{"id":23818,"date":"2021-12-20T08:15:34","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T16:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/?p=23818"},"modified":"2021-12-20T17:21:13","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T01:21:13","slug":"the-penguin-coffee-shop-1670-lincoln-blvd-santa-monica-california-circa-1959-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/2021\/12\/20\/the-penguin-coffee-shop-1670-lincoln-blvd-santa-monica-california-circa-1959-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Penguin Coffee Shop, 1670 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, California, circa 1959"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"23819\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/2021\/12\/20\/the-penguin-coffee-shop-1670-lincoln-blvd-santa-monica-california-circa-1959-2\/the-penguin-coffee-shop-1670-lincoln-blvd-santa-monica-california-circa-1959\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/The-Penguin-Coffee-Shop-1670-Lincoln-Blvd-Santa-Monica-California-circa-1959.jpg?fit=762%2C599&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"762,599\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}\" data-image-title=\"The Penguin Coffee Shop, 1670 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, California, circa 1959\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/The-Penguin-Coffee-Shop-1670-Lincoln-Blvd-Santa-Monica-California-circa-1959.jpg?fit=300%2C236&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/The-Penguin-Coffee-Shop-1670-Lincoln-Blvd-Santa-Monica-California-circa-1959.jpg?fit=640%2C503&ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23819\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/The-Penguin-Coffee-Shop-1670-Lincoln-Blvd-Santa-Monica-California-circa-1959.jpg?resize=640%2C503&ssl=1\" alt=\"The Penguin Coffee Shop, 1670 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, California, circa 1959\" width=\"640\" height=\"503\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/The-Penguin-Coffee-Shop-1670-Lincoln-Blvd-Santa-Monica-California-circa-1959.jpg?w=762&ssl=1 762w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/The-Penguin-Coffee-Shop-1670-Lincoln-Blvd-Santa-Monica-California-circa-1959.jpg?resize=300%2C236&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/>Sadly, we have precious few Googie-inspired coffee shops left intact around Los Angeles these days, but fortunately we do have photos of many of them in their prime. The Penguin Coffee Shop opened at 1670 Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica in 1959, which is when this shot was taken. There\u2019s something about that angular roof, the stonework on the pillars, and those beachball-shaped light fixtures that make me want to jump right into this image and order a burger with extra fries and a chocolate malted thick shake.<\/p>\n<p>Chris C. says: “<em><span class=\"d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa ht8s03o8 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id\" dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\">We thank Mel Weiss for buying the dental office and restoring it back to a coffee shop albeit rebranded with his signature franchise. Mel Weiss started the original Me\u2019s Drive-In in San Francisco that George Lucas feature in American Graffiti. Mel\u2019s son Chasen actually runs this business and walks to work from his apartment at 7th and Broadway. Thanks to the Weiss family.<\/span><\/em>”<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, the Penguin is still standing. After years of being a dentist office(!), the Penguin was restored as a Mel\u2019s Diner. I love how they kept the penguin on their sign as a nod to the restaurant\u2019s history. This image is from February 2021.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"23820\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/2021\/12\/20\/the-penguin-coffee-shop-1670-lincoln-blvd-santa-monica-california-circa-1959-2\/feb-2021-36\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/feb-2021-3.png?fit=1286%2C470&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1286,470\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}\" data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/feb-2021-3.png?fit=300%2C110&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/feb-2021-3.png?fit=640%2C234&ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-23820\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/feb-2021-3.png?resize=640%2C234&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"234\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/feb-2021-3.png?resize=1024%2C374&ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/feb-2021-3.png?resize=300%2C110&ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/feb-2021-3.png?resize=768%2C281&ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/feb-2021-3.png?w=1286&ssl=1 1286w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sadly, we have precious few Googie-inspired coffee shops left intact around Los Angeles these days, but fortunately we do have photos of many of them in their prime. The Penguin Coffee Shop opened at 1670 Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica … <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/2021\/12\/20\/the-penguin-coffee-shop-1670-lincoln-blvd-santa-monica-california-circa-1959-2\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,12,50],"class_list":["post-23818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-night-photo","tag-restaurants","tag-santa-monica"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5XK3w-6ca","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23818"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23822,"href":"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23818\/revisions\/23822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinturnbull.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}