Diner Dishes Up Used Cars

People in Downey these days are wondering just what’s cooking at Johnie’s Broiler.

For 44 years, the drive-in restaurant with its soaring neon rooftop sign and its mid-century glass-and-stone Googie architecture has been a local landmark.

Generations of teenagers have been raised on burgers and shakes beneath the long overhangs that extend like airplane wings from the sides. Car club members from across Los Angeles County have pulled in to see and be seen in hot rods.

No wonder locals were surprised last month when they noticed old cars being parked long-term outside the Firestone Boulevard diner. The place was becoming a real used-car lot.

Downey is a place where the drive-in restaurant is revered. It is the home of the oldest McDonald’s, not to mention the world’s first Taco Bell building.

But a handwritten sign taped to Johnie’s front door explained that the diner was closed. A banner hanging on a nearby window announced that Car Outlet Inc. was open.

Inside the 110-seat dining area, things looked the same. Beyond the chrome-plated restaurant cash register--past the rock wall decorated with a framed photograph of the 1989 Downey High School marching band--pots and pans still hung from hooks over grills blackened by a million sizzling sirloins and patty melts.

But across from a counter worn smooth by just as many elbows, car sales contracts were piled on Formica-topped tables.

Sixteen-year-old Teresa Perez was among those horrified when word circulated that Johnie’s might be torn down to make way for a car showroom. She set out on a campaign to save it.

“This place is a part of Downey history,” she said. “Think about it. If they tear down Johnie’s, then Downey will be even more boring than it already is.”

Teresa reminded others in town that over the years Johnie’s has dished up more than just food. It has been the backdrop for numerous movies, TV shows and music videos. The famous fight scene between Ike and Tina Turner in 1993’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” was filmed there. So were parts of 1994’s “Reality Bites,” starring Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke.

“It is because of its authenticity that it appeals to Hollywood. It is because of Johnie’s that Downey appeals to Hollywood,” she said. Teresa’s campaign soon had classmates at Warren High School buzzing about it. So was City Hall.

City officials, it turns out, were as much in the dark about Johnie’s future as everyone else.

In 1993, officials helped preserve the world’s oldest McDonald’s--with genuine golden arches and the original 1953 “Speedee” winking mascot.

City leaders brag that the premier Taco Bell drive-in survives on Firestone, a few blocks west of Johnie’s. Its original faux Mission-style look is still visible, although the seafood tacos it now sells do not carry the Taco Bell name.

Teresa invoked the memory of the successful McDonald’s preservation fight, recalling how former Downey Mayor Joyce Lawrence wrote the “McCorporate Moguls” at hamburger headquarters:

We deserve a break today--

Do not take our youth away!

Here we met for shakes and fries--

While Downey grew ‘neath sunny skies.

It would be poetic justice if current city leaders once again rose to the defense of Downey’s drive-ins, Teresa said.

Mayor Meredith Perkins responded by asking City Manager Gerald Caton to find out what was happening at Johnie’s. Records found by his office indicated that the restaurant isn’t zoned for a car lot.

Downey Police Lt. Rick Esteves, whose office handles code enforcement for the city, said he suspects that Johnie’s owner and its new leaseholder were “looking at dual usage,” a combination drive-in and car-sales lot.

Property owner Christos John Smyrniotis conceded that the fate of the restaurant is “the million-dollar question.”

He has owned Johnie’s since 1966. The Greek-born restaurateur was operating a place in Long Beach that year when he passed through Downey and noticed the glass-and-stone building. It was called Harvey’s Broiler. “I went in and met the owner, Harvey Ortner, and he told me he was interested in retiring. I struck a deal on the spot,” Smyrniotis said. He renamed the diner to reflect his own middle name.

Smyrniotis said the used-car people approached him the same way. “Those guys were coming around for a month or so. Finally I said, ‘I’m ready to retire.’”

The 10-year lease calls for Johnie’s to be operated as either a restaurant or as a car lot, Smyrniotis said. He will evaluate the lot operators’ plans when they are submitted to him.

Car Outlet General Manager Jay Walia said the landmark building might be incorporated into an auto showroom. But, he said, “We’re in the used-car business, not the restaurant business.”

Preservationists still have hope.

Although Downey lacks a historic preservation ordinance, dozens of Johnie’s fans have appealed for help from the Los Angeles Conservancy. Leaders of that group said they plan to meet with various Downey factions to look for a compromise.

“Just judging from the volume of calls we’ve received since it closed, there’s truly a reservoir of support from residents of Downey for it,” said Ken Bernstein, director of preservation issues for the conservancy. “We’re studying what our best approach may be to see Johnie’s used in an economically productive way.”

That may be a tall order at Downey’s favorite short-order grill.