- Googie architecture originated in Southern California in the late 1940s and continued into the mid-1960s, influenced by car culture and space-age themes. It was popular for motels, coffee shops, and gas stations catering to the newly mobile suburban population. - Characterized by elements like cantilevered structures, acute angles, starbursts, and boomerang shapes, the flashy Googie style was meant to attract customers' attention from the road and symbolize 1950s ideas about the future and technology. - Some of the most iconic examples included the original Googie's coffee shop in West Hollywood and the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign with its starbursts,