It’s Back to the ‘50s for Food and Nostalgia

The pictures say it all.

One wall is crammed with old photos of James Dean, Dick and Pat Nixon, Jackie Gleason and Walter O’Malley in a helicopter, scouting Chavez Ravine.

Another displays a Mars Bar poster (when it was 10 cents) and a wedding photo of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller. Nearby you can find an ad for Jeris Hair Tonic, with a boast from Ray Milland: “It rates an Oscar for greaseless good grooming.”

Welcome to the ‘50s, home of Edie’s Diner, the new cool school hangout for anyone who missed out on the Atomic Era, but still gets a kick out of reliving it. With a remote Seeburg jukebox at each table, checkerboard-square linoleum on the floor and goofy signs everywhere (the one by the bakery announces: “Our Homemade Pies Travel”), Edie’s is a slyly satiric blast from the past. Watching its gum-cracking waitresses flirting with customers at the counter, you almost think you’ve wandered onto the set of the sequel to “Peggy Sue Got Married.”

Colorful Customers

Nestled in Marina del Rey, Edie’s is open 24 hours a day and almost always crowded--especially on weekend nights--with a colorful assortment of boisterous college students, young professionals and ‘50s music fans. (It’s not at all unusual to wander in around midnight and hear a booth-full of patrons singing along to “Under the Boardwalk” or some other period classic.)

If you’re hungry, just order one of the joint’s Blue Plate Specials: The good chicken pot pie comes with Louisiana red fish chowder, mashed potatoes and a pile of fresh vegetables. Or you can just enjoy the scene.

Getting Acquainted

Outfitted in a Chicago Black Hawks warm-up jacket, one of our booth mates had barely gotten a sip of his cherry Coke when a waitress dropped off a note, scribbled in lipstick on a napkin. “Hey, handsome, love your jacket,” it read. “Come join me and my girlfriend--for dessert.” It was signed: The Wonder from Down Under. (Edie’s is the kind of place where lots of phone numbers exchange hands.)

It was time to sample the jukebox. You get two plays for a quarter, and the selection is worthy of a Wolfman Jack greatest hits collection. For 75 cents, you can play Joe Turner’s “Flip, Flop & Fly,” Gary U.S. Bond’s “Quarter to Three,” Clarence (Frogman) Henry’s “Ain’t Got No Home,” Elvis’ “Rock-A-Hula Baby” and (of course) the Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie,” and still have a play left over for your waitress’ favorite Patsy Cline song.

Our booth mate was still making time with the Down Under Wonder, so we wandered over to the counter. One of the cooks was preparing a meat-loaf sandwich while a waitress cut a huge slice of chocolate-swirl cheesecake.

At Edie’s, the machinery is just as enticing as the chocolate malts. The diner has a gleaming orange-juice squeezer, a seafoam-green milkshake machine and a toaster that looks like it was designed by the same wizard who put the fins on the ’57 Cadillac.

Back at our booth, the check was on the table (very reasonable considering how many sundaes were consumed), complete with a small mound of Bazooka bubble gum.

No one was hungry anymore, but no one made a move to leave. The coffee kept coming. No wonder the waitresses (who all wear little “Edie” name tags) sometimes have to shoo customers away when the waiting line starts to wind out into the parking lot.

Magic With Pennies

Our pal was performing a magic trick with six pennies spread across the table. He’d look away, you’d pick a penny and he’d always guess the right one, without even sneaking a peak.

I watched the waitress fix her ponytail and refill a bottle of catsup. I listened to Danny & the Juniors croon “At the Hop” on the jukebox.

But the real magic here isn’t just this nostalgic camaraderie. Edie’s is for people who see the ‘50s as a faraway place, a place that probably only existed in their dreams.

Edie’s Diner, 4211 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey. (213) 823-5339.