Sacramento, CA - 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 sets 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.

Lyons Restaurant
Sacramento, CA
Photo courtesy John Flores

The Lyon’s Restaurant at Watt and El Camino avenues was one of those coffee shops that made an ordinary intersection look much more interesting. Check out the zigzag roof, angled supports, and walls of glass wrapping around the dining room. Even sitting still, the place looked like it was moving.

Lyon’s belonged to the great roadside coffee shop era when restaurants were designed to be seen through a windshield. The sharp roofline reached toward the street, while the glowing signs and large windows offered a clear view of the dining room inside. Directly across the intersection stood an A-frame International House of Pancakes, giving this corner a pretty impressive collection of breakfast architecture.

Lyons side view
Sacramento, CA
Photo courtesy John Flores

The restaurant operated around the clock and became a familiar late-night gathering place. Theater performers, concert crowds, shift workers, and motorists could slide into a booth long after most Sacramento kitchens had closed. Coffee, fries, breakfast, and conversation kept the place busy while traffic moved through the Watt Avenue intersection outside.

Lyons back view
Sacramento, CA
Photo courtesy John Flores

By the early 2000s, the Lyon’s chain was struggling through bankruptcies and restaurant closures. This location served its final meals in 2004, leaving the wonderful coffee shop building empty. The windows went dark, fences appeared around the property, and the old restaurant spent the next few years waiting for either a rescue or a bulldozer.

Lyon's Restaurant Exterior View
Sacramento, CA
Photo courtesy John Flores

During the vacant years, someone painted the word “HOPE” in large letters across a side door. It was a simple message, but it said quite a bit about how local roadside fans felt about the building. There was still hope that a new restaurant might see the value in those glass walls and geometric rooflines. Old coffee shops had found second lives before, so why not this one?

Unfortunately, the rescue never came. Demolition fencing surrounded the property on February 27, 2007. On March 5, heavy equipment began tearing into the building, and the roofline that had marked the intersection for decades quickly disappeared. The signs, supports, windows, and dining room were all cleared from the lot.

The backhoe arrives
Sacramento, CA
Photo courtesy John Flores

The Lyon’s name continued for a few more years at 3000 J Street in Midtown Sacramento. That location became the final operating restaurant in the entire chain before closing on March 25, 2012, and later becoming a Mel’s Diner.

UPDATE: The Watt and El Camino Lyon’s has been completely gone since March 2007. Its classic roadside sign was removed with the building, and the corner was cleared for redevelopment. The A-frame restaurant across the intersection survived the demolition of Lyon’s, leaving one last reminder of the days when this intersection was surrounded by distinctive coffee shop architecture. 09-26

The destruction
Sacramento, CA
Photo courtesy John Flores

UPDATE: The Lyon's on El Camino was demolished in 2007 and is now extra parking for Walmart. Many thanks to Heather Campbell for update. 04-09

UPDATE : Unfortunately, another coffee shop treasure has been obliterated off the roadside landscape. Demolition began on the Lyons Restaurant on 2945 Watt Avenue in Sacramento on March 5, 2007 about a week after a back hoe was spotted outside the suddenly fenced off Lyons on February 27, 2007. 03-07

Below are the demolition photos of the Lyon's Restaurant

Lyon's Restaurant seating area Sacramento, CA Photo courtesy John Flores	Lyon's Restaurant counter Sacramento, CA Photo courtesy John Flores
Lyons from down the street Photo courtesy Chris Sampang	Lyons fenced off Photo courtesy John Flores
More backhoe Photo courtesy John Flores	Lyons fenced in Photo courtesy John Flores
More destruction Photo courtesy John Flores	Lyons Photo courtesy John Flores

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