Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister, The [Perfect Paperback]

Chris Nichols (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2007

The Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister Chris Nichols
Wayne McAllister was an iconoclast, a designer with no formal architectural training who changed the fabric of cities, a quiet conservative who created some of the most outlandish and sometimes garish spaces in North America. His works are defined by the monumental roadside sign at the edge of the highway, the rambling, relaxing scale of everything-a leisurely freedom of space spread over vast acreage, with rolling lawns, open patios, winding paths and miles and miles of neon beckoning to the automobile.
From the famous Sands, Fremont and Desert Inn hotels in Las Vegas to neon-laden drive-ins such as Bob's Big Boy, McDonnell's and Simon's to extravagant dinner houses like Lawry's the Prime Rib, Richlor's and Melody Lane, The Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister explores the history of this architect's best-known projects.
Projects include Hotels and Nightspots:
1934 Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles
El Rancho Vegas Hotel, Las Vegas
1952 Sands Hotel, Las Vegas
Fremont Hotel, Las Vegas
Drive-Ins:
1935-42 Simon's Drive-in's, Los Angeles
Herbert's Drive-Ins, 7800 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles
McDonnell's Drive-Ins, Los Angeles
1955 Bob's Big Boy, Van Nuys
Dinner Houses:
1945 Richlor's, Beverly Hills
1947 Stear's for Steaks, Beverly Hills
Lawry's the Prime Rib, Beverly Hills
1955 Smoke House restaurant, Burbank
Melody Lane

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ebullient and breezy, this retrospective on the multi-generation career of commercial architect Wayne McAllister is the perfect vehicle for the architect who defined the southern California look and, according the New York Times, "elevated commercial structures like the drive-in restaurant...to art forms." Needless to say, the look he gave birth to has become so ingrained in popular American culture that it's largely taken for granted; McAllister's overwhelming influence and sizable output get some deserved recognition in this volume, thick with photos and illustrations, that has the feel of a lovingly assembled collage. Historic preservationist Nichols, a Los Angeles native, shows a deep knowledge and passion for his home state, and displays his architectural chops in simple, unpretentious and occasionally cheeky writing that susses out the idealism and everyday glamour of McAllister projects like the Melody Lane restaurant (which graces the cover) and the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Academics and serious architecture buffs may be frustrated by a lack of new insight or research, but less demanding fans of mid-20th century commercial architecture, and many fans of American pop culture in general, will find this volume as fun and welcoming as the oversized figure of Bob's Big Boy adorning McAllister-designed drive-ins all along the western seaboard.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From the Inside Flap

"[McAllister] elevated commercial structures like the drive-in restaurant and the theme resort to art form." - New York Times
"Think of how many people have lived in, or even visited, a Frank Lloyd Wright and then compare it to the number who have visited his [Wayne McAllister's] Las Vegas hotels. Millions more people have been influenced and affected by their quality."
- Alan Hess, architectural critic
American twentieth-century culture is not best explained through the architectural legacy of individual monuments but by the patterns and forms of its places. The spaces that are created and the way people use space dictate a lifestyle. The commercial architecture created by Wayne McAllister created much of the character of Southern California. His Fred and Ginger nightclubs and glinting steel and blazing neon circular drive-ins brought Busby Berkeley's Hollywood to life. His Sands Hotel in Las Vegas became the home of the Rat Pack; the mythology of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. owes a great deal to the swank glamour of the Copa Room and the Sands Hotel, McAllister's finest Nevada hotel.
Wayne McAllister was an iconoclast, a designer with no formal architectural training who changed the fabric of cities, a quiet conservative who created some of the most outlandish and sometimes garish spaces in North America. His works are defined by the monumental roadside sign at the edge of the highway, the rambling, relaxing scale of everything-a leisurely freedom of space spread over vast acreage, with rolling lawns, open patios, winding paths and miles and miles of neon beckoning to the automobile.
From the famous Sands, Fremont and Desert Inn hotels in Las Vegas to neon-laden drive-ins such as Bob's Big Boy, McDonnell's and Simon's to extravagant dinner houses like Lawry's the Prime Rib, Richlor's and Melody Lane, The Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister explores the history of this architect's best-known projects.
A native Angeleno, Chris Nichols has worked in the historic preservation community for fifteen years. His work has been profiled in Smithsonian Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly and New Times L.A. He is the outreach chair of the Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee and an editor for Los Angeles Magazine. Nichols has created tours, publications and exhibitions while also working with property owners and serving as an advocate for endangered buildings at the local and state levels.

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Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith; 1 edition (March 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586856995
• ISBN-13: 978-1586856991
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 9.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #325,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars bittersweet tinge, May 15, 2007

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister, The (Perfect Paperback)

Nichols gives a nostalgic retrospective on the long live and prodigious output of Wayne McAllister. In no small part, the book walks the reader back through the last 60 years of urban commercial architecture in the southern California region. McAllister lived a very long time, and he was responsible for designing iconic landmarks that at least in the hazy afterglow of memory, epitomise a classic time.

The book is replete with many photos and illustrations, the cover being an example of the latter. The most common image, if not exactly the most enduring, is Bob's Big Boy. I remember in the early 80s, when I arrived in Los Angeles, how these fast food restaurants and their mascots were everywhere. Even getting a cameo role in Terminator. Alas, as the years wore on, the Bob's Big Boys got steadily deprecated. Not many left.

Another type of McAllister's work has also fallen into the tar pits of history. He designed many of the drive-ins that dotted Los Angeles. And which were an indelible part of many teenagers' experiences. Sadly, most are long gone, brought down by the VCR and its successors. At least in the book, you can see several as they once were, at the peak of their glory. Actually, no matter how pretty the architecture, the sound was often bad, the food dreadful, the movies second rate and the nearby cars often had loudmouths.

Great book. But for some readers old enough, there is a certain bittersweet tinge to all this.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well researched and thorough, August 30, 2007

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Randy Clemens "Professional Hedonist" (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister, The (Perfect Paperback)

Nichols presents an interesting look at many of the historic landmarks of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, painting the picture of times since forgotten. Being in my 20s, many of the landmarks I knew in name only, although I have seen and been to some, but in both cases, Nichols' book manages to evoke feelings of nostalgia and longing. The book is obviously painstakingly researched, and the sheer number of rare and hard-to-find photographs are enough to make any architecture or food history buff go ga-ga.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEYOND GREAT, December 2, 2008

By 

Josephine Powell "author" (West Hollywood Ca.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister, The (Perfect Paperback)

Very informative. As a teenager Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake was a hang out on Friday nights. Great burgers. Lo and behold in 1960 as a dancer I performed in a show at the El Rancho Vegas. It was during the Sands hey day and the shoot of "Ocean's Eleven". A few years later another show at the Tropicana Hotel again in Las Vegas which wasn't even mentioned in the book. Yes I'm a fan of Wayne's. I go as far back (not in age) as Agua Caliente when I did research on Hollywood moguls who built the race track and spa. Yes Rita Hayworth was discovered dancing there with her dad Eduardo Cansino. The movie "In Caliente" is a must have for McAllister lovers. Wayne's story is more than about architecture. It's about Americana. He is a treasure and so is the writer to so captures McAllister's essence.
However, as a historian and McAllister fan we need more in depth text and pictures about other landmarks other than Agua Caliente whose founders seemed to have dissapeared. or did they?
About the Flamingo Hotel. Words were given to the mob but not enough about Billy Wilkerson and the Hollywood Reporter or builder Del Webb and his own stock piling of building materials during wartime which enabled Bugsy to build the Flamingo Hotel (I performed there in 1966). The connection of all these men was gambling. These men started off-shore gambling (1912) with Baron Long whose famous nightery was a Rudolph Valentino hangout. One wonders if he in fact also needs a book.