Los Angeles used to be famous for its programmatic architecture, (also known as mimetic architecture, and more simply defined as buildings shaped like other things). Some of the more notable examples ...

It was a confluence of West Coast optimism, Hollywood imagination, and California’s come-up during the automobile age that created the Golden State’s peculiar roadside attractions. All along the ...

Buildings shaped like unusual objects are part of the Southern California experience. What could be more LA than eating a doughnut underneath the giant replica of one at Randy’s Donuts? That kind of ...

It may not be unique to California, nor even America, but novelty architecture – a superbly condescending name for roadside buildings shaped like hot-dogs, boots, icebergs and hats – has its ...

A Hollywood hangout shaped like a brown hat. An ice cream parlor built to resemble an owl. A long hot dog stand that looks like, well, a hot dog. California has plenty of famous architecture, but ...

Buildings shaped like unusual objects are part of the Southern California experience. What could be more LA than eating a doughnut underneath the giant replica of one at Randy’s Donuts? That kind of ...