Googie Coffee Shops

Curated Mid-Century Modern Home Listings from Across the U.S.A 📍

Jul 01, 2024

Today we’re talking coffee, more specifically, the “Googie” coffee shops of 1950s Los Angeles. Googie, not to be confused with the 2 trillion dollar search engine, refers to a fun, hyper-futuristic style popular in post-war Southern California.

Southeast corner of Sunset Blvd and Crescent Heights Blvd showing Schwab's Pharmacy and Googie's coffee shop, Los Angeles, circa late 1950s — The Orginal Googie Coffee Shop by John Lautner. Built 1949. Photo circa 1950s.

The origin of the movement and the term itself was a coffee shop on Sunset Boulveard, designed by John Lautner. The original Googie Coffee shop, Googie’s, lived in the heart of Hollywood on the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights. Built in 1949, the funky space became a popular meeting place for celebrities including James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen and many more.

Googie architectural elements included bright colors, boomerang and amoeba shapes, atomic shapes (based on the atomic model), starbursts, cantilevered ceilings, glass as a structural element, and of course, slanty roofs. The whimsical style spread across Southern California, influencing not just coffee shops but new homes, city buildings, and even LAX’s Theme Building. Googie also influenced popular culture, including buildings in The Jetsons, America’s favorite family from the future.

Like all modernist movements, Googie wasn’t without its critics. Douglas Haskall, a writer for House and Home, said Googie “brought modern architecture down from the mountains.” Today, few of the original Googie coffee shops remain - the original Lautner Googie is now a CVS. Driving around LA though, Googie influence is still hard to miss.