Lyons Restaurant
Sacramento, CA Photo and info courtesy Mark Fahey
Here is the Lyons Restaurant on the corner of El Camino
Ave and Watt Ave in Sacramento. It closed in 2004, and now this beauty of
Googie style sits waiting. This is as it appears October 2005 and may
eventually be torn down. Ironically, a graffiti artist has painted the
word "HOPE" on the side kitchen door. 10-05
Denny's Restaurant (Demolished)
Mountain View, CA Photo courtesy Jason Carlton
Here’s another classic Denny’s Restaurant designed in the Armet & Davis coffee shop style. The sweeping boomerang roof, broad plate-glass windows, and tall geometric roadside sign were still in remarkably pristine shape when this photograph was taken.
Located near Moffett Boulevard and Highway 101, the restaurant served Mountain View motorists along with military personnel from nearby Moffett Field. Its design came from the futuristic Denny’s prototype introduced by Armet & Davis during the late 1950s, back when a coffee shop could look ready to take flight.
UPDATE: The Mountain View Denny’s reportedly closed during the mid-1990s. Its vintage sign and Googie building were subsequently demolished as the Leong Drive area was redeveloped. 09-26
Hunter's Grill (Gone)
Yuba City, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Here’s Hunter’s Grill in Yuba City, a former Sambo’s Restaurant with plenty of its original coffee shop shape still showing. From the side, the folded roofline looks like a polygon version of a boomerang, giving the building a little Space Age motion while it sat along Colusa Avenue. Many thanks to Mark Fahey
for the Sambo's ID.
After the Sambo’s chain faded during the 1980s, the building became Hunter’s Grill and continued serving as an independent coffee shop and steakhouse. Hunter’s later closed, and the old restaurant found another breakfast-related life as the Waffle Barn.
UPDATE: The Hunter's Grill in Yuba City closed down and is now home to a Waffle Barn restaurant. 11-17
UPDATE: Waffle Barn eventually closed and the former Sambo’s sat vacant. The building and its distinctive folded roofline were demolished by 2022, and all of the old restaurant signage has been removed. 09-26
Country Waffles
Sacramento, CA Photo courtesy John Flores
The Country Waffles at El Camino and Fulton avenues looked like an old mid-century coffee shop because that is exactly what it was. Long before waffles appeared on the sign, the building opened as Walt’s Restaurant, part of a regional coffee shop chain that competed for the same roadside crowd as Denny’s and Lyons. 11-05
From the parking lot, the long, low building had the wide windows and angled lines expected from a 1960s coffee shop. The entrance and front facade still carried plenty of roadside character when these photographs were taken in 2005. It was the kind of place where the architecture made a person want to stop for coffee before even looking at the menu.
Country Waffles close-up
Sacramento, CA Photo courtesy John Flores
Stepping inside brought the time travel portion of the visit. Country Waffles had inherited the old Walt’s dining room and preserved much of its original layout. Wood-grain paneling lined the walls, booths wrapped around the perimeter, and low counter stools waited for breakfast customers. With a cup of coffee on the counter and a plate of waffles nearby, it probably did not take much imagination to picture the room filled with its original 1960s crowd.
Country Waffles eventually closed, but the building received another turn at the griddle when it became an independent restaurant called Flapjacks. The name changed, yet breakfast remained the order of the day. Old coffee shops have a habit of attracting pancakes, waffles, and anything else that requires a generous supply of syrup.
Country Waffles interior
Sacramento, CA Photo courtesy John Flores
Unfortunately, the building was later struck by a serious fire that damaged the kitchen and roof. Instead of repairing the old structure, the property was cleared, taking the former Walt’s architecture and its preserved coffee shop interior with it.
UPDATE: The Country Waffles on El Camino Avenue used to be a Walt's Restaurant, which was similar to Denny's. Many thanks to Heather Campbell for update. 04-09
UPDATE: The Country Waffles and Flapjacks building at 2721 El Camino Avenue has been demolished, and its roadside signage is gone. Other Country Waffles locations continued operating around the Sacramento area, including the surviving restaurant on Sunrise Boulevard in Citrus Heights, but the vintage Fulton Avenue coffee shop is no more. 09-26
International House of Pancakes (Closed)
Sacramento, CA Photo courtesy John Flores
Here are a few views of the classic International House of Pancakes building at El Camino and Watt avenues in Sacramento. Although the restaurant had been remodeled, the steep A-frame roof still gave it that unmistakable early IHOP look. 06-06
The chalet-style design was created to catch the attention of passing motorists and make a pancake breakfast feel like a visit to a little roadside lodge. IHOP stopped constructing these A-frame restaurants in 1979, making each surviving example a little more interesting.
This location once faced another piece of coffee shop architecture, the Googie-style Lyons Restaurant across the intersection. Lyons closed in 2004 and was demolished in 2007, leaving IHOP as the surviving mid-century diner at the corner.
UPDATE: IHOP no longer operates at this location. Its successor, Taqueria Tapaltos, has also permanently closed, leaving the former restaurant without an active tenant. The classic A-frame shell remains a reminder of the corner’s coffee shop days. 09-26
Denny's Restaurant (Demolished)
Hunter's Grill (Gone)
Country Waffles
Country Waffles close-up
