Iconic LA restaurant to face wrecking ball, new shock planning docs reveal

A classic California diner could soon be reduced to rubble.

The future of Mel’s Drive-In in Santa Monica is uncertain as the site’s owners have submitted plans to raze the iconic diner and replace it with a hulking mixed-use building.

Plans for the new building call for an eight-story structure with 138 apartments. There will also be 5,667 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a semi-underground parking garage with space for 123 vehicles.

Fourteen of the proposed apartment units will be classified as affordable housing, set aside for low-income households. Renderings by Ottinger Architects show a modern-style building with a rooftop deck and central courtyard.

Located at 1670 Lincoln Boulevard, the building stands at the end of the iconic Route 66, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

The new building’s modern look stands in stark contrast to Mel’s Googie architecture, a style which became popular in Southern California in the mid 20th century.

Though it’s now home to Mel’s Drive-In, a California-based chain of 1950s-style diners, the diner was originally built in 1959 as Penguin Coffee Shop.

The building is one of 4,000 Googie-style structures built by California architects Armet and Davis. Today, only a fraction of these classic buildings still stand.

Penguin Coffee Shop operated as a 24-hour restaurant with coffee shop and a bar from 1959 to 1991, when the building became a dentist’s office. It was later restored and reopened as a Mel’s location in 2018.

The Santa Monica Conservancy is fighting to save the historic building before it’s torn down.

The group has submitted the building for consideration for historic status with the SM Landmarks commission, according to its website. There will be a hearing by the landmarks commission on December 14.

“Many Googie-style coffee shops have been demolished and replaced by larger-scale commercial developments, making intact examples like the Penguin that remain even more significant,” the conservancy wrote on its website.

The proposed project is right next door to a newly completed mixed-use building at 1650 Lincoln Boulevard, which features 98 apartments, retail space and parking.

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