Louis Armét, Eldon Davis American, b. 1914 / 1917

One of the most prominent practitioners of Googie architecture, the firm of Armet and Davis created many of Los Angeles’ most innovative postwar commercial structures, gaining international acclaim for their restaurants and coffee shops.

Established by Louis Armet and Eldon Davis in 1947, the prolific firm “established Coffee Shop Modern as a major popular modern style,’’ wrote Alan Hess in the seminal book, Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture.

Armet was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1914 and moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. He graduated from the USC School of Architecture in 1929 and designed for the U.S. Navy early in his career. Born in Anacortes, Washington in 1917, Davis was a 1942 graduate of the USC School of Architecture.

Credited with the construction of over 4,000 Googie restaurants, Armet and Davis designed prototypes for large restaurant chains such as Denny’s and Bob’s Big Boy that were used to develop the restaurants throughout the U.S. and abroad. Their designs embraced postwar enthusiasm and created eye-catching structures to lure in the average American diner.