Friendly Hills Bowl

Friendly Hills Bowl, Whittier, CA.



Above are both sides of Friendly Hills Bowl's beautiful marquee. The "O" has fallen off on both sides. The place certainly announces itself, from it's quiet nook across the street from Whitwood Mall. I can't believe there's a hair salon INSIDE the bowling alley.


There's this great boomerang shape that makes of the roof overhang of the entrance to the alley, and some great stonework that supports it. Oh, that Googie satisfaction of primordial man and modern technology. The perfect anachronism.


The Brush Script font which has become so cliche in today's design graces the side of the alley, with that classic Googie font spelling out "BOWL", all in lavender.

I fell in love with there light fixtures, which looked old enough in person to be original. The shape is oh so Googie, I just love it.

Friendly Hills Bowl
15545 E. Whittier Blvd.
Whittier, CA 90603
(562) 947-3815

La Habra Motel

La Habra Motel, La Habra, CA.

Taken from the driver's seat of my car, through the windshield, traveling east on Whittier Blvd., one more shot of some of La Habra's Googie gold. I love how all these old motels have had the "no" part of their "no vacancy" signs removed. Always a vacancy at these now-crummy places.

La Habra Motel
200 E. Whittier Blvd.
La Habra, CA 90621

Seafare Inn

Seafare Inn, Whittier, CA.


On my recent pilgrimage into La Habra for Googie hunting, I traveled a little farther into Whittier. Another town that's dear to my heart, though technically in Los Angeles County, Whittier is filled with most of the Googie architecture that I'm familiar with.

I'm going to say that January's going to be Whittier Month around here at the OC GOogie Archive, because I can't ignore some of the great stuff I took snapshots of. It's worth posting.

The Seafare Inn opened in 1961 and is still family owned and operated. Despite driving past it hundreds of times throughout the course of my life, I have never eaten there. If I rectify the situation, I will post photos. Either way, they whole front of the structure is built from stone, there's an outdoor seashell fountain, a shipwrecked skiff, and other sea-related paraphenelia. Of note most of all though, is the beautiful sign, with a swordfish for an "S". The pylons stick through the sign and emerge out the top. Beautiful place, someday I'll explore the inside too.

Seafare Inn
16363 Whittier Blvd.
Whittier, CA 90603
(562) 947-6645

La Habra Circle

La Habra Circle, La Habra, CA


This is a bad picture. It's taken from the driver's seat on my car while traveling east on Beach Blvd. So I'm on the opposite side of the street. It bothers me that I forgot that these two sets of signs existed. I literally lived for 9 years in an apartment about a mile away from this shopping center, and my step-father was a shift lead at that Blockbuster for a while. I was driving up Beach Blvd. from Whittier Blvd., determined to photograph Googie gold, when I did a double-take and noticed this lovely sign.

So, I snapped a photo (my memory card was begging me to save room on it for photos in Whittier), and although it's not the best quality, it gets the point across. A great, great sign in one of the last old shopping centers off La Habra Blvd.

La Habra Circle
1900 block, W. La Habra Blvd.
La Habra, CA 90631

La Habra Car Wash

La Habra Car Wash, La Habra, CA.



In the top photo, the sign looks bad but you can see that beautiful row of steel pylons jutting up into the sky. Each pylon is matched with a palm tree. This car wash really announces itself, and I remember that I used to love to drive past it as a little kid. This Googie fascination started early!

In the second photo, you can see that twirling sign a little bit better. Unfortunately, I don't think it spins any more. At least, when I was there it wasn't.

La Habra 100% Hand Car Wash
1801 W Whittier Blvd
La Habra, CA 90631

White Automotive

White Automotive, La Habra, CA.

What a boomerang! It's been a while since I've seen one like that! Love the font on "white"-- really retro and hip. So many different shapes on this sign!

White Automotive
250 E. Whittier Blvd.
La Habra, CA 90631

Hyland Motel

Hyland Motel, La Habra, CA.

A run-down motel across the street from the La Habra 300 Bowl. Day Sleepers Welcome. Looks like it used to have a swimming pool (but they've rubbed that bit of information right off of the streetside neon sign)

Hyland Motel
301 E Whittier Blvd
La Habra, CA 90631

(562) 694-1071

La Habra 300 Bowl

La Habra 300 Bowl, La Habra, CA.







Ah! Ah! What is there to say?! It's beautiful. The sign. That starburst! The neon! Oh, those A-frames! Those pylons with the big holes punched out! That coffee shop, almost perfectly preserved! Why, I'm in Googie heaven!

I think the reason I'm so obsessed with Googie is cause I grew up right off the street from all this stuff. Born and raised in La Habra, nestled in a crummy apartment off Idaho, between Lambert & Whittier Blvd, I have the unique perspective of being raised in the Space Age-- in the '80's! I'm going to be spending the next couple weeks covering Whittier Blvd, from it's residential beginnings in Brea to it's big time boulevard status in Norwalk. I know, I'm gonna dabble in LA County, but there's too much good stuff just to not post it 'cause it's in Los Angeles!

Stay tuned, kids. Some of the best examples of Orange County Googie are off of Whittier Blvd. in La Habra, and I don't intend to let you miss a bit of it!

La Habra 300 Bowl
370 E Whittier Blvd
La Habra, CA 90631

Coco's

Coco's, Garden Grove, CA.




Designed by the Googie architects Armet & Davis, this Coco's sits nestled on the corner of Chapman and Harbor Blvd. minding its own business. Little has changed about the exterior of this building since it opened as the first Bob's Big Boy designed by the legendary architects in 1957. Those concrete pillars holding up that beautiful sloping roof used to be covered in flagcrete, but considering the preservation apparent in the rest of the bulding, its removal can be forgiven. Those jutting pylons still shoot out of the sign, announcing yet a another greasy spoon off the road.

Unfortunately there's nothing left of the original interior (I doubt it was "Coco's" enough), so I stuck to the outside. At least there's something left of this building's history, unlike the Coco's right up the street on Katella and West, which used to be a glorious Sambo's on the lot of Stovall's Space Age Inn-- there's nothing left of this Googie landmark but the basic foundation. It's a regular ol' modern-day diner. So much for preservation.

Huff's Coffee Shop

Huff's Coffee Shop, Long Beach, CA


The sign doesn't turn anymore, half of the neon is burnt out, there's rust and dirt and grime. Yet, it's another Googie coffee shop sign. The side of the building was built up with volcano rock, which was amazing, but my camera's battery died and I didn't get a chance to snap it.

Huff's is "technically" in Long Beach, but since it's right across the street from Los Alamitos High School, I figured that it was close enough to count as Orange County.

Huff's Coffee Shop
8105 E. Wardlow Rd.
Long Beach, CA 90808