Can Santa Monica’s Mel's Drive-In be saved?

The future of Mel’s Drive-In, the midcentury Googie-style diner at Lincoln and Olympic boulevards in Santa Monica, is up in the air.

ValueRock, the Irvine-based real estate firm that owns the property, has submitted preliminary plans to replace the diner with an eight-story apartment building.

But shortly before those preliminary plans went to the city, the Santa Monica Conservancy and the Los Angeles Conservancy were preparing to nominate the 1959 building for landmark status. Right before the groups filed on Sept. 4, ValueRock asked the Santa Monica Conservancy to hold off, according to Nina Fresco, the group’s vice president. The groups filed anyway.

Fresco, who also sits on Santa Monica’s Planning Commission and previously served on its Landmarks Commission, said she spoke with ValueRock only once about the request to delay.

ValueRock did not respond to phone and email requests for comment.

The Santa Monica Landmarks Commission will consider the nomination Dec. 14. Here’s what’s at stake and how to weigh in.

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

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Courtesy Mel's Drive-In

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The building

The building dates to 1959, when it opened as the Penguin Coffee Shop at the terminus of historic Route 66. It was designed by Armét & Davis, the architecture firm behind other Googie landmarks such as Norms and Pann’s, and features a swooping roof and a larger-than-life neon sign of a penguin in a tuxedo, common to the style.

In 1991, it was converted into a dentist’s office before the Weiss family restored it to its diner origins in 2018 as Mel’s Drive-In, one of eight locations in California. ValueRock bought the property two years later, according to property records.

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.

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Gab Chabrán

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LAist

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It’s the last Googie diner in Santa Monica, according to the conservancy. During the restoration, crews broke through drywall to find the Penguin’s original rock facade, which Colton Weiss, one of the third-generation brothers who run the restaurant, described to LAist in January as “like unearthing some ancient artifact.”

“We like to bring to life these old buildings and make ’em shine once again,” he said. (Read LAist’s earlier story on the restoration.)

The application 

ValueRock submitted a preliminary application under SB 330, a 2019 state law designed to speed up housing project approvals. That preliminary application is not a formal housing-project application, and no demolition permit has been sought, according to Stephanie Reich, the city’s design and historic preservation planner.

Plans submitted to the city of Santa Monica show the proposed eight-story building at 1670 Lincoln Blvd, where Mel's Drive-In currently stands.

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Courtesy Ottinger Architects / City of Santa Monica

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What landmark status would and wouldn’t do

The conservancies are asking the city to designate the parcel, the building and the sign as landmarks. Designation wouldn’t block new housing on the site, Fresco said, but the commission would review how any new development treats the building’s historic features.

"We’re not trying to stop the clock,” Fresco said. “We’re trying to save historic resources that tell stories.”

She pointed to Nikkei Hall as a precedent. The Japanese American community hall in Santa Monica was landmarked in 2018 and later incorporated into a housing development for older adults at Michigan Avenue and 14th Street.

What happens next

The Landmarks Commission will hold its hearing on the nomination Monday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m. at Santa Monica City Hall. If it does go through, Fresco said she expects any designation will be appealed.

Meanwhile, Mel’s Drive-In remains open. In an email, Colton Weiss said the restaurant regularly hosts travelers who have driven Route 66 and gives them a certificate of completion. “We as a family business love serving all the great families in Santa Monica,” he wrote. “We hope this all works out!”