Googie Redux
Googie is the architecture of joy and optimism. Taking it's name from a 1940s Los Angeles diner named Googies, the name has come to describe buildings influenced by the atomic and rocket age. Think towering spires, boomerangs, parabolas, starbursts, atomic orbits, neon, turquoise, pink, seafoam green.
There's a Bob's Big Boy near my house, designed in 1949 by casino architect Wayne McAlliister, that I love to visit. The food is only pretty darn good, but the emotional high I get from sitting in there and absorbing it's Googie style makes me giddy.
To learn about the history of Googie, there's no better place to go than Googie Redux, by Alan Hess. Link
Comments
I had never heard of the word "Googie" before but I certainly know what the style is like. Thanx for pointing me to the right direction, I now have a name for this face!
Posted by: Torley Torgeson/Torley Wong | December 9, 2005 10:15 PM
"Googie" is the name Harpo Marx gave to the boggle-eyed look he threw into every movie the Marx Bros. ever made.
The look and the name are inspired by the expression on the face of a neighborhood cigar roller when he was particularly absorbed in his work.
Posted by: erratum | December 18, 2005 1:59 PM
When I was a boy living in Phoenix in the seventies, my grandparents used to take my brother and sister and I to Googie's coffee shop for grilled cheese sandwiches and milkshakes.
Posted by: John | December 19, 2005 12:24 PM