Googie Lives

Birthday Cake @ Pann's

On Friday Larry and I were honored to be invited to the Eldon Davis' 90th Birthday Coffee Shop Tour and Progressive Dinner hosted by the L.A. Conservancy's Modern Committee and by the architecture firm of Armet, Davis and Newlove. You can read about the highlights of the tour here. L.A. Times reporter, August Brown, along with Times photographer Lawrence Ho went on the entire tour with the group and both did an excellent job of capturing the essence of Googie. A good explanation of Googie architecture is found in Wikipedia. Basically, these are futuristic "Jetsons"- type buildings, with that space age, optimistic look to the future. We still have many buildings of this design here in Los Angeles.

The tour started at Norm's on La Cienega with appetizers. The group then boarded a Vegas-style tour bus, complete with sparkling lights, champagne and music, graciously provided by the Armet, Davis and Newlove firm for the evening. While we were on the bus, many of the ModCom members gave comments on the places we were visiting that evening. Chris Nichols, along with Adrienne Biondo and other ModCommers gave a history of Googie. The author of "Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture", Alan Hess was also in attendance and helped us all understand the importance of preserving our historic and architecturally significant buildings.

We cruised by the former Tiny Naylor's coffeeshop on La Cienega just north of Wilshire. Then, the bus swung by Johnie's (originally Romeo's Times Square Coffee Shop) on Wilshire and Fairfax. Next stop was dinner at Bob's Big Boy (formerly a Carnation Restaurant) on Wilshire and Highland.

Bob Dolls
Eldon Davis @ Counter, Alan Hess in background, Sven Kirsten in Foreground

After Big Boy burgers and fries, we motored east on Wilshire to Crenshaw. Next stop: The Holiday Bowl that is now a Starbucks. We had coffee and biscotti at this stop. The bowling alley building is gone, but the modern design of the original coffee shop can still be viewed. The Starbucks Corporation took great care (along with the Modern Committee's help) to preserve as much of the original coffee shop as possible. The Holiday Bowl was a community center of sorts encompassing the black, white and Japanese communities of the Crenshaw area. There's an interesting online article about the Crenshaw Square neighborhood by Emy Murakawa.

Holiday Bowl Coffee Shop - Starbucks

We cruised south on Crenshaw to Slauson, turned west and viewed many mid-century buildings including The 'Wich Stand at Overhill, which is now a health food restaurant and yoga center called Simply Wholesome.

Original Menu The 'Wich Stand today....Simply Wholesome

ModCommers @ Pann's

Our last stop was at La Cienega and La Tijera at the historic Pann's Coffee Shop. We had birthday cake for Mr. Davis along with Pann's owner, Rena Poulos who also turned 90 a few days ago. On the patio at Pann's photographer for many of the historic Armet and Davis coffee shops, Jack Laxer, set up his 3-D projector and showed 3-D slides of many mid-century modern buildings in Los Angeles. Wearing special 3-D glasses really enhanced the experience of Googie for all of us!

ModCommers wish Eldon Davis & Rena Poulos a Happy 90th B-Day