Did you read that right? It’s googie architecture with an “I”, not google with an “L”. I first encountered this word a few days ago, and am so happy to have found it!
Art Deco design is wonderful, right? Both the Chrysler Building in NYC and Senor Frog's restaurant in Miami's South Beach are classic examples. I love the curved lines, the repeated arches and fluid shapes.
Streamline Moderne is a design style that grew out of Art Deco in the 1930’s. Streamline Moderne was all about long horizontal movement and curving lines. You can see the parallels with later automotive design in it’s sleek, aerodynamic lines. Streamline Moderns was Art Deco minus the details, stripped down to fundamentals.
Googie style began about the same time as Streamline Moderne in Los Angeles. Los Angeles was the center of both movements. Featuring swooping lines and carefree angles, it showed up on coffee shops, gas stations, bowling alleys and retail stores. The name of Googie style some from the now-demolished Googie’s Coffee Shop in Hollywood. Here's a napkin from that coffee shop!
A similar style was evolving in France. The French called Googie design “Ocean Liner Style”.
Here are some other examples of Googie-style architecture. The Tuscon Inn has the typical saturated pastel colors, the radiating lines to the letters of TUCSON, and the swooping arrow pointing back at the in. The second photo is of the original McDonald's restaurant - love those glowing golden arches! You see the same arch motif, augmented with the angled wing roof components, in the Southgate shopping center.
Googie: Think optimism and the atomic age, flying saucers and romantic ideas of a Space Age future. These are eye-catching buildings, designed to attract, no, demand, attention. Picture starbursts, atoms, boomerangs and bright colors. Picture cantilevered swooping or angled roofs.
Googie eventually became part of the very popular Mid-Century Modern design movement. It is a happy, optimistic and naive style showcasing part of the American Dream.
Further reading:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/googie-architecture-of-the-space-age-122837470/
https://www.archdaily.com/148641/googie-architecture-futurism-through-modernism
https://www.arch2o.com/need-know-googie-architecture/
