CALIFORNIA CRAZY-AMERICAN POP ARCHITURE

At the dawn of the automobile age, Americans’ predilection for wanderlust prompted a new wave of inventive entrepreneurs to cater to this new mode of transportation. Starting in the 1920s, attention-grabbing buildings began to appear, drawing passing drivers for snacks, provisions, souvenirs, or a quick meal. The architectural establishment of the day dismissed these roadside buildings as “monstrosities”.

Yet they flourished, especially in America’s Sunbelt, particularly in Southern California, as proprietors indulged their creative impulses in the form of giant, eccentric constructions — from owls, dolls, pigs, and ships to coffee pots and fruit. Their symbolic intent was guileless, yet they were marginalized by history. But, over the past 40 years, California’s architectural anomalies have regained their integrity and are now being celebrated in this freshly revised compendium of buildings, California Crazy.