Whittier, CA - Looking for an interesting looking old googie like sign? Well, the sign
out front Jack's Salad Bowl in
Whittier is the one for you. This place has two signs... unfortunately
this one that sits in the parking lot doesn't light up anymore.
Jack's Salad Bowl Parking Lot Sign (Demolished)
Whittier, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
A pair of unusual signs once announced Jack’s Salad Bowl along Whittier Boulevard. Check out the shapes and lettering, giving this longtime restaurant more than one way to catch passing traffic. One sign stood in the parking lot, while the other greeted motorists nearer the sidewalk. Apparently a single marquee wasn’t going to cover all the possibilities.
The parking-lot sign was a particularly interesting roadside find. Its layered Googie shapes gave it a look of its own, even after it stopped lighting up. The sign closer to the street still glowed at night, keeping the Jack’s name visible above the boulevard.
Jacks Salad Bowl
Whittier, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
There was plenty to admire beneath the signs too. Designed by Martin Stern, Jr., the restaurant opened around 1958, adding another distinctive coffee shop to Southern California’s growing collection. Stern’s work included Ships Coffee Shop and Las Vegas landmarks such as The Mint and the International Hotel. Jack’s brought some of that architectural imagination to a neighborhood meal stop.
Jack's Fried Chicken sign (Demolished)
Whittier, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Then there was the chicken on the roof. Check out the bird keeping watch over the restaurant, adding a little more personality to a place already well supplied with signs. Despite the Salad Bowl name, Jack’s wasn’t limiting the invitation to a plate of greens.
Jack's Salad Bowl was built in the late 1950's by the late Martin Stern, Jr., who is also well known for having commissioned various Las Vegas landmarks such as The Mint and the International Hotel as well as Ships Coffee Shop.
Jacks Salad Bowl
Whittier, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
For decades, the restaurant was part of the familiar drive along Whittier Boulevard. The roofline, chicken, and marquees gave customers several things to recognize before reaching the entrance. It was the sort of place where the building became as much a neighborhood fixture as the business inside.
Jack's Salad Bowl (Demolished)
Whittier, CA Photo courtesy John Eng
Changes arrived in 2006, when Jack’s closed and the restaurant was remodeled as El Pulpo. The familiar lettering changed, and the property began another chapter serving Mexican food. By 2008, it had become Hacienda San Isidro. The building survived those changes, but its time along the boulevard was running short.
UPDATE: Jack's Salad Bowl restaurant has been purchased and is being remodeled into an El Pulpo Restaurant. Photos, including the a change to the marquee, are below. Word is the chicken on the roof will disappear too. 08-06
El Pulpo
Whittier, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
UPDATE : Jack's Salad Bowl is history. Gone. Demolished. Jack's Salad Bowl in Whittier, CA has been a Whittier Blvd landmark for decades. in 2006, Jack's closed and was being remodeled into a Mexican restaurant. The bulldozers came last week and all that's left is an fenced off lot of rubble. 09-10
UPDATE: The former Jack’s Salad Bowl building was demolished in September 2010. One sign survived, the one nearest the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. Its lettering is gone and the sign has been whitewashed, leaving the old shape to recall what once stood behind it. A little piece of Jack’s remains, though it no longer announces the Salad Bowl. 10-26
Jacks Salad Bowl
Jacks Salad Bowl
El Pulpo
