In architecture, trends and styles tend to shift with the decades but even so, the fact there was a time when California’s roadside buildings seemed to be modelled on the wacky traps you saw on a mini golf course still raises eyebrows. A trend that peaked in 1930’s Southern California, roadside pop architecture displayed a creative imagination on a massive scale. Giant doughnuts, stockinged legs, coffee pots, cream cans and hot dogs all built up into grand, cartoonish permanent structures took the state by storm – because even if the ice cream is average, who doesn’t want to visit an ice cream parlour built in the shape of a huge owl?
Exploring the work of the imaginative entrepreneurs who created the buildings, a new book authored by Jim Heimann (King of Americana) delves deep into the craze with a collection of photos and essays.
California Crazy: American Pop Architecture from Taschen is available from June 2018 here.
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