Googie's Coffee Shop (styled googies) was a small restaurant located at 8100 Sunset Boulevard in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

next door to the famous

Schwab's Pharmacy Schwab's Pharmacy was a drugstore located at 8024 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, and was a popular hangout for movie actors and movie industry dealmakers from the 1930s through the 1950s. History Opened in 1932 by the Schwab brothers ...

at the beginning of the Sunset Strip. It was designed in 1949 by architect

John Lautner John Edward Lautner (16 July 1911 – 24 October 1994) was an American architect. Following an apprenticeship in the mid-1930s with the Taliesin Fellowship led by Frank Lloyd Wright, Lautner opened his own practice in 1938, where he worked for th ...

and lent its name to

Googie architecture Googie architecture ( ) is a type of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, Jet aircraft, jets, the Atomic Age and the Space Age. It originated in Southern California from the Streamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s, and was pop ...

, a genre of modernist design in the 1950s and 60s. Interest in the style was revived by the 1986 book ''Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture'' by Alan Hess.Hess 2004, pp. 66–68 A photograph of the building by

Julius Shulman Julius Shulman (October 10, 1910 – July 15, 2009) was an American architectural photographer best known for his photograph " Case Study House #22, Los Angeles, 1960. Pierre Koenig, Architect." The house is also known as the Stahl House. Shulm ...

and commentary on the unique style by critic Douglas Haskell was the subject of a 1952 article in '' House & Home'' magazine entitled ''Googie Architecture''. "(The building) starts off on the level like any other building," Haskell wrote. "But suddenly it breaks for the sky. The bright red roof of cellular steel decking suddenly tilts upward as if swung on a hinge, and the whole building goes up with it like a rocket ramp." Additional Googie's locations were built at 5th & Olive Street in Downtown Los Angeles in 1955. Architects Armet & Davis created an eye-catching roof for the restaurant which was located on the ground floor of the six-story San Carlos Hotel. Another location was opened in the City National Bank building at 420 N. Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills, California. Googie's Beverly Hills was photographed by

Allan Grant Allan Grant (October 23, 1919 – February 1, 2008) was an American photojournalist for '' Life'' magazine. He had the last photo shoot with actress Marilyn Monroe and took the first photos of Marina Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald's wife, following ...

for Life magazine in 1956. Another location operated at the Atlantic Square shopping center at 2080 S. Atlantic Boulevard in Monterey Park, California. The restaurant was originally owned by Mortimer C. Burton and Ernie Goldenfeld. By 1954, the restaurant was sold to Ed Thrasher. It became a popular meeting place for celebrities including

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, ''Rebel Without a Cause' ...

who often made late night visits with a regular group that included actor and artist

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...

and TV horror host

Maila Nurmi Maila Elizabeth Syrjäniemi (December 11, 1922 – January 10, 2008), known professionally as Maila Nurmi, was an American actress who created the campy 1950s character Vampira. She was raised in Astoria, Oregon, where she worked in tuna and s ...

, AKA Vampira. Dean was photographed at the restaurant by

Phil Stern Philip "Snapdragon" Stern (September 3, 1919 – December 13, 2014) was an American photographer noted for his iconic portraits of Hollywood stars, as well as his war photography while serving as a U.S. Army Ranger with "Darby's Rangers" during ...

. Steve Hayes, onetime manager of the restaurant, noted that Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, Lee Marvin, and Steve McQueen were regular customers during the 1950s. Comedian

Lenny Bruce Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), known professionally as Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of comedy which ...

got into a fight inside the restaurant in 1957 and was thrown through a plate glass window. The restaurant changed hands several times from the 1960s to the 1980s and operated as Gee Gee's, Steak 'n Stein, and Pippy's Pizza. The property, along with neighboring Schwab's Pharmacy, was sold to developer Condor Wescorp and demolished in 1988. The site is now a two-story shopping center called 8000 Sunset Strip.

References

* (previously published in 1986 as ''Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture'' ) * * ) * ) {{Refend Defunct restaurants in Hollywood, Los Angeles Demolished buildings and structures in Los Angeles Modernist architecture in California Googie architecture in California Googie architecture Restaurants established in 1949 Commercial buildings in Los Angeles Buildings and structures demolished in 1988