Here’s the classic A-frame IHOP along Foothill Boulevard in Hayward. The steep blue roof rises above the restaurant like a roadside chalet, making the building nearly as recognizable as the pancakes served inside.
International House of Pancakes used this A-frame design during its early expansion years to give traveling families a warm and easily spotted place to stop. IHOP stopped constructing the design in 1979, and many former locations have since been demolished or converted into unrelated businesses.
UPDATE: The Hayward IHOP remains open and continues serving breakfast inside its original A-frame building. The roadside sign has been modernized with current IHOP branding, but the distinctive roofline and compact hillside setting survive. 09-26
Melaka Restaurant (Demolished)
San Bruno, CA Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo
The Melaka Restaurant in San Bruno occupied a former Lyons Coffee Shop that still looked ready to blast off. With its sweeping roofline, wide windows, and space-age silhouette, this was no ordinary place to stop for coffee or a buffet.
Built in the early 1960s, the restaurant was designed by Googie specialists Armet & Davis and became the very first location in the Lyons Coffee Shop chain. It later operated as a Denny’s before becoming Melaka, an inexpensive Chinese and Pan-Asian buffet. Amazingly, many of the original Lyons booths, counters, tables, and even the old carpet survived inside.
UPDATE: Melaka closed around June 2012. The former Lyons building was demolished later that year, taking one of San Bruno’s finest pieces of coffee shop architecture with it. 09-26
Lodge Coffee Shop Exterior View
Citrus Heights, CA Photo courtesy John Flores
Here is The Lodge Coffee Shop . It is the only one left in the Sacramento area to my knowledge . May be the only one left period. There used to be more of them in the 1950s, 60s or 70s.
It kind of resembles a classic International House of Pancakes building . But the difference is the 1960s style rocky wall on the side of the building . The food there is reasonable and is good . It is open for breakfast and lunch daily . If you are ever in the Citrus Heights area, give it a try . It is on Auburn Blvd. not too far from I-80. Info courtesy John Flores 06-06
Here’s an exterior view of The Lodge Coffee Shop, an A-frame roadside survivor along Auburn Boulevard. Built in 1962, the steep roof, lava-rock walls, and mountain-themed pole sign make the restaurant look like a little Sierra ski lodge that somehow wandered into Citrus Heights.
Lodge Coffee Shop Marquee
Citrus Heights, CA Photo courtesy John Flores
The lodge theme continues inside, where the stone walls lead to a central fireplace. The hearth no longer burns logs, but it found a creative second life as a built-in fish tank. Breakfast and lunch are still prepared from scratch, including hand-cut hash browns and chunky country sausage gravy.
UPDATE: The Lodge Coffee Shop remains open under longtime family ownership, serving customers from early morning until 2:00 PM. The A-frame building and vintage roadside sign survive. Although old travel records list the location as Sacramento, it is within Citrus Heights. 09-26
Rancho Coffee Shop
Stockton, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
The rooftop sign at Ranch Coffee Shop in Stockton still looks ready to light up the night. Early RoadsidePeek notes called it the Rancho Coffee Shop, but the old neon lettering and business records confirm the name is simply Ranch.
Opened in 1955, the diner remains a fine little time capsule with tufted booths, counter stools, old coffee mugs, and a glass gumball machine. The Wade family operated it for 69 years, serving plenty of hash browns, country-fried steaks, and early-morning coffee along the way.
UPDATE: The Wade family retired in March 2024 and handed the restaurant to John, their longtime cook. Ranch Coffee Shop remains open, the rooftop neon sign survives, and the business has even added a breakfast food truck. 09-26
Chinese Restaurant
Fairfield, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Here’s a Fairfield restaurant that looks like it rolled straight out of the coffee shop architecture book. Check out the folded roofline, projecting beams, and subtle boomerang shapes along the dining room. Even with the generic Chinese Restaurant signs covering the old name, its mid-century origins were not difficult to spot.
The building opened in 1968 as Sambo’s location No. 272. Its accordion-like eaves and low angular profile were part of the chain’s late-1960s architectural package, designed to make the restaurant easy to recognize from North Texas Street. The building sits at Dickson Hill Road in front of the Town House Inn, whose tall motel sign can be spotted in the background.
Chinese Restaurant
Fairfield, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
After Sambo’s closed, the building followed the familiar life of an old roadside coffee shop and became an independent Chinese restaurant. That was the business operating here when these photographs were taken, but the roofline continued to give away the building’s earlier history.
UPDATE: The former Sambo’s remains standing and now operates as Hot Stone Korean Kitchen, serving Korean barbecue, bibimbap, and stews. The signs and exterior finishes have changed, but the original zigzag roofline and angular coffee shop profile remain recognizable. 09-26
Zack's (Gone)
Ukiah, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Check out the old coffee shop architecture at Zack’s in Ukiah. The boomerang roof, angled supports, and tall roadside marquee are straight from the era when even stopping for pancakes was supposed to look futuristic.
The building originally housed a Sambo’s Family Restaurant and later became RJ Plum’s. Zack Leventis took over in 1988 and operated Zack’s Family Restaurant here for about a decade, keeping the familiar coffee shop form along North State Street.
UPDATE: Zack’s moved out in 1998, and the building was later converted into a Wingstop. The original marquee has been removed and the exterior heavily remodeled, although portions of the old coffee shop structure can still be spotted beneath the modern changes. 09-26
IHOP
Melaka Restaurant (Demolished)
Lodge Coffee Shop Exterior View
Lodge Coffee Shop Marquee
Rancho Coffee Shop
Chinese Restaurant
Chinese Restaurant
Zack's (Gone)
