It all started in 1940s Los Angeles...
Sprouting from what is known a Streamline Moderne of the 1930s (which in itself heavily incorporates much from Art Deco, and really can be considered a sub-category), Googie retains some elements of Streamline, but branches out to create a Space Age flair bordering on whimsical with exaggerated facets. Think architecture from 1950s Disneyland, or the buildings in the cartoon series The Jetsons.
The term comes from the diner in Hollywood named Googies Coffee Shop, built in 1949 and named after the owner's wife's nickname...Googie. Googies exemplified this new architectural style, from its first location to later ones in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. The architect of the first Googies, John Lautner, can be considered the driving force behind Googie architecture, popularizing and pioneering the form with Googies' design.
Armet & Davis a contemporary architectural design firm in L.A., took the art form to the next level. They designed the next two Googies Coffee Shops, as well as the designs for Denny's and Bob's Big Boy. In all, it is estimated that Armet & Davis' Googie designs were incorporated into around 4,000 restaurant structures alone.
Futurism, the Atomic Age and Car Culture all seemed to meld into the art of Googie, and the influence and design aspects of this particular style continue to appear in the 21st-century, well past the heyday of the 1950s and 1960s.
An Example of Streamline Moderne Architecture in Los Angeles circa 1939
Here's another example of Streamline Moderne, the Pan-Pacific Auditorium in 1937
Googie design is about extremes. Large and obvious architectural snafus' that exaggerate form, giving the viewer an impression of rebellion, a sense that anything can be possible, breaking from the old and moving into a limitless future. It was not popular within traditional architectural design circles, nothing new and dangerous is, and like modern art, it challenged the norm. Doug Haskell published an article on Googie in 1952 within the pages of House & Home magazine. This article cemented the name of Googie as an architectural art form, and it started off with driving by Googies Coffee Shop. He was not kind, calling the designs superficial, a mixture of previous designs with no identity of its own, and in poor taste. But...he did make one extremely important point. As an artist once told me, Art is not pretty and cute, it should elicit emotion, it should challenge you, remove you from the box, Haskell's article on gets this concept across, intentionally or not.
Large "boomerang" roofs, large plate glass windows that give the appearance of a floating roofline, extreme angles on signs, often incorporated into the building itself, unusual amoeba like shapes writhing the building or on its exterior décor...these are al hallmarks of Googie. Combined in some cases with Space Age conceptual design that evokes images of satellites, Space, rockets, stars...and you had a truly modern style that exuded the American spirit which looked to a bright future, an effort to shed the past of Depression and War. Futurism spread to everything from building, to appliances and to cars...those exaggerated tailfins on the Cadillac point right back at Googie...
You can still find Googie throughout the country...it's prolific. While many of the classic buildings have been torn down...many still stand from the "golden era" of the style. The epicenter, Los Angeles and Orange County probably have the most of what remains.
Ships Coffee Shop, Westwood, California (1958)
Bob's Big Boy, Fresno, California (1962)
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Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Theme Building (1962)
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Holiday Motel, Las Vegas , Nevada (1952)
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Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge, Anaheim, California (1965)
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Satellite Shopland, Anaheim, California (1960s)
Space Mountain, Disneyland (1975)
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Some will assert that this architectural style is dead, no loner relevant and relegated to the past but I disagree. Many Googie style structures from the 1950s through the 1970s can be a bit dated, seemingly irrelevant, like Disney's Tomorrowland, appearing a bit more like "Yesterland", but new construction in the 21st-century is exhibiting Googie. The railroad station in Anaheim, California, known as ARTIC (Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center) was opened in 2014, a classic example of...Googie architecture.
