Johnie's coffee shop
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Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for Henry Gaylord Wilshire , an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. Henry Wilshire initiated what was to become Wilshire...
and Fairfax Avenue
Fairfax Avenue
Fairfax Avenue is a street on north central Los Angeles, California. It runs from La Cienega Boulevard with Culver City at its southern end to Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood on its northern end.Fairfax Avenue forms the western boundary of Hancock Park as well as Park La Brea, an 160 acre ,...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Architects Louis Armet
Louis Armet
Louis Armet was an American architect and strong proponent of Googie architecture during the mid-20th century. Armet and fellow architect, Eldon Davis, co-founded the Armet & Davis architectural firm in 1947, which became known for its distinctive Googie architecture style in Southern...
and Eldon Davis
Eldon Davis
Eldon Carlyle Davis was an American architect, considered largely responsible for the creation of Googie architecture, a form of modern architecture originating in Southern California. Googie architecture is largely influenced by Southern California's car culture and the Space Age of the mid-20th...
of Armet and Davis designed the building, contributing to their reputation as the premier designers of Space Age
Space Age
The Space Age is a time period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events. The Space Age is generally considered to have begun with Sputnik...
or Googie coffee shops including the landmark Pann's coffee shop
Pann's
Pann's is a coffee shop restaurant considered an institution in Los Angeles, California, for its history, role in movies, and distinctive architecture. The restaurant was opened by husband and wife George and Rena Poulos in 1958 and is still operated by the Poulos family as of 2011. It is also...
in Ladera Heights, Norms Restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard
La Cienega Boulevard
La Cienega Boulevard is a major, well-known north–south arterial road that runs between El Segundo Boulevard in El Segundo, California on the south and the Sunset Strip/Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood....
, and several Bob's Big Boy restaurants. Johnie's opened in 1955 as Romeo's Times Square. Romeo's was in business a few years, becoming Ram's in the early '60s, and Johnie's not long after.
Johnie's (originally "Romeo's") is spelled in massive neon lights
Neon lamp
A neon lamp is a miniature gas discharge lamp that typically contains neon gas at a low pressure in a glass capsule. Only a thin region adjacent to the electrodes glows in these lamps, which distinguishes them from the much longer and brighter neon tubes used for signage...
and flashing incandescent lightbulbs on the building's striped roof. The roof sits on rock columns, sloping down toward the back of the restaurant, ending in a sharp decline, that gives the illusion of movement like a spaceship
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
ready to take off. Alan Hess
Alan Hess
Alan Hess is an American architect, author, lecturer and advocate for twentieth century architectural preservation."Alan Hess [is] a prominent California architecture critic who has written extensively on roadside strips," writes the New York Times...
, author of two books on Googie architecture, said, "Johnie's, and the style it represents, tells us as much about that period in L.A. history as the bungalows of Pasadena told us about the 1900s or the missions told us about 19th century Southern California." He also noted that, "The building embodies all of the changes in L.A.: becoming suburban, auto-oriented, also becoming a city of the future."
The restaurant was purchased in 1994 by the Gold family, founders of the 99 Cents Only Stores
99 Cents Only Stores
99 Cents Only Stores is a price-point retailer chain based in Commerce, California. The store offers products at $0.9999 or less. Founded by David Gold in 1982, most of the stores are located in Southern California, with others in Nevada, Arizona and Texas...
, and closed in 2000. The family leases the Johnie's parking lot to the Wilshire Boulevard 99 Cents Only outlet two doors away.
The restaurant is perhaps best known as the setting for the opening of the 1988 cult film Miracle Mile, in which a patron learns that a nuclear war is about to begin. The restaurant has also appeared in a 1999 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers are an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. They were formed in 1976 by Tom Petty , Mike Campbell , Benmont Tench , , Ron Blair and Stan Lynch...
music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, "Swingin'", and a 2003 Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...
music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, "Somebody", and is seen in several movies, including Volcano, starring Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
,The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to as "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named...
, starring Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
and John Goodman
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...
, and American History X
American History X
American History X is a 1998 American drama film directed by Tony Kaye and starring Edward Norton and Edward Furlong. It was distributed by New Line Cinema....
, starring Edward Norton.
Johnie's is located across from the May Co. department store, one of Los Angeles' best examples of Streamline Modern architecture, on Los Angeles' Miracle Mile. The May Co. building is now part of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
.