Norms Restaurants

Norms Restaurants
Industry Restaurants
Founded 1949 (1949) in Los Angeles, California, United States
Founder Norm Roybark
Headquarters Bellflower, California
Number of locations
 17
Area served
 Southern California
Owner Jim Balis
Website www.normsrestaurants.com
Norms in West L.A. (2008)

Norms Restaurants is a chain of diner-style restaurants in Southern California. Founded in 1949 by used-car salesman Norm Roybark, the restaurants are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are currently 17 locations in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties.

History

The first Norms opened on Sunset Boulevard near Vine Street in 1949. The oldest surviving Norms, declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument number 1090 in 2015,[1] opened on La Cienega Boulevard in 1957, featuring a distinctive angular and brightly colored style that came to be known as Googie architecture.[2] Key characteristics include concrete walls, large glass windows, jutting roof, and a neon marquee.[2] Many Norms restaurants, including the 1957 La Cienega Boulevard location, were designed by the architectural firm of Armet & Davis to look like automobile showrooms with booths resembling bucket seats.[3] Their appearance has made them the subject of exhibitions curated by the Getty Center.[4][5]

In December 2014, the Roybark family sold the family-owned Bellflower-based chain, but not the land each of the restaurants had sat on, to an investor for an undisclosed amount.[6]

The Norms restaurant on Pico in West Los Angeles was forced to close on Christmas Eve 2016 because the new landlords refused to renew the lease and had other unspecified plans for the real estate. County assessor records showed that the Roybark family had sold the land in April 2015 for $8.25 million.[7][8]

  • Referred to in the intro to Tom Waits' "Eggs and Sausage" off of Nighthawks at the Diner.
  • The location of a popular hangout of the characters of the TNT show Men of a Certain Age.
  • Depicted in the 1964 painting "Norms La Cienega on Fire" by Edward Ruscha.[9]
  • Mentioned briefly in the third episode of the first season of American Horror Story.
  • In his autobiography, Graham Nash mentions he, Stephen Stills, and David Crosby would have breakfast at the Norm's on Sunset during the recording of CSN's debut album.
  • In the film Woman in Gold (2015), starring Helen Mirren. The exterior as well as the interior of the Norms Restaurant, located at 11001 West Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles, was used. This restaurant closed on December 24, 2016, due to the lease agreement not being renewed. The restaurant was demolished in 2017 to make way for senior housing, however, legal issues have delayed the start of the construction of the project, due to concerns about increased traffic.
  • In the film 10 to Midnight Detective Leo Kessler (Charles Bronson) races past the location on Pico Blvd to save his daughter. Only the exterior is shown and even then only briefly.
  • Recurring location in Amazon's Bosch.

References

  1. ↑ "HISTORIC-CULTURAL MONUMENT (HCM) REPORT - City Declared Monuments". City of Los Angeles DEPARTMENT OF CITY PLANNING. 2016-02-24. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.
  2. 1 2 Friedlander, Whitney (18 May 2008). "Go on a SoCal hunt for Googie architecture". The Baltimore Sun.
  3. ↑ Lacher, Irene (3 August 2003). "Neon Rhapsody". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ↑ Hawthorne, Christopher (18 April 2013). "Review: L.A.'s Satisfying Sprawl". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ↑ Reyes, Emily Alpert (16 January 2015). "L.A. to consider preservation of Googie-style Norms on La Cienega". Los Angeles Times.
  6. ↑ Nichols, Chris (January 8, 2015). "Norms Restaurant Chain Has Sold". Los Angeles Magazine.
  7. ↑ Chris Nichols (December 13, 2016). "The Classic Norms on Pico Is Closing on Christmas Eve: The Westwood coffee shop goes dark after 47 years". Los Angeles Magazine.
  8. ↑ Chandler, Jenna (December 9, 2016). "Googie-style Norms on Pico Boulevard will close for good on Christmas Eve: It's looking like the site will be redeveloped". Curbed LA.
  9. ↑ Painter, Alysia Gray (January 14, 2015). "NORMS La Cienega: Demolition Permit Ordered: The Googie diner is up for a local landmark nomination". KNBC.
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