Downey Landmark’s Neon Sign May Lose Its Sparkle

For decades Johnie’s Broiler in Downey drew cruisers from around Southern California, with its sleek coffee shop, V-shaped car canopy and enormous neon signs.

Today, Johnie’s neon directs folks to used cars instead of burgers, shakes and the 24-hour diner that was on Firestone Boulevard. And Downey officials are left with the question of whether they should preserve the business beacon even though the diner closed in 2001.

The city Planning Commission is expected to decide the matter tonight; its staff recommends revocation of a variance that allows the oversized signs, which have been part of the local landscape since the late 1950s.

Preservationists, who view Johnie’s as a Southern California car culture landmark, oppose revocation.

A state commission in 2002 designated the site eligible for listing in the California Register of Historical Resources.

“We’re frankly baffled by the recommendation because the variance approved by the Planning Commission in 1990 was based on the historic significance of the site,” said Ken Bernstein, director of preservation issues for the Los Angeles Conservancy. “If anything, that significance has only been reconfirmed by the State Historical Resources Commission.”

Downey officials counter that the variance granting the signs is linked to the location’s use. The signs cover an area of more than 2,000 square feet, according to Mark Sellheim, principal planner for the city of Downey. One features a pudgy blond tyke bearing a burger, affectionately referred to by fans as “Fat Boy.”

“The sign variance is for a drive-in restaurant,” Sellheim said. “The drive-in restaurant no longer exists.”

The signs have created marketing challenges for the site’s current tenant, Car Outlet.

“We have people come to our property and ask where the restaurant is,” said Dave Dhillon, president of Car Outlet.

The restaurant opened in 1958 as Harvey’s Broiler, but was sold to Christos John Smyrniotis, who changed the eatery’s name in the mid-1960s to Johnie’s Broiler. The switch was reflected in the signs.

Smyrniotis, who now rents the site to Dhillon’s company, said that when he was younger and more active in the restaurant business he felt sentimental toward the drive-in’s signs. These days, however, he wants to support his tenant.

“I want to see my tenant benefit from the advertisement of his product,” he said. “Right now he’s in limbo.”

Grounds for revoking the variance under Downey law include that Johnie’s has not occupied the site for more than a year and that Car Outlet altered a sign that once read “Open 24 Hours” to “Car Outlet” without a permit.

Preservationists contend that signs advertising the old and new businesses could co-exist.

“It seems to me they could put up advertising that makes it clear it’s a car outlet without defacing the historic signage,” said Adriene Biondo of the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Modern Committee.

“There are many signs throughout L.A. County that have historic value even though the historic businesses no longer exist,” Bernstein added. He cited as examples signs for the Broadway department store and Helms Bakery.

Biondo cited Johnie’s as an example of post-World War II Googie architecture, known for attracting passing drivers with bold angles, flamboyant neon lights, expansive use of glass and space-age flare.

It was nominated to the state register as an outstanding postwar example of a modern coffee shop, for its drive-in design and its importance in Southern California car culture in the 1950s and 1960s. Generations of teens and cruisers washed down hamburger plate specials with cherry Cokes at the drive-in, which was featured in books, movies and magazines.

“It was part of the cruising route,” Biondo said. “As many as 5,000 people were said to have visited it on weekends. They would line up around the block to get there.”

Tonight’s meeting will be at 7:30 in the council chambers of Downey City Hall.