30 Leo | 30 Birmingham Parkway | Brighton

One last Googie post. I would say that it was most definitely a culturally significant movement, so much of it's dynamic futurism migrated to so many different material things. It was as much a state of mind as it was a design language. Some examples that I absolutely love…

this bowling alley with the signage attributes you mention
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the marshmallow couch
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a Saul Bass movie poster
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an intergalactic table lamp
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Matching candy and cigarette vending machines
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this house in Minnesota
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a pair of martini glasses with inebriated faces
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A 70s-tastic jukebox and yes your parents really did dress like this
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the 1959 Chevrolet, an atomic age fever dream car that looks like it could fly you to the moon as well as take you to the grocery store
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The optimism and can-do attitude that created these wonderful objects is something today's America is in great need of and hopefully soon enough we will find our way back to this again.
 
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So the way I see it is that the only alternative is to don't do anything and leave the entire lot. Given the shape and layout on the parcel, the existing building can't be preserved in any way if a developer is going to do anything here and there is nothing practical that can be done here to build around the bank that would still allow the bank any usage.

Someone please correct or enlighten me (I'm not being sarcastic, but probably am naive).
 
It's going to be demolished. The fantasy of it being relocated is just wishing out loud.
 
Brad Plaid said:
The optimism and can-do attitude that created these wonderful objects is something today's America is in great need of and hopefully soon enough we will find our way back to this again.
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Wonderful set of posts on googie, which is not a term I knew. But I've always loved this aesthetic, and now I know better what it is and how to talk about it, so thank you!
 
Brad Plaid said:
Googie, and this bank is a modest example of it, was America at it's most exuberant and optimistic, it seemed almost nothing was impossible. The horror of WW2 was left behind and Americans got busy reinventing everything: cars, buildings, airplanes, furniture, interior design, graphic design, clothing, electronics. Space exploration and atomic energy plants became realities. The largest, best educated, most successful middle class in human history exploded into the suburbs.

Unfortunately, enthusiasm for the future led to too much devaluing of the historical past. Serious social inequities and environmental wrongs only slowly starting being addressed but these issues are a different conversation. The future isn't what it used to be sadly and today America is an angry, divided place far from all of the post-war euphoria but this too is a different conversation.

But in celebration of the very American Googie aesthetic and all the incredible things this country has given the world (to me America is the best invention ever!) I just recently added these two shirts to my growing collection of Hawaiian, Tiki, and Googie wear.
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The Jamaica Plain Whole Foods is one example of this style in Boston. They did a pretty good job of keeping the interesting parts intact when they did the conversion.
 
DwnTwnr said:
The Jamaica Plain Whole Foods is one example of this style in Boston. They did a pretty good job of keeping the interesting parts intact when they did the conversion.
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When it was still Hi-Lo Foods in 2005. Love the pointy clock.

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And a similar roof at present day Harvard Quincy House.
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