Ships Coffee Shop (Demolished)
Culver City, CA Photo courtesy Georg Balandran
Check out the jet-age arrow at Ships Coffee Shop in Culver City. The sign and angular building made this a meal stop worth noticing, with the kind of space age appearance that once gave Southern California coffee shops their distinctive roadside character.
Opened in December 1956 at Washington Boulevard and Overland Avenue, this was the first Ships location. Inside, a toaster at each table let customers handle their own toast. Breakfast came with a small appliance and a little responsibility.
The Culver City restaurant closed in August 1995, then briefly returned that October under new management. Unfortunately, the comeback couldn’t keep the familiar coffee shop going indefinitely.
UPDATE: Ships closed for the final time in November 1996 and was later demolished. The photographs preserve its distinctive architecture and roadside arrow. 10-26
Wholesome Foods (formerly Wich Stand Patio)
Los Angeles, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The dramatic roofline at Simply Wholesome, formerly the Wich Stand, recalls the days when cruising to a coffee shop was an evening’s entertainment. Designed by Armet & Davis in 1957, the building gave Slauson Avenue a generous helping of Googie character.
The Wich Stand became a gathering place for the car crowd, with its futuristic appearance providing an appropriate backdrop. The attraction wasn’t limited to whatever was on the menu. Sometimes the parking lot supplied a show of its own.
After the restaurant closed in 1988, preservation efforts helped keep the building from disappearing. Percell and Lystra Keeling later purchased the property, bringing it back into use as Simply Wholesome in 1995. The menu and business changed, and portions of the original design were altered, but the old coffee shop received another chapter rather than a date with the bulldozer.
UPDATE: Simply Wholesome continues operating in the former Wich Stand at 4508 West Slauson Avenue. The preserved building remains a recognizable reminder of the cruising era. 10-26
Don's Coffee Shop in Burbank opened in 1947 as a drive-in
restaurant with a car hop. Brenda (bottom photo right side) worked at
Don's for over 30 years. Lillie (left side) started there as a car hop
when she was just sixteen and celebrated her 50th anniversary just as
Don's was closing to make way for the new Japanese cuisine restaurant
that will take its place. Don's two famous neon chefs will be displayed
at the Burbank Historical Society and Museum of Neon Art. Many thanks to Adriene Biondo for info
Another independent name in Burbank’s coffee shop landscape was Don’s Coffee Shop. The photograph preserves a look at a neighborhood restaurant that has since joined the growing list of disappeared meal stops.
The friendly staff at Don's
Burbank, CA Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo
Places like Don’s helped give local streets their own identity. A coffee shop didn’t have to be a famous chain or a celebrity gathering place to become familiar to the people passing it every day. Sometimes the name alone was enough to bring back memories of a meal or someone who used to stop there.
That’s part of the appeal of these old restaurant photographs. They catch places that might otherwise slip out of the neighborhood’s memory once the building disappears. What looked like an ordinary coffee shop during its working years becomes something worth another look.
A look at the famous neon chef while still
lit Burbank , CA Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo
Unfortunately, Don’s didn’t survive. The restaurant is gone, leaving this view as a reminder of another Burbank stop where the doors once opened for hungry customers. Another coffee shop had served its last dish.
UPDATE: Don’s Coffee Shop in Burbank was demolished. The photograph preserves a look at the former restaurant before its disappearance. 10-26
Dolores Restaurant (Closed)
Santa Monica, CA Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo
An “always open” coffee shop was a welcome sight for a hungry traveler, and Dolores Restaurant offered that familiar invitation in Santa Monica. The photograph recalls the days when a late arrival didn’t necessarily mean missing dinner.
The Dolores restaurant story in Southern California began in 1944 with a drive-in in Hollywood. Later locations carried the name into the coffee shop era, trading on the appeal of familiar meals and a place to sit awhile.
This Santa Monica entry captures another chapter of that history. Like so many old restaurant photographs, it records a business when the promise of another meal still hung outside.
Dolores Restaurant (Closed)
Santa Monica, CA Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo
UPDATE: The photographed Dolores Restaurant in Santa Monica closed. It was a separate location from the Dolores restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles. 10-26
UPDATE: The Dolores Restaurant is closed and fenced off. A fire struck the restaurant and bakery on Chirstmas Eve 2012, just several months after the place changed its name to the West L.A. Grill Cafe. 05-13
Ships Coffee Shop (Demolished)
Wholesome Foods (formerly Wich Stand Patio)
Don's Coffee Shop (Demolished)
The friendly staff at Don's
A look at the famous neon chef while still
lit
Dolores Restaurant (Closed)
Dolores Restaurant (Closed)
