I am always interested to know 1950s-era coffee shops attracted the attention of customers. In the case of this Hody’s at 3553 S. La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, it was to build a flat tower at least twice the height of the coffee shop itself, decorate it with five groups of lights and top it off with a (I assume) neon sign. It must have been glorious to see at night.

Here is another angle showing the signage was ever more spectacular!

Andie P. says: “There was a lot of neon on Hody’s signs. Each big letter on the edge of the “tower” was outlined in three colors as I recall and could be seen and identified from a mile away. There were not that many tall buildings then so signage was often elevated and gaudy! We often went to the one in Long Beach, on PCH and I think 7th street, which was a huge restaurant with a dozen or more waitresses on busy weekends. And was filled from early morning to late at night. It was about 2 miles from my dad’s work place and he periodically took groups of his crews and their wives there for dinner. Hody’s was always happy to set up for large groups with only minimal advance notice, and the service was always excellent.”

An interior view of Hody’s on La Brea Ave:

Hody’s menu:

Matchbook from Hody’s:

And here’s Hody’s menu:

If you went to a Hody’s (their most famous location was on the northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine, which they took over from Melody Lane in 1955 and stayed until 1969) this is what you waitress would have worn:

This is roughly how that view looked in June 2024: