Santa Monica’s Penguin Coffee Shop becomes a Mel’s Drive-in

Many of the glorious Googie-style restaurants, coffee shops, and diners that once proliferated across the Los Angeles area have been lost to the annals of time. Others, like Santa Monica’s Penguin coffee shop, have merely been hibernating. Constructed in 1959, but home to a dentist’s office since 1991, the Armet and Davis-designed establishment will soon be brought back to life as a Mel’s Drive-in.

As Los Angeles Magazine reports, Steven Weiss, who owns the Mel’s chain of restaurants, has signed a lease to take over the building and plans to rehabilitate the establishment, restoring some of its midcentury splendor. A report from the Santa Monica Planning Commission shows that plans for the project include the addition of an outdoor patio and a few other exterior changes, but most of the alterations will be made on the inside of the restaurant…

Read the full story at LA MAG, by  Chris Nichols