SoCal 'Googie World Expo' - Page 2

Event-goers won't want to miss the 3D slide show of a master architectural photographer who, in the mid-century, immortalized the work of Armet and Davis.

"The 3D presentation is of the work of legendary stereo photographer Jack Laxer, who captured these buildings in gorgeous 3D Kodachrome beauty that you feel like you can step inside of," Nichols says.

"The original prints come from 'Ultra Angeles,' an exhibition produced by former Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee chairman Alan Leib, and originally showed at the Darkroom Gallery in Los Angeles."

The Laxer photographs will offer a rare opportunity to study Googie architecture in its purest form, seeing how the buildings looked when they were first constructed.

Expo day two centers on a curated tour of the work of Armet and Davis, with a very special highlight. "[The firm] Armet Davis Newlove is celebrating their 75th anniversary with us at a private party in their offices, which houses their incredible, rich archive of original drawings, renderings, and photos of their work," says Nichols. "They even have a piece of original resin art from one of their coffee shops."

Guests will also have a chance to see an A+D design that was built as a coffee shop in 1959, but was later converted into a dentist's office. "The family behind Mel's Drive-In restored the 1959 Penguin coffee shop [of Santa Monica], and it turned out beautifully," Nichols says.

The pinnacle of A+D's designs is arguably Pann's Coffee Shop, in Los Angeles, a spectacular highlight of the tour. "In the words of Jack Laxer," Nichols says, "Pann's is the ne plus ultra of the Googie universe. It is the best-preserved example of these masters [A+D] at the height of their powers."

Nichols, ever the enthusiast and educator, views the Expo as a way to reach out to new audiences, and, hopefully, inspire more folks to preserve these last remaining examples.

"It's one thing to nerd-out on all this in your own head, but to be in a room surrounded by fellow believers, or on a bus with the most hardcore Googie lovers, is transformative," says Nichols.

"And the [Valley Relics Museum] venue itself is filled with rescued neon signs and incredible artifacts from the last hundred years of L.A. history. Come make new friends and fall in love with the most exciting design of the 20th century."

For Googie World Expo ticket and other info, click here.