ROADTRIPS ARE ONCE AGAIN IN FASHION. THIS TRADITION IS ROOTED IN HISTORY. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZED AUTO USE IN 1916 WITH THE $75 MILLION FEDERAL ROAD ACT, WHICH IMPROVED POST ROADS AND ENCOURAGED THE STATES TO ORGANIZE THEIR OWN HIGHWAY DEPARTMENTS BY PROVIDING FUNDING. A SECOND FEDERAL ROAD ACT IN 1921 SOUGHT TO IMPROVE 200,000 MILES OF STATE HIGHWAYS, AIMING TO LINK THEM INTO A NATIONAL NETWORK.
BUILDING ON THESE EARLY EFFORTS, THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM BECAME THE LARGEST PUBLIC WORKS PROJECT IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.
ROUTE 66 CAME TO SYMBOLIZE FREEDOM AND MOBILITY, OFFERING AMERICANS NEW OPPORTUNITIES AND UNITING REGIONS.
GOOGIE ARCHITECTURE - THE MID-CENTURY, SPACE-AGE ROADSIDE STYLE. THE BUILDING AT LINCOLN & OLYMPIC OPENED IN 1959 AS THE PENGUIN COFFEE SHOP, DESIGNED BY SANTA MONICA FIRM ARMET & DAVIS, AND WAS LATER RESTORED AND REOPENED AS MEL’S DRIVE-IN.
MEL’S IS THE LAST GOOGIE STOP ON ROUTE 66.
ACCORDING TO JOHN LAUTNER’S DAUGHTER, JUDITH, HER FATHER WANTED TO GIVE THE DINERS THE EXPERIENCE OF HAVING OUTDOORS BROUGHT INSIDE. HE ALSO THOUGHT THE COFFEE SHOP’S SIGN SHOULD BE INTEGRAL TO THE ROOF, SINCE HE FELT ROOF SIGNS LOOKED RIDICULOUS AND WANTED TO MAKE HIS SIGN PART OF THE ARCHITECTURE RATHER THAN AN AFTERTHOUGHT.
A SIGNIFICANT ASPECT OF GOOGIE ARCHITECTURE IS THE INCORPORATION OF A BUILDING’S BRANDING INTO ITS STRUCTURE.
GOOGIE ARCHITECTURE WAS A WAY TO GET PEOPLE TO STOP AND PAUSE ON THE ROADWAYS.
HUMAN BEINGS LOVE FOCAL POINTS.
“THE RESTLESS HUMAN MIND LOVES TO HAVE A GOAL IN VIEW, TO SAVOR THE APPROACH, TO ENJOY THE REWARD OF REACHING THE DESTINATION, AND TO THEN GET ON WITH THE NEXT THING. PEOPLE LOVE BREAKING UP THEIR JOURNEY INTO SMALLER INCREMENTS. THAT IS WHY THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS ARE SUCH BORES, AND WHY PEOPLE WHO HAVE TIME OFTEN PREFER TO TAKE THE BACK ROADS THROUGH SMALLER TOWNS.
THERE WAS NOTHING LIKE IT BEFORE IN HISTORY: A MACHINE THAT PROMISED LIBERATION FROM THE DAILY BONDAGE OF PLACE.”
THE GEOGRAPHY OF NOWHERE BY JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER
