A Silverlake restaurant with a “space age” roof has just been added to LA’s list of Historic-Cultural Monuments – no surprise to people who have been dining there for decades.
Astro Family Restaurant, a 24-hour diner that's been a staple in Silver Lake, sits at the corner of Fletcher Drive and Glendale Boulevard. The eatery has greeted its customers with a neon star atop the building and a menu full of American comfort foods. Since its inception, the diner has been serving classic breakfast items and hearty dinner fare. Now, it’s cooking up a historic designation marker.
Maria Siafaris’s dad, Harry, bought it in the early 1980s. The dramatic, sloping roof, which dates back more than 60 years, is one of the first things people notice, she said.
“Characterized as a ‘landmark building’ now? Yeah – he would have loved that," Maria said of her father. He died two years ago but his establishment continues to be run by his loved ones.
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The city’s application for monument status cited the enduring legacy of the two LA-based architects who designed the building, Louis Armet and Eldon Davis. The Los Angeles Conservancy’s website contains a profile of the pair, calling them pioneers of “Googie” architecture, named after “Googie’s” diner on Sunset – demolished decades ago.
The motif is characterized by enormous rooftops that celebrated the dawn of the Space Age in America, as well as design features that favored diners on the go – a nod to LA’s growing car culture of the 1950s and ‘60s.
The Los Angeles Conservancy said that kind of design was once criticized by architects, leading to the demolition of several LA buildings that had that style. Now, preservationists are trying to change that.
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Other Googie designs include Norm’s on La Cienega, Pann’s and the original Bob’s Big Boy restaurants.
Harry Siafaris was careful to preserve the Astro’s interior, as well. It looks very similar to what customers saw when it was built, 65 years ago.
Dennis Fauson visits every single morning for breakfast. He moved to LA from Michigan in 1978, and remembers how Spage Age diners once dotted the city landscape. He’s pleased that the city is preserving his favorite eatery.
“I don’t like to go to new places,” he said, “I like places where (I can be) very old school," he said.
“Customers come up daily,” said Maria, chuckling, “and just say how happy they are that we’re still around!”
Astro Family Restaurant’s historic-cultural monument status protects it from immediate demolition if such a thing were ever to occur.
To learn more about Astro Family Restaurant, click here.
