Opened in 1946, this hotdog-shaped hotdog stand stood at 311 North La Cienega Boulevard until the 1980s, when it was moved to 329 North San Vicente Boulevard. It stayed open until the mid-2000s, when it was closed and put in storage. In June 2017, its longtime owners, Jay and Nicole Miller, donated the iconic stand to Tommy Gelinas of the Valley Relics Museum in Chatsworth. It will soon be on display at the eclectic museum, which already showcases many examples of California’s midcentury roadside kitsch.

This Tarzana strip mall was designed by architect Lee Oakes of the firm Matlin and Dvoretzky. Completed in 1987, its stucco façade is inspired by the fenders, grille, headlights, and tires of a 1970s Cadillac. “Very rarely do I have creative impulses like this,” Oakes told the Los Angeles Times in 1987. I was just walking around and saw this Cadillac grille. It just clicked.”

Originally painted bright Barbie pink, it is fitting that it sits on Ventura Boulevard, that never-ending super-suburban road which Valley motorists travel every day. "Ventura Boulevard is about as American as you can get, and what's more American than a big luxury car, a Cadillac?” Oakes once said. “It's symbolic architecture, but abstract." Today, the center is painted a dull white and is home to several small businesses.

The first Chili Bowl opened in 1931 on Crenshaw Boulevard. It would eventually expand to a chain of 23 restaurants, all built in the distinctive circular shape of a bowl of chili. According to founder Art Whizin, the idea came to him when he was talking with a friend at a burger counter about his theoretical restaurant’s design. His friend simply pushed his chili bowl over to him and said, "Here, Whizin, do something with this." Inspired, Whizin claimed he drew the design on his corduroy overalls, and the rest was history.

Chili Bowls soon sprang up all over Southern California. Whizin even claimed that the Long Beach Chili Bowl was spared in the devastating 1933 earthquake because of its unique design. "It's because of the circular shape," he told the Los Angeles Times. "It gave evenly in all directions. The place was full and all 26 customers ran outside. After a couple of minutes, they peered inside the window, saw everything was OK and came back and finished their chili."

Whizin eventually closed the Chili Bowls after World War II. Four of the distinctive buildings exist today, including one on San Fernando Road in Glendale, which is now owned by the Valley Dealer Exchange.  

There was once an old lady who lived in a shoe … she had so many children she didn’t know what to do … so she opened a restaurant in her house in Pasadena in 1929. Sadly, the restaurant did not last (maybe it was the funny smell), the old woman moved out, and the shoe was demolished.

This iconic mimetic hotel—now on the National Register of Historic Places—was once a major tourist destination on the famed Route 66. Opened in 1949, it was built by the founder of the Wigwam Motel Chain, Frank Redford. It is said that Redford was “heavily influenced by native Indian culture.” Today, guests can still stay in their own “wigwam,” swim in the communal pool, and enjoy a kitschy—if culturally problematic—overnight stay.

Advertised as the “most unique restaurant in America,” the café also proclaimed itself to be “where whoopee is made in L.A.” It was opened by H.N. Denny in 1925. This happy-go-lucky advertising was in stark contrast to the nightspot’s theme, which was convict chic. The stone building was dressed up to look like an old jail, the waiters were costumed as convicts, and patrons ate in barred cells. So realistic was the setting, according to a 1926 story in Variety, that:

When two bandits walked in and ordered everybody to throw their hands up, folks thought it was part of the evening's entertainment. However, they changed their minds when one of the bandits started going through their clothes and taking anything that looked valuable.

The building is now home to the venerable Silver Lake institution El Cid.

Harkening back to the prime real estate of the ancient world, as well as the 1920s’ craze for all things “exotic,” this Sphinx shaped realty office once stood opposite Fairfax High School.

Located on the slick portion of Wilshire Boulevard known as the Miracle Mile, this Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument was designed by Edward J. Borgmeyer and Marcus P. Miller.

Opened in 1926 and re-imagined during the ’30s, its black vitrolite façade, featuring a large Argus camera, advertised that “The Darkroom” was a camera shop. According to the Los Angeles Conservancy, “some claim that during the building's heyday, the tenant would project short films through the camera lens/window for pedestrians to watch.” Today, the site is home to the Spare Tire Kitchen and Tavern. 

This legendary Hollywood hangout is perhaps the most famous example of SoCal programmatic architecture. Built in 1926 in the shape of—what else—a brown derby, this whimsical restaurant was the first of a chain of several owned by Herbert Somborn and Bob Cobb (of Cobb Salad fame). A sign in front of the building beckoned to passing motorists: “Eat in the Hat.” Once inside, patrons of the Brown Derby ate classic “French-inspired” Americanized midcentury food, with a heavy side of entertainment industry drama.

After the chain’s demise, valiant community efforts to save the iconic Wilshire Boulevard location (the only one shaped like a hat) were partially successful. While the brim was removed, the crown of the derby hat can still be seen peeking out on the third floor of the Brown Derby Plaza, a Koreatown shopping center built around it in 1980. The Brown Derby trademark is now owned by the Disney Corporation, and facsimiles of the famed hat are located in several Disney Parks.  

Built in 1968, this mimetic masterpiece was designed to resemble two large chocolate doughnuts. The fiberglass doughnuts are 26-feet in diameter, and hungry visitors drive through their hollow centers to be served in classic drive-in fashion. Once part of a small chain, the restaurant's famous design is credited to architects John Tindall, Ed McCreany, and Jesse Hood.

Over the years, the lone remaining Donut Hole has become quite the celebrity, appearing in movies such as Dragnet and drawing tourists from all-across the globe. Basic, delicious doughnuts are still the main item on the menu and are less than a dollar a piece. Talk about nostalgia!  

The Tamale opened in 1928. Shaped in the form of a wrapped Mexican tamal, it served “Spanish delights,” including “hot tamale pies,” along with standard American fare, including hamburgers and malts. It has changed hands (and colors) many times over the decades. It is now painted white and most recently housed a beauty parlor.

One of the strangest examples of mimetic architecture, this long-gone, PTSD-inducing food stand was built in the 1920s. Los Angeles Times columnist Jack Smith remembered it was “fortified with sandbags like a dugout in World War I, and the most dramatic thing about it was that an airplane had crashed, nose in, tail up, on its roof, and was always there.”

This glamorous, long-vanished Hollywood hotspot was built on the old Venice Pier in 1903. Constructed to look like a sailing ship, its design was based on Spanish galleons piloted by the likes of California explorer Juan Cabrillo. Though it looked seaworthy, it did not actually touch the water.

The Ship was destroyed in the great pier fire of 1920, only to be quickly rebuilt on an even larger scale. According to Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Harvey, “its clientele ranged from celebrities such as Jack Dempsey and Sarah Bernhardt to mobsters such as Albert Marco, who shot two men during a party there and had to take his meals in San Quentin for a while.” It was torn down in 1946, along with the rest of pier.

This 1932 Long Beach city landmark, originally a coffee shop, was built in the shape of a coffee percolator. It remained a coffee shop until the 1960s. Over the subsequent decades, it has been a weed dispensary, barber shop, and as of 2014, “substandard and a public nuisance.” It was renovated in 2015 and is currently listed by the real estate firm Marcus & Millichap, as part of a multi-use, $2 million offering which includes three residential buildings, and the Coffee Pot building, which is zoned as commercial.

According to its listing: “The current owner has renovated and upgraded the residential buildings as well as the Coffee Pot Cafe's exterior under the watchful supervision of the city of Long Beach and its Cultural Heritage Commission. The owner anticipates leasing the cafe to a permanent operator willing to bring back the cafe's historic significance. The cafe will also enjoy an outdoor patio seating environment surrounding the residential buildings and creating an urban piazza setting.”