Space Age Lodge
Gila Bend, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Cruising through the open desert along the old highway loop in Gila Bend, it looks like a flying saucer made a pit stop right on the main drag at the Space Age Lodge. With its eye-catching neon rocket sign out front and a dramatic UFO dome perched right over the lobby roof, this Googie-era classic is impossible for road-trippers to miss.
The motel opened back in the mid-1960s as Stovall's Space Age Lodge, named after its colorful and futuristic developer, Al Stovall. Stovall made his fortune supplying plastics and metals to aerospace contractors during the height of the Space Race and went on to build a constellation of themed motels around Anaheim near Disneyland, including the Inn of Tomorrow, the Apollo Inn, and the Galaxy Motel. While those California lodges have since vanished, the Gila Bend location remains the lone surviving outpost of his cosmic vision, complete with an on-site coffee shop and diner where travelers can fuel up under space murals.
A devastating fire tore through the property in late 1998, heavily damaging the restaurant wing. During the rebuild, the owners famously hung a banner blaming the destruction on an "alien attack" before getting the coffee shop back up and running.
UPDATE: The motel and its on-site Space Age Restaurant remain open and operational for travelers passing through Gila Bend beneath the restored flying saucer and neon sign. 08-26
Darby's Restaurant (Demolished)
Mesa, AZ Photo courtesy Elgin MacMillan
To the left are a couple of shots of the marquee that used to grace Darby's
Restaurant in Mesa, AZ. These shots were taken on the same fateful
day in May of 2000 that the City of Mesa AZ destroyed this great old restaurant.
While these shots were being taken, the demolition crew was demolishing
the back of the restaurant. The motel part that had been a part of the
same business had been already flattened by this time. Check out the pylons and the flagcrete walls, not to mention the atomic
orbs atop the marquee. Once upon a time, this marquee used to spin. Many thanks to Elgin MacMillanfor info.
Darby's Restaurant (Demolished)
Mesa, AZ Photo courtesy Elgin MacMillan
Check out the incredible atomic roadside marquee that once greeted drivers pulling up to Darby's Restaurant. Standing tall at the prominent downtown intersection of Main Street and Center Street in Mesa, this eye-catching mid-century spectacle was topped with gleaming space-age orbs and dramatic starburst details. To make sure no passing motorist could possibly miss it, the towering multi-tiered sign was famously mounted on a motorized mechanism that slowly rotated out over the street corner.
Darby's Restaurant
Mesa, AZ Photo courtesy Elgin MacMillan
The building itself was a textbook showcase of classic mid-century roadside styling, sporting sharp angular rooflines, distinctive flagcrete masonry walls, and bold structural pylons. Operating as an integrated travel stop that paired a bustling full-service coffee shop with an attached motel court, the complex served as an all-in-one haven for travelers cruising through the Valley of the Sun who needed a hot meal, a fresh cup of coffee, and a place to park the family sedan for the night.
The back end demolished
Mesa, AZ Photo courtesy Elgin MacMillan
Darby's Restaurant was located on the
corner of Center St and Main St in Mesa, Arizona and was quite a sight.
It was hard to miss this mid-century building as you drove past this intersection.
It was a dramatic sight to roll past this old landmark during its final hours in May 2000. Wrecking crews had already moved in on the property, the motel rooms out back were already reduced to piles of rubble, and heavy excavators were actively knocking their way through the rear of the coffee shop while the great spinning sign made one last stand out front.
UPDATE: Darby's Restaurant, its attached motel court, and the famous rotating atomic marquee were completely demolished and cleared from the site in May 2000. 08-26
Bubba's Restaurant
Yuma, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Check out the unmistakable Googie profile of Bubba's Restaurant, located along the busy 4th Avenue strip in Yuma. If that distinctive angular roofline and low-slung, wide-windowed design look familiar, you guessed it—this classic roadside structure was originally built as a vintage Denny's coffee shop during the chain's big 1960s expansion.
After Denny's moved on, the building found new life as an independent road stop, eventually becoming a go-to local favorite for southern barbecue and hearty comfort food. Pulling into the parking lot off the main highway, it is a treat to see an old corporate coffee shop layout repurposed into an independent diner, serving up everything from pit-smoked pulled pork and ribs to early-morning plates of bacon, eggs, chicken fried steak, and Mexican breakfast classics under that familiar mid-century roof.
Bubba's Restaurant
Yuma, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Today, the place operates under the name Bubba's Southern Barbeque, keeping the booths full from early morning through the lunch rush while giving travelers passing through southwest Arizona a fun taste of surviving mid-century roadside architecture.
UPDATE: The business remains open along 4th Avenue in Yuma, continuing to serve breakfast and lunch inside the vintage building. 08-26
Google Images Street View
The old look coffee shops were very popular several decades ago. Bubba's is a survivor of a rapidly diminishing species.
Darby's Restaurant (Demolished)
Darby's Restaurant (Demolished)
Darby's Restaurant
The back end demolished
