Googie Diner Hats
Description: Winkie's on Sunset Blvd. is the Googie style diner where much of the 2001 film Mulholland Drive's action takes place. In real life, it's neither actually a restaurant called Winkie's, nor is it on Sunset Blvd. It was actually shot at an old restaurant, which at the time was called Caesar's, though it was located a long ways from Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. The actual location was about 20 miles south at 1016 W. El Segundo Blvd. in Gardena.
Description: The Melody Lane Cafes (there were several in the Los Angeles area) were owned and operated by the Pig'n Whistle Corporation. First acquired in 1927, Melody Lane was an established downtown cafe near the music publishing companies and was a popular hangout for musicians and radio personalities. When prohibition was repealed, Melody Lane began building cocktail lounges within their units. They were one of the first Los Angeles restaurants to do so. A development mirrored in The Hollywood film noir classic Mildred Pierce
Description: Coffee Dan's roots go back to when Daniel Davis, aka Coffee Dan, opened a cabaret in San Francisco in 1879 in the basement below his coffee shop. Eventually, Dan, and later his son, John, focused on the coffee shop and shuttered the cabaret. During WWII, war production saw a demand for 24-hour diners, and Coffee Dan’s began opening several locations in Los Angeles. Open all day, every day, the diners became popular with night shift workers during the war, and continued to be the hang-out spot for late night revelers post-war. Other locations opened around the country, and followed the same formula, but by the end of the '70s, all Coffee Dan’s closed. This design is based on the early '60s rebrand, which saw Coffee Dan as a cartoon mascot.
