As many of you know I’m an architecture junkie, and one of my favorite forms of architecture is programmatic, or fondly known as “California Crazy” that is to say, buildings that are constructed to look like something, which California was wildly known for. Sadly, there are very few examples left, but at Idle Hour you get two for the price of one! Well, sort of.

Just off Vineland, you’ll spy a rotund cedar barrel, and it’s just the perfect place to wet your whistle. Idle Hour opened in 1941, the product of a Universal Studios tech who commissioned George F. Fordyk to build it. While drinks were served on the first floor, Fordky and his wife, Irene called the second floor apartment home. The Fordyks divorced with Irene running the place until she sold it to Dolores Fernadez in 1971. Fernadez transformed the barrel into La Cana, a dinner theater featuring flamenco dancing. La Cana shuttered in 1984, but Fernadez continued to live on site until her passing in 2009. Upon her death, the barrel went into the hands of the county who put it up for auction in 2011, when Bobby Green and 1933 Group, purchased it, adding it to their crown of other iconic LA gems.

Idle Hour was by no means the only barrel shaped restaurant in California, there was The Barrel in Glendale, the Barrel Restaurant in Culver City, and the Barrel Club in Vallejo, but Idle Hour stood the test of time thanks to its handful of owners, and is believed to be the last of its kind.

Meanwhile, back in 1928, as cars began to take the country, and especially California, by storm, businesses needed a sharp new way to get the attention of motorists, who were certainly traveling faster than a horse drawn cart. Enter programmatic architecture, and the Bulldog Cafe. Which is exactly how it sounds, a cafe in the shape of a bulldog. Sadly, a lot isn’t known about the Bulldog Cafe that once stood on Washington Boulevard, but its iconic status was cemented when it was recreated and used in Disney 1991 film The Rocketeer. A few years later, in 1994, The Petersen Automotive Museum opened, and with it they created a “streetscape” with various roadside store fronts, and with it a recreation of the Bulldog Cafe. Fast forward twenty years, and the Petersen decided it was time for a remodel. Writer Chris Nichols joked with Bobby Green about getting the recreation of the Bulldog Cafe, and Green thought it was a great idea. Green worked with the Petersen to cut up the dog into multiple pieces to transport it and pop it into the back patio Idle Hour, which he was renovating at the time. And if Green’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s also the man behind several other LA favorites, including The Formosa and Tail o’ the Pup!

Idle Hour reopened in 2015 after a lengthy restoration with the added bonus of the Bulldog Cafe. Today, fans of “California Crazy” and The Rocketeer can enjoy drinks and dishes inspired by the film, including the delicious Jet-Pack Cookie, inside the dog, or under his massive pipe.

Grab a bite in the barrel or with the dog at Idle Hour at 4824 Vineland Avenue in Los Angeles.

What’s Nearby?

Bob’s Big Boy

Chili John’s

Larry’s Chili Dog

Magnolia Park Shopping

Mystic Museum

Universal Studios

Warner Bros. Studio Tour

Sources
Heimann, Jim. California Crazy: American Pop Architecture. Taschen, 2018. Print.
Kudler, Adrian Glick. “Inside the Remarkable Restoration of LA’s Last Barrel Building.” Curbed Los Angeles, 11 February 2015.
“Roll Out the Barrel: First Look Inside Restored Idle Hour Cafe, Historic North Hollywood Gem.” LAist, 20 January 2015.
Zozak, Graham. “Hot-Rodder Saves The Petersen’s Bulldog Cafe From Certain Destruction!” Autoweek, 18 December 2014.