Googie architecture (/ˈɡuːɡi/ ⓘGOO-ghee[1]) is a type offuturist architecture influenced bycar culture,jets, theAtomic Age and theSpace Age.[2] It originated inSouthern California from theStreamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s, and was popular in the United States from roughly 1945 to the early 1970s.[3]
Googie-themed architecture was popular among roadside businesses, includingmotels,coffee houses andgas stations. The style later became widely known as part of themid-century modern style, elements of which represent thepopuluxe aesthetic,[4][5] as inEero Saarinen'sTWA Terminal. The termGoogie comes from the now-defunctGoogies Coffee Shop inHollywood[6] designed byJohn Lautner.[7] Similar architectural styles are also referred to asPopuluxe orDoo Wop.[8][9]
Features of Googie include upswept roofs, curvilinear,geometric shapes, and bold use ofglass,steel andneon signs. Googie was also characterized by Space Age designs symbolic of motion, such asboomerangs,flying saucers, diagrammaticatoms andparabolas, and free-form designs such as "soft"parallelograms and an artist'spalette motif. These stylistic conventions represented American society's fascination with Space Age themes and marketing emphasis on futuristic designs. As with theArt Deco style of the 1910s–1930s, Googie became less valued as time passed, and many buildings in this style have been destroyed. Some examples have been preserved, though, such asthe oldest McDonald's stand (located inDowney, California).
The origin of the name Googie dates to 1949, when architectJohn Lautner designed theGoogies Coffee Shop inHollywood, which had distinct architectural characteristics.[10] The name "Googie" had been a family nickname of Lillian K. Burton, the wife of the restaurant's original owner, Mortimer C. Burton, and aunt of musicianPeter Matz.[11][12]
Googies was located at the corner ofSunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights inLos Angeles but was demolished in 1989.[13] The name Googie became a rubric for the architectural style when editorDouglas Haskell ofHouse and Home magazine and architectural photographerJulius Shulman were driving through Los Angeles one day. Haskell insisted on stopping the car upon seeing Googies and proclaimed "This is Googie architecture."[10] He popularized the name after an article he wrote appeared in a 1952 edition ofHouse and Home magazine.[14][15]
Though Haskell coined the term Googie and was an advocate of modernism, he did not appreciate the Googie aesthetic. In his article he used the fictional Professor Thrugg's overly effusive praise to mock Googie, at the same time lampooning Hollywood, which he felt informed the aesthetic.[3]
Googie's beginnings are with theStreamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s.[16]Alan Hess, one of the most knowledgeable writers on the subject, writes inGoogie: Ultra Modern Road Side Architecture that mobility inLos Angeles during the 1930s was characterized by the initial influx of the automobile and the service industry that evolved to cater to it. With car ownership increasing, cities no longer had to be centered on a centraldowntown but could spread out to thesuburbs, where business hubs could be interspersed with residential areas. The suburbs offered less congestion by offering the same businesses, but accessible by car. Instead of one main store downtown, businesses now had multiple stores in suburban areas. This new trend required owners and architects to develop a visual imagery so customers would recognize it from the road. This modern consumer architecture was based on communication.[17]
The new smaller suburban drive-in restaurants were essentially architectural signboards advertising the business to vehicles on the road. This was achieved by using bold style choices, including large pylons with elevated signs, bold neon letters and circular pavilions.[18] Hess writes that because of the increase inmass production and travel during the 1930s, Streamline Moderne became popular because of the high energy silhouettes its sleek designs created. These buildings featured rounded edges, large pylons and neon lights, all symbolizing, according to Hess, "invisible forces of speed and energy", that reflect the influx of mobility thatcars,locomotives andzeppelins brought.[19]
Streamline Moderne, much like Googie, was styled to look futuristic to signal the beginning of a new era – that of the automobile and other technologies. Drive-in services such asdiners,movie theaters andfilling stations built with the same principles developed to serve the new American city.[19]Drive-ins had advanced car-oriented architectural design, as they were built with an expressive utilitarian style, circular and surrounded by a parking lot, allowing all customers equal access from their cars.[20] These developments in consumer-oriented design set the stage for Googie during the 1950s, since during the 1940s World War II and rationing caused a pause of development because of the imposed frugality on the American public.
With the increasing prosperity of the United States during the 1950s, however, American designers celebrated this new affluence with optimistic designs. The development ofnuclear power and the reality ofspaceflight captivated the public's imagination of the future.[21] Googie architecture exploited this trend by incorporating energy into its design with elements such as theboomerang, diagonals, atomic bursts and bright colors.[22] According to Hess, commercial architecture was influenced by the desires of the mass audience.[23] The public was captivated byrocket ships andnuclear energy, so, in order to draw their attention, architects used these as motifs in their work. Buildings had been used to catch the attention of motorists since the invention of the car, but during the 1950s the style became more widespread.
The identity of the first architect to practice in the style is often disputed, thoughWayne McAllister was one early and influential architect in starting the style with his 1949Bob's Big Boy restaurant inBurbank.[24] McAllister got his start designing fashionable restaurants in Southern California, which led to a series of Streamline Modernedrive-ins during the 1930s; though he did not have formal training as an architect, he had been offered a scholarship at the architecture school at the University of Pennsylvania because of his skill.[25] McAllister developed a brand for coffee shop chains by developing a style for each client – which also allowed customers to easily recognize a store from the road.[26]
Along with McAllister, the prolific Googie architects includedJohn Lautner, Douglas Honnold, and the team ofLouis Armet andEldon Davis ofArmet & Davis firm, which they founded in 1947.[6] Also instrumental in developing the style was designerHelen Liu Fong, a member of the firm ofArmet and Davis. Joining the firm during 1951, she created such Googie interiors as those of theJohnie's Coffee Shop on Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, the firstNorms Restaurant,[27] and theHoliday Bowl on Crenshaw Boulevard.
America's interest in spaceflight had a significant influence on the unique style of Googie architecture. During the 1950s,space travel became a reality for the first time in history. In 1957 theSoviet Union launchedSputnik I, the first human-made satellite to achieve Earth orbit. The Soviet Union then launchedVostok 1 carrying the first human,Yuri Gagarin, into Earth orbit in 1961. TheEisenhower andKennedy administrations made competing with the Soviets for dominance in space a national priority of considerable urgency and importance. This marked the beginning of the so-called "Space Race".
Googie-style signs usually boast sharp and bold angles, intended to suggest the aerodynamic features of a rocket ship. Also, at the time, the unique architecture was a form of architectural expressionism, as space rockets were technological novelties at the time.
Cantilevered structures, acute angles, illuminated plastic paneling, freeformboomerang and artist'spalette shapes and cutouts, andtailfins on buildings marked Googie architecture, which was contemptible to some architects of then-current High ArtModernism, but had defenders during thepost-Modern period at the end of the 20th century. The common elements that generally distinguish Googie from other forms of architecture are:
The boomerang shape was another design element that captured movement. It was used structurally in place of a pillar or aesthetically as a stylized arrow. Hess writes that the boomerang was a stylistic rendering of a directional energy field.[29]
Editor Douglas Haskell described the abstract Googie style, saying that "If it looks like a bird, this must be a geometric bird."[30] Also, the buildings must appear to defy gravity, as Haskell noted: "whenever possible, the building must hang from the sky".[30] Haskell's third tenet for Googie was that it have more than one theme—more than one structural system.[30] Because of its need to be noticed from moving automobiles along the commercial strip, Googie was not a style noted for its subtlety.
One of the more famous Googie buildings is theTheme Building atLos Angeles International Airport (LAX), designed by James Langenheim ofWilliam Pereira andCharles Luckman and built during 1961.
One of the remaining Googie-styled drive-in restaurants, Harvey's Broiler (Paul Clayton, 1958), laterJohnie's Broiler inDowney, California, was partially demolished in 2006. However, through the efforts of citizens, the city of Downey, and historic preservationists, the structure was rebuilt and reopened in 2009 as aBob's Big Boy restaurant.
Another remaining example of Googie architecture still in operation is theDulles International Airport Main Terminal, designed byEero Saarinen in 1958. This terminal exemplifies the dramatic roof slope, large windows, and generous use of concrete, somewhat similar to Saarinen'sTWA Flight Center.
Classic locations for Googie style buildings areMiami Beach, Florida, where secondary commercial structures were adapted from the resort style ofMorris Lapidus and otherhotel designers; the first phase ofLas Vegas, Nevada; and their birthplace ofSouthern California.
The beachfront resort town ofWildwood, New Jersey, features an array of motel designs, colorfully described by such sub-styles as Vroom, Pu-Pu Platter, Phony Colonee and more.[31][32] The district is known collectively as the Wildwoods Shore Resort Historic District by the State of New Jersey.[9]
The term "doo-wop" was used by New Jersey'sMid-Atlantic Center for the Arts during the early 1990s to describe the unique, space-age architectural style. Many of Wildwood's Doo-Wop motels were built by Lou Morey, who specialized in such designs.[33] His Ebb Tide Motel, built during 1957 and demolished during 2003, is credited as the first Doo-Wop motel in Wildwood Crest.[34]
An iconic example of the Googie style building in Los Angeles is the Hollywood Premiere Motel designed by Joyce Miller. The motel is situated on Hollywood Blvd. In 2025, the motel became a LA Historic-Cultural Monument, becoming the city's first landmark motel.[35]
After the 1960s, following theApollo 11Moon landing, the rise ofecology movements againstnuclear power, and the de-escalations of theSpace Race and theAtomic Age, Googie began to fall out of style.[3] The architectural community rarely appreciated or accepted Googie, considering it too flashy and vernacular for academic praise,[36] and so the architecture of the 1970s, especially theInternational Style, shunned Googie. As Hess notes, beginning during the 1970s, commercial buildings were meant to blend into the urban environment and not attract attention.[37] By the mid 1960s, the novelty of Googie was starting to wane and there was a backlash against the flashy style.[38]
Since Googie buildings were usually part of theservice industry, most developers did not think they were worth preserving as cultural artifacts.[39] The publication ofGoogie by Alan Hess in 1986 inspired a new appreciation for the style. Despite the humble origins of Googie, Hess writes that, "Googie architecture is an important part of the history of suburbia."[40] Googie was a symbol of theearly days of car culture.
One of the earliest organizations in the US that advocated for the preservation of Googie architecture was theLos Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee, which was formed in 1984 in response to the demolition of Ship's coffee shop in Westwood andTiny Naylor's Drive-In in Hollywood.[41] Despite the loss of these and the original Googie's in Hollywood, other Googie coffee shops includingNorms Restaurants,[42]Johnie's Coffee Shop,[43] and theWich Stand[44] have received historic designations. The world's oldest McDonald's in Downey and the earliest remainingBob's Big Boy, in Burbank, have also been preserved and restored.[45]
InWildwood, New Jersey, a "Doo Wop Preservation League" works with local business and property owners, city planning and zoning officials, and the state's historic preservation office, to help ensure that the remaining historic structures will be preserved. Wildwood's high-rise hotel district has been the first in the US to enforce "Doo Wop" design guidelines for new construction.[9]
The architect Michael Hsu designed multiple restaurants for the Austin-based restaurantP. Terry's in the Googie style. Each location is uniquely designed, featuring oblique shapes, color, and large geometric roofs.[46][47]
Googie architecture developed from the futuristic architecture ofStreamline Moderne, extending and reinterpreting technological themes for the new conditions of the 1950s. While 1930s architecture was relatively simple, Googie embraced opulence. Hess argues that the reason for this was that the vision of the future of the 1930s was obsolete by 1950 and thus the architecture evolved along with it. During the 1930s, Streamlined trains andLincoln-Zephyrs had been advanced technology, and Streamline Moderne paralleled their smooth simplified aerodynamic exteriors.[48] That simplicity may have represented theDepression era's forced frugality.
The eye-catching Googie style flourished in acarnival atmosphere along multi-lanehighways, inmotel architecture and above all incommercial signage. The influence of Googie was prominently seen in the architecture and signage of Los Angeles and Las Vegas circa 1945–1970, where many of the same architects who designed Googie coffee shops in Los Angeles went on to design some of the seminal hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. Private clients were the main patrons of Googie. Ultimately, the style became unfashionable and, over time, numerous examples of the Googie style have either fallen into disrepair or been destroyed completely.
The exaggerated, once-futuristic Googie style exemplified inThe Jetsons cartoons and the originalDisneyland (which featured a GoogieTomorrowland) gave birth several decades later toretrofuturism. Googie was also the inspiration for the background art style of animated television series and movies such asDexter's Laboratory,Johnny Bravo,The Powerpuff Girls,Futurama,George Shrinks,The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,My Life as a Teenage Robot, andThe Incredibles, as well as the cover of the faux-memoirBased on a True Story by comedianNorm Macdonald.
It was the 1950s. America was a superpower, and the Los Angeles area was a center of it. The space race was on. A car culture was emerging. So were millions of postwar babies. Businesses needed ways to get families out of their automobiles and into coffee shops, bowling alleys, gas stations and motels. They needed bright signs and designs showing that the future was now. They needed color and new ideas. They needed Googie.
Googie architecture, saysHouse & Home, is 'Modern Architecture Uninhibited ... an art in which anything and everything goes—so long as it's modern'
Books are arranged in chronological order by year of publication:
Preservation groups working to save Googie architecture include
