.

Many times, I've gotten deja-vu in buildings built in a certain style. Something about the boomerang roofs, huge plate glass windows, and general "50s feel" made me feel at home.

I figured it out a few years ago: these buildings strongly resemble the coffee shops, hotels and restaurants my family and I used to visit before or after a busy day at Disneyland. I decided the stylistic elements were just a coincidence. I always just called it the "buildings around DL" look. It wasn't until I visited this site that I realized this is an actual style with a name.

M.M. at Greenmeadow Architects

I used to joke that we are living one of those Sci-Fi plots where a lesser civilization lives in the ruins of a greater one. I don't think it is a joke anymore.

Here in Northern California, roadside architecture has become a monotonous sprawl of fake Spanish mission / post modern style without any architectural merit. It does not even have any fantasy value like fake mission style did in the 1920's. 

I have tried to spear head preservation but unlike the liberal causes of the 60's and 70's it is quite impossible to stage a protest when no one attends. Quite ironically the liberal generation here is the most anti-googie. Since I believe the present situation is analogous to the Visigoths sacking Rome I have bought a 1962 Airstream trailer and in Mad Max fashion visit whenever I can the remaining outposts of civilization. 

We were using Googie terms & styles when I was in undergrad. school at Univ. Florida '49-' 54. Good examples in Miami then. 

My fiance' and I are planning a (almost Googie) wedding with a space age theme and your site has been inspiring...

We're not going to go totally googie on our folks, but we both just love the space age themed things from the 50's and 60's...

I am going to write to [one of the googie motels on your site] and request information about staying there for part of our honeymoon! I regret that Stovall's Space Age Inn has remodeled. . . . . I guess we won't go there. (sigh)

....My interest is more in vintage buildings than in Googie architecture, but I have always liked the "space age" feel the buildings around Disneyland had.

....Back in the 1970's and 80's, Anaheim destroyed most of our old downtown. Now they are throwing LOTS of money and resources into preserving what is left (about 1100 houses, several churches and just a smattering of old businesses). It's great to see, although they still don't appreciate all of the Googie and Tiki Anaheim has (or had). Much of it was torn down in an effort to improve the area around Disneyland.

I joined the Air Force thirteen years ago and have been all around the country and the world. But I never realized until now how some of the most unique buildings on earth were right under my nose! 

I grew up in Costa Mesa and so I recognize all the pictures in your web page from that area. I remember the Alpha-Beta grocery store with the hole cut out for the palm tree, just a short distance from my house. And then I spent a lot of time at Kona Lanes and the Edwards Cinema on Harbor Blvd.

Thanks for archiving our rapidly evaporating Googie treasures. This fantastical architecture is one of the tangible, yet largely hidden, great things about life in L.A. 

Love your site! As a kid, I always looked forward to driving through Anaheim almost as much as getting to Disneyland itself. I always dreamed of staying at Stovall's Inn of Tomorrow, hoping to one day understand what place animal-shaped topiary trees would have in the sci-fi world of the future. I guess I'll have to settle for the closest encounter I ever had: drinking beer in the parking lot during my college years.

Robin Leffel

Here I thought that I was the only one driving around on my days off taking pictures of this stuff!

William Shotts

One person that has been overlooked in the world of Googie is the famous illustrator Syd Meade.

He is best known today as a "futurist" designer and did the production design for films such as "Bladerunner" and "2010" but in the early sixties he was an industrial designer and taught at the Art Center School of Design in California. During this time he produced a number of illustrated books for United States Steel entitled "Visions" that had outlandish futuristic images of space-age travel and industry.

Steve Graves

I'm a geographer at Louisiana Tech. I got my Ph.D. from Illinois where my major advisor was John Jakle. He's a big guru on Gas Stations, Diners, Motels etc. I'm now teaching a class called American Landscapes... Your site is one of the virtual field trips that is offered as an option this quarter...

You've rekindled my interest in post-war landscapes and architecture. If I could, I'd send you a million bucks to update and expand the good word.

Mark Gillespie

My love of Googie started with a stay at the Galaxy Motel across from Disneyland when I was a kid back in the late sixties. As an adult, I have traveled the west in search of surviving examples of this wonderful futuristic style of the past. There's nothing like a kidney shaped motel sign or a tall "atomic swizzle stick" stuck in the slanted roof of a 24 hour coffee shop. Googie Lives!

What a great site! You've done a fine job.

Paul Petrunia at Archinect

Chris Jepsen has put together a great online resource for Googie Architecture. What is Googie Architecture? Check out his site to find out. In fact, I recommend spending some quality time this weekend exploring the Googie Gallery section of the site.