The Brief

If you've ever found yourself in Santa Monica at dusk, cruising along the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Lincoln Boulevard, there's a good chance the bright baby blue glow of Mel's Drive-In has caught your eye.

With its imposing, tuxedo-wearing penguin perched atop the neon sign, the iconic Southern California diner is a vivid example of mid-20th-century Googie-style architecture. It also marks the official terminus of historic Route 66, the famed roadway connecting Chicago to the Pacific Ocean, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Mel's drive-in comes with a natty penguin in a tux

(

Suzanne Levy

/

LAist

)

The history

The building dates back to 1959, when it housed the Penguin Coffee Shop, serving cheeseburgers and malts — hence the penguin sign — to hungry travelers. In 1991, it was converted into a more mundate dental office, until 2016, when the Weiss family — third-generation owners of the Mel's Drive-In diner chain founded in San Francisco — purchased and restored the property.

The original Mel's Drive-In, started by Mel Weiss in 1947, was one of the pioneers the American drive-in concept, offering carhop service where food orders were delivered directly to customers in their vehicles. The restaurant made a lasting impression on many, including director George Lucas, who featured it prominently in his 1973 film American Graffiti.

Colton and Chasen Weiss, grandsons of Mel, recall hearing from their grandfather that Lucas "was always a big Mel's fan" and asked to film there. Their grandfather was reluctant but agreed.

"It made Mel's famous and made him famous," Colton said, immediately cementing the restaurant's place in Southern California's cultural landscape. There are now Mel's Drive-In locations in Sherman Oaks and West Hollywood.

Googie explained

Architectural rendering of the Penguin Coffee Shop at Lincoln and Olympic boulevards by architects Louis Armet and Eldon Davis, September 8, 1959. The Weiss family used original plans to guide their restoration.

(

Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives

)

The style is named after the Googie coffee shop designed by the same architects, Louis Armet and Eldon Davis, in downtown Los Angeles in 1949. Ruthann Lehrer, an architectural historian and member of the Santa Monica Conservancy, describes the style as featuring "dramatic cantilevered roofs and plate glass windows...designed to attract passing motorists."

Of the 4,000 buildings Armet and Davis designed with glowing neon and angular forms, only a handful survive, most notably Norm's in West Hollywood and Pann's in Westchester.

The Penguin Coffee Shop illuminated at night in the 1960s. The building's dramatic Googie architecture was designed to attract passing motorists with glowing neon and angular forms.

(

Courtesy Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives

)

The aesthetic echoed the era's car design. "If you look at an old '55 Chevy...those big tail fins...you get that same kind of look and feel as a Googie building," Colton explained.

"Los Angeles really wanted to be a city of the future," said Nina Fresco, also of the Conservancy. Googie was the city's playful answer, distinct from Route 66's roadside vernacular elsewhere.

The restoration

In 2016, after the dental office closed, Steven Weiss — son of Mel's founder and a longtime champion of Googie preservation — purchased the building. He and his sons, Colton and Chase, who now run daily operations, had often driven past and noticed the penguin sign still perched on top, hinting at the building's storied past.

But after 25 years as a dental office, "the whole infrastructure of that building was not a restaurant anymore," Colton said, with super-low ceilings and white stucco walls. It wasn't until the restoration team used a sledgehammer to break through the drywall that they uncovered the original rock facade, which Colton described as "like unearthing some ancient artifact."

Realizing what they had, the Weiss family enlisted the help of Googie experts and preservationists Adriene Biondo and Chris Nichols, who secured the original plans for the Penguin Coffee Shop. This allowed them to restore as much of the authentic design as possible, including the iconic ball-and-teardrop light fixtures in the dining area and the exterior landscaping.

The original Penguin Coffee Shop interior featured a dramatic rock facade and teardrop lighting fixtures. During restoration, the Weiss family discovered this rock wall hidden behind drywall, describing it as "like unearthing some ancient artifact.

(

Courtesy Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives

)

The restoration took two years. Upon opening in 2018, the restoration immediately drew attention from preservationists and the community, earning the Santa Monica Conservancy Historic Preservation Award in 2019.

According to Lehrer, Mel's is one of the only remaining Googie buildings in Santa Monica — what Fresco calls "the last bird standing" — as others have been demolished to make way for mixed-use development.

"So many locations are getting torn down...building high rises...it's losing a lot of its aesthetic. It's sad to see," Colton said. In Los Angeles, small-scale buildings face an uncertain fate as the land beneath them becomes increasingly valuable.

Full circle

The diner has since become known for its high-quality diner food, and as a photogenic stop for tourists taking selfies at the end of Route 66. When the Weiss family first arrived, there were no signs marking its unique location. The city installed them after Mel's opened — as if the official terminus had been waiting for the right destination. Now, through a partnership with the Route 66 Society, the diner hands out certificates of completion to road trippers who've made the journey from Chicago.

The interior of Mel's Drive-In features restored ball-shaped light fixtures and terrazzo floors that echo the original 1959 Penguin Coffee Shop design.

(

Gab Chabrán

/

LAist

)

Colton recalls a sunburned man in his 70s who'd driven the entire route in his 1960s Corvette Stingray, bucket list complete, beaming as he received his certificate. "It's a really special place, and it is special to me," Colton said. "So that definitely means it's special to everybody else."

Mel's Drive-In, Santa Monica's last remaining Googie building—what preservationists call "the last bird standing."

(

Courtesy Mel's Drive-In

)

That baby blue glow is still doing exactly what it was designed to do all those years ago: catching the eye of passing motorists.

Southern California summers aren’t exactly known for mugginess.

But uncharacteristic humidity has been clinging to the region for almost a month, and it looks like there’s little relief coming our way.

It’s not enough moisture to create much, if any, rain, but it is abnormal for this time of year

The dew point in Southern California is normally around 60 degrees at this time of year, forecasters say. But in downtown Los Angeles yesterday, the dew point hit almost 70 degrees.

Scientists say humidity generally becomes uncomfortable in the summer when the dew point is higher than 65.

“We do get these prolonged periods of heat, but what is unusual is the humidity,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Lewis.

So, what’s causing this mugginess?

A confluence of atmospheric forces, some hundreds or even thousands of miles away, is collecting and trapping moisture in Southern California.

“It's basically the combination of the warm ocean temperatures, as well as we've just been in the right pattern for some tropical moisture" to be sent our way, Lewis said.

Storms in the Pacific

Storms are to blame, at least in part, for the uncharacteristic humidity in the region this summer.

Two in particular have contributed to moisture levels in Southern California as they traveled across the Pacific Ocean in recent weeks.

Tropical Storm Fausto formed off of Central America earlier this month before moving off into the open ocean and moving toward Hawaii. It briefly was elevated to a Category 2 hurricane over the weekend before weakening again into a tropical storm.

Fausto is expected to continue weakening as it passes to the north of the Hawaiian Islands over the next few days.

The other, stronger storm, Hurricane Genevieve, also formed off the coast of Central America and has been moving relatively parallel to the Mexican coast, several hundred miles offshore.

Genevieve was elevated to a Category 5 hurricane on Monday.

The storms aren’t solely responsible for sending moisture hundreds of miles across the ocean.

Other weather patterns closer to home, including the system of high pressure air currently settled over the Western U.S. and the North American monsoon, siphon the tropical moisture from the storms into our region.

Thankfully, forecasters say, Hurricane Genevieve is not expected to create as much moisture as Fausto and other recent tropical storms.

Warming oceans

Forecasters also say warming ocean temperatures are adding to the humidity.

When the ocean is warmer than usual, the wind blowing inland off the water is also warmer. The warm seawater also evaporates faster, releasing more moisture into the air above it. That moisture is then carried inland by the wind.

Ocean warming is not new in Southern California, but it’s getting worse.

The region has been hit with a series of marine heatwaves over the last decade. They generally recede during the winter, but the current one has lasted for over a year. Scientists say these ocean heatwaves are likely being worsened by human-caused climate change.

But there is some short-term hope on the horizon for humidity-haters.

One, Hurricane Genevieve is not expected to pull as much moisture into our region as other recent weather patterns. And two, forecasters expect drier air to flow in from the northwest, cutting down the humidity a bit, especially inland.

That may not reach people who live along the coast, however, where the higher ocean temperatures will help keep the coastal humidity elevated, especially at night.

Los Angeles-area eviction lawyer Dennis Block has agreed to one year of probation after the California State Bar Court found he violated a court order and engaged in other misconduct.

The decision came through a stipulation — similar to a settlement agreement with the court — in which Block admitted to charging clients improper fees, representing a landlord and their tenant at the same time, signing off on an error-filled court document a junior attorney in his firm generated using ChatGPT and failing to pay court-ordered sanctions for nearly three years.

LAist first reported on these disciplinary charges in January.

Block, who runs a firm that claims to have evicted hundreds of thousands of tenants, is expected to be placed on probation for one year. He will also be required to take classes on ethics and proper handling of client funds if the State Bar Court’s recommendation is approved by the California Supreme Court.

The State Bar Court recommended Block be suspended from practicing law for one year, but allowed the suspension be stayed as long as he complies with ethics rules and his probation conditions.

David Bramante is one of the clients who reported Block to the bar. He said he paid Block $17,000 up front to work on a court motion that needed to be taken care of quickly.

“The Ellis Act work I paid for never got done,” Bramante told LAist. “And when I terminated him, his office wouldn't give me a real accounting of where the money went.”

Bramante said it was only after many months and the State Bar’s investigation that Block’s firm refunded him the money.

Three legal ethics experts told LAist the disciplinary actions the bar recommended against Block are in line with similar cases they have seen in the past.

“This is a pretty serious sanction,” Scott Cummings, a UCLA law professor who teaches legal ethics, told LAist.

Cummings said suspension and disbarment are the two highest forms of discipline given by the bar.

Even though the suspension is being stayed in this case — because Block cooperated with State Bar investigators and has had a long career without disciplinary issues — Cummings said it seems like the bar is sending a message to Block and other attorneys that they need to treat their clients’ interests and money with the highest level of care.

Still, others think the court didn’t go far enough.

Richard Zitrin, an emeritus lecturer with UC Law San Francisco, called it a “slap on the wrist" considering the level of wrongdoing in the case.

“The failure to suspend Mr. Block is letting him get away with clearly unethical conduct that harms his clients,” Zitrin told LAist.

Other clients who were not involved with the bar’s investigation also claimed they had negative experiences with Block’s firm.

Xavier Jones said he hired Block’s firm for a few months in 2025. He told LAist there were no issues at first. Then, he said he saw Block’s attorneys start coming to court unprepared for his case. He said he also felt Block was overbilling him for the firm’s services.

Block would hang up on him when he asked legal questions or about how much he was being billed, Jones said. He said there were two times the firm’s lawyers came to court without having a copy of the tenants’ lease, which he says he sent them.

“I'm paying for this, for them to show up, for them to do their back-end work,” Jones said. “It's just unprofessional, it's embarrassing, and it's costing me a lot of money.”

Jones said he stopped working with Block in November. He said he had lost about $70,000 in unpaid rent, legal fees and other costs he believes could have been avoided with proper legal assistance.

LAist reached out to Block and his attorneys this week for comment, but did not receive a response. Last month, Erin Joyce — Block’s defense attorney — told LAist that the State Bar Court’s investigation into her client was “thorough” and found “no conduct by the firm involved moral turpitude,” which had been alleged in the original charges.

A year ago at this time, the streets of Los Angeles and other American cities were the sites of highly visible, large-scale immigration raids. While those scenes have died down, immigration enforcement remains more quietly active.

Federal data show Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained more people in June, at 43,000, than in any month since January 2025. Locally, Los Angeles Police Department officials say June had the highest tally of potential unlawful conduct by federal immigration officers. The 12 incidents investigated mark the most since the department began reporting the data in March.

German Hurtado, LAPD immigration affairs liaison, said in an interview that he noticed the uptick of reported immigration enforcement incidents, but could not say what caused the increase.

In February, Mayor Karen Bass issued a directive requiring the reporting. Police commissioners approved the most recent report at their meeting Tuesday.

Hurtado said the increase seen in June might be reflective of the department’s efforts to capture more of the potential issues.

“We’re finding better ways to improve how to capture these incidents,” Hurtado said. “It could be a combination of everything, but I did see that it was a large increase.”

He said those efforts include changes in how they label calls related to federal immigration enforcement actions and adjustments to the way department computers store the information.

What’s in June’s report

Here’s how that process worked, according to the department’s report:

The LAPD first identified 45 potential federal immigration enforcement actions by searching internal reporting systems for immigration related search terms. The immigration affairs liaison determined 33 of those incidents were unrelated to immigration enforcement.

At the commission's meeting on Tuesday, Lisa Ridoutt, assistant inspector general, explained these incidents included:

• 26 notices from federal agents conducting surveillance in the area
• 2 reports of protests
• 2 medical related incidents
• 1 report of DHS agents executing a search warrant unrelated to immigration
• 1 federal task force meeting
• 1 call reporting someone believed they were pushed from behind by a federal agent. LAPD reviewed security footage and determined no crime had occurred.

The department then looked deeper into 12 enforcement incidents that qualify for reporting under Bass’ executive directive, which asks the LAPD to report when officers document or receive reports of suspected unlawful conduct by immigration officers. Two of those incidents involved an LAPD response in the field, according to the report. The department also says neither resulted in officers being on the scene for an active enforcement action.

The report states the LAPD does not know the overall number of immigration enforcement actions that happened in June.

The 12 reported incidents are a significant increase from previous months. The department reported just four incidents in May, four in April and none in March.

Hurtado said the number of incidents has increased every month since March, potentially because the department is getting better at documenting them.

“It takes a while to teach 8,700 people exactly what to do, so as we are rolling out different training, the officers are now being more observant of it, documenting it more," Hurtado said.

The increase, he added, could also stem from federal authorities communicating with LAPD more. He said federal immigration authorities have not asked LAPD for support during enforcement actions.

The backstory

For decades, the LAPD has refrained from directly enforcing immigration laws. That’s because policing experts say doing so could deter witnesses or victims from cooperating with law enforcement.

State and local laws have codified that policy in recent years and further prohibited California law enforcement from assisting in federal immigration enforcement.

The mayor issued two executive orders last year with instructions for how city departments interact with federal immigration officers.

Executive directive 17 mandates the monthly immigration reports from the LAPD and instructs officers to activate their body-worn cameras whenever they respond to potential immigration-related incidents.

Ridoutt, of the Office of Inspector General, said that while officers did activate body-worn and in-car video systems, the OIG found some recordings were not properly titled or tagged and that some videos or photos from community members were not uploaded to the department’s evidence database as required by department policy.

The Inspector General’s Office reviews the LAPD’s reports to ensure compliance with the directive. Ridoutt said the office will be releasing a more comprehensive report in October or November.

Calls for increased transparency

At previous meetings, commissioners have asked for more details about what calls for service or incident reports entail.

Hurtado said the executive directive just requires the department to release aggregate numbers.

Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director of immigrant and racial justice at the California Immigrant Policy Center, said the directive calls for greater transparency than what the LAPD’s monthly reports currently provide.

The June report, for example, notes that LAPD twice dispatched officers in response to a report of ICE activity, but provides no description of the department’s role once officers arrived. Cheer said the public should know whether officers were responding for crowd control, interacting with federal agents or serving some other purpose.

Cheer said the LAPD’s monthly reports should explain what happened during the incidents the department counts.

Sophia Wrench, an attorney with Public Counsel, agrees.

“A central purpose of Executive Directive 17 was to provide increased transparency and build public trust, but LAPD’s reporting month after month falls short,” she said in a statement. “The lack of information in its monthly reports only creates more confusion in the community, building greater fear and mistrust of the police.”