{"product_id":"toed-inn-los-angeles-1953","title":"Toed Inn, Los Angeles 1953","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Toed Inn was an example of LA’s famous programmatic or mimetic architecture – whimsical restaurants created to look like the food they served. You could walk into the stomach of this rather imposing frog and order frog’s legs – as well as hamburgers, steaks and seafood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProgrammatic architecture blossomed during the 1920s when there was still plenty of space in LA and buildings costs were cheap. The buildings were designed to cater to the city’s expanding automobile culture, catching the eye of drivers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Brown Derby restaurant, created in the shape of a hat in 1926, was the first example of this type of architecture and the Toed Inn was erected on Channel Road in Santa Monica in the 1930s. Apparently, the frog’s toes really did turn in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe building was damaged in the floods of 1938 when two Pacific storms swept across the Los Angeles basin and generated almost a year’s worth of rain in two days. The flood caused $78 million of damage –nearly $2 billion in today’s money - and was designated a 50-year flood and one of the costliest natural disasters in the city’s history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRestaurateur Ben Rosenfeld bought the Toed Inn after it was damaged and relocated it to 12008 Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles. The restaurant’s telephone number was Arizona – 9-6712.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Toed Inn was still in operation in 1953, the date of this menu. Designed as a souvenir of one of LA’s iconic restaurants, the message we found on the back says ‘I love you too. Grandpa’ so it must have been mailed to a child.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOther examples of LA's programmatic architecture were restaurants shaped like a pickle, a chilli bowl, an ice cream cone, a hot dog and a tamale, complete with corn husks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey fell out of favor in southern California in the late 40s and early 50s as demand for housing increased and building costs rose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCourtesy Private Collection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGallery quality Giclée print on natural white, matte, 100% cotton rag, acid and lignin free archival paper using Epson K3 archival inks. Custom printed with border for matting and framing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eAll printed in USA.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb style=\"line-height: 1.2;\"\u003eEach print is accompanied by a copy of the interior menu or cover.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Love Menu Art","offers":[{"title":"8.5x11\" Archival Print (Unframed) $25.00","offer_id":57491708838054,"sku":"zwr1790051878168","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"11x14 Archival Print (Unframed) $30.00","offer_id":57491708870822,"sku":"rob1790051878169","price":18.6,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"13x19 Archival Print (Unframed) $40.00","offer_id":57491708903590,"sku":"vos1790051878170","price":28.8,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"16x20 Archival Print (Unframed) $55.00","offer_id":57491708936358,"sku":"hiz1790051878171","price":37.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"20x24 Archival Print (Unframed) $85.00","offer_id":57491708969126,"sku":"irg1790051878172","price":64.6,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"24x36 Archival Print (Unframed) $135.00","offer_id":57491709001894,"sku":"eqw1790051878173","price":93.15,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0745\/9133\/8662\/files\/toed-inn-los-angeles-1953_1.webp?v=1790051882","url":"https:\/\/coffeetamper.shop\/products\/toed-inn-los-angeles-1953","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}