Mel's Drive-In - Limited Edition Print (Small) - Photograph

Above Image: Mel's Drive-In, Los Angeles from the book Gas and Glamour Caption: In the San Fernando Valley, this jaunty 1953 Googie roofline by prolific designers Eldon Davis and Louis Armet shelters picture windows and terrazzo flooring. Original occupant Dyle’s Restaurant gave way to Kerry’s Coffee Shop. Faux-retro neon signs completed a 1989 transformation for Northern California-based hamburger chain Mel’s. Available in 3 sizes, 34"H x 47"W, 26"H x 33.5"W and 20"H x 24"W Price Includes Shipping Gas and Glamour in the Press: "Best Holiday Gift Idea for Travelers in 2020, Both Adventurers and Staycationers" - The Wall Street Journal "Southern California's Roadside Architecture in All Its Glowing, Midcentury Glory" - Los Angeles Magazine "It is easy to get lost in nostalgia, and even escapism, looking at Sinha's photographs." - Musée Magazine "Fancy a drive-thru donut? The bright lights of LA car-food culture - in pictures" - The Guardian "Striking new photographs capture the enduring businesses of the '50s and '60s in Los Angeles that used innovative architecture" - Daily Mail About the series Gas and Glamour: Los Angeles is synonymous with car culture. Over my many trips to LA in the past decade and a half, I have been increasingly curious about that city’s love affair with the automobile, largely because it has reminded me of my own. On every visit LA has amazed me by its suburban sprawl and made me jealous of its shiny cars, while at the same time left me wondering how communities there are structured differently than where I live in New York City. As I started to dig deeper into clues that hint at the automobile's influence on the city's DNA, I began to discover its architectural past that was heavily shaped by it and built as a direct response to its rapid growth in order to meet the demands of a huge postwar population explosion. I photographed buildings that celebrated roadside architecture and advertising during America’s golden age of the automobile, traces of which can still be found in Los Angeles, the capital of car culture. These buildings often took the approach of transforming each free-standing building into a sculptural icon with the motorist as an integral part. I pored through research papers, city records, and many familiar and obscure online blogs to come up with a representative list of sites to include in my project. I have been drawn time and again by the graphic nature of the buildings and their design elements such as the use of neon, typography and the whimsical nature of the architecture itself. The writings of Reyner Banham, and the work of artists and photographers such as Ed Ruscha and George Tice have played a role in influencing the visual narrative of this project.