewide" design, and the lean-to's and garage could easily be quick-fabbed, with a roof that ties it all together.

I'd run that design by a manufacturer and see if they would be interested in doing something along those lines. If you guys could work your way into a contractors plans to develop a neighborhood, the factory would probably be happy to pick up the paper to make a couple hundred of them.

 

Its in the works! they are 14'-6" wide x52'-8" long, and the other parts are additions that you can add for more square footage.
I have tons of old house plan books if someone wants to do plans also.
here's the smaller version:

and the larger plan:

 

damn thats kool.......I gotta really look at this now,who knows.....

 

These are from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The restored Rabbit Ears Motel sign looks incredible at night. The Gas station sign is in front of a new convenience store that chose not to use the sign but I think the city told them they can not tear it down. If I owned that store, I would embrace the old sign and have it restored to it's original awesomeness.

 

One of my favorite restaurants when I was a kid