Googie’s Coffee Shop by John Lautner | Demolished

The Googies Coffee Shop by architect John Lautner was built in 1949. Located on the world-famous Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, CA, the coffee shop became a popular meeting place for celebrities including James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen and many more. Always an innovator, Lautner created this space age architectural style which would eventually be coined Googie for its namesake diner.

The origins of Googie architecture have been traced back his previous work on Coffee Dan’s. While Googie architecture was hugely popular with the general public, some critics weren’t so kind. Douglas Haskall, a critic for House and Home, said Googie “brought modern architecture down from the mountains.” Thankfully, time has been much more kind. Most look upon this whimsical style with much affection.

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The elements of Googie Design include:

• Upswept roofs
• Cantilevered ceilings
• Domed roofs
• Glass as a design element
• Boomerang and amoeba shapes
• Atomic shapes based on the atomic model
• Starbursts
• Buildings resembling spacecraft
• Exposed steel beams