Mid-century developments in the aerospace industry not only influenced the look of these places, but new plastics and resins were put to wide use by designers. As freeways began to spread across the country, a roadside business became a potentially lucrative concern for entrepreneurs. But to attract drivers they needed eye-catching designs at a budget. So they turned to mid-range firms like Powers, Daly and DeRosa or Armet-Davis, who designed coffee shops for Norm’s, Pann’s and Denny’s.

“You see it in graphic design you see it in theme park design, you see it in people that have the freedom to be extreme,” Nichols said of the distinctive roadside style. “Everything out of DeRosa was some expressive crazy gesture, an A-frame or an arch or a paraboloid or something. He loved the idea of making something stand up and not knowing how it stood up.”

Evocative though they were, pin palaces were frowned upon by the architectural establishment. But as they grew into community centers including barbershops, beauty parlors, daycare centers, restaurants and exotic cocktail lounges, many of the more prestigious firms like Case Study architects Killingsworth, Brady, Smith and Associates (Kahala Hilton) as well as LA’s largest firm, Welton Becket and Associates (Capitol Building), tried their hand at it, though with little success.

“They could build a ten-story hotel or an office building without blinking,” observes Nichols. “But something as delicate and unusual as a bowling center, or a coffeeshop for that matter, required a specialist.”