The Penguin cocktail lounge, restaurant and coffee shop opened in Santa Monica, California, in 1959 and what a beauty it was.

In the 90s, this important building went through a drab period and became a dentist’s office.

Happily, it has now been restored to its Googie glory and is the popular Mel’s Diner.

The original Penguin was created by the famous architectural duo Armet & Davis who also designed Norm’s, Pann’s and Johnie’s.

It was a prime example of Googie architecture, popular in the 1950s and 60s and inspired by America’s Space Age.

With its sharp, angled roof, high ceilings, big windows, bright lights and fabulous neon sign featuring a penguin in his tux and bow tie, generations of Californians went there to munch burgers and sip malts.

Rather inexplicably, the establishment was turned into the Western Dental Center, with most of its fabulous design features covered up.  The soaring ceilings were lowered, and the walls were covered by sensible beige drywall panels.

But the dentists who worked there made an important contribution to its history by helping to save the famous neon Penguin sign.

In 2000, when the Santa Monica Meritorious Sign Review Board met to pass judgement on all non-conforming signs in the area as part of city ordinance, Samuel Gruenbaum, CEO of Western Dental, appeared before the board to plead the Penguin’s case.

He even argued the penguin’s viability as a dental mascot, according to a report in the LA Times. ‘They’re birds, so you wouldn’t think that they could have teeth in the beak. But if they did, they could have cavities,’ he said.

Out of 560 signs under review, the Penguin and 92 others were saved.

In 2016, Mel’s Drive-In owner Steven Weiss signed a long-term lease for the property at the junction of Olympic and Lincoln Boulevards and beautifully restored this mid-century property.

This image is from a matchbook from the original Penguin – therefore with no menu - and is probably dated in the 1960s.