List of Googie architecture structures (United States)

This is a list of Googie architecture structures in the United States which includes a photographic gallery with a brief description of some of the structures. Googie was an original architectural style which began in Southern California during the 1940s. Influenced by the coming of the Space Age, the Googie-themed architecture popularity was most notable from the mid-1940s to early 1970s, among motels, coffee houses and gas stations. The term "Googie" comes from a now defunct coffee shop and cafe built in West Hollywood^[1] designed by John Lautner.^[2][3]

List of Googie architecture structures (United States)
300 Bowl Phoenix, Arizona

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

List

The following are images of some of the Googie architecture structures remaining in the United States.

Googie architecture structures in the United States

	Name of structure[4]	Image	Location
1	Hope International University		Hope International University in Fullerton, California displays classic Googie architecture on its main building and auditorium.[5]
2	Mel's Bowl		An example of a mid-century Googie sign in Redwood City, California.[6]
3	The Anaheim Convention Center		Anaheim, California.[7]
4	Town Motel		Birmingham, Alabama.[8]
5	Food Mart		Woodstock, Tennessee.[9]
6	Pedestrian tunnel		Aberdeen, Maryland.[10]
7	Kona Lanes (demolished 2003)		Costa Mesa, California.[11]
8	Corky's		Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles.[12]
9	Dot Coffee Shop		Houston, Texas.[13]
10	Car Wash		San Bernardino, California.[14]
11	Elm Road Drive-In Theatre sign		Warren, Ohio.[15]
12	Burbank Bob's Big Boy		Burbank, California.[16]
13	The Caribbean Motel		Wildwood, New Jersey.[17]
14	300 Bowl building		Phoenix, Arizona.[18][19]
15	The TWA Flight Center		John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, New York.[20]
16	Sacramento Zoo entrance		William Land Park, Sacramento, California[21]
17	Chips		Hawthorne, CA[22]

Doo Wop ones in New Jersey

A number of postwar motels in New Jersey, including a cluster in The Wildwoods, have been recognized as high-style Moderne architecture, and some or all of these have been termed Doo-Wop and/or Googie in style. A number of these were studied in a National Register of Historic Places 2001 architectural survey.^[23] The Caribbean Motel (1957) is one of those studied which was subsequently listed on the National Register of Historic Places;^[24] it and numerous others are listed in the New Jersey-designated Wildwoods Shore Resort Historic District. The term doo-wop was coined by Cape May's Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts in the early 1990s to describe the unique, space-age architectural style, which is also referred to as the Googie or populuxe style.^[25][26]

See also

• United States portal
• Architecture portal

• List of Googie architecture structures (Canada)
• Googie architecture
• Modern architecture

References

1. Nelson, Valerie J. (2011-04-26). "Eldon Davis dies at 94; architect designed 'Googie' coffee shops". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
2. John Lautner Why Do Bad Guys Always Get The Best Houses? October 31 by Rory Stott ArchDaily
3. Friedlander, Whitney (May 18, 2008). "Go on a SoCal hunt for Googie architecture". Baltimore Sun. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 February 2009. 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.
4. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 24, 2008.
5. Hope International University
6. Eslinger, Bonnie (2011-09-17). "Mel's Bowl sign in Redwood City is a real 'Googie' and should remain, group says". Palo Alto Daily News. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
7. Hughes, Holly (2011). Frommer's 500 Places to See Before They Disappear. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 443. ISBN 1-118-16031-2.
8. Town Motel Birmingham, Alabama Googie Architecture.
9. "FoodMart"- Starving outside of Millington.. Memphis, Tn ...
10. Amtrak Official website
11. Martelle, Scott (May 27, 2003). "O. C. Bowling Alley's Days Roll to an End". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
12. Corky's coffee shop a 60s classic returns Sherman Oaks Patch
13. Gray, Lisa (August 20, 2014). "Parking peril for the Penguin Arms". Houston Chronicle. Hardly any of our Googie survives. Besides the Penguin Arms, the marvelous Dot Coffee Shop (at Gulfgate Center) remains a time-warp joy.
14. Hess 2004, pp. 66–68
15. Elm Road Drive-In
16. Historical Marker
17. "The '50s and '60s Thrive In Retro Doo-Wop Motels". Washington Post. 24 June 2007. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
18. "Midcentury Marvels: Commercial Architecture of Phoenix, 1945 - 1975"; by: City of Phoenix Historic Preservation and Ryden Architects; Publisher: City of Phoenix; ISBN 978-0615409894.
19. Phoenix Historic Preservation Office
20. Makovsky, Paul (September 19, 2005). "Reconsidering Eero". Metropolis Magazine. Archived from the original on July 1, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
21. "Sacramento Zoo's entrance named historic landmark". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
22. Go on a SoCal hunt for Googie architecture by Whitney Friedlander May 18, 2008 Los Angeles Times May 18, 2008
23. Nancy L. Zerbe; Stephanie M. Hoagland; Kevin D. Murphy (2003). National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation: Motels of The Wildwoods.
24. Nancy Zerbe; Jennifer Warren (March 2005). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Caribbean Motel (Motels of The Wildwoods MPS)". National Park Service. Retrieved December 24, 2022. With accompanying 12 photos
25. Wildwood Crest Historical Society Web site
26. "History of Wildwood Crest, New Jersey". Visit New Jersey Shore. Retrieved 2009-06-18.

Further reading

• Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture; by: Alan Hess; Publisher: Chronicle Books; ISBN 978-0877013341.
• Googie Redux: Ultramodern Roadside Architecture; by: Alan Hess; Publisher: Chronicle Books; ISBN 978-0811842723.