Courtesy Coffee Shop
Blyte, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Driving through Blythe on Hobsonway, check out the tall Googie sign for Courtesy
Coffee Shop. With its sweeping shapes, sharp angles, and space-age crown, the marquee looks ready to launch itself across the desert. It certainly gave travelers something to watch for after miles of highway and not much else.
Take a look at the earlier photo and there is a funny little object sticking out of the top of the sign. A starburst? An antenna? Some sort of atomic coffee stirrer? Whatever it was, the thingy disappeared a couple of years later. The newer photo shows the same marquee still standing, just looking a little less adventurous without its rooftop decoration. Where it went is anybody’s guess.
Courtesy Coffee Shop
Blythe, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Courtesy opened in 1964 under Earle, Robert, and Catherine Shackelford. Its location along the old U.S. 60 and U.S. 70 highway corridor made it a natural stop for travelers crossing the desert between Los Angeles and Phoenix. Pull in, cool off, order something to eat, and give the car a chance to rest before heading back into the heat.
Inside, the coffee shop held onto plenty of its original mid-century character. Vintage booths, old light fixtures, and other 1964 details survived for decades without being swept away by a generic remodel. The attached Celebrity Room for Dining and Cocktails offered steaks, lobster, and drinks for anyone wanting something a little fancier than a quick cup of coffee and a sandwich.
Courtesy Coffee Shop
Blythe, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Here's a shot of the exterior of the Courtesy Coffee Shop. The coffee shop was closed.
Interstate 10 eventually carried much of the through traffic around the old highway route, but Courtesy continued serving Blythe locals and desert travelers. Even in its later years, stepping through the doors felt like finding an old roadside coffee shop that had somehow missed several rounds of modernization.
UPDATE: Courtesy Coffee Shop closed during the 2020 pandemic. The building has since reopened as Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant, which also brought the attached cocktail lounge back to life. The Googie marquee remains out front advertising the new restaurant, though the mysterious ornament on top is still missing. 09-26
International Cafe
Yermo, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Pulling off Interstate 15 at Yermo, the soaring roof and giant arrow sign of the International Cafe once made it nearly impossible to miss. The tall red, white, and blue marquee pointed toward the entrance, while the glass-walled building looked ready to serve hot meals to anyone traveling between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Built in 1965, the cafe was a fine piece of desert Googie architecture. Its sharp roofline, broad windows, and oversized sign were designed to catch the attention of motorists moving at freeway speed. Truckers and road-trippers could pull off at Calico Road, get something to eat, and rest before heading back across the Mojave.
The structural supports and angular roofline for the International made this building something special.
International Cafe
Yermo, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
After the cafe closed around 2003, the empty building became a favorite stop for roadside photographers. Hollywood noticed it, too. The abandoned property appeared around the filming location used in Ang Lee’s 2003 movie Hulk, with a specially built ice cream parlor set placed beside the real cafe.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, the vacant restaurant burned to the ground on August 22, 2008. According to the Desert Dispatch, the International Cafe was "destroyed by a suspicious fire of undetermined cause". 12-08
UPDATE: The vacant International Cafe burned to the ground on August 22, 2008, in a fire investigated as suspicious. Its towering arrow sign survived the blaze for a while but was later removed. The area has since been redeveloped around the enormous EddieWorld travel center, leaving little trace of Yermo’s old Googie cafe. 09-26
