Pann's is a coffee shop restaurant in the

Westchester Westchester most commonly refers to Westchester County, New York, immediately north of New York City. __NOTOC__ It may also refer to: Geography Canada *Westchester Station, Nova Scotia, Canada United States *Town of Westchester, the original seat ...

neighborhood of

Los Angeles, California 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' ...

, known for its history, role in movies, and distinctive architecture. The restaurant was opened by husband and wife George and Rena Poulos in 1958. It is also known for its

neon sign In the signage industry, neon signs are electric signs lighted by long luminous gas-discharge tubes that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in Decem ...

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 ...

, and 1950s

decor Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordina ...

. The building and its iconic

were designed by architects

Eldon Davis Eldon Carlyle Davis (February 2, 1917 – April 22, 2011) was an American architect, considered largely responsible for the creation of Googie architecture, a form of modern architecture originating in Southern California. Googie architecture ...

and

Helen Liu Fong Helen Liu Fong (January 14, 1927April 17, 2005) was a Chinese-American architect and interior designer from Los Angeles, California. Fong was an important figure in the Googie architecture movement, designing futuristic buildings like Norms Rest ...

of the Armet & Davis architectural firm. Pann's remains one of the best preserved examples of Davis' Googie designs, according to the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. Like many coffee shops it serves breakfast all day."Pann's (Los Angeles): 6710 La Tijera Blvd. Go there for breakfast any time of the day, but the menu has everything. This is the real deal since 1958 and the Fifties design is eye-opening. Several films and TV shows have been filmed here. The biscuits are memorable, but go hungry and order everything you can on the breakfast menu. I have the t-shirt." The restaurant also serves "

blue-plate special A blue-plate special is a discount-priced meal that usually changes daily: a term used in the United States and Canada by restaurants, especially diners and cafes. The term was very common from the 1920s through the 1950s. , there are still a ...

s," complete meals that vary daily. Pann's includes an angular edifice and large plate glass windows and has been described as having "the classic coffee shop architecture". It was designed by Helen Liu Fong, who also designed the

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has b ...

, Johnie's coffee shop, and the original

Norms Restaurant Norms Restaurants (stylized as NORMS) is a chain of diner-style restaurants in Southern California. Founded in 1949 by used-car salesman Norm Roybark, some restaurants are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. the company operates 21 locations, ...

. She included tropical landscaping in the design, and was part of the firm of Armet & Davis that one commentator refers to as "the

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

of 1950s coffee shops." Pann's is currently owned by George and Rena's son Jim Poulos. Rena Poulos died at age 100 in 2017.
via

Legacy.com Legacy.com is a United States-based website founded in 1998, the world's largest commercial provider of online memorials. The Web site hosts obituaries and memorials for more than 70 percent of all U.S. deaths.Keagle, Lauri Harvey"Death in the D ...

Ed Begley, Jr. Edward James Begley Jr. (born September 16, 1949) is an American actor and environmental activist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He played Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the television series '' St. ...

told a story about running into

César Chávez Cesar Chavez (born Cesario Estrada Chavez ; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged ...

at Pann's in the 1980s."Begley Jr. was involved 'from a great distance' with César Chávez and the United Farm Workers union. 'I didn't buy grapes for 30 years,' he remembers. 'I never knew if the boycott was on or off, so I wouldn't take any chances.' Then the extraordinary happened. In 1987, Begley was at Pann's Restaurant on Sepulveda Boulevard. 'I was sitting there having a bowl of oatmeal when these two dudes got out of a very, very modest car, they came into the coffee shop, and it became clear to me that one of them was César Chávez. I kept thinking, Where's the entourage one would expect from an internationally known labor leader? I went up to him, I said, 'I don't want to bother you, I just want to say hello, my name is Ed Begley. I've been adhering to the grape boycott for years now, and I just want to say if there's any way I can be of help, let me know.'" Pann's was featured in a story in the ''Los Angeles Times'', "Going on a hunt for Googie architecture," which noted the restaurant's tilted roof and sign, tropical plants and exposed stone walls indoors and out, and glass windows wrapping around the restaurant. Pann's celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008.

Recognition

*Winner of the Los Angeles Conservancy Preservation Award * Pann's has operated under a number of snappy mottoes, including "Just Food, Service and Rock & Roll." *The restaurant has been featured in films such as ''

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'' and ''

Bewitched ''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typic ...

'' *Contrary to popular belief, ''

Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhame ...

'' was not filmed at Pann's; it was filmed at another restaurant owned by the Poulos family
Holly’s
in Hawthorne.

References

External links

* {{coord, 33.978115, -118.370566, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-CA, display=title 1958 establishments in California Googie architecture in California Restaurants established in 1958 Restaurants in Los Angeles Westchester, Los Angeles