Search Results for "armet & Davis"
Bye Bye Fan Fair
Aurora set to purchase, demolish blighted Fanfare building
Another Googie-style building coming down, this time Fan Fair Discount City, a department store from 1961 in Aurora.
This was a blighted area for 20 years, so this is far less of a loss than the Armet & Davis White Spot from the previous post.
I assume this will not be an easy tear-down due to asbestos and the strong thin-shell concrete construction of engineer Milo Ketchum, the same method used to create the hyperbolic parabaloids of the May D&F Plaza and the International Center at The Broadmoor or Hanger 61, the historic structure at old Stapleton.
November 21st, 2012 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Denver losing an Armet & Davis
I am sure you probably noticed this while driving down S. Colorado, but they are getting ready to tear down one of Denver’s few remaining White Spot Googie-style coffee shop buildings.
This had been a Hooters for the last 23 years, but was originally a 1961 Armet & Davis design for Denver’s classic diner chain, White Spot. Hooters added a covered front porch, but kept the classic roof style, though altered a bit. The original signage would have pierced the roof in a similar way to the Hooters sign.
That will leave this building on E. Colfax as the last example of the classic “W” roofline formerly sported by some of the White Spots. The designers of these structures, Los Angeles firm Armet & Davis, designed most of L.A.’s most famous and iconic coffee shops of the ’50s & ’60s.
Armet & Davis designed other styles for White Spot besides the “W”. This former White Spot above with it’s tri-fold roof is a remarkable design and is currently unoccupied on W. Alameda. Tom’s Diner and The Denver Diner on Colfax are the two most prominent of the surviving White Spot Armet & Davis designs.
Azar’s Big Boy restaurants also used the Armet & Davis firm to design some of their restaurants. This location in Boulder has a beautiful arching roofline.
November 19th, 2012 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Azar’s Big Boy
Armet & Davis were the most well known of the Los Angeles-area architects of Googie-style coffee shops. They also contributed to the Front Range landscape with their many White Spot designs, and even designed buildings for Azar’s Big Boy, like this Boulder location depicted above.
The Big Boy restaurant chain subfranchised under different names around the country. While most famous for their California brand Bob’s Big Boy, in Colorado (and Indiana) they were known as Azar’s.
The Boulder structure may be the only surviving Armet & Davis Big Boy in the state. Armet & Davis probably designed these buildings for Azar’s around the early-1960s. If you know of another surviving Big Boy building in Colorado, or recall any of the former locations, please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you. (I have only tracked down a couple of former locations, such as the current Vitamin Cottage on West Colfax.)
(Original Armet & Davis drawing for Denver Azar’s borrowed from
http://www.googieart.com.)
(Matchbook borrowed from http://www.flickr.com/photos/interestingideas/)
April 11th, 2012 / 12 Comments » / by Tom Lundin
White Spot / Davies’ Chuck Wagon
An early-1960s White Spot location on Alameda, designed by Armet & Davis, the
designers of many of the Googie-style coffee shops of Los Angeles.
This building has a butterfly roof with an additional fold. It is now part of the Davies’
Chuck Wagon family of historic coffee shops.
A light post takes the place of the original White Spot sign that
would have passed through this opening in the roof.
September 3rd, 2010 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
White Spot
One of the former locations of Denver restaurant chain White Spot. Now Los Toritos.
Googie-style design 1961 by Los Angeles firm Armet & Davis, famous for coffee shops all over L.A.
(There is another White Spot post on Tom Lundin’s site ModMidMod.)
November 1st, 2009 / 1 Comment » / by Tom Lundin
