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Googie Architecture

See more googie related signage and buildings at Googie Central

 

LAX Encounter Restaurant
Formerly the Theme Building
Los Angeles, CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

Do you remember the space age buildings of a few decades ago, back when the space program captured the attention of millions and optimism was at an all time high? Well, like everything else these days, times have changed and most of the great buildings from the 50's and 60's have disappeared off the roadside landscape.

 

 

Skydome in Northern Arizona
Photo courtesy Tony Craig

In its place is exotic "strip mall architecture" with boxlike shapes and rectangular signage promoting the building and facilities within. Here at Roadside Peek's Googie Architecture, see the commercial landscape as it once was... a field of dreams and optimism... back when the consensus was that "anything and everything was possible."

 

 

Nogales Border Crossing
Nogales, Mexico
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

The parabolic shapes and arches that typify this space age architecture were once found throughout the states.

 

 

Santa Cruz Boardwalk
Photo courtesy Mark Hackett

Out on the Santa Cruz Boardwalk is a gaming joint complete with multiple googie fins.

 

 

Biff's Coffee Shop
Oakland, CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

Here's the former Biff's Coffee Shop in Oakland, CA. This roundish googie building was recently saved by a Save Biff's foundation.

 

 

 

When you think of Googie and space age, how much more mid-century futuristic can you get than the Space Needle and Pacific Science Center in Seattle, WA?

Space Needle
Photo courtesy Louis Di Fazio

Pacific Science Center
Seattle, WA
Photo courtesy Louis Di Fazio

 

These remaining structures from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair depict a much more optimistic time in America's past. The Space Needle stands tall and the googie structures to the right are still at the Pacific Science Center in Downtown Seattle.

 

 

Norm's Restaurant
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

Coffee shops with their boomerang shapes and large glass windows also typified the mid-century era. These so called "googie" restaurants were as known for their exotic angles and sense of space as they were for their food.

See more of these coffee shops at Roadside Peek's Coffee Shops and Coffee Shop Classics sections.

 

 

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© Copyright 1998-2013 Syd Nagoshi. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced, copied or revised without written permission of the author.