You’ve gotta that 1950s Googie architecture! This is a photo of a Coffee Dan’s coffee shop (part of a chain) at 6576 Van Nuys Blvd, Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. The place was built in 1957 and this photo is from 1958. At the left hand end we can see a sign for the Outrigger Room, so I’m guessing the indoor décor swung toward the Tiki aesthetic, so popular at the time. I’m also wondering of the Outrigger Room was a separate section? A bar, maybe? Does anyone reading this remember it?
** UPDATE ** Harry M. on Twitter sent me this:
These two postcard images were kindly sent in by Alan Simon:
Coffee Dan’s is no longer there. A mini mall anchored by a Pollo Loco now occupies that site. This image is from October 2022.
They must have had locations on the other side of Sepulveda Pass, because that building looks really familiar, and I rarely went to the Valley. I don’t remember the Outrigger Room at all.
Very sad to see that the fine 1954 mid-century modern Van Nuys Savings and Loan, once located across the street, was torn down a couple of years ago too.
Vintage photos of it can be seen here: http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15150coll5/id/20238/rec/19
I know a couple other Coffee Dan’s had cocktail “rooms” attached to them, but most that I know about do not. The one in Oceanside had the Flying Bridge Rm. and West Covina had The Wooden Horse. I’ve seen a menu for Coffee Dan’s Dapper Dan Rm., which someone said is in San Francisco, but there was no address on the menu. I’m only aware of a few Coffee Dan’s outside of California; one in Amarillo, TX, one in Albuquerque, NM, and the one in Phoenix, AZ, which had the Geronimo Rm.
There were a couple in downtown Los Angeles (Broadway at 5th and 8th at Hill), one in Santa Monica at Wilshire and 2nd (where 800 Degrees was until last October), one in Beverly Hills (at Camden where The Grill on the Alley is now) and three within walking distance of each other in Hollywood, one near Highland (where McDonald’s is now), one near Cahuenga Blvd., north side, and then one on Vine Street near Sunset Blvd., across from NBC.
Thanks for mentioning all these locations. I’m sure the Santa Monica one is the one I remember.