L.A. Culinary Icons Add Dash Of Kitsch

(From The USA Today -- By William M. Welch)

A hot dog stand shaped like a hot dog or a doughnut shop that mimics that fried treat may assault the taste of some.

But one person's kitsch is another's art, and the nation's collection of wacky, eye-catching roadside buildings from the early 20th century is being lost to the ravages of time and developers.

It would be hard to dispute that the oddities that took root here in the 1920s and 1930s reflect the car-influenced history and culture of Southern California -- and the rest of the USA.

These attractions, intended to be noticed through a windshield, once were common -- an igloo-shaped soda shop; ice cream emporiums in a giant freezer with crank on top; a Mother Goose Pantry store in a shoe; a hosiery store topped by a 30-foot leg.

There's a formal name -- "Programmatic" Architecture, a roadside-vernacular style in which a building depicts the product sold or something associated with it.

Only a relative handful have survived, and recent moves by condo developers to displace two original examples here have triggered an uproar among people who think that commercial buildings that are shaped like hats, tamales, teapots or lemons are worth preserving.

L.A. Culinary Icons Add Dash Of Kitsch